PS3 Review - Resistance 2

Do you have what it takes to save Earth?

I am not the biggest first person shooter fan. So for me to enjoy one it has to be pretty good overall. The recent first person shooters that I purchased were of course Resistance: Fall of Man and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Both were fantastic in their own right. The thing is I have always preferred third person over first person view, it’s just a preference of mine. Also with all the great games coming out this season, it’s hard to distinguish which title is worthy and which aren’t.

Resistance 2 picks up where Resistance: Fall of Man left off. You are once again in control of the main protagonist, Nathan Hale. The true question at hand though is whether or not Insomniac Games delievered this time around with the much anticipated sequel. Well before you read this entire review I will say this, yes they did, but in a different way. The game impresses in areas, and disappoints in others.

What I Liked:

-The story—I personally loved the way that this story went in this game. It was great. I would love to just go on and on about it, but the only problem is that I hate to spoil it for you. So I will let you all experience it for yourselves if you choose to pick up this title. Though I will say that the title doesn’t answer a lot of the questions that were raised from the first title, and in fact leaves the gamer with more questions to be answered.
-Actual support system—If you played through the first game you know that you are basically left all alone when you play through it. There is no real support from other characters in the game, and you basically run into generic soldiers. Well this time around that is completely not the case. You have other characters who aren’t just soldiers that you run in throughout the game, they are actual characters with actual personalities.
-Size—everything is bigger in this title. Levels, bosses, etc. That is a good thing. This is in both the single player and multiplayer modes.
-Co-op—online co-op with this game is possibly one of the most addictive modes that I’ve played in quite some time. I play it a lot more than the competitive modes. Within the co-op mode you can choose between three different classes. These include soldier, special ops, and medic. They each have their own missions as well for you to accomplish to 8 other players. Through this you can also do split screen with a friend and include 6 other players online to go through the co-op campaign.
-Variety—there is a lot of variety in this game as well. It takes you all over the U.S. to various locations, both rural and suburban.
-Weapons—Insomniac is known for their innovative weapons throughout their games, and they don’t fail here either. There are many choices available to the player.
-Community aspect—might not necessarily be a part of the game, but Insomniac has set up a whole community aspect at myresistance.net and it includes everything from stat tracking to a whole forum dedicated to it.
-Trophies—while we have known for a while that the game would ship with trophies, Insomniac chose to evenly distribute them across all of the play modes available in the game. Meaning you have to be an all around player to achieve all the trophies available in this title.
-Actual Tension—there were several moments in this title where I felt like there was a sense of urgency to get something accomplished. I felt like I had to complete my objectives because time was actually running out for Hale. This was something that was lacking in the first Resistance.

What I Disliked:

-Questions unanswered—while I think that the game was nothing short of fantastic, I don’t like how even some of the questions from Resistance: Fall of Man weren’t even answered, let alone addressed. Resistance 2 also raised it’s own fair share of questions as well. It by no means comes close to breaking the game, but it does leave the gamer wanting more.
–Weapon system—if anyone has played the first game they are used to being able to use any weapon they feel the need to. With Resistance 2 you are only able to choose 2 weapons to carry. But the problem with this is that the weapons are placed in places right before you encounter certain enemies. So there are a couple times within the game where you can actually guess what enemy you will be encountering in a bit. That wasn’t the case in Resistance: Fall of Man. You were always on your toes because you didn’t know what was around the corner. But I do see why Insomniac did this. It is more logical for a person to be able to carry only 2 weapons rather than 10. Also they should’ve brought back the weapons that were in the first game as well with the current weapons. Hopefully it will be DLC in the future via PSN.
-Lack of node/objective modes—a lot of the modes that people came to love on the first Resistance’s online are missing. The most notable are the assault and breach modes. They were a lot of fun in the first game, so hopefully they are released as a patch or even DLC.
-No split screen campaign—this is probably the one that has me the most bothered. I was ecstatic when I discovered the first Resistance had split screen ability. Me and a friend played it constantly and enjoyed every minute of it. Insomniac definitely should have left this in and possibly even added in online co-op campaign abilities. I don’t understand why they would take this out in the first place. I know a lot of people that are complaining about the lack of this. Hopefully a patch comes out here as well.

Buy/Rent/Stay Away:

Through the minor complaints of this title Resistance 2 is still a must own in my opinion. It is an excellent experience that draws you in, especially for a shooter. Many of the complaints I listed could easily be fixed via patch or DLC released at a later date. So if you are even questioning getting this game then let me make this easy on you, go buy the title now. If you are a fan of the first then you will love the sequel, it already has me looking forward to the PSP title coming out in the future. Also if you do happen to pick up the title or already have be sure to join or clan. The name of the clan is PSLS. We are accepting applicants now, so feel free to join.