Resistance 2

Resistance 2 is the sequel to 2006 PS3 launch title, Resistance: Fall of Man. Players take up arms as Sgt. Nathan Hale a second time, facing off against the Chimeran threat. The narrative starts directly after the finale of its predecessor, only this time Hale is transported to the US to take part in a new program to create semi-Chimeran human super soldiers who are capable of harnessing the beneficial aspects of Chimeran DNA (super-human strength and cellular regeneration, primarily), but at the cost of needing constant treatments to prevent the spread of the Chimeran disease. Gameplay begins shortly after Hale arrives in Iceland, the location of this clandestine program. After a brief tutorial introduction, 2 years pass. Hale has been promoted to Lieutenant, he is the leader of one of the many squads of Sentinals, elite soldiers who survived the chimeran-injection, and has a small team of relatively unexplored characters working with him to take down insurmountable tasks.

Some of the biggest differences from the previous game: this game utilizes the whole regenerating health trope of most FPS games. If you get hurt, hide for a 20 seconds, and all your health is back with no need for finding health packs.

You no longer carry a fully arsenal of weapons, but carry 2 at one time and switch them out with other new weapons at the cost of dropping your old ones. Every weapon in the game now comes with a highly useful secondary fire that compliments the weapon's primary fire. We see this to an extent in the first game, as most Chimeran weapons had a secondary fire but many human weapons did not. It's a good change, and it adds a tactical edge to the gameplay other than simply running and gunning.

Hale is not alone for the majority of the game. Unlike in the previous game, where Hale would spend most of his time alone except for the rare occasions when you fight along with other squishy humans who would die within the instant of combat starting. For much of the game you have a dedicated team of Sentinals who assist you in combat without risk of their dying (except within the narration).

Combat is more-or-less the same. It's still a fast-paced, relatively loose FPS game with a lot of hiding behind cover and attempting to maneuver to vantage points against your opponents. The AI of the Chimera is still as frsutrating as the first game, with them focusing most of their fire upon the player character and making dumb, desperate gung-ho rushes towards you. It can be annoying sometimes, since cover can be worthless. But it keeps the enemy dangerous and the combat urgent.

It's hard to criticize this game without criticizing any other FPS of this time period. It's running and shooting. That's about it. As I mentioned in my review of the first game, no wheels are being reinvented here. I mostly play this game and the first one for the narrative, not for compelling gameplay.

Equally as noteworthy is that the characters aren't the most fleshed out. For the most part, you are relatively trapped within a world of soulless soldiers with little-to-no development. It's fine, considering that Hale and his team are just a few soldiers among many simply working towards the elimination of their enemy. But aside from hale, Capelli, and Mikhailov, most of the characters are simply just soldiers trying to survive.

All in all, this game is an improvement on its predecessor. It's prettier (they make some effort to add a bit more color to world, avoiding the sepia-toned England setting of the first installment) and it feels just as easy to pick up and play. I love the story of this game, and I find it the most compelling aspect of this flagship PS3 series, and Resistance 2 does a good job at keeping the progression going.

I remember when this first came out I got it right away, I loved the first game and it was my first rated M game, and I played the hell out of that game. But when this came out I remember being disappointing. First of all they did away with the weapon wheel and now you only were able to carry 2 weapons at a time like every other generic FPS, and the second thing is the design just felt more generic. The first game had some interesting design and good variety, where this just sort of blends all together. The story is even worse than the first game with a horrible ending, and nothing stands out at all. I can still remember a lot of moments and levels from the first game, I can remember weapons from the first game. This game I can't remember much about, and when I was younger I just felt something was missing from this, it didn't give me the same feeling I had playing the first, sure the graphics were better and the animations were smoother, but the game just felt like a downgrade and closer to being a generic FPS game.

I really dont understand the negative reception around this game, when i count it as one of the best fps fps of that year.

The plot sees you as soldier fighting off against the alien invasion, and you slowly but surely fall deeper and deeper into madness. Despite the overly militaristic setting, i found the plot at the time pretty gripping and emotional.

The campaign progression is mostly linear, taking it times to introduce new weapons and enemies. That said, the weapons are creative and really enjoyable to use. Its a satisfying shooters, and keeps changing the challenge to keep things interesting. They still didnt quite manage to make a boss fight interesting in an FPS, but its an enjoyable ride for the most part. THe multiplayer is pretty standard, taking the weapons from the singler player and allowing death matches and objective focused matches. The inclusion of split screen online is great though. There is also a coop mode that works similarly to left for dead, in which everyone picks a soldier class. Its honestly were i got the most out of the game, but its not as refined as left for dead.

Visually its a brownish and yellow shooter. A ton of these were released in that gen, but there is some well deserved merit in the enemy design and overal setting of the game.

So yea, its obviously not a masterpiece, but anyone who is up for an enjoyable and linear shooter should look this one up.