 When Resistance: Fall of Man was released alongside the PlayStation 3 in 2006, its critical and commercial success set a high bar for anything coming out of Insomniac's development studio. Although the studio hadn't made a shooter since Disruptor, which released back in 1996, their design prowess and mastery of the PS3 hardware created extremely high expectations for the game's inevitable sequel, Resistance 2.
To a certain extent, these expectations simply weren't fair. This is a big dilemma for all gamers: Should we judge a sequel against previous games in the franchise? Or should we base our criticism on the genre as a whole? The obvious answer is, of course, that we need to use both points of reference. Unfortunately, this isn't usually how the public will approach a sequel.
And of course, this is the case with Resistance 2. The game does not, by any means, create a subpar experience. But compared to the original title in the franchise, it can feel like a bit of a letdown in some areas. In fact, Resistance 2 almost feels like two separate games. On one hand, you have a fascinatingly addictive multiplayer system. On the other hand, you have a single player that hardly leaves you clamoring for more.
Hit the jump for the Tale of Two Games. Charles Dickens references have been omitted to protect the "literary" crowd.
Those ships look so drab. Can you say "extreme home makeover"?
Every gamer tends to approach a new game differently. Personally, I like to dive into the single player campaign and immerse myself in the fictional universe before I jump into multiplayer and massacre people I've never met. Call it an old habit. I hear those things are hard to break.
First, let's present a quick refresher course for anyone who may have missed the original Resistance: Fall of Man. If you've already experienced the juicy goodness of the Chimera, go ahead and jump forward a couple paragraphs. Don't worry; I'm not going to talk about you behind your back too much.
Have they stopped reading? Good. Now, for the Resistance newcomers, here's a very brief overview of the universe of Resistance: Fall of Man. The game is set in an alternate history, beginning in the year 1951. You play the role of Nathan Hale, a sergeant in the Army Rangers. It seems Europe has been overrun by a group called the Chimera. It's not exactly clear where these scumbags have come from, but you can rest assured that they don't like you. Hale is sent to Britain, along with a sizeable group of soldiers, to help liberate the country from the Chimera. However, things don't exactly go as planned. The forces are bombarded, and the majority of the troops are infected with the Chimera virus. Hale is also infected, but he is somehow able to use the virus to his advantage, rather than turning into a slobbering pile of enemy flesh. The story throughout the game revolves around Hale's quest to rid the planet of the evil opposition, at any cost.
Resistance 2 picks up nearly seamlessly from the end of the original title. Now, however, Hale is no longer fighting with the Army Rangers. Instead, he has been recruited by an elite squadron known as the Sentinels. The bad news, though, is that the Chimera have crossed the ocean and invaded the United States. Of course, being a red-blooded American, Hale isn't going to stand for this. The story throughout Resistance 2 meanders through Hale's attempts at ridding the continent of his strange foes.
Maybe the Chimera are so pale because they spend all day underground.
The overall story arc in Resistance 2 is somewhat bland. Sure, things start out nice and exciting, but you'll quickly find yourself caring less and less about what may happen next. It's actually very difficult to become engulfed in the plot here. The dialogue in the game is atrocious. There's really no other way to say it. After countless dramatic one-liners that seem to have been pulled directly from early 1990s action films, all effect is lost. It's not even cheesy enough to be funny. Really, it's just kind of sad. In fact, I essentially found myself checking my email while characters were talking to one another; I just wanted to get back to the shooting.
Aside from the dialogue, the plot progression is very cliché as well. There are a few plot twists, but nothing ever comes as a real surprise. You'll never find yourself saying, "Seriously? Wow, I had no idea!" Seriously, if you've watched any sci-fi movies in the past 20 years, it's likely you won't be surprised by anything here.
Doesn't he look cute?
Okay, so the story isn't very immersive. There's always the killing to keep your interest, right? Well, sort of. The best word I can use to describe the gameplay here is "lazy." It's not exactly that the game isn't polished. Everything looks great, animations are smooth, and the game runs very well. It just feels very average. It's almost as if the following conversation took place:
Designer 1: "How can we increase the difficulty here a little bit?"
Designer 2: "We could reprogram the pathfinding for the AI, so they'll flank around the player and make him play more aggressively."
Designer 1: "How long will that take?"
Designer 2: "Well, I'll have to bring the contractor back in to help me test out some algorithms, but it should only take about 4-6 weeks to get it all ironed out."
Designer 1: "Screw it. Make them invisible, and make them a one-hit kill."
Seriously, don't you just want to cuddle him to death?
Look, I'm all about adding difficulty to a game, but there is a big difference between something being difficult and something being cheap and frustrating. Resistance 2 is a great example of the latter. Let's think about this a little bit. In any game, if you know an enemy can kill you with one attack, you know to stay your distance and pick them off with ranged weapons. But when that enemy is invisible, you obviously can't do that. In this particular section of Resistance 2, the first few times I played the scenario, I went slowly through the environment, constantly on the lookout for my transparent enemies. But after dying too many times because I apparently have the reaction time of a sloth, I changed my approach. Now, I just ran through the area, hoping to get to the other side without triggering the bad guys. When an element in a game can cause a player so much frustration that he plays through that element in a manner that wasn't intended, then that element is flawed. Surely, Insomniac intended to keep up the intensity here and force the player to tip-toe through the environment, but it just doesn't work. It's a sloppy approach to a game mechanic that is overused.
The majority of the game, sadly, is filled with similar frustration. The word "cheap" is thrown around a lot, but it really feels like it applies here. Enemies can be expected to completely ignore your allies and focus 100% of their attention on you. In a lot of cases, you'll enter a large room filled with about a dozen enemies. You'll have two or three teammates with you, but they won't matter. When you enter the room, the Chimera will typically be standing or walking around, out in the open, away from cover. You'll have the first few seconds when you walk into the room to take down a few of the enemies before they find cover. If you're like me, your inconsistent aim will constantly put you in a bad situation. Once the Chimera take cover, they'll focus almost entirely on you, and your teammates are completely worthless. Forget hiding behind a box while your fellow soldiers take out a couple of the jerks shooting at you. Instead, you have to take pot shots and hope you catch a Chimera right between the eyes.
It really doesn't matter which difficulty level you chose at the beginning of Resistance 2. No matter your selection, you're still going to encounter frustration, and you're still going to die a bit more than you'd like. The game switches from challenging to frustrating after about 20 minutes of gameplay. Unless you're completely enamored with the Resistance universe, you may find it hard to force yourself to jump back into the single-player campaign after the first couple hours.
Defend my control point? Nathan Hale takes orders from no one! You know, except his superiors.
The other half of Resistance 2 feels like the complete polar opposite of the single-player campaign. The multiplayer components, both competitive and cooperative, are absolutely stellar. After playing through the main story, these aspects almost feel like they were made by a completely different team. That's not exactly the best thing to experience in a video game, but it's better than having a game that's a complete let down, right?
The competitive multiplayer will feel very familiar to anyone who played Resistance: Fall of Man online. The biggest change, of course, is the game's leap to 60-player matches. Now, instead of having two teams of 30 running around the maps like delirious hamsters, players are placed into smaller squads, each with their own unique objective, which is mirrored by a squad on the opposing team.
The maps are absolutely huge, and they're completely scalable for different game modes and number of players. You'll be playing through four different multiplayer modes here: Core Control, which is essentially a Capture the Flag mode, Team Deathmatch, Deathmatch, and Skirmish, in which players will take part in smaller objective-based confrontations. Now, to be honest, four game modes doesn't exactly feel like a bounty of variation at first, but the matches differ so much from game to game that nothing ever feels excessive or redundant.
The Leviathan doesn't want to be fed. The Leviathan wants to hunt!
The cooperative mode is the big kahuna here. Unlike most games, in which co-op simply takes you through the main story with some extra buddies, Insomniac created an entirely separate campaign for co-op. The story runs parallel to the single-player campaign, with gamers now playing as members of Specter Team. Here, your team will be tasked with handling a set of randomly-generated objectives throughout the levels while continuously dealing with the obnoxious Chimera. And rather than utilizing generic player skins, you'll be able to pick from three distinct classes. First, there's the Soldier, the bullet sponge of the group. The Soldiers are going to dish out the most damage throughout the campaign, utilizing their high level of health and strong weapons to take down the neighborhood invaders. The Spec-Ops, on the other hand, are better at fighting from a distance, picking off stragglers and weak foes. The Spec-Ops characters can't take nearly as much damage as the Soldiers, but they carry an extra benefit by being able to dish out ammunition to members of the party. Last, and certainly not least, are the Medics, who will become your best friends very quickly. Medics can drain health from enemies and give it to their teammates, a useful skill seeing as how health does not regenerate in the co-op campaign.
You can play through the co-op campaign with up to 8 players online (or two players locally). The overall strength of the Chimera is scaled to fit the number and skill of the players in the game. Best of all, the co-op game mode eliminates nearly all the frustrations of the single-player campaign. Since all members in the party are skilled, human-controlled characters, the Chimera will not focus on a single player, allowing the team to work as one to take down the enemy forces. And with randomized objectives, you'll never play through the same campaign twice.
One of the most positive aspects of the multiplayer modes is their constant rewards system, which is shared by both the competitive and cooperative sections of the game. Much like the ever-popular Call of Duty 4, players will constantly earn experience points for everything they do in both modes, which leads to advancement and perks as you progress through the ranks. This sort of system is something that needs to become the standard of multiplayer gameplay, and Insomniac nails it in Resistance 2.
Does someone need a hug?
It's really a very strange experience playing through Resistance 2. The single-player mode is almost painful to play at times, while the multiplayer modes are infinitely entertaining. For a game that had so much hype behind it, due mainly to its successful predecessor, half of the experience feels very unsatisfying.
Let me make this very clear: The single-player campaign in Resistance 2 cannot be classified as "bad" when compared to other shooters on the PS3. The problem, though, is that it is exceedingly average. And for a game with such high expectations and such a talented studio behind it, "average" just isn't good enough. Luckily, the multiplayer in Resistance 2 more than makes up for the single-player's shortcomings. Though it may be hard to find the motivation to play through the single-player more than once, the competitive and cooperative multiplayer modes offer more than enough incentive for continued play. If you're simply looking for a satisfying solo experience, this one may not be for you. But if you ever venture into the realm of multiplayer, Resistance 2 is definitely not one to pass up. It may feel very dichotomous at times, but it is definitely still worth playing.
Final Score: B
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