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Resistance 2 – A second review attempt

gaijinkaiju

Lord Inquisitor
Sanctuary legend
Sanctuary contributor
Messages
612
Released in 2008 and serving as a sequel to Resistance: Fall of Man, Resistance 2 continues the story of the chimeran invasion, this time moving from the UK to the US with Nathan Hale remaining as the protagonist, now with a voice. Resistance 2 makes significant improvements over the first one and has a more refined feel to it, whilst also making some minor downgrades.

Visually Resistance 2 has a more vibrant colour palette compared to the first games dreary washed out look. Each level has a distinct look and feel to it, whilst also being intuitive to navigate, though I still found myself periodically getting lost. The addition of objective markers was a much need improvement, especially within some of the more open areas. The levels are still fairly linear, with occasional open areas and side paths that sometimes lead to an intel pickup, or nowhere at all.

The game now adopts a more standard fps control scheme, though still with some odd button choices (O being grenades, L2 being sprint and R3 being crouch) but its getting better. The game now has a sprint button too, which was something I found lacking in the first one, and the difference it makes is noticeable. The game ditches a weapon wheel in favor of only being able to carry two weapons at once, which to me, is a slight downgrade as I like being able to swap between multiple weapons depending on the situation. They also added some new weapons that I would’ve liked to use more often but due to having make a choice I often left them behind in favour of something more useful. Aiming is now much less stiff, and combined with the gun-play improvements, is a much more pleasant experience. Enemies are more responsive not only when being shot at (often jumping away from grenades, and flinching when being shot), but also in their use of tactics, though this often just meant them running at you rather actually attempting to flank.

As for the story, it feels like they needed to make a sequel and maybe I wasn’t paying attention but it didn’t seem like it was fully explained how the chimera managed to invade America despite being defeated in the UK and presumably the rest of Europe. There are some minor inconsistencies between the games that either weren’t explained or I just didn’t find the Intel that explained it. They no longer need conversion centers but instead form cocoons around victims that hatch out some form of chimera, but what about the hybrids? Fall of Man even explained that they need a cooling system mounted to their back, due their high metabolism and preference for colder environments, to prevent them literally burning up, so when do they get attached? Are there still conversion centers? They also talk about having to take inhibitor shots to prevent the virus fully infecting you, but I don’t think any of the main characters ever actually take their shots during the course of the game despite multiple characters talking about needing to take them. The game felt like it couldn’t quite decide on what it wanted so it just hoped you wouldn’t dig too deep into it.
With that being said, Nathan interacting with the other characters and the removal of exposition from a narrator combined with some timed segments and a sprint button, gave the game a greater sense of urgency and helped keep the pace moving, even if did feel a little slow at points.

Overall compared to the first game this was an improvement, albeit with some minor issues, but I found it a much more enjoyable experience. Good Job
 

Houseman

Zealot
Sanctuary legend
Messages
1,068
Try the co-op.

Also, I think the cocoon ones are more like zombies than warriors. They don't have cooling packs and just charge at the enemy en masse. I think. I dunno, it's been like 10 years.
 
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