RESISTANCE 2 (PS3)

Resistance: Fall of Man was easily the best game of the Play Station 3 launch. The game drew many comparisons to Halo’s launch with the original Xbox. Interestingly, Resistance 2 reminded us quite a bit of the criticisms of Halo 2; while Resistance 2’s multiplayer is an amazing achievement, the still good single player campaign just simply lacks the polish of the original.

Resistance 2’s single player campaign again puts you in the role of Nathan Hale. Hale’s battle against the Chimara has now come to the United States. You’ll battle the Chimara in several different locales and there is a greater variety of Chimara in Resistance 2 than appeared in the original. The outstanding weapons from the original return with a twist; you can now only carry two weapons at a time. This leads to the situational weapon selection that most of us have come to enjoy in modern shooters. Also, you no longer need to search for health vials as Hale’s health automatically recharges as in other modern shooters. An odd omission from Resistance 2 is the outstanding vehicle sequences from the original have been removed. We really weren’t quite sure why Insomniac left these types of sequences out.



The outstanding enemy AI, as well as larger scale environments, make the single player campaign worthwhile. The campaign, however, just doesn’t feel as polished as we had hoped. The lack of a narrator (which really tied things together in the original Resistance) makes the story rather difficult to follow. Also, the games different chapters feel rather disconnected and seem to lack coherency. Also, for some odd reason, Insomniac took away the option to play the single player campaign in a split-screen co-op mode. While the single player campaign is still quite good, we weren’t left with a “cut above the rest” feeling like we were after the first game.

Resistance 2 stands out in its multiplayer. The sixty player matches are pretty impressive. Also, the additional missions that can be played via online co-op are a blast. The best mode in multiplayer though is the new “Skirmish” setting. This is a mode where both teams are given multiple objectives to achieve and you really feel like part of a large scale conflict. The maps are great and lend themselves to Skirmish mode very well.



Resistance 2 is quite the technological achievement. The game looks outstanding (though not as good as Gears of War 2). Our play through showed no bugs or hang-ups. The large scale multi-player modes leaves you a little awe struck at first, there simply haven’t been other multi-player games on this scale. The time that must have gone into developing the multi-player code is pretty astonishing.

Resistance 2 is a great game and should be purchased. This is a great bang for your buck between the good single player campaign, online co-op modes, and great multi-player functions. It’s hard to get this much for your money from another game. We’re only giving the game an 8.5 however as those who purchase Resistance for the single player aspect will be left feeling that it is a step back from the original for the reasons stated above.

Grade 8.5

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