Comment
Resistance 2 it keeps all the promises announced in recent months, but it does so perhaps in a different way from what could have been expected after the assumptions of the first chapter. Paradoxically, in fact, the single player, while showing its muscles on a technical level and being enjoyable and fun, represents the "weakest" part of this production, also by virtue of a narrative system that is somewhat unrelated to its parts and the charisma of the protagonists. not really memorable. But when you switch to multiplayer the music changes considerably, Insomniac has in fact packaged an exceptional online, certainly the best on PlayStation 3 and among the most valid ever, with an excellent cooperative mode, a classic multiplayer up to sixty players that works well and a network infrastructure virtually free of lag or frame rate drops, mostly seasoning everything with a growth system characterized by levels, classes and experience that tempts the player to devote hours and hours to the multiplayer component, a true flower of the eyelet that makes the title absolutely unmissable for users of the Sony console. It was an honor, Lord!
For
- Excellent multiplayer and co-op
- Funny
- Perfect control system
- More than good graphic impact
- Some drops in quality in the technical sector
- Poorly developed narrative system
- More variety in single would not mind
Insomniac, the developer of Resistance 2, in some ways it changes radically from the first chapter, as does the style. The changes start from the narration of the events, which are no longer told in the third person but experienced directly by the voice of the protagonists and in particular of Hale, the focal point of the fight against the Chimera. The battle moves on a large scale, several giant monsters peep out, the clashes become more bloody, according to an orientation aimed at making the battle between humans and aliens more "realistic" and atmospheric.
The single player campaign is divided into seven chapters and shines for variety, it starts right from Iceland to cross San Francisco, Chicago, Louisiana and other settings that always refer to real existing locations, obviously revisited in a post apocalyptic key. Everything is linked together by a narrative thread illustrated through the classic animated sequences and by documents that can be collected during exploration, and which are more than useful to deepen the story.
The flow of levels instead takes up the first chapter and the classics of the shooter genre, where you have to make your way to the sound of firefights, escape in certain situations rather than activate some devices. No concession to the rest, but space, as mentioned, for large-scale conflicts with dozens of enemies on the screen and clashes against creatures that are nothing short of giants, which perhaps extend in several points of the level and which certainly represent the most successful part of the experience in single. The fights against Kraken and Leviathan, for example, put against the player creatures much larger than Hale, and often are part of the game background, starting right from the Goliath of the first level, which must be knocked down by the Laark's blows. , the rocket launcher available in the game.
Unlike the original title, where it was possible to select all the weapons in their possession from a special menu, Hale can now carry only the various types of grenades and two weapons at the same time (interchangeable using the triangle button) each of which is equipped of primary and secondary fire, respectively assigned to the R1 and R2 backbones. With L1 you access the aiming of the weapon while with L2 it is possible to crouch or run using continuous pressure, for the rest with the X you jump and with the square you reload the weapon.
The weapons, often surreal and crazy, remain one of the points in favor of the Insomniac production, even if they do not reach the variety of the first chapter. In total there are about a dozen, and they see the return of some old ones, such as the Bullseye and its tracker or the beautiful Auger, capable of firing through walls, and the introduction of new ones, such as the Magnum pistol, which can detonate. the projectiles driven from a distance or the Wrath mini-submachine gun, equipped with extreme firepower and the ability to release a force field able to absorb the hits received. Their distribution during the course of the adventure is well balanced, the use always fun and immediate, also thanks to various types of secondary fire that allow you to adopt different strategies, frontal or not, to get the better of the enemy. The artificial intelligence behaves quite well, also thanks to the fact that battles are often fought against dozens of enemies at the same time, where there are some that surround the player, others that shelter, others that still come towards, giving good variety. in this sense. Often and willingly, the clashes take place together with many teammates, just to simulate the enormous conflict taking place, even if it is quite unrealistic that the enemies prefer to attack the player directly, as soon as he returns to their visual cone. Otherwise it is possible to stay a little out of the way and attack them from behind, which works well only for those who are bigger and slower in movement. The choice of the type of gameplay, although far from being innovative, is however apt, the adventure is extremely enjoyable and fun, thanks to the few dead moments, the balance of the clashes, the settings and the control system, truly among the best ever for a console FPS. Without sacrificing the speed of play, in fact, the precision of the movements and the response of the pad are practically perfect, and you can immediately become familiar and get excellent results, even online.
However, what prevents the single-player campaign from passing from a good andante judgment to an excellent one, however, is the lack of extremely memorable moments, as well as the absence, for example, of sections on board vehicles such as those present in the first chapter, which would have benefited definitely to variety. Finally, the story seemed a bit too disconnected and fragmented in its explanation, where even the animated sequences show a certain approximation in their direction, and where many pieces are not properly explained. Even the ending, far from being taken for granted, leaves too many unsolved and open questions, which could be explained without undermining a possible continuation of the saga. It is true that Insomniac has done a very targeted work of "viral marketing" by releasing a lot of information to deepen the story, including the official website of the Abraham Project, but we would have expected something more directly within the game and a greater charisma for the main protagonist, who certainly had more when his events were told in the third person in the first chapter.
Technique and tactics
The graphic impact with Resistance 2 it is clearly superior to that of the first chapter and keeps up with the times, sometimes proposing things well above the average, without however missing some defects. The rooms are very large and equipped with many details, with a choice of vivid colors and an adequate variety of textures. In particular, the Orick forest in California or Chicago enjoy excellent particle effects, well-structured HDR, details that make the setting convincing and pleasing to the eyes. In some cases the animations of the enemies are amazing, except for sporadic bugs, while the choice to represent in the background often and willingly large creatures rather than spacecraft, Chimera towers and so on, helps to return an engaging graphic impact and in line with the best productions of the type.
On the negative side of the scale, on the other hand, we have a fluctuating quality for textures and interiors, some pop-in problems (appearance of textures delayed compared to polygons) and the canonical little interactivity with the environment, aspects that make the judgment of the graphic sector shift. more on an artistic than technical level, where the most accurate locations, which in any case represent the majority, are sometimes flanked by some decidedly less impressive. Also because on a technological level there is nothing to say, the shadows, for example, also enjoy different simultaneous sources of lighting, not to mention that the graphic engine moves an impressive amount of characters at the same time without the slightest uncertainty.
The sound fulfills its purpose without returning memorable traces, while the dubbing is completely in Spanish in the text and in the voices, which settle in the classic limbo of without infamy or praise.
Online, and what a dough!
The original title had been one of the most appreciated by PlayStation 3 users for online gaming, but in this sequel Insomniac has surpassed itself in all respects, both in terms of modality and as a real infrastructure. Set aside the possibility of facing the main campaign in a cooperative, the developer has transferred everything to a new section built specifically for the purpose, in which it is possible to take part locally up to two players (through horizontal split screen) or by moving online from alone or together with your partner to face six different environments and up to eight players, an absolute novelty in this sense. The aim is to find and face waves of Chimera of different species, while completing some objectives similar to those present in single player mode. In this case the resistance of the enemies is even greater, as well as their number, which depends on how many players are present at the moment in the game. To participate in a session you must choose one of the three classes available, which differ in skills and type of equipment. In fact, we have the soldier, able to handle the most lethal weapons and absorb the greatest number of shots, the special one, in possession of the ability to produce ammunition for everyone on the playing field and finally the doctor, who in the face of a very limited firepower and stamina, has the ability to heal opponents. The cooperation between these three classes is therefore essential to complete the mission, and it is made even more interesting because the following ones have completion requirements and become more and more difficult. And again, each class is equipped with levels, which are achieved by acquiring experience points and which are used to unlock new primary weapons or buy upgrades to increase the characteristics of their armor and weapons, such as kinetic gloves or other. Last but not least, each character, after a certain number of kills, can enter "berserk" mode and take advantage of an additional skill available, such as that of producing more lethal bullets rather than seeing from afar or absorbing half the shots of the enemies, all factors that increase the fun, the sense of cooperation and that work very well, thanks also to the fact of being able to use the voice chat to coordinate. As if that were not enough, every time you start the same coop mission, the map section can be different, which guarantees a great longevity, for the certainly best-made mode of the entire package.
Online, and what a dough!
For traditionalists, of course, there is no lack of the competitive part, with the classic options for single and team deathmatch up to 60 players, a new record for the genre on consoles, the classic flag capture (renamed core control) and the skirmish mode, which meets the chaos generated by all these players at the same time by further dividing his team into sub-units of five elements, where each one is assigned specific missions in a dynamic way. The Skirmish therefore manages to give the idea of being in a bigger conflict and to give "order", but we must say that we also had fun in the classic team deathmatch, always by virtue of the excellent control system and rather maps. large, which allow you to use numerous passages according to your fighting style, it being understood that the skill with the pad counts more than the strategy.
Also for the competitive section we have medals and rewards, which also allow you to customize the skin of your character, and the same thing happens also for the offline campaign, which returns experience points to rise in rank, according to a perfect integrated system in every aspect. of game.
The network infrastructure that contains everything is also exceptional, thanks to the presence of voice chat, matchmaking, the ability to create clans, invite friends and make private rooms, an incredible statistics system, seasoned with a plethora of filters, also reachable online on the Myresistance.net website. Furthermore, during our numerous gaming sessions, we have practically never encountered any lag, the voice chat always worked perfectly and the graphics engine did not lose a frame, even with dozens and dozens of characters on the screen, signs of the goodness of the work. operated by Insomniac.
To close the circle of an excellent multiplayer and a good single player, which is about ten hours, there is no shortage of extras such as character sketches, information on each type of weapon, an arcade mode (which allows you to face the game with a predefined number of lives per level) and the possibility to apply some graphic filters, not counting the 39 trophies present.
