Upon receiving a beta key for Resistance 2, I was really eager to rush home and download the beta.  However, after 3.5 hours for 2GB download, in addition to the 10 minute install, plus another 15 minutes for an update, I was finally ready to play.  So is this game worth that 4 hour wait?  Read on.

Beta Basics
Just to clarify, this beta only provides the multi-player feature.  You won’t get a sneak peak at the single player campaign until you buy it.  Starting the beta, you’re introduced to 2 game play options: Cooperative and Competitive.  In the cooperative mode, you have the choice to play online or offline with friends.  This mode allows casual fun play without affecting your ranking stats.  The competitive mode is where the meat of the game is focused on.  Similar to Call of Duty’s “Perks”, Resistance 2 has the “Berserks/Loadout” system.  As you gain more experience and rank up, you can unlock additional “Berserks/Loadout” that enhance your abilities.  The default beserks/loadouts provide small enhancements like upgraded radar or electric burst shots.  But leveling up will provide much better abilities, such as force fields or healing rings, that will help keep you alive longer.

The main appeal that Resistance 2 has over other shooters are the 60 player skirmishes.  When you jump into a 60 player battle, things can get really chaotic.  The first time I jumped in, my average lifespan was less than 10 seconds.  However, as you get more accustomed to the map layout, you’ll realize how grand and epic these matches are.  It’s quite exhilarating when there’s a stand-off between the two factions fighting on opposite sides of the ravine.  One side is desperately defending the beacon, while the other is trying to overtake it.  The whole beauty of this is that this grand experience is practically lag-free, so any deaths that you encounter is because of your own noob skills.

Upgraded Visuals
Compared to the first Resistance, there has definitely been some improvements in the graphics department.  For one, the game is much more colorful and vibrant.  I always found that the first game was a bit too gray and bland.  In particular though, the lighting in the game is very impressive.  The San Francisco docks scene in particular is simply gorgeous as you gaze off into distant horizon with the sunlight glistening off the ocean water.  As you look up, you witness an ominous view as the iconic Golden Gate bridge is besieged by colossal alien warships.  It’s moments like these that really make you proud of our HDTV.  Unfortunately, you can’t really stand around and admire the scenery too long since there are always people trying to kill you at every turn.

Although the backgrounds spectacular, the character models do not blend in very well.   The character models are very reminiscent of Warhawk, with that cartoony look and feel to them.  From a third person perspective, the character movements look very jerky and exaggerated which takes away that sense of immersion.  Then again, most games usually dumb down the graphics to better optimize the multi-player experience.  Hopefully, the single player mode will boast better visuals.

Here come the complaints
My main gripe is the fact that finding an open game is very difficult.  It actually took about 15 minutes before I was able to find an open game.  It’s extremely frustrating when you can’t join a game even though it clearly shows that there are 5 open spots available.  Why can’t Insomniac just display sessions that are open?  That way, we don’t waste our time scrolling through a list of full games.  There is a matchmaking option, but it never works correctly.  It always fail to return anything despite there being open games.  Even creating a game is difficult as I repeatedly received the “Error create game” message every single time.

Within the game play, I would often find myself spawning right in front of an enemy.  Imagine jumping into a game where you died in 2 seconds because an enemy was right behind you when you spawned.  This didn’t happen just once or twice, it happened at least 5-10 times in each session.  Very annoying.

Is it worth it the $60?
To best describe this game, it feels very much like a first person version of Warhawk minus all the vehicles.  I honestly still prefer to Halo 3 and Call of Duty 4 over Resistance 2.  Not because it’s a bad game, but it’s just not my cup of tea.  I still can’t get used to the twitchy game play aspect (like Unreal Tournament), and besides the 60 player matches, there’s not much else that Resistance 2 offers that other FPSs already has.  The only way that this game can win me over is through the single player campaign, with its 8-player co-op.  If you’re a fan of the series, it’s really a no brainer to buy this game.  But if you’re already accustomed to Halo, Call of Duty, and Gears of War, I would rent it first before you buy.

Tags: , , ,