Your feelings on Resistance 2?

[Pyre1million]

Giving this whole "posting a topic" thing a shot. Personally I adored Resistance: Fall of Man (as did most everybody else who played it, evidently), and while not everything carried over into the sequel that should have (Give me back my damn health meter!), I think the sequel was nearly as good, and is a great example of quality in its genre.

Which is why I'm consistenly pissed off at the critiques of it from various sources. I suppose the one I hate most is the CONSTANTLY leveled argument that the main character, Nathan Hale, lacks personality. Lacks personality as opposed to what? Should he quip constantly? Should he vomit obscenities like he's got a very bad case of Tourette's Syndrome? Perhaps he should make misogynistic or too-cool-for-life wisecracks every other shot? It's like the people making these "critiques" have no comprehension at all of how actual people behave. And yes, I'm aware I just used the "actual people" argument about a game where you shoot horrible zombie-alien mutant-things from the past/outer space, but I think it fits.

So I turn to the fan community in hopes of quelling, or at least chanelling my rage into understanding. Do you like, or dislike Resistance 2? Whatever your answer, for what reasons?


A list of my own.

I adore the online-offered co-op. I have less affection for, but still appreciate, the co-op competitive mode: anything to stretch distance between me and the frothing bastards that make pure deathmatch a way of life. And they included deathmatch as well, so the co-op was an overall win for the developers

I appreciate their new approach to the horror aspect: since you were no longer the poor isolated hero, they needed a new way to include the horror element from the last game. So suddenly you're in 28 Days Later, and heaven help you if you aren't a good shot. Or creative. Or both.

I liked the boss fights. Painfully easy as they tended to be, they were still interesting and creative, and a nice change from "Get to cover and pump rounds at shambling abomination X until it dies".


I didn't like the lack of intel files on the enemies. True there were only three new (biological) enemy types, but that was part of the fun of the first game: getting to read about what had just been(or would shortly be)tearing the hell out of you.

Also disliked the sheer amount that was cut from the game, enemy-wise: the lightning-gun-wielding steelheads were a minor loss, and the minions and Gray Jacks found nice replacements, but the Widowmakers and Angels vanishing was nothing short of a damned shame.

Of course I already listed the lack of the health bar: this one was clearly inspired by game tone, as with how frantic some parts get you'd simply never have enough health packs to keep going. But it made the game just that much more like Halo, which is nigh-unforgiveable.

And finally the weapon cuts. The change to how many you could carry was fine, for the sake of replayability and encouraging creativity on the part of the player. But some really good weapons from the first game were completely omitted. Ostensibly to streamline the experience, but damned if I wasn't wishing for the Hailstorm back most of the time. Or the Backlash grenade.

So yes, my list of dislikes is larger than my list of likes, but all of those are relatively minor quibbles. Anyone else care to chime in an opinion?

 

[Pyre1million]

Damn, are there others? I didn't actually check before I posted this one up...

 

[linchowlewy]

i agree with you entirely on the weapons, enemies and intel. this new intel is actually really boring. it's hidden in bad places that don't reward exploration and there is little enemy intel. with the weapons carrying over i'm not too stressed about that, except for the hailstorm. i mean in the original it was an american weapon. why can't i use it while in america! the widowmaker as well. jesus christ those were awesome, why insomniac WHY!

 

[Get Off My Lawn]

I hate the fact that they took the Gray Jacks out. I love them. D: Seems like the Grims copied them and now they're less scary and more.. naked.
(The Grims had better be called that, I've been playing for a while and I still don't know the names/differences very well.)

 

[shadow skill]

in a single sentence Resistance 2 is a game that has lost it's identity. To expand upon this statement further think about the weapon limit; was there a good reason to remove the weapon menu when they had a perfectly functioning solution for weapon switching that allowed you to take your time to pick weapons at least in the offline mode? The two weapon load out does not work nicely in games that don't give you enough ammo to do your job. I also did not like the useless addition of the Halo Battle Rifle, it was worthless in Halo and it is worthless in R2. They would have been better served merging it's functionality into the Carbine (Which I have never liked.) and keeping an actual good weapon like the Hailstorm.

Another nonsensical change is the loss of the narrator, a very simple device that set the stage for missions in the first game which was replaced by the sheer lifelessness of Hale and the supporting cast in R2. This is a case of a team going too far in emulating aspects of other shooters.

 

[Pyre1million]

Well let's see. The Narrator was excluded because that was Parker, and the design team felt that the first game had been too much about Parker, and not really enough about Hale. (Supposedly this sentiment came from the fans. This strikes me as utter BS). Ostensibly they'd have not designated a character to be a new one out of the same concern.

The weapon loadout, like the removal of the health meter, was presumably there to aid realism: instead of one guy carrying around an entire armory, you get two guns and some grenades, and that's all. Of course, again, one has to question the value of realism in a game about evil mutant aliens from the past.

I assume the "Hale Battle Rifle" is the Bullseye, yes? It was actually more powerful but less accurate than the Carbine, makine it ideal for close-quarters situations calling for automatic fire. Of course in 2 there's no need to use it unless you can't get to a Bullseye Mark II, or an auger...

I still disagree heartily with the argument about the cast being lifeless. I just don't see it. Or hear it, as the case may be.


The Grims are indeed called that. Not that you can TELL without the intel files. But


...Trying to debate without devolving into outright arguing is HARD...


A final note for this post though, about the team emulating other shooters. Look at the original Resistance. Now, look at/play the game Area 51, for the previous generation of consoles. Note the similarities. And wonder if this 'emulating aspects of other shooters' thing isn't coincidental...

 

[shadow skill]

The Battle Rifle is the Marksman, burst fire weapons never work well in games like Halo or Resistance. (Arcade style shooters) The Bullseye is actually a useful gun.

 

[Aardvark]

I really wanted to like Resistance 2. I like FPSes and I like liberating my planet from hoards of alien cocksnarks on a regular basis. I was also hoping desperately for something to justify blowing $700 on a glorified DVD player. I never could get into it though. Playing through it made me feel lethargic. It got that boring that I could only work through it by stopping every so often for a dose of GoW2. Eventually, I gave up on it altogether and it has been gathering dust ever since.

 

[Pyre1million]

But WHY was it boring to you? Just something about the whole game, or something specific? I've never had this problem...

 

[Wargamer]

Whilst I've only been playing it for a day, here's my thoughts.

Firstly, Hale's lack of personality. Last time I checked, our hero was some as-yet-unknown (for me, anyway) Chimeran Mutant. That's why he can take a dozen bullets to the face, and yet two minutes sat under a sandbag and he's fine again. What exactly do critics expect? Would they like him to maybe act all mopey and sad? Well tough shit; he's a fucking US Army Soldier, not some whining Emo **** from a Punk Band!

Second, most of the game's changes have made it feel like a "Halo But Better" game. It succeeds in every way, of course, but that's also kind of sad. If PS3 owners had wanted Halo, we'd have taken ourselves out back and administered a blowjob to the nearest firearm. We sure as hell don't want Halo players buying a PS3; they'd completely ruin the multiplayer!

And what a Multiplayer! I decided to try it out, and after trying the Carbine, Bullseye and Auger I was forced to accept that endless hours on Metal Gear Online had made me into a sniper. So, I grabbed the Sniper Rifle, and hopped onto a building with a good vantage point. I swear to god there were a dozen of us there, spread over three buildings. And yet, despite there being so many marksmen on the rooftops there was still a MASSIVE street skirmish going on below us. Absolutely brilliant.

If I have to find fault, it's going to be with the AI's inability to get the fuck out of my way. Aside from that, the story mode. It started so promisingly, with me impatiently demanding to get the hell on with the invasion of the American coastline. That part came and went, and soon I found myself... disappointed. It all started feeling very samey, as if they'd just copy-pasted huge chunks of Resistance 1 into the second game.

Despite this, I think Resistance 2 could be the game that makes me forgive the FPS genre, and actually partake actively in online play. Believe me, that's an achievement.

 

[The Wooster]

It was quite an improvement over the first game but to be brutally honest the first game was nothing special, there was simply nothing on the PS3 to compare it to at the time. Resistance 2 fixed a lot of the issues that dragged the first game down, the technically interesting but shitty looking weapons were replaced with nice shiny models, the graphics, which were drab as fuck, were given a nice facelift, the dodgy health system went the journey and the completely fucked difficulty level was balanced out. Sadly they then went on to rip out everything that made the first game interesting. The Chimera were changed from an interesting, mysterious threat into a wonderful halfandhalf rip off of the Aliens from Aliens and Independence day. Gone were the twisted gleaming metal processing facilities (which were admittedly ripped from Hal life 2, but hey, Half life 2 was good) and now the Chimera can wrap people up in cocoons and take over their brains or whatever. Yawn.
The story had potential, Hale's slow transformation into Michael Jackson was very striking visually but the fact that Hale had all the personality of a wood louse (yes, yes, the Chimera Virus destroys individuality, that doesn't change the fact that every other character was shit too) killed any chance the narrative had. The only part of the story that wasn't nauseating was the optional and oh so very easy to miss intel items.

Oh and like Halo far too much of the game is spent faffing about inside identical alien space ship corridors.

Double Oh and the game's pathetic attempt at providing a main antagonist did more harm than good. It almost takes away the 'most pointless antagonist' award from Dead Space.

Triple Oh. While the game's co-op was tolerable (the character models are so god damn ugly) it comes at the cost of campaign co-op and split screen is pointless as one player won't get any xp and the game is impossible with only two players anyway. Lame.


Mega Edit combo: Are we playing a different Halo? The battle rifle is one of the most useful weapons both in single player and multi. It just takes a touch more finesse than the other weapons.

 

[Ace of Spades]

I haven't played it yet, but if it's anything like Resistance 1, then it has to be at least good.

 

[Wargamer]

It is good. However, the game seems to have taken a route that nobody wanted.

The whole reason I got Resistance 1 (out of a bargain bin, admittedly) was because of the idea that the game was all about gunning down aliens with a Tommy Gun. Turns out, you don't do that. Virtually every weapon has a semi-futuristic, or totally futuristic feel.

Resistance 1 had a crazy difficulty, which I was spared in part because I've never played it alone; I played the whole thing with a friend, so I'd imagine it is a LOT harder one-player. Resistance 2 is merciless in places, with those god-damn Invisible Genestealers able to insta-gib you if they get into melee (which they do, a lot).

The question is whether Resistance 2 is a good game. I think it is. I've realised that a lot of the 'flaws' I see in this game I see elsewhere; not only in the obvious targets like Halo, but also in Firewarrior, Turok: Evolution, Medal of Honour and so on.

I think part of Resistance 2's problem is that it's part of a dead genre. Though great for multiplayer, the FPS is no longer much fun alone - games like Gears of War 2 have shown us that similar, yet slightly different styles of shooter can feel much more rewarding. The game itself is worth buying, but it won't change your life. Not with single-player anyway. Multiplayer possibly... 30 vs 30 team games are out of this world!

 

[some random guy]

I'm really liking R2 so far. The last game had this dull, mediocre feel to it which R2 has pretty much removed. It's more colourful and much more cinematic.

This game has you participating in giant battles against all sorts of chimera. It's much more exciting than the last game and the boss battles are brilliant (even though they are rather formulaic).

They've made a few disappointing alterations (removal of many of the weapons, health bar removed, now limited to holding 2 weapons at a time) but, overall, I consider it to be a great game so far and a vast improvement from the first game.

 

[jhux]

Well I enjoyed the story in the first one, and thought that the overall game was just "good". I really enjoyed R2 though. I haven't had much time to get on and play many games lately, but I beat the campaign the first time through on the hardest difficulty available at the time and that made it very fun (actually made some parts of it pretty challenging at times since the game was still feeling new to me). I do wish there was more emphasis on the story though, because I thought it was good and liked how it was going, but I couldn't find all the intel documents, so I will have to go back and hunt them down. I can't say in the campaign I ever got bored, but found myself wanting to keep playing. I like to take my time through games and at some points walking through some of the places had a creepy factor to them, with the occasional surprise behind you. I personally liked holding the 2 weapons at a time, it made me have to pay attention more to my ammo, I did find myself running out at some very bad times, but I like that aspect (I love survivor horror games, so having no bullets is something I'm very used to in games lol).

What really makes this game special though is the online. I usually play online FPS games on PC, but Resistance 2 was probably the funnest console shooters that I have ever played, and would almost go out and say it would be worth playing for that aspect alone (if you are into online shooters that is).

Edit:
**possible spoiler?**


One thing I wish though was that there was no helper at the end when you had to fight Daedelus(however u spell his name). I think it would of added more of a challenge to the boss battle if they would of just let you figure it out on your own (ofcourse eventually anyone is going to notice that it has to do with the electricity), so I don't understand why they couldn't just let you do it on your own instead of kind of spoon feeding it to you on what to do.

 

[JordanJohnson]

Seemed to rip off of ALOT of popular games. The shield in it = Halo 3 Bubble Shield for example. They even LOOK alike. I never liked that game. I can't stand games that rip other games off.

 

[Jobz]

I thought it was fun, but like its predecessor there was nothing special about it to me. Its a good first person shooter with a pretty good story and it held my interest for a good little while. The PS3 equivalent of Halo.

 

[TheBadass]

Seemed to rip off of ALOT of popular games. The shield in it = Halo 3 Bubble Shield for example. They even LOOK alike. I never liked that game. I can't stand games that rip other games off.

That was in the first Resistance, which came out before Halo 3.

I loved the first, but I can't find anywhere that rents the second... not gonna buy since I need that money for Killzone 2, but I sure as hell want to at least try it.