Resistance 2

I fired up my old PS3 after nearly 2 years of no use, and elected to start with the Resistance trilogy. As mentioned in a previous review, despite some clunk, Fall of Man had aged exceptionally well, so I looked forward to what I remembered being the series black sheep.

Resistance 2 is a divisive beast. While the overall quality of the game was never in question (it was and still is exceptionally well produced), elements of the story and changes to the gameplay were not exactly loved by fans of thd original, including my teenage self. So it was something of a pleasant relief to see that the game was better than I remembered.

Taking control of Hale again, we are now a part of a team stopping the chimera from invading the USA, this time led by insane human/chimera hybrid Daedalus. If there is something I can give this game over the 1st, it's scale. This thing is huge! It genuinely feels like the end of the world. The story works as a great excuse to move us from location to location, and it all feels natural. It is very different in tone from the 1st, but that isn't a bad thing.

What is a bad thing is that the characters are very hit and miss, namely misses. Hale suffers the worst, with his refusal to take his life saving medicine being very flimsy and making him come off as kinda dumb. Daedalus is also a very uninteresting villain, speaking poetically and having a very peculiar design (and an even more peculiar boss fight), though he does work well enough as a threat. Only Doctor Malakov and Joe Cappelli really work as engaging characters, but their screen time is minimal until the final chapters.

The gameplay leads to some phenomenal setpieces and spectacular (if simplistic) boss fights. The issue fans have is that it abandoned the 1st games weapon wheel, limiting you to only 2 weapons at a time, and ridding you of health packs so that you heal over time (the fact that Resistance 3 brought both back makes it more perplexing that this was done). It feels odd in this series, and was completely unnecessary. But in the game as is, it works. It adds to the sense of thrill and scale, even if I do find myself missing the tension of low health and the freedom of weapon choice.

Compared to its former and latter brothers, Resistance 2 falls short, but it is by a hair. It is a damn good game and absolutely worthy of the 8 hours it asks for. If you have the means to, play it as soon as you are able. Game 3 is just around the corner, and the ending of this has me begging for more.