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The Playstation 3 launch title Resistance: Fall Of Man was in my opinion a solid fps to get the Playstation 3’s exclusive library started. Now Resistance two is on those shelves available to buy. But is Resistance 2 just a ’solid’ first person shooter or does it manage to elevate and go beyond what Resistance: Fall of man was?

Firstly I am aware that in North America this game has been out for weeks now, however In Europe we only just got our hands on the game recently.

Likes
*Only being able to equip two weapons add more realism and makes things reasonably challenging.
*The new weapons are satisfying.
*Wide variety of Chimera monsters, plus boss battles.
*Online is both fun and frantic.

Dislikes
*Co-Op lacks story telling elements
*You cant play the main story campaign in co-op

Gameplay

Nothing much has changed in terms of gameplay, Resistance 2 has better graphics and more polished gameplay that the first game. All guns still have secondary fire except this time you can only carry a total of two weapons at one time. This is both good and bad, it is great in the sense it adds more realism to the experience but bad because it makes things alot more challenging. If your accuracy is not on point then you will find yourself running out of ammo very quickly with both guns and then you simply have to wait until you come across either some ammo or new guns to replace your current one(s) with. To me this change is more welcomed than disliked however because it makes the game feel more like a survival experience. Also new to Resistance 2 is the ability to sprint, and this is not just thrown in there for the sake of it. There will indeed be times where you have to sprint for your life.

Campaign

Resistance’s campaign this time around is much better crafted than its predecessor, from the story to the conflict to the enemies. Last time around the story was told through still Grey images with a narration from a female soldier, which probably did everything but make the player actually pay attention to the games storyline. This time Insomniac did us proud with excellent story telling, the game contains cut scenes but only enough to let the story progress. Story telling is split up between the cut scenes and your in game experiences. You will continue to be briefed by radio and sometimes times story telling sequences will happen right before your eyes. This adds a lot of depth to the experience and you really feel like you are apart of Nathan Hale’s story.

Another thing that makes the campaign so great this time are the action sequences, the game feels like a non stop slaughter fest and the action hardly ever stops. On top of that it does not get boring or repetitive throughout the course of the game. Insomniac does a good job of splitting up all the action, plus the game now has boss battles and each boss needs to be defeated in a different way which really mixes things up.

Another gem I noticed is that there are tons of different Chimera monsters this time around, the first game felt like you were just going against the same Chimera again and again with only small variations. This time there is a whole library of different Chimera that do different things, many of them are a bitch to kill also (especial those damn chameleons). Also some of these breeds will literally swarm your team with tons of them rushing at you, you have to really be quick and swift with movement and action you make.

The campaign could be completed within a few days but I myself found it a satisfying length, and considering you will most likely die a lot, the challenge makes the game worth playing.

Co-Operative mode

The co op did not seem to me what Insomniac was telling us it would be. However it is excellent and addictive non the less. I recall Insomniac saying there would be a separate storyline for the Co-Operative modes, however they have little to no story at all. Its basically mission based teamwork, simple as that. but there are many missions to unlock and play, and you get classes to upgrade which means you will defiantly be coming back to co-op. The co op experience is fun and frantic to play and if you have a full team of eight playing with you it feels great to know that because of the class system you are actually contributing something to the team other than just killing chimera. There are three classes, Soldier, Medic and Spec Op’s. If you are a Soldier then you are a front line killing machine, if your a medic then every hit with the plasma gun replenishes your health and you can also heal your team with your secondary fire, and the Spec op’s has the ability to throw out ammo for the team and every ammo pack you throw out adds to your own ammo. The classes play a big part in co-op, it will be very difficult completing a mission if your team does not have a good balance of the three classes.

The action is non stop and gets real crazy, there are literally hundreds of enemies on screen at times, or it feels that way. It can be compared to the gears of war 2 hoard mode in some instance, however it is far different. The game ends and the mission will be failed if all your team dies. You can also play offline Co-Op with a friend, but the big letdown is you cant do the main campaign together, it is exactly the same as online. And playing the online co-op with only one other friend in my own experience was too hard and boring, I’m not sure if anything changes for the offline version of co-op, but if it does not then that is a huge flaw as two people are simply not enough to complete any mission with.

Competitive mode

The competitive mode is your usual deathmatch and team deathmatches. This time around of course Resistance allows up to 60 players to compete online against one another. These 60 player battles can either be a team deathmatch or a skirmish, the skirmish gives your team different objectives to carry out against the opposing team. Which ever team gets the set amount of points, or has the most points after the time limit wins. When I play competitive mode I always go for these 60 player battles, and the non stop slaughter is too addictive and going back to the smaller matches feels too boring.

Verdict

Insomniac did a great job with this one, they fixed everything about Resistance: fall of man that restricted it to just being a solid first person shooter. Resistance 2 goes beyond solid, and it is a game that you will pick up again and again due to the addictiveness of the online. Some gamers may forget about the campaign as these days online is such a big part of the game that the campaign can feel like a chore, however for those that chose to go through the campaign fully, it is not a disappointment. The trophies also give this game much replay value and its great to see some of Playstation 3’s top games finally utilize the feature. Overall I feel Insomniac managed to make a shooter that will not only over please fans of the genre, but also entertain those who don’t even play much first person shooters. This is now truly one of Playstation 3’s best franchises.

Written By Gary A Swaby

Deeper than the words embedded in somebody's wedding ring