One night was all I needed to get a glimpse of the amazing content, multiplayer, and overall gameplay of Resistance 2.
Short Review:
Ups: Fast paced and fun gameplay, good graphics, decent storyline (if you take the time to follow it), and amazing multiplayer (lag free!)
Downs: Co-op offline mode (split screen) with a friend can be VERY frustrating, but bearable once you get the hang of it.
Long Review:
Gameplay: The game runs very smooth, even during some of the most intense battles. Not to mention the control setup makes perfect sense and blends well with the game. During the game you will encounter a fairly large variety of enemies, each requiring different weapons and approaches to defeat. This sets Resistance 2 apart from most FPS, where you are simply hunting for the most powerful gun, and then blasting away at hundreds of identical enemies. In Resistance enemies will often come in waves, allowing the player to literally mow down enemies (who doesn't love that). At the same time you will not spend all of your time simply shooting and reloading. The game does a good job of keeping you guessing, and forcing you to cook up some sort of strategy to approaching enemies. This especially comes into play during boss fights. Without giving too much away, the boss battles in this game are on par with some of the epic battles fought in the ps2 title "Shadow of the Colossus". In other words, they are HUGE, and offer the player the feeling of literally taking down giant aliens alone.
Graphics: It's a ps3, the graphics are amazing. If you haven't already, go down to your local wal-mart and pick up an HDMI cable to make Resistance 2 an experience you won't soon forget.
Multiplayer: The makers of Resistance 2 were EXTREMELY ambitious with the multiplayer. They tried things that could have backfired tremendously, which in turn would have ruined a large part of this games success. Fortunately for us (and them), the multiplayer is incredible, and arguably the best feature of this game (with one small exception, which i will get to). When going online you have a few choices. You can enter in a variety of games where you fight other players on a fairly large selection of maps. What makes this so amazing is the simple fact that these matches can hold up to 60 players! Thats right, sixty. And the best part is that there is no lag during these epic battles.
If pvp isn't your taste, you can play online co-op, going through different missions, leveling up, and unlocking new guns, skills, etc. Rather than playing as the main character during these co-op missions, you have the choice of three classes, all of which are balanced and necessary in a battle. The classes are soldier, medic, and special ops. This is probably the greatest part of this game, slashing through wave after wave of enemies with a group of real people, each playing different classes, is even more fun than it sounds. I could talk all day about the multiplayer in this game, but I'll let it do itself justice by recommending that you try this game A.S.A.P.
As promised I'll give what I consider the "bad news". The offline co-op was poorly designed. A friend and I played it for about 3 hours, only to realize that we had been doing the same missions over and over again, and had essentially gotten nothing accomplished. Not to mention we didn't know that we were playing on an account, where only the account owner (player 1), has his character/level saved. So essentially we played this for nearly three hours, both of us getting to level 7, and then one of the characters was completely wiped when we decided to take a break and go online. Also the missions are more difficult and repetitive than they need to be, i think mostly due to the fact that they are designed to be played online. The first resistance had a great offline co-op system, but I feel that it was strongly neglected in the sequel.
Storyline: Despite what many say, the Resistance games actually have a half way decent story. Its just a matter of caring enough to follow it. The second game picks up where the first one left off and delivers plenty of twists and turns to keep you excited about why your killing all of these out of control aliens in the first place. In all honesty though, if its story and story alone that your looking for, then do some research on Call of Duty 4.
Summary/Lasting Value (buy/rent this game?): All in all Resistance 2 delivers a great package to the player. Even after playing it for nearly 8 hours straight, it did not get tiring. I rented the game, but would definitely recommend buying it due to the incredible multiplayer that it offers. If you want a shooter with simply a good storyline and don't care about multiplayer, than go ahead and rent Call of Duty 4. But if you want a FPS that will keep your attention for months to come, then go ahead and spend the money to buy Resistance 2.