Resistance 2 is a better sequel, but is it a better game? Find out in my review.
Resistance 2 is a first person shooter, and there are a variety of weapons you can choose from such as the ever so accurate Bullseye, the wall piercing Auger, and the classic ol' Shotgun. The chimera are incredibly intelligent within the game, they know what they're doing and they know how to handle a gun like it's their child or something. If you're expecting any easy fight, well…..you better stop thinking unless you want a bullet to go through your head, hahaha, nice imagery. You're A.I. partners on the other hand are about as dumb as a sack of year old laundry. During skirmishes with the chimera your partners like to run off ahead of you. What make it even worse is that the chimera mainly focus on you which means while you're fighting to keep yourself alive, your partners are just sneaking past them like they're invisible. What's up with that!? The single player campaign is well crafted and balanced for the most part, but there are times where the production values seem to be unbalanced. I'll talk about this matter later on. Resistance 2 can host up to 60 players on multiplayer matches, and as fun as that sounds…..trust me….it's not all that great. Online matches are incredibly unbalanced, and the multiplayer options just feel like they were slapped onto the game. I thought the co-op aspect of the game would be spectacular, but instead I found myself and my friends running from checkpoint to checkpoint just to kill enemies and flip switches. Resistance 2 is a better sequel in terms of gameplay, but there are many problems that stop it from being a better game.
Resistance 2 is graphically stunning from the destroyed ruins of Chicago, to the intense atmosphere created from the heat of battle. Insomniac promised that Resistance 2 would be larger in scale, and boy they weren't kidding. The level designs were huge and were incorporated into the game rather well. In one of the parts of the game you have to climb up a tower in Chicago and guess what you find at the top, why nothing, just a 50 ft monster bent on ripping you apart, that's all. The chimera have also received new and improved designs and so have the other characters in the game. Just picture Resistance: Fall of Man with a new coat of paint over it. However, the production values concerning the levels were unbalanced. Some levels were brimming with detail, and I could easily tell that the developers spent a lot of time making sure that everything was in the right place. At other times, the levels were dreadfully dull, and lacked vitality.
The sound design was superb. The voice actors knew what they were doing for the most part, and the chimera sounded as creepy as ever. What really blew me away was the man in the radio. Many players will most likely skip these radio sequences but as for me, well I stayed for every single one. There are tiny little radios scattered throughout the game, and if you have the patience to listen to what the man has to say you will be in for a thrilling mini story. The man in the radio talks about his experience with the chimera and the horrors he has seen when they were invading, and as boring as that may sound his tale actually brought a tear to my eye. (well not literally) The voice actor knew how to display his emotions, and made me truly believe that he was real and that America was in trouble. Kudos to you radio man, kudos to you.
Overall: Resistance 2 is by far a great sequel to Resistance: Fall of Man. Resistance 2 delivers fast paced action, stunning visuals, and great sound design, but is also has its share of problems that prevent it from being a superb game. Hopefully if or should I say when Resistance 3 comes out, Insomniac will work on the problems I mentioned earlier and make the next Resistance a struggle to remember.