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Not too long ago, most First Person Shooters on the console were mostly known for their single player component than their multiplayer component. Call of Duty 2 is a pretty good example of this. Even though it has online multiplayer, the barebones options and limited weapons made it extremely narrow and not very replayable. It was far more renowned for its incredible graphics and ability to immerse players into the hells of World War II. The original Resistance: Fall of Man fell under that same category in that it had a far better single player experience than its multiplayer component. Given that pedigree, Resistance 2 might have ended up the same way, but what we got instead was the complete and total opposite.
Back in Resistance 1, you were able to carry over a dozen unique weapons. To offset that, the ammo count for any given weapon is extremely limited. Resistance 2 changed that and to the industry standard of carrying no more than 2 weapons at any given. This move alone didn’t break the single player experience. The fact that they didn’t follow it all the way through did. Every weapon has the exact same ammo max as before. From that one design flaw, another one was made to “alleviate” that flaw. Before every encounter, to make sure that you have some kind of ammo, you will come across a gun. Not just any gun mind you. The exact gun you’ll need to make sure you can survive that encounter. If you come across a sniper rifle, you know that you’ll be shooting enemies from afar. If you come across a shotgun, you know you’ll be shooting enemies in close quarters. It’s one thing to give the player the tools necessary to play the game, but it’s a whole other issue to break any sense of tension the game could’ve had. Playing through Resistance 2, I couldn’t help but feel that the veil has been lifted. You’re playing a game. One that has a clear distinction between one encounter and the next. From there, just about everything else that might’ve made the campaign mode worthwhile went out the window as well. Epic encounters with monsters the size of skyscrapers feel disappointing. Plot points are doled out unevenly, and the ending felt like a total letdown given how much work you put into finishing it.
Pesky Chimerans! Always taking the good picnic spots.
The real star of Resistance 2 is really the multiplayer co-op mode. It takes the joys of class based multiplayer games like Team Fortress 2 or just about any MMO and mesh it together with the thrills of fighting an enemy that comes in hordes like the zombies in Left 4 Dead. It’s nothing like the co-op mode in Resistance 1 which was basically just the campaign mode except you get to play it with another person. In this one, you pick a class and work together to accomplish objectives while taking down hordes of enemies. It’s insane just how many bullets you’ll see flying through the air at any given horde encounter without a single latency issue. You even get to level your character as well. As you level, you’ll unlock new weapons as well as new gear which improves certain aspects of yourself or the weapons you use. Just watching that experience bar fill up at the end of every co-op mission is enough to keep me coming back just to see what gets unlocked next. And that’s on top of the mission itself.
Teamwork is key to survival in Co-op mode.
As for the regular multiplayer component, it hasn’t changed much since the original except for the leveling system, like the co-op mode, bigger maps, and higher player counts. Aside from the leveling system, neither the bigger maps nor the higher player counts change the game all that much. It does feel a little bit more manageable than before though. Basically, the leveling system is really the only new improvement to the multiplayer which makes it fairly playable.
For a series that started out to be all about the single player, having this transformation is a strange one. It’s almost like Resistance 1 and 2 are two different series altogether, and yet they’re not. This is going to take some getting used to.
Pros: Good graphics, Addictive Co-op mode, Great weapon variety
Cons: Flawed campaign mode, Bad story
Final Verdict: Praise It
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