Resistance 2 – the PS3 Attitude Retro Review
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Welcome to the PS3 Attitude Retro Review, where we take another look at titles that were released at least six months ago and discover whether they still ought to garner your attention. First up, Resistance 2.
Resistance 2 was the highly-anticipated sequel to Fall of Man when it released back in November last year.
Thankfully it moves on from the dull and grey surroundings of 1950s England, and takes the war against the Chimera across the vibrant landscapes of the USA.
Throughout the game, Nathan Hale, the protagonist from the previous title, fights the army of aliens in landmark cities of Chicago and San Francisco, as well as lush forests deep in the country. The game starts right where the first one left off and you’re taken straight into the action, with the very first obstacle you come across being a giant Chimera standing miles high over you and destroying everything in its sight.
Let’s be clear here, Resistance 2 feels like Fall of Man on steroids. It’s bigger and brighter than before; from the sheer scale of the maps to the quantity and size of the aggressive Chimera, everything is even more impressive than before.
Bigger and badder than before
Even now the game performs well in the visual department compared to others, and although some areas of the title are a bit patchy, overall it’s stunning to look at.
In this second outing against the Chimera invasion, the game has changed dramatically to follow the plot directly from Nathan Hale’s perspective, ditching narrator Rachel who made us feel like onlookers previously.
The larger size of the maps is arguably a double-edge sword because you are required to do more travelling and some people may find this tiresome and unnecessary but it does give you time to explore and admire the surroundings.
The sky filled with Chimera
Keeping with the big theme that is attached to this game, Skirmish multiplayer mode offers massive 60-man battles, something we have yet to see improved upon since for a console, which is impressive but in reality it doesn’t necessarily make it any more fun or addictive.
Another selling point for Resistance 2 is the inclusion of eight player online Co-op, toppling the two man offline edition we saw before, although we feel it could be better integrated with the campaign mode. Unlike the first game, the Co-op is based around the goal of completing short tasks and we admire how players are sorted into categories from soldiers to medics so you feel that you must work together in team matches.
Resistance 2 expands beyond the Blu-ray disc onto MyResistance.net where you can find leaderboards and other statistics, plus recently a dedicated PlayStation Home a space was added that includes a mini-game and game launching.
New patches have since enhanced the experienced, adding new features including allowing a local co-op friend to sign in with their PSN ID, and DLC has come in the form of an ‘Aftermath’ map pack, giving you more reasons to keep playing.
If these don't scare you then what will?
Luckily you don’t need knowledge of the previous outing to enjoy Resistance 2 to the max – all is explained in the opening minutes of the campaign. For those of you who are not experts in first person shooters then you have nothing to fear because almost anyone can jump in and play this game.
It’s clear that Insomniac had the next game in mind when making Resistance 2, and the climax certainly adds more questions than answers, but we look forward to the next game in the franchise (assuming there is one).
Sony will be happy with how well the game has been received with a metacritic score of 87, which we think is an accurate score to give based on our opinions.
Resistance: Fall of Man vs Resistance 2
Sales numbers are largely satisfying with an estimated 1.57 million copies sold worldwide according to VGChartz, although it falls well short of Resistance: Fall of Man that has sold more than double at 3.61 million, although that title had much fewer competitors.
Resistance 2 continues to take the franchise to new heights and is alien to the series opener. It’s not perfect, but Insomniac games have created a fun game that you can easily pick-up and play, and the vast multiplayer experience helps to enhance the impact the game has to the PlayStation 3 platform.
Even now this is still a experience that you’re really missing out on if you don’t have it in your game collection.
This is a great review, but I actually felt that the Single-Player Campaign was lacking and redundant. Not only did it have no vehicle sequences to break up the action, but it also failed at the ‘huge bosses’ aspect where the bosses ended up feeling like huge Gimmicks rather than respectably hard foes. However, the online was great and the Resistance 2 campaign did have its moments. In the campaign, my favorite part was a level where you go on a bridge that is filled with overturned cars, stalkers, and chimera. At this part, the action really starts picking up and I question: Why couldn’t they make, as promised, more open battles like this!? The online was great though and I never got tired of it until I got Killzone 2 which is truly how a FPS should be done. Why couldn’t Resistance 2 be more like Killzone 2! Killzone 2 has the bosses, the open battles, the amazing graphics, the great combat, the great weapons, and the awesome vehicle sequences to break up the action. By the time I was done with Killzone 2, I just wanted more, but by the time I was done with Resistance 2 I was happy that I finally made it through this monotonous game and the horribly-done final level.
i didnt read all of your comments but i agree that the campaign lacked in some ways, although i still found it fun.
killzone 2 better though
oh and i like the idea of retro reviews also, good to go back to old games and update us on how good/bad they are.
I’m in the minority here, but I actually really enjoyed the single-player as well as the multiplayer on Resistance2 (and I’ve been playing FPS’ since they first released Wolfenstein 3D) – Killzone2 was also great, but I thought there were some great sequences in R2, that are some of my fave FPS sequences. There were some relatively ‘run here, shoot that’ sections, but they’re in _every_ FPS I’ve every played, and are good for a change of pace.
I never picked this up, didn’t look that good.
Retro Review is an AWESOME idea!
I played Dead Space then i got R2-> I almost cried with disappointment. The game is great but RFOM is an amazing game and even though there were warning signs from insomniac that it was quite a bit different from RFOM I still had high hopes. Its all a little confusing how this all came about but I can recall one of the biggest complaints people were having with RFOM was that there was not enough “vehicle use”…but there was some. When R2 had those super cool sheilded Chimeran vehicles and one of your dudes drive one, but you, the all important player never does? That is wrong.
Well a week ago or two ago i was out of a PS3 until i got a new one.I took the time to finallly play Resistance retribution on my PSP. This was probably the way insomniac should have gone. I sure wish they had that on the PS3, packed with mystery and wonderment.
woah… I had alot to say.Good thing there are restrictions to length of comments. I have been wanting to say that for awhile, but didnt to hurt any insomniac feelings Regardless its still a good game to own. I would love to hear the real story of how things were decided to go the way they did with this IP. So, I hope someone comes forth with the story. One more thing,like Lavron415 said to the ending. In RFOM on superhuman i think i spent a week orchestrating just how to tackle the massive game end. R2 just seemed very very simple and almost seemed to happen automatically as I was waiting for some major twist.
Indeed the campaign was not as intesnse as the first, but the MP was enormously AWESOME!
It has to be said that the games DOES suffer from severe ‘middle child’ syndrome. We are pretty sure that the 3rd game will be suitably incredible.
Just my 2c.
“quantity of chimera”?!
I disagree. The Chimera onslaughts in Resistance: FOM were far, far more plentiful. The closest we get to those mayhem battles of R1 are with the R2 online co-op play.
I think this game was completely overshadowed by Killzone 2, and i didn’t for a moment consider getting this instead. I might pick it up for the MP when I can get it for a bargain though!