Resistance 2 Review

The system of choice for many shooting fans in the last generation was the Xbox. With games like Halo, Rainbow Six and Unreal, Microsoft got its foothold in the gaming industry by building a following of fans of mainly one genre. Sony, lacking a shooter outside of SOCOM and Killzone, tasked an unlikely studio with the job of storming the beachhead that Microsoft had secured. The makers of Ratchet and Clank are also the makers of Resistance, the PS3’s answer to shooter fans looking for a fix in next-generation gaming. Two years after the first was released, Resistance 2 proves that the PS3 is just as fertile for shooting fans as the Xbox 360.

Returning from the first game is Nathan Hale. In the case that you want to go back and play the first game, I won’t spoil anything (and I do recommend that you play through or replay Resistance to fully enjoy Resistance 2). Resistance takes place in an alternate history where World War II never happened. Instead of a Nazi invasion of Europe, an alien race known as the Chimera are on the attack and your job is to defend the British as the Chimera make their way under the English Channel. To populate their ranks, the Chimera harvest human bodies.

Resistance 2 sees the Chimera cross the Atlantic to the last refuge for mankind: the United States. The game starts out where the first left off: in England. But you quickly will find yourself underwater in a base just outside of San Francisco, where a Chimera assault is underway. The city is essentially ruined, as most major American cities are. Large numbers of civilians are killed in the process. As Hale, you will progress across the continent from the Redwood Forest to the deserted streets of Idaho Falls.

My favorite level by far was an attempt to reclaim downtown Chicago from the infestation of the Chimera. You start off near the iconic Chicago Theater on State Street with the famous above ground train tracks destroyed. Whereas the Chimera in the original Resistance were “manufactured”, they are hatched in Resistance 2’s United States. Dozens of newly hatched Chimera flood the streets of Chicago as you mow them down one by one. You make your way towards the shopping district on Michigan Avenue to find it barricaded with Chimeran defenses. The historic Wrigley and Tribune buildings are recreated perfectly along the Chicago River. If you look for modern architecture like the Sears Tower, you’re out of luck. Keep in mind that Resistance 2 is based shortly after the World War II era (or what would have been). The level ends with an epic boss fight against a Chimeran monster that would compete with Chicago’s tallest skyscrapers.

Being that Resistance 2 comes from the makers that gave us Ratchet and Clank, it is no surprise that the weapon selection is fantastic. If you played the first, you probably fell in love with the Auger (which can blast through walls). There are also guns like the Wraith (a Gatling gun), a rocket launcher and Carbine to keep your trigger finger happy. A number of satisfying new weapons were added to the mix, such as the Magnum (which has a secondary fire explosion), Marksman (sniper rifle type gun) and Bullseye Mark II (a Chimera upgrade to the Bullseye).

The single player portion of Resistance 2 will take about ten hours to beat, depending on the difficulty that you choose. It seems shorter than the first, but the extra content in the multi-player more than make up for it. On the downside, I opened Resistance 2 expecting that a friend could play the campaign in co-op. They took this feature out from the first game and replaced it with a co-op that does not relate to the single player story. As far as difficulty goes, Resistance 2 is not a game for slackers. It’s relatively easy on Easy, but the Normal difficulty is quite difficult and Difficult will test the patience of even the most veteran shooter player.

The multi-player aspects of Resistance 2 are considerably improved from the original. While you can’t play the single player campaign in co-op, there is a side story with the offline and online co-op (a friend can join you whether you play online or not). The co-op allows up to eight people to join and work together on a number of different missions across the locations in the single player campaign. You won’t play as Nathan Hale, either. Instead your group of soldiers will track down Chimera items known as Gray Tech.

The co-op mode will have you choose a class. Between them are a Medic, a Soldier and Special Ops. The Medic is tasked with healing members of the group and can drain health from enemies, although they only do slight damage. The Medic can also revive fallen comrades faster than the other two groups. Special Ops can deal decisive blows to enemies, but lack substantial amounts of health. They can also resupply soldiers by dropping ammunition. The Soldier is the grunt of the pack. They basically go around barreling their Gatling gun, mowing down enemies and throwing grenades. You can customize your characters weapons and experience points are acquired from killing enemies and accomplishing goals.

More traditional multi-player modes are offered for play as well. The competitive multi-player modes include Skirmish, Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Core Control. Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch are self explanatory and fun to play. With Team Deathmatch, you play as either a team of Chimera or humans and go after the other. I could see this game competing with Call of Duty 4 for your online game time. The accomplishment of Resistance 2 is that it supports up to sixty players in these competitive matches without a considerable amount of lag.

The graphics in Resistance 2 are not nearly as impressive as I was expecting. The levels are massive and there is a ton of action on screen, but the lack of detail is noticeable. Whether it is the plant life in the Bayou or the . This is definitely not the best looking game on PS3. And while there are not a ton of graphical glitches, the sound definitely is glitchy. The conversations that Hale has with allies throughout the game sound as if they are being broadcast over a radio when they are in fact just standing right next to you. I don’t know if it’s a case of bad sound recording or what, but it can get annoying.

With the onslaught of holiday releases, gamers and parents alike will want to know “what is worth my buck?” With all of the content that is being offered in the form of a ten hour single player story, online co-op that is separate from the storyline and competitive multi-player maps that are among the best of any shooter, Resistance 2 is without a doubt a strong candidate for your dollar. If you have only one game to choose from on PS3 for a holiday gift, make it Resistance 2. It’s worth every penny.