This disappointing sequel severely lacks the dark and gritty tone in visuals and violence that Fall of Man succeeded on
Contains: Strong Comic Bloody Violence and Threat
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Resistance 2 is a Historic First Person shooter with Sci-fi elements that takes place in an apocalyptic-like America which is under threat from the aggressive alien race called the Chimera.
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STORY – 2/5
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Britain has been saved (for now at least), the result of Nathan Hale's strong and arduous efforts from Resistance: Fall of Man. But upon being picked up and extracted by helicopter to Iceland, your victory is short-lived as the chimera have attacked the base with a Goliath and other infantry. After you succeed in stopping the chimera, you head to America. 2 years passed and then the chimera launched a full scale invasion of both the east and west coasts of the United States. People are scarce to find and an apocalyptic nightmare begins unfolding. This time Hale is part of a special task force of soldiers called "The Sentinels", who, like him, are infected with the Chimeran virus, but keep it under control with special inhibitors and are able to reap the benefit of wound regeneration and faster reactions (traits of the chimera). But the inhibitors only last a certain time until they either get another shot or the Chimera virus takes over, and so all the courage you built up from the first game will have to be maintained if you are to take back such a large continent, and save the world from the grisly clutches of the chimera. It sounds decent, but new changes to storytelling where this time cutscenes are introduced instead of like on the previous game with a narrated story, make for a poor change, and it quite simply isn't captivating. Intel documents return, and many are interesting documentations giving some good background over the events occurring, but they are too well hidden and require far too much errant exploration to uncover them, and so thoroughly checking every corner of the environment will soon prove a tiresome activity to dwell on further.
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CHARACTERS – 1/5
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The characters in Resistance 2 all combine together to further decrease the already weak story, and the cutscenes are all completely uninteresting because of the dull attitude present in all characters met along the way. Nathan Hale is still the protagonist, carried on from the first game, but like before, he is someone you'll want to like and try to like. But his character is made unlikeable because of his severe lack of involvement in the story, where he'll progress through the campaign almost silent, and so no striking emotional connection will ever be made between you as the player, and Nathan Hale's deteriorating condition as the game's lead man battling the chimera infection. Other characters also prove themselves dull to proceedings, and overall make Resistance 2's plot a run-of-the-mill one with no engaging, averagely voiced characters which hamper all the fun when a cutscene commences. The one slight positive to mention, one aspect that may or may not strike some emotional connection, is the scattered radio monologues from radioman Henry Stillman that provide some heart wrenching short narratives of what he's seeing from his perspective as the nation is being overrun by hostile aliens, and following any survivors on their desperate escapes, and are well worth listening to.
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GAMEPLAY – 3/5
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In a desperate struggle to defeat the Chimera, you can be certain to find frequent amounts of action in the campaign, and your attempts to stabilize America will take you around the states, encountering various types of strain of the Chimeran virus, and taking down some truly massive bosses which are definitely the highlight of this disappointing sequel. Weapons are a mix of 1950s human technology and more advanced alien technology, and many old favourites from Fall of Man return in Resistance 2 including the Bullseye, M4A1 Carbine and the Auger, each with new designs, but all dealing the correct damage its predecessor bought to the table. A disappointing aspect to the gameplay this time, is that you are limited to carrying 2 weapons at a time, so you're not giving the nice freedom of choice with the weapon wheel like seen before. This is an unfortunate implementation since some weapons are just not worth picking up at all unless you're going to use it there and then, meaning you'll likely stick with your favourite weapons throughout, unless of course, an armoured enemy makes an appearance, forcing you to briefly change your load out until its been destroyed and you can go back and pick up your other weapon again. Hit detection is very realistic, and after a kill you can see the effects that you dealt as the bullet damage is evident on the corpse, highlighting with red and bloody bullet wounds where you eliminated that alien from the unbalanced equation the American army is facing.
During the campaign you'll battle in some really enjoyable scenarios with excellent level and art design, with epic moments including your fierce fight against the Leviathan (A gigantic boss), your back alley clash with new enemies called Grims where you are horribly outnumbered which amps up the tension, and also a forest level where you encounter invisible foes. The first half of the game is by far a pleasing half, but the game loses its freshness in the second half by pitting you up against loads of chimera in many challenging situations, and without a cover system and harsh regenerative health system, things just turn frustrating. Large shielded enemies litter the front line of chimera, and all each level consists of is shooting non-stop until your clip is empty, reloading, and continuously firing round after round until all enemies have dropped to the floor, which is the complete opposite of enjoyable. The violence also takes a comic turn for the worst where up-close shots with a shotgun will laughably explode enemies into a mess of bloody entrails that slide off the walls and ceilings. There are no limbs or flesh, just intestines and stomach organs flying outwards with a small splash of blood, which looks terribly unrealistic and comical. A similar reaction happens with a new weapon called The Splicer, which shoots out powerful spinning disc blades, and dismembers enemies if you hit them in the right place, although it looks horrible with the severe lack of gruesome detail, and makes the weapon unfit to use on weak enemies for the desperate lack of realism.
Resistance 2 isn't an easy game, and towards the end of the game, the sheer amount of aggressive enemies, will be causing you to restart at the last checkpoint many times, while also using the regenerative health system to duck out of cover frequently. The weapons are all deadly and efficient for the right type of chimera, and since they attack in waves, you'll like to keep an up close and personal weapon for precautions if you do get outnumbered heavily in a small area.
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GRAPHICS - 3/5
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Insomniac clearly show that they tried to improve the graphics from the first game, but the graphics actually spoil a lot of the game. Fall of Man was dark and gritty, but Resistance 2 is too bright and colourful, almost too similar to Ratchet and Clanks bright visuals, and being a rather gloomy time in the history of mankind it would have been great to have seen a continuation of the dark and realistic graphics from the first game. The graphics are by no means bad, since some environments do look nice and rich with detail, but it's not the feel you want from an alien invasion, you need to see gruesome imagery and dark lighting effects that Resistance 2 just simply doesn't offer, and ultimately the heavy changes to visuals are deemed unnecessary. The blood and gore doesn't look good, and some texture issues can spoil the art design for the environment, which doesn't help matters improve as the graphics just aren't suited for this game. Resistance 2 does have one magnificent highlight to the visuals up its sleeve though, and that's the gorgeous water effects, where particles realistically react to bullet penetration through the (often) murky surface and cause ripple effects that spread unlike any you've seen in previous games. Many parts of levels have you engaging the water, more often than not, the objective being to stay out of it, since marine chimera infest the flooded streets and bases just waiting for you to slip where the last thing you'll see is the murky surface spreading outwards with blood red colour. Attention to detail is also impressive, where everything in all environments looks to have had real artistic imagination put into them to realise mid-century America turn into an apocalyptic revelation. It's just unfortunate that the bright and dynamic style of graphics reverberate around the whole gameplay of the game, with an unsatisfactory lasting appeal.
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SOUND – 3/5
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With an uninteresting story, dull characters and a torpid main protagonist, it's no surprise that the voice acting is below average, and asides from the radio monologues uncommonly spaced between levels, there is no convincing dialogue here, and it's a regretful mistake on the developer's behalf that the story is a major flop by changing the narrative way of storytelling. The music score at some points can make some scenes unsettling and nerve-wracking, particularly when heavily outnumbered and outgunned in one of the urban, deserted environments, and usually this is most effective because of how silent the music is, making you almost paranoid that something will jump out usually with a brief vibration on the controller for a quick warning because of the heavy footsteps of a specific enemy type. When something does jump out from places outside of your view, perhaps simply because of utilising technology far more advanced than any human technological development, you expect to use a weapon that not only deals with the enemy, but seriously sounds awesome at getting the blood and guts flying. Most of the weapons suit the design of the gun, and it's clear which ones are of alien origin due to the futuristic sound effects.
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CONTROLS – 3/5
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Controlling Nathan Hale will prove easier than before because of the much more common configuration of aim and shoot being L1 and R1, taking away the steady aim, run-and-gun style gameplay from before. As Resistance 2 is more challenging its obvious why the developers changed the control layout to be more appropriate for this First-Person shooter, where you'll be using the iron sights on weapons far more frequently, or in fact, not using them throughout the campaign. The layout still can take a bit of time getting used to, where some button options will feel out of place, but you'll never get the feeling that the controls are unresponsive, so no cheap deaths will be incurred at the fault of the control configurations, but more so your mistakes or some really aggravating enemies.
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ATMOSPHERE – 2/5
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Resistance 2's major change was in the format of tone and realism, and overall it led to this highly anticipated sequel's downfall. Everything you see is a lot less darker and gritty, and more comical and unrealistic than before, and ultimately was a step in the wrong direction to the standards and quality set in Fall of Man. The game is quite simply too colourful in every situation you end up in, and it's hard to imagine an apocalyptic nightmare set in the 1950s with so much vividly imagined colours when you'd expect a dark and gruesome tone to both violence and atmosphere. Some sections in the first half of the campaign do provide some instances of nervous tension, and while it's enjoyable, the scenarios are drowned out by the lack of visual intensity and it's true that an alien invasion has never been so colourfully told.
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ENEMY AI – 3/5
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The chimera are a vicious and aggressive set of elite, parasitic alien species, with their minds set on their objective of eradicating humankind and taking over the world, and bringing with them far superior technology that human scientists had no idea existed, with weapons being able to utilise ammunition that can home in on targets and tunnel through solid matter. The most commonly encountered chimera in combat is the hybrid, the regular foot soldier in the chimeran army, but there are many other strains of chimera used in the battlefield, mostly flesh species, but some robotic variations to mix up attack patterns and really get an advantage. Their metabolism is another one of their more interesting aspects, as it is twelve times that of a normal human being. This enhanced metabolism grants them extraordinary regeneration abilities, speed, and strength which is one of the reasons why they are so agile, accurate and aggressive. You can often make an advantage with their metabolism however, since the chimeran hybrids all have cooling devices implanted on their backs to prevent them from overheating. Smaller chimeran creatures are used to infect humans, subsequently converting them into a hybrid. The bigger strains of chimera are made from multiple human bodies.
Intelligence reports prove how brutal the chimera are, where they'll turn to cannibalism and devour their own kind as well as humans, giving you even more reason to shoot the hell out of each and every one of them when the opportunity arises. The intelligence of the chimera in gameplay is something to take into consideration. You'll need to be quick and accurate in order to overcome the odds of the hostile alien race, ducking into cover frequently to avoid a quick death, and like I mentioned above, Resistance 2 is a challenging game. The chimera won't retreat in any combat situations, and will also be just as accurate and quick as you hope to be by taking cover effectively and dispatching your AI squad mates with ease. Fortunately you have the chimeran traits to regenerate health and quick reflexes, but even so, you'll need to be on your toes throughout the course of the game, and never underestimate the horrifying nature and intelligence of the chimera.
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LENGTH – 3/5
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The decently lengthed campaign will provide you with levels that take you around America, with notable locations and artistic detail put into Orick, Chicago and Louisiana which will no doubt bring attention to the apocalyptic invasion unfolding, but unfortunately not captivate you enough because of the lack of gritty atmosphere and imagery. The campaign can take up to 9 hours, depending on how often you search for intel documents hidden too well in the environments. And the first half of the game will have the best impression left on your mind when you do finish it, the last half certainly a combat-orientated and challenging disappointment.
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REPLAY VALUE – 1/5
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Once completed Resistance 2 will have no reason to be played again unless, of course, you enjoyed the game from start to finish. Hopefully Resistance 3 will go back to the original roots of the series and improve from there since the main reasons Resistance 2 failed to succeed on Fall of Man's success is the severe lack of a dark and gritty reality, where comic touches to violence and bright colours actually stalled the game in its tracks, and once those negative points hit you, it was difficult for it to start up again seeing as that was the developer's focus and intention to the player, but ultimately culminated to its unfortunate demise.
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OVERALL SUMMARY – 7/10
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Good Points: Huge bosses, Gorgeous water graphics, Hit detection with realistic damage effects on enemy flesh, Cool weapon designs, Some awesome levels in the first half of the game.
Bad Points: A lot less darker and realistic than Fall of Man with comical gore and bright-coloured visuals, Poorly told story with dull characters, Can only carry 2 weapons at a time, Some horrible and frustrating levels in the second half of the game.