Campaign And Gameplay
Resistance 2 picks up directly after the final cutscene from the original Resistance. An opening cutscene shows our hero and playable character, Nathan Hale, being picked up from snowy hillsides by a mysterious helicopter containing armed guards. These guards are part of SRPA, an organization that is familiar with infected individuals like Nathan Hale. Nathan Hale is one of a few Sentinels, humans who basically have Chimera blood in their veins. Thanks to Inhibitors that must be taken every few hours, Hale and his fellow Sentinels manage to keep the Chimera influence in check and are thus able to maintain their human anatomy and physiology.
The opening cutscene also informs us that the Chimera have only escalated their violent invasion of Earth after the events of Resistance: Fall of Man. Hale and the Sentinels are airlifted to Orick, California to help began the counter assault. The campaign takes place in 1953 and follows Hale’s journey across various parts of the world, primarily different states in the USA. The ultimate goal is of course to stop the Chimera, but to do that Hale and crew must find and kill Daedalus, a Chimera leader that was actually created by a scientist with the genetic tissue of Hale and another Sentinel, Jordan. Hale periodically receives thoughts from Daedalus trying to convince him to ditch humanity and join the Chimera, but Hale presses on. Players will lead Hale in destroying Chimera technology, saving human outposts, re-enabling human defenses, rescuing the SRPA scientist responsible for Daedalus, protecting the transportation of a warhead, and several other missions as the campaign unfolds. The gameplay is straight-forward, first person shooter action. There are no puzzles to solve, keys to find, or alternate paths to take, you simply lead Hale on a guns-blazing journey through places like California, Chicago, IL, Idaho, Utah, Iceland, Louisiana, and aboard several Chimera ships.
As with the previous campaign, Resistance 2 takes the action outside quite a bit. The split between the time you spend outside in the streets of Chicago or the mountainous terrain of Utah, and so forth, is roughly equal to the time you spend inside the fairly drab, generic, monolithic interiors of Chimera vessels. The outside areas are definitely more visually appealing and actually more fun, too. Some of my favorite parts in the game would have to be in Chicago and Louisiana; the ravaged cityscape of Chicago is presented well and dealing with Chimera on land, in the flooded streets, and in the air, is a fun experience. In Louisiana, the plantation house and then steamboat scenes are especially intense and fun.
Ultimately, the campaign is significantly shorter than the original Resistance campaign; my complete time clocked in at just under nine hours. The campaign is broken up in to seven chapters, each ending with a boss fight and each containing at least one piece of Intel that players can find in the game world as they play. While the campaign may be shorter, the action is as intense as the original and I never felt like the game was getting boring or running on to long. Also, checkpoints seem to be more frequent in Resistance 2, which keeps the fun factor high but may lower your overall play time, a trade off I’m always willing to make. Also, just like in the first game, once you beat the campaign the first time, there are Bonus Challenges you can take on, although I don’t know at this point if there are any new weapons to unlock as there was with the original Resistance. On a side note, I unlocked I believe eighteen of the thirty-nine Trophies during my first play through.
Besides being shorter and without any vehicular parts, there are some other important changes to the gameplay of Resistance 2. First, previously Nathan Hale could pack an arsenal, carrying at times I think nearly ten or so guns. Now, players can only carry two guns, although you can still carry multiple grenades. I don’t really have a problem with this, and I actually liked how players are forced to keep a check on their ammo and there are many times where you must decide what weapons to take with you when you’re confronted with several choices. For me, nothing beat the combination of a Wraith and an Auger, but the old Carbine and Stinger combo is also nearly unbeatable. The Rossmore 236 pump shotgun returns, as does the LAARK; other weapons include: the Splicer, Magnum, Bellock, Fareye, and Marksman. Of these, I believe the Magnum pistol, Bellock grenade launcher, and Marksman precision rifle are new. The Magnum pistol is a revolver that packs a huge punch and can take down most enemies in a single hit; the secondary fire mode also detonates the round creating a small, but effective explosion that can harm nearby enemies. The Marksman is a handy rifle with scope that is quicker and often times more effective than the Fareye; it also features a secondary fire that emits a ball of electricity that can damage several enemies at once. The Marksman reminds me somewhat of a cross between the Precision Rifle in Red Faction and the BFG from Doom/Quake. Grenades are essentially the same as those in Resistance, with all of the favorites coming back like the Air Fuel Grenade and Hedgehog. There is also now a Spider Grenade that unleashes fire upon multiple enemies.
The new weapons all look, sound, and work great, but one complaint I would register is just how conveniently placed they are throughout the campaign. Whether you are about to enter an area with Chameleon or Titans, or engage enemies from afar, you can almost always bet there will be the best weapon for the job laying in the nearby vicinity. I can understand why the developers did this given how the game is based solely off of checkpoints, but I think having these weapons just laying around in just the right spots takes away from the immersion, or ‘believe-ability’ of the campaign, if you will.
Another major change in Resistance 2 is the health system. Rather than having the four segmented bars of health from the original, Resistance 2 sports a Call of Duty style health system – simply avoid taking damage for a few seconds, and you’re as good as new. Of course, it’s often not all that simple, especially when fighting Titans in close quarters or Auger-packing Chimera. Ultimately, I do prefer this system to what the original Resistance had, but it has its problems: for one, I really disliked how red the screen got when I was taking damage. I would much rather have a health meter or a number value that counts down, maybe changes color, or something like that, when I’m taking damage. When I’m not taking damage anymore, have the number count back up to 100, or the meter fill back up. That would serve the purpose of not having nearly my entire screen turn red and let me know exactly how much health I have at a given second; it’d be extremely useful. Secondly, and this isn’t quite as related to just the health meter as the overall game, but there are a few Chimera that can kill you instantly – the Furies and the Chameleons; more on those in a bit when I talk about the new enemies.
Resistance 2 also takes several steps to push forth the idea that you’re working with other Sentinels and SRPA soldiers. The number times when you are fighting alongside friendly forces far outweigh the times when you’re battling alone. This is completely fine and more believable or convincing as far as the story goes than than if we were to believe that Hale is doing all of this counter-invasion stuff himself. However, in regards to that, there are many times when you are with NPCs (be they the other Sentinels or just SRPA soldiers), that you feel like you’re alone. To test this theory, several times throughout the game during a big fire fight I took cover and watched what happened. The enemy AI and my friendly AI seemed almost completely unable to kill each other; it reminded me of the old GI Joe cartoon where lots of shouting and firing was taking place, but no one was getting hurt. This wasn’t always the case, but it was often the case and it was disappointing to see. It wasn’t until I stepped out from cover and basically did the work myself that the battle was won. Other anomalies along these lines include how some enemies focus solely on you and your NPCs are slow to respond if they do at all. This is especially apparent when fighting hordes of Spinners; one particularly frustrating moment had me overrun with the bastards while my Sentinel buddies simply let me get mauled. In fact, I even saw a Spinner running in place, stuck against the static form of my crouching squad mate; the Spinner was dead set on attacking me, and neither it nor my ‘help’ attacked each other. Now maybe I missed it in the story and somehow the Spinners just know to attack you, but I really don’t think so (besides, my friendly AI should have reacted more appropriately).
Another point to make is that your fellow Sentinels (and an NPC you rescue) are literally invincible (until their time comes according to the script). Now, this is one of those things that is both good and bad; it’s bad because it’s ‘unrealistic’ and kind of silly in that you can shoot and hit these particular NPCs all you want without consequence, and so can the enemy. However, I can only imagine how unplayable this game would be if you had to keep your Sentinel buddies alive, or if you could kill them with your own fire.
Earlier I mentioned that there were new enemies, and indeed there are. These would include Spinners, Marauders, Patrol Bots, Furies, Chameleons, and Hellfire Turrets, as well as a few others including massive bosses that you’ve probably seen one or two of in promotional material. Spinners are weak, but attack in dozens – they can’t shoot at you, but they’ll run right at you and try to clobber you (and as mentioned earlier, you only). Marauders are big, tough Chimera that tend to use a handful of different weapons and they can also deploy a shield to protect them. They’re especially dangerous when they get close and decide to charge at you for a melee attack. Patrol Bots are these annoying little flying robots that shoot out lasers and they tend to come in packs. Furies are water based Chimera that you can see, shoot at, but can’t actually kill, while they’ll kill you in a single strike if you hop in their water. Chameleon are fast, nearly invisible beasts that can kill you in one hit, but you’ll hear them stomping towards you moments before they lunge at you; a good ole Rossmore 236 and a quick trigger finger is all you need to combat these guys. Hellfire turrets are massive automated turrets that can only be deactivated by getting behind them and pressing Triangle. There is a particularly great part during the campaign where you and fellow Sentinel Warner are on either side of a street, disabling Hellfire Turrets for each other.
As far as bosses go, the boss fights themselves are for the most part good. The final boss fight was disappointing, but the massive spider Chimera you fight in a tower and the Godzilla like Chimera in Chicago are two great sequences.
Presentation And Multiplayer
Resistance 2 is a gorgeous game. The most impressive looking areas of the game are definitely those bright, sunny, colorful outdoor scenes that are a part of every chapter. Water also looks incredible in Resistance 2, and you’ll wade through pools of it in a few occasions. The Chimera are richly detailed, especially some of the bigger bosses, and frankly the entire game is a visual treat, and better yet it maintains a great frame rate throughout.
The sounds of the game aren’t at all bad, either. Nathan Hale has a voice this time around and talks quite a bit, the voice overs for him and the dozen or so other voices you will hear are nicely done. The variety of things the SRPA soldiers will say runs out fairly quickly, but it’s not really a problem. Weapon sounds are very good as is the soundtrack, which takes a back seat to the effects.
Multiplayer options for Resistance 2 are vast. You can engage in 60 player Competitive Modes or up to eight player co-op. Cooperative play is pretty sweet; unlike the first Resistance game where two players could do a split screen co-op and play through the single player campaign, this new form of co-op features character classes and alternate missions. You also have a firm health meter in co-op, no CoD style health system. In co-op, there are medics, soldiers, and special ops character classes; the medics provide health, the spec ops guys bring ammo, and the soldiers just bring heavy weaponry. It’s a basic class system, but it works well and there’s tons of fun to be had online. I’ve played several cooperative missions thus far online with strangers and my experience has only been positive to this point from a technical perspective and from a gamer perspective (i.e., people playing co-op are really trying to play co-op and help the team). As you play, you earn XP and can also earn new ranks and commendations for doing things like saving team members. Certain powerups known as Berserks exist in cooperative mode too that you can earn during a co-op mission. These include abilities like Iron Heart, which reduces the amount of damage you sustain from an enemy for about thirty seconds. As you continue to play online and advance your rank, you’ll have more customization options for your character including the ability to change your starting loadout. There’s little doubt given the hundreds of games in progress now on PSN that the Resistance 2 online community will be strong for a long time to come.
Closing Thoughts
Resistance 2 is a great sequel. For me, the biggest draw has always been the single player campaign, and although it’s shorter and has a few drawbacks, the overall experience was an awful lot of fun. I actually beat the game in just two extended sittings because it was so much fun it was hard to reach a stopping point, I just kept wanting to push on. I’ve spent just a few hours online thus far, mostly in cooperative mode, and it’s been great – no connection problems or latency, and the community is huge.
You’ll get the most out of Resistance 2 if you’re familiar with the original Resistance, but even if you haven’t played the original, Resistance 2 gives you plenty of reason to make the purchase.