Episodic games are somewhat of a staple these days, largely thanks to studios like Telltale Games who have made it their mission statement. The way this works, for those that haven't yet invested in a Telltale Game (and in which case I must ask, why?!), you're presented with the first episode, with usually a few weeks to a month break until the next episode comes out. This makes fans interested in the series for a longer time, and more closely resembles those dire situations of when you're on the edge of your seat and that damn cliffhanger leaves you wanting more, only having you wait for any sort of resolution.
But things haven't already panned out well for episodic games. The Wolf Among Us from Telltale angered some fans due to crazy amount of time in between episodes 1 and 2. Episode 1 launched on October 11, and it wasn't until February 4 that fans got to continue their story. That's four long months, a quarter of the year, that people had to have waited. This made fans who purchased the Season Pass even angrier, since episodes were promised much closer apart. The subsequent episodes released in a much more orderly fashion. But it went on to show that Telltale was still in development of the rest of the episodes, while the first was releasing.
Needless to say, the episodic format, though functional, still leaves much to be desired, especially when it comes to timely releases. Capcom however turned the entire format on its head with the announcement, and now subsequent release of Resident Evil Revelations 2 Episode 1. This episodic game will come in the form of four episodes, each releasing only a week apart, as well as two bonus episodes, and a fully featured Raid mode that could be considered an entire game on its own.
Here is why Capcom is doing episodic format right:
The entire game is already done
As you can see here, proof that I can select the first part of any chapter
That's right, all four episodes are finished and ready to go. How do I know this? A perk of being part of the press was getting access to the entirety of the game on day one. And while we have to abide by the embargo dates for each episode, I can tell you that all four episodes, as well as the two bonus ones, are installed and ready to be played immediately.
Someone could look at this and say, "Then why not just release the whole game right away?" I honestly think it goes back to my initial statement about Telltalle games. Capcom wants to keep the interest high in Revelations 2. With cliffhangers and dare I say, revelations, at the end of the first episode, it'll keep fans on edge, eagerly anticipating the continuation of the story. Except in Revelations 2's case, players won't have to wait a month or even a few months to find out, as the next episode is always a week away.
Small price and a lot of content
While the price is actually about a dollar more than other episodic titles, sitting at $5.99 per episode, the game you get here feels largely more like an actual game than just an interactive movie. Think of it this way. For $4.99 an episode of Telltale games, you get about two to two and a half hours worth of gameplay, but a large part of that is watching conversations play out, and not really 'playing.' For $5.99 in Revelations, you get about two hours worth of playtime, and even though it might be somewhat shorter than a Telltale game, that's two hours of actual playtime. Meaning, you're activelly playing the game, and not just watching it.
Admittedly, I haven't played through all the episodes yet, so I can't comment on how long each subsequent episode is, but let's say they're comparable, meaning by the end of Episode 4 we could be around the 8 hour mark, then take into consideration the bonus two episodes, as well as the insane amount of content featured in Raid Mode. If you were buying the Season Pass which includes the four episodes, two bonus ones and an extra character for Raid Mode, you're still only spending $25 for roughly 10 hours' worth of story content, and that's not counting Raid Mode. In this day and age where AAA titles come with the standard $60 price tag, and sometimes with a fraction of game time, it's nice that Capcom opted for such a competitive price structure, and kept things cheap.
For being so cheap, she's still quite the looker
While I absolutely love Telltale games and the stories they tell in each game based on a licensed property, it's not a shocking statement to say that their graphical fidelity is on the lower end of the spectrum. With various graphical glitches, odd walking animations, wonky lip-synching, it's apparent that Telltale isn't investing in crazy expensive mocap equipment to make their animatinos lifelike. In truth, they don't really need to. They've proven time and time again that story trumps graphical fidelity.
However, when it comes to Resident Evil, being one of Capcom's AAA franchises, they couldn't cut any corners. The game looks absolutely fantastic. Whether it's the dark and creepy environments, or the highly detailed character models, the game looks better than Resident Evil Revelations, when it made its way to the PC.
What I'm trying to say is that despite its cheap price tag, the game in no way cuts any corners, be it graphics or content.
While I can't comment on the game as a whole quite yet, I can say that the Season Pass is definitely a worthy investment, doubly so if you're a Resident Evil fan. RE games of late have been somewhat of a joke, never quite living up to expectations, so it's surprising that a spin-off series seems to get so much right. Stay tuned each week as we give you our thoughts on each episode, ultimately concluding with a full review on the entire game.
