Resistance 2
Review
Survived Chimeran infection, what's next?
by Joseph Barron
reviewed on PS3
Graphics
That is not to say that the game doesn’t look good while you are doing these things though. The environmental textures are solid enough and have improved dramatically since the first game, though they are by no means the best the system has to offer. The graphics are best described as “functional”, in that they do their job well, but rarely make you gasp in excitement. The lighting and particle effects are very good, especially in darker areas. On the other hand, the explosions could have come from a PS2 game. It’s a very hit and miss game artistically.
The overall look of Resistance 2 is a familiar mix of brown and grey. There are a few levels in greener areas, such as a forest, which provide great relief from the depressing color of the majority of the game. The real disappointment of the graphics though is that the art is no longer the interesting mix of sci-fi and World War II that the first game provided. There has been a clear shift towards very generic power-armored super soldiers. In fact, the character design has become so unimaginative that in cut-scenes it can be hard to tell Nathan Hale apart from say, Hawthorne, another member of his squad.
Multiplayer
As a single-player game, Resistance 2 never reaches the quality levels of the Halo or Call of Duty franchises, but it certainly has some interesting twists in multiplayer. In some ways, Resistance has borrowed from both those famous franchises by allowing you to rack up experience points and giving you unlockable items and abilities for leveling up. Most of the competitive modes are as you would expect for a shooter these days with death match and CTF taking up most of the games, but it is the skirmish mode that sets Resistance 2 apart. In this mode, up to 60 players (you read that right!) compete in objective based games. To make teamwork easier, each player is assigned to a small squad. Each squad will have its own objectives, so you really feel like you are contributing to a larger battle.
Resistance 2 also excels in its cooperative multiplayer. It continues the trend of big player counts by letting up to 8 players team-up in a campaign which is completely separate to the single-player experience. You choose your class (solider, special-ops or medic) and must rely on each other to get through the levels. The solider has the largest weapon and is the primary enemy killer on the team. Special-ops guys are the only ones who can supply the rest of the team with ammo and the medic does “exactly what it says on the tin”.
The only major hitch with the multiplayer in general, is the limitations of voice-chat. Very few PS3 owners have headsets and this can result in online play quickly becoming very chaotic, making both co-op and team-based competitive modes something of an uphill struggle at times. This isn’t really a criticism of the game, but it certainly dampens the multiplayer experience.
Keep you entertained
The campaign in Resistance 2 is most definitely held back by its corridors and killrooms structure and the end is spoilt by one of the most dire boss battles in living memory. Overall this is a title that falls short of its premise in single player but will give PS3 users a good time online. Any console gamer fond of FPS action should give it a try, despite its niggling issues.
Is it the next PS3 killer-app? Probably not, but this solid FPS will at least keep you entertained until Killzone 2 comes along soon.
7.0
fun score
No Pros and Cons at this time
