NOW
PLAYING
Sometimes, all you
want to do is blow
a zombie’s head
clean off with a
magnum. It’s one
of the things that
make life worth
living. And few games top the visceral
spectacle of exploding rotted face
flesh and sheer joie de vivre of a well-
timed zombie takedown than Raid
Mode in Resident Evil Revelations 2.
Capcom first implemented the idea
of a challenge-based zombie shooter
in Resident Evil 4, with its Mercenaries
bonus mode. Having expanded
this popular idea to the handheld
Mercenaries 3D game, when the first
Revelations landed on 3DS in 2010, it
refined the idea of a fast-paced, fun
zombie shooter into Raid Mode, as far
more than just an afterthought.
Revelations ported to Xbox 360 in
2013, and was remastered for Xbox
One in 2017, along with an episodic
sequel. Both games are great entries
in the series, but it’s the run-and-gun
bolt-on that we can’t get enough of.
The expanded scope of Raid Mode
in Revelations 2 means it would be a
superior stand-alone game without
any story mode at all. The premise is
simple. Face down a finite number
of monsters, with limited ammo.
Challenges unlock gear and earn
Battle Points, which help you stock up
your arsenal for the next time.
There are a wide range of classic
Resi characters – the Redfields,
Jill, Barry Burton and more, some of
whom have unique starting weapon
proficiencies, and we pick man of the
moment, Leon S Kennedy. We’re going
for Very Hard level – extended playing
of Raid mode has seen us unlock
most of the 50 stages on Normal and
Hard – so we’re going back to see if
we’ve still got it when it comes to this
challenging third tier.
The pace is always frantic, as the
waves of monsters come at you,
sometimes shambling, sometimes
running, and you just about have time
for tactical choices. Choosing and
using your weapons wisely becomes
instinct, as the levels get very busyvery quickly, and monsters vary from
zombies to monster dogs, fish-men to
juggernauts with chainsaws for arms,
and disgusting giant flies that are
invisible until you aim at them. Some
enemies will burn you, some will freeze
you, some that look like pustulant
walking boils will explode if they get
near you. Raid Mode relishes throwing
every kind of foe at you, and laughs.Magnum farce
On the more linear levels, such as the
subway tunnel, there’s a prescribed
order in which the monsters come at
you, so you can at least learn from
your mistakes and beat the game
that way. There’s still a randomness
to the charging zombies, who willat times shimmy in their run, just
when you think you’ve got a bead
on their beady-eyed heads, and
you’ll miss, embarrassingly. The best
levels though, such as the gun shop,
create a busy siege situation and
you’re running round trying to pop the
zombies from its windows before they
get in, and protecting ‘targets’ within
the shop from giant cockroaches.
We’re very quickly overwhelmed here,
and like all bad workmen we blame
our tools, convinced that Leon’s gun
skills aren’t up to scratch. It’s back to
character select, to try again.
Undoubtedly one of Raid Mode’s
best weapon proficiencies in the first
Revelations game belonged to FBC
agent Rachael Foley, who is extra-extra
With Resident Evil 2’s reboot out in the wild, it’s time to revisit
Resident Evil Revelations 2 and in particular its brilliantly paced,
zombie-annihilating Raid Mode CHRIS BURKE
PUBLISHER CAPCOM / DEVELOPER CAPCOM / FORMAT XBOX ONE / RELEASE DATE 2015098 THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE