I happen to be one of those very few people who didn’t like the original Resistance. Perhaps that’s mainly because I played it 1.5 years after its release and I had gone through titles like Call of Duty 4, Half Life 2 Episode 2 and Crysis. After these, booting up Resistance made it feel like a really dated, extremely linear and bland game. My disliking for Resistance wasn’t because of any fault with the game, but with the timing of my first play through. The game didn’t age well. Whatever be the reason, I never got on the Resistance fanboys bandwagon.
I wasn’t really hyped up about Resistance2. Luckily, I got into the multiplayer beta and well, to put it mildly, it was good enough to force me to buy this game on release. So I got the game, booted up the single player campaign. I was thrown right into a large valley with a heavy battle on in ambience, sprinting around the legs of a gigantic spider-like tank wrecking havoc around me. Immediately, it became evident that the scale of this game is huge. This metallic beast was so huge that it paid no attention to me and my fellow soldier who were right under its nose. So what did I do? I needed attention like everyone else so I grabbed a LAARK (that’s what they call the rocket launcher in this game) and used it like a true gentleman. It didn’t do much damage, but enough to piss the 4 legged metallic tank off and set it right after me. Oh, and when I said that we were sprinting around, I basically meant using every single weapon in my disposal to fend of dozens of Chimera hybrids and metal heads and running for dear life before they got backup. Not a bad start. I mean, how many games start off with a sort of a boss fight.
There’s a little too much to talk about in Resistance2. You may state it as nothing but a straight up linear shooter where you move from area to area shooting the Chimera. There’s not even a very strong story or plot device to keep you hooked up. The game is even more linear than COD series. Then why is it so friggin addictive and awesome? Pure gameplay baby. Let’s get a fact straight first: I’m a big sucker for long complex stories with a lot of drama. Big JRPG fan and my favorite game is MGS4 (duh). And it’s not really possible for me to love an action/adventure game without a good story. Resistance2 is the first exception.
I said moving from one area to other, killing waves of Chimera. This is where Resistance2 is great beyond any other game. On paper, it sounds dull. But when you get those maniacal menacing machines that Insomniac devised as weapons, you’ll get blown away as you blow away the Chimera. The guns, their secondary fires, the grenades, the kick they deliver, the loading up, the charging up, the whizzing, the cocking – every single effect is so polished and their accompanying sound effect feels so real that using them is nothing less than sheer coolness. The core of this game is to use these weapons effectively against the proper types of enemies based on their attack patterns and attack formations. This time round, Insomniac has followed suite with other shooters’ standards of using only two weapons at a time. And I think that was a good decision because some moments got intense only because I lacked the firepower that I thought was necessary to take of the attack waves.
Our own attacking patterns and strategies for any area needed to be re-thought dynamically and quickly as the Chimera’s attacks were also dynamic and their formations varied. Needless to say, the game got more and more intense as we neared its end and therefore, more enjoyable. I will NEVER in my life forget my visit to California in Resistance2. The grims, the splicer and the flying limbs. I walked on flesh carpet only to be greeted by a flesh mountain. Resistance2 has some of the largest bosses you’ll ever encounter in a videogame. And not only that they’re just large; they’re damn satisfying to kill. There were some pretty lame boss fights and unfortunately, the final boss being one. I mean, I’ve seen what insomniac can think up. Just look at Ratchet and Clank. So I was expecting better and unique fights but I didn’t get that. Still, overall it was a pretty satisfying experience.
Visually, Resistance2 looks decent enough. You’d expect an AAA class shooter to look this good AT LEAST. The quality of lightning, texture and surface maps could improve but considering the scale of the scenes and the number of enemies attacking at any given instance, it looks remarkable especially taking into account the fact that there are NO frame rate hitches no matter how intense the on screen action is. The graphics technology does well to project the art style of this game which is beautiful, in a grim sense. It seems that great care has been taken to perfect the ambiance around the player, to really indulge him in the action and portray the feeling that the world is doomed and past the brink of destruction. All the environments have been designed with great attention to detail. We can see those gigantic ships attacking the cities which seem to be spread out till infinity. We can see their invasion taking place right over us, around us. We could see how life was stalled by the Chimera. I mean, I went into a house in suburb area and saw a couple of corpses lying dead on their bed. Though the action was intense, there were moments in the game where you’d stop and look around and absorb the scene around you.
Everything was perfect and stage was good enough, but the story wasn’t told well. They tried to go a little Half Life style, letting the players grab the story themselves from bits and pieces of information lying around. But it didn’t feel right. It wasn’t cohesive enough. They need to work on their story telling mechanics and at the same time, make up a better story for Resistance3. However, there was a nice little touch that I absolutely loved here and it was Harry Stillman on the radio. His voice work was brilliant and his script was very well crafted. I would stop and listen to everything he had to say and that was probably the only part of the game that had any emotional impact what so ever. They should emphasize this stuff more. I loved it.
The voice acting overall was pretty decent as well but there wasn’t anything extraordinary about it, neither did I find the script very amusing. It was just enough to get the job done. Same goes with music in this game. Though I don’t know if it’s just me but the music constantly kept reminding me of Call of Duty 2.
Resistance2 summed up to be a very good game but what made it good enough to be dubbed great? The multiplayer component. You get almost all types of competitive multiplayer match types here. But Isomniac got a few new surprises here. You see, multiplayer is fun but can you imagine a 60 player team death match? Pure madness. That’s not all though. There’s a cooperative mode here as well. Class based. I actually found this to be more addictive and enjoyable as it kinda reminded of Team Fortress 2 (my favorite online game), mainly because of how the classes were set up and how the medic healed the mini gun dude. And yes, all that without any frame rate problems. Simply brilliant.
In short, Resistance2 is a thrilling ride from start to finish. Once you’re through that, you may always play it at harder difficulties and/or trophies. Then there’s the online part. I guess there’s just no reason to miss this game. The sheer content of gaming goodness in it is simply unrivaled. There simply should be no resistance in getting Resistance2.
Value/Worth : 8.5
Graphics: 8.5
Sound : 8.5
Gameplay: 9.5
Multiplayer: 9.0
Overall: 9.0
I wasn’t really hyped up about Resistance2. Luckily, I got into the multiplayer beta and well, to put it mildly, it was good enough to force me to buy this game on release. So I got the game, booted up the single player campaign. I was thrown right into a large valley with a heavy battle on in ambience, sprinting around the legs of a gigantic spider-like tank wrecking havoc around me. Immediately, it became evident that the scale of this game is huge. This metallic beast was so huge that it paid no attention to me and my fellow soldier who were right under its nose. So what did I do? I needed attention like everyone else so I grabbed a LAARK (that’s what they call the rocket launcher in this game) and used it like a true gentleman. It didn’t do much damage, but enough to piss the 4 legged metallic tank off and set it right after me. Oh, and when I said that we were sprinting around, I basically meant using every single weapon in my disposal to fend of dozens of Chimera hybrids and metal heads and running for dear life before they got backup. Not a bad start. I mean, how many games start off with a sort of a boss fight.
Interesting Start. Eh?
There’s a little too much to talk about in Resistance2. You may state it as nothing but a straight up linear shooter where you move from area to area shooting the Chimera. There’s not even a very strong story or plot device to keep you hooked up. The game is even more linear than COD series. Then why is it so friggin addictive and awesome? Pure gameplay baby. Let’s get a fact straight first: I’m a big sucker for long complex stories with a lot of drama. Big JRPG fan and my favorite game is MGS4 (duh). And it’s not really possible for me to love an action/adventure game without a good story. Resistance2 is the first exception.
I said moving from one area to other, killing waves of Chimera. This is where Resistance2 is great beyond any other game. On paper, it sounds dull. But when you get those maniacal menacing machines that Insomniac devised as weapons, you’ll get blown away as you blow away the Chimera. The guns, their secondary fires, the grenades, the kick they deliver, the loading up, the charging up, the whizzing, the cocking – every single effect is so polished and their accompanying sound effect feels so real that using them is nothing less than sheer coolness. The core of this game is to use these weapons effectively against the proper types of enemies based on their attack patterns and attack formations. This time round, Insomniac has followed suite with other shooters’ standards of using only two weapons at a time. And I think that was a good decision because some moments got intense only because I lacked the firepower that I thought was necessary to take of the attack waves.
Spoiler: Probably the protagonist in Resistance3.
Our own attacking patterns and strategies for any area needed to be re-thought dynamically and quickly as the Chimera’s attacks were also dynamic and their formations varied. Needless to say, the game got more and more intense as we neared its end and therefore, more enjoyable. I will NEVER in my life forget my visit to California in Resistance2. The grims, the splicer and the flying limbs. I walked on flesh carpet only to be greeted by a flesh mountain. Resistance2 has some of the largest bosses you’ll ever encounter in a videogame. And not only that they’re just large; they’re damn satisfying to kill. There were some pretty lame boss fights and unfortunately, the final boss being one. I mean, I’ve seen what insomniac can think up. Just look at Ratchet and Clank. So I was expecting better and unique fights but I didn’t get that. Still, overall it was a pretty satisfying experience.
Is that me on the TV?
Visually, Resistance2 looks decent enough. You’d expect an AAA class shooter to look this good AT LEAST. The quality of lightning, texture and surface maps could improve but considering the scale of the scenes and the number of enemies attacking at any given instance, it looks remarkable especially taking into account the fact that there are NO frame rate hitches no matter how intense the on screen action is. The graphics technology does well to project the art style of this game which is beautiful, in a grim sense. It seems that great care has been taken to perfect the ambiance around the player, to really indulge him in the action and portray the feeling that the world is doomed and past the brink of destruction. All the environments have been designed with great attention to detail. We can see those gigantic ships attacking the cities which seem to be spread out till infinity. We can see their invasion taking place right over us, around us. We could see how life was stalled by the Chimera. I mean, I went into a house in suburb area and saw a couple of corpses lying dead on their bed. Though the action was intense, there were moments in the game where you’d stop and look around and absorb the scene around you.
Yep, we're being invaded alright.
Everything was perfect and stage was good enough, but the story wasn’t told well. They tried to go a little Half Life style, letting the players grab the story themselves from bits and pieces of information lying around. But it didn’t feel right. It wasn’t cohesive enough. They need to work on their story telling mechanics and at the same time, make up a better story for Resistance3. However, there was a nice little touch that I absolutely loved here and it was Harry Stillman on the radio. His voice work was brilliant and his script was very well crafted. I would stop and listen to everything he had to say and that was probably the only part of the game that had any emotional impact what so ever. They should emphasize this stuff more. I loved it.
The voice acting overall was pretty decent as well but there wasn’t anything extraordinary about it, neither did I find the script very amusing. It was just enough to get the job done. Same goes with music in this game. Though I don’t know if it’s just me but the music constantly kept reminding me of Call of Duty 2.
Resistance2 summed up to be a very good game but what made it good enough to be dubbed great? The multiplayer component. You get almost all types of competitive multiplayer match types here. But Isomniac got a few new surprises here. You see, multiplayer is fun but can you imagine a 60 player team death match? Pure madness. That’s not all though. There’s a cooperative mode here as well. Class based. I actually found this to be more addictive and enjoyable as it kinda reminded of Team Fortress 2 (my favorite online game), mainly because of how the classes were set up and how the medic healed the mini gun dude. And yes, all that without any frame rate problems. Simply brilliant.
In short, Resistance2 is a thrilling ride from start to finish. Once you’re through that, you may always play it at harder difficulties and/or trophies. Then there’s the online part. I guess there’s just no reason to miss this game. The sheer content of gaming goodness in it is simply unrivaled. There simply should be no resistance in getting Resistance2.
Value/Worth : 8.5
Graphics: 8.5
Sound : 8.5
Gameplay: 9.5
Multiplayer: 9.0
Overall: 9.0
