Extremely disappointing sequel to fans of the Resistance series. No campaign co-op, or unique weapon wheel = bad
When I first bought this game I was really excited because I read on a website that it was cooperative, so I was thinking I was going to get to play it with my brother split screen campaign just like the first Resistance game. That was the biggest thing I was looking forward to. Since there are so many other current gen games that lack that feature. Well when I booted up the game, and tried to select co-op campaign.... Well. It did not work... And I almost balled my eyes out, I was heart broken, really. I seriously was. Needless to say, I played through the campaign and it was okay. I most recently played it again, not because I necessarily enjoy it a whole lot, mainly to get a fresh take on the game before reviewing it, but it was okay a second time too, I guess. Actually I think I liked it more the second time because I didn't have that co-op expectation.
No co-op aside, there were some other grievances I had with this game. such as no weapon wheel that was so signature of the first game, and no health bar, among other things.
The story in this game while not as gripping as the first game, is still pretty good, and does fit well as a sequel. I felt as though the character progression of Hale, as well as the progression of the story itself as a whole, were both really well done. I did not like however, that they completely nixed the British chick from the first game, I mean she was the narrator!!! What happened with her? Did she die??? The story in the second game is not told through any narration whatsoever, it is done purely through cut scenes. However, the intel documents are back, which reveal a great deal of back story to a lot of other characters, which I found very enjoyable, and motivation enough to try and find the intel.
The level design in this game was shotty at best. I felt as though it was not as well planned as it could be, and there were multiple times I would find myself in seemingly impossible situations early on. (What I like to call "difficulty spikes") I am a firm believer in the difficulty of a game progressing as you get further into it. Start off nice and easy, then get more and more difficult as you go. Don't make it medium, then super hard, then super easy, then hard, then medium, then easy, then super hard again! That was not okay with me, and caused for numerous times of me yelling frantically at my tv as if it was responsible. Needless to say there are some good things about this game. There are some epic moments, and the enemy A.I. is really something else. I think I neglected to mention this in the previous review. But the Resistance series has really smart enemy A.I. Such as, if you hide from fire too long, a group of Chimera WILL bum rush you, and then you are screwed. Things like that just make me chuckle to myself in adoration for such great programming feats to make an enemies artificial intelligence so gosh darn awesome.
The graphics in this game I would say are on par with graphics of its 2008 first person shooter age. Gameplay wise it's also on par with other first person 2008 shooters, which I did not like. The controls were completely changed to match that of other shooters such as Call of Duty, which I did not have any issues with, because I am all for a universal first person control scheme, and Halo and Call of Duty have that down pat. However, in Resistance 2 they have all the same controls, except for some stupid reason, crouch AND sprint share the same button, and it isn't the left joystick (L3) it was L2. (Tap to crouch, hold to run.) It didn't interfere too much with the controls, but it just irked me a little, why did that one thing have to be different? Did they want to feel "Speeecial," with their controls? Who knows?
Another gameplay thing that is the same as other shooters, was the fact that you only have 2 guns on you at one time! No weapon wheel!!! What the HECK is up with that??? I mean seriously, why take such an innovative thing to shooters, and wreck it to hell by limiting the amount of guns you can hold? It destroys all the strategy and creative thinking in the first game by having all your weapons at your disposal at all times. In this game, you still have original weapons, and a lot of different ones, but only certain ones, at certain times and it just makes it feel so much more CODish... (Call of duty-ish).
One more thing, was the health. They took away the health bar, which was another thing that I thought was original to the Resistance series, but now it's red screen, redder, redder, dead. I am okay with this type of health in a lot of games, but not this one, because the health bar really is a resistance thing. And the red screen does sort of makes sense story wise. Hale has become more Chimera like, and as such has better regenerative abilities, and doesn't need health canisters. Still, it just feels like Insomniac Games got scared with their originality and took a really nice original first person shooter, and made it the same generic CODish shooter. The multiplayer was a little different from the usual CODish multiplayer at least.
While the first game was so fun I had enough replayabilty just out of the campaign, the second game while not as replayable of a campaign had online multiplayer, a somewhat innovative one at that I might add. With 30 on 30 team matches, it really made for all out mayhem, and made it feel like an actual battlefield, as opposed to the CODish 8 vs. 8 layout. However, while many fans of the series liked this, I think I am more of a fan of the 8 vs. 8 CODish ways, I like the personalization of actually knowing the name of someone that kills you, then being able to go after them, instead of rounding a corner and running into a group of 10 guys that just unload their clips into you. The online multiplayer was a step forward though overall, and there was a 3 man co-op mode that could be played splitscreen with a buddy while online, that wasn't the campaign, and was mission based, but I thought it was terrible, and difficult. Each man was either a marksman, a medic, or a soldier. So you had to heal somebody with a heal gun the entire time, or you would shoot a machine gun the entire time, or you would snipe. Not as fun as competitive online though.
Resistance 2, while being okay in story, and character progression, lacks a lot of the original heart and soul put into the first game, which makes for a halfhearted play session, leaving you disappointed. However, the online multiplayer is pretty fun, so that was a good addition not included in the first game.
Breakdown:
Story: 8/10
The story in this game while seeming cliche in parts, is fitting for its place in the trilogy.
Graphics: 9/10
The graphics in this game are on par with first person shooter counterparts of its time.
Sound: 8/10
The soundtrack is decent, however, it is not very prominent. And the voice acting is just as good as the first game.
Gameplay: 6/10
The controls are nice and tight, and very responsive, no beefs there. I did not like their change in originality of the health system, or the weapon wheel, or the lack of couch campaign co-op. Furthermore, due to difficulty spikes, I almost had an aneurism, which is quite unhealthy. The online multiplayer is fun though, and adds hours of playtime.
Overall
I recommend this game to all Resistance fans, despite the disappointment I felt, as you really will want to play this game for the story, and the cliffhanger at the end that will make you want to play the last game of the trilogy.