We all like good things; it’s like getting a slice of your favourite cake… But with the good comes the bad, so, issue a collective shudder as I dive into the mediocre and horrible.
So, I reviewed my favourite shooter, Resistance: Fall of Man a few days ago – Go figure it has a sequel; yes Resistance 3! But wait, yes, that’s a 3… So, where’s number 2? Oh, it’s locked in the basement, where no one can see. I’m pretty sure even Insomniac is embarrassed about this one. Resistance: Fall of Man was a brilliant shooter, a love child of numerous flagstone titles of the various shooter sub-genres… Whilst Resistance 2, is a three year old child, trying to act like its cooler older brother. It’s an imitation that falls short, it’s bland, it’s boring, it’s rage inducing and just all round crap.
It’s a god damn Call of Duty clone.
Oh god where do I start with this failure of a game. It still sold well, though it was not the loud and proud release sort of game, rather sneaking shamefully onto shelves hoping to go unnoticed. Well I noticed! And I didn’t forget you Resistance 2 – Oooh no… Let’s compare it to it’s predecessor.
Resistance: Fall of Man, opened with you being V-Tol’d into a British suburban area, mid skirmish, and quickly tapered off to you slipping behind enemy lines. It was all very organic, and flowed nicely. How does Resistance 2 open? With you being super powered, in a huge military super base, with a massive sea monster attacking you, whereupon you kill it with a fucking nuclear powered laser canon that you hold like a rocket launcher. From there, the game goes on at just about that level of balls to the wall, for nearly the entire game.
It’s a jarring divergence from its older brothers well-crafted pace and build up. Doing away with the dynamic cover system and static health, in favour for, guess what? Cover shooter mechanics and regenerating health. Gone is your weapon wheel, now it’s two guns and that’s all Johnny. No more fun vehicle sections either; no tank part, no riding around in a jeep with Mr Charismatic British guy. No more tension either for that matter. Hell, you have four sidekicks almost all game long, one of which has a damn minigun. Oh and let’s not forget old man Makarov, the frail old, indestructible 70 year old toting a double barrel pump action.
The game plays like fucking Halo for god sake. Badass opening; here’s the stealth level, here’s the spooky zombie level, here’s the boring gimmicky boss battle. It lost its charm very quickly… Especially when it introduced the invisible Chimera hunter things that can two shot you on the lowest difficulty, and always spawn in packs in large open areas.
There’s a whole slew of new guns, only one of which is fun, the HE.44 Magnum; the rest are all bog standard military guns. Burst fire marksman rifle, minigun, grenade launcher, shotgun. Where’s my Hailstorm? Where’s my Archcharger? Where’s my god damn air fuel grenades!! No, now I have those wimpy little spider grenades; pft. Now I don’t want to rail on the game entirely by comparing it to a superior product… Let’s look at it on its own.
It does present some challenge – aforementioned invisible bastards withstanding – and there is some genuinely fun parts. The flooded city level with all the Grimms is my favourite level, because it’s basically alien zombies. The stalkers are much less annoying to fight, but also less threatening. It is cathartic to blast Chimera away like Duke Nukem, if only for its novelty alone… But, compared to its older brother, it just falls short. I can see why they made a change though, wanting to explore new ideas for the sake of streamlining is all well and good. Without experimentation we’d be nowhere. Unfortunately, this experiment was a flop.
I will say one thing, the ending caught me by surprise. Since it’s a last gen title, obligatory spoiler warning.
You play as Nathan Hale, same guy you did in the previous game, though now infected with the Chimera Virus, and kept in check with an inoculation that makes him more ‘durable’. At the end of Resistance 2, the inhibitor is failing, and Hale surcomes to Daedalus, the main bad guy of the game. Hale is subsequently shot in the head by Joseph Capelli, the only surviving member of your squad – Just as a huge hole in the atmosphere is torn open, and Chimera terraforming machines come through… Setting up for Resistance 3.
It was a surprise, but it hardly makes the game worth it in my opinion.
Made by Insomniac and released to PS3 in 2008, it is a sequel that sadly falls flat in the shadow of its older brother, and at best, stands below the military shooter it’s so desperately trying to imitate. The fact that you unlock the static health bar mode as a reward for beating the game is in my mind, an insult.
In the basement you shall stay Resistance 2, with a well-deserved 6/10. May you never be spoke of again.