Humans transformed by the Chimera virus may be trandformed into virulent alien scum, but they have a wonderful dental plan as you can see.
ADVERTISEMENT
Barry says "Resist Resistance 2"
Plus mean, snide, snarky...but fair.
Posted
at
7:25 pm
"Why So Serious?"
As I roll through the post-apocalyptic frag fest that is Fallout 3, I have become cut off from the world. So much so that the basic hygienic requirements for human interaction have been neglected – children now run from me and animals regularly growl as I tread past.
So deep was I in my happy little world I was shocked – shocked I say! – to find out that there had been actual releases in the last week and a half. Resistance 2 and Gears of War 2, to be precise, had come and landed at my feet. I will be reviewing GoW 2 online and in the paper. Mr. Rolapp took Resistance 2 in hand and beat it. Mercilessly.
I mention Barry because he’s written a review of Resistance 2 that will fly in the face of most video game journalists you’ll read out there. That shouldn’t be anything new if you are a Big Game Hunter reader – we regularly punish drivel, berate malcontents, and rely on the temperament of our better angels to remain objective enough to see the job done. But mostly we suffer from "Grumpy Gamer Syndrome."
In video game journalism, this is a rarity. While the Age of Payola may be behind us in the video game industry, the simple fact is that the majority of websites that are dedicated to video games are in fact making money by selling ads of the very games their supposed to review. This results in tension between the editorial content and the advertisers, producing scores that are – shall we say – reciprocal. Ergo, games like the flatly idiotic Kane and Lynch can get away with scores such as 8.0 – mostly because parent company Eidos bought hundreds of thousands of dollars to advertise on those websites.
Here at BGH, we’re fanboys – and girls – who love the culture and devour whatever new morsel comes across our collective radar. While we may, in turn, be impartial to some games because A) our slavish devotion clouds our judgment or B) because said games have garnered enough street cred to at least earn a modicum of respect in the community.
What we don’t do, and never shall, will let our objectivity be tarnished by lesser mortals. What you read here is one hundred percent, unequivocally, pure editorial content that has not been sullied by advertising incentives or free swag (not that we ever get any).
“Wow this is more of that crazy, new-fangled serious talk Justin! Some game blog!” Yes, I know. I just thought you would like to know that we are honestly trying to insert actual journalism in games journalism.
Heaven forbid.
Resistance 2: Not That Hard to Resist
The holiday season is upon us, which should mean publishers and developers will be unleashing hordes of new and unique gaming content upon the masses to consume until their wallets lay empty and impotent of spending power. But they don’t. Instead we get sequels, and as Don Marquis once said, “A sequel is an admission that you've been reduced to imitating yourself.”
The sequel du jour is the Sony exclusive Resistance 2. The game picks up where the original left off and does its best to get you back in the game play with little delay –except for the two year gap in the story line- with Sergeant Nathan Hale being assigned to SRPA’s Sentinels, a group of fellow soldiers also infected with the Chimera virus who have yet to turn and hopefully won’t as long as they continue to take their medicine.
If I sound unimpressed, it is because I am. The game itself is solid. The environments coupled with the improved AI for your allies as well as foes provide challenging game play. The co-op and competitive modes lend a Team Fortress 2 aspect to the game which also means that there is an added layer of strategy involved when playing those modes, giving the game a definite replay value.
With all that said, you might ask yourself what my problem with the game is. Simply put, we have all seen it before. Sticking with the context of the game, developer Insomniac decided to do a limited upgrade to the weaponry. It is a logical move, being that only two years has passed in game; but it also means that you shouldn’t expect anything too glorious and new to pop up.
Resistance 2 Gameplay Video
Casting Note: Carl Weathers Makes Everything Better
The enemies are grander in scale and the visuals are impressive. It is really cool to see a giant alien ship hovering over a national landmark like the Golden Gate Bridge, but again it has been done. I mean really anyone else remember a movie called Independence Day? Even the new alien enemy designs are lacking in creativity. One of the campaigns takes place in a northern California forest against an enemy that has stealth capabilities. Honestly for a brief second I thought they had just spliced a clip from Predator into the game. I wouldn’t have been surprised to see them model my squad after Jesse Ventura, Carl Weathers and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Also as fun and addictive as the co-cop and competitive modes are, there are several bugs that have yet to be worked out. Those specifically lie within the split screen co-op mode. It is one of the new features I really enjoy about next gen systems overall. Not only can I frag some chump in another state, but my friends and I can do so together in the same room. But every time I and my girlfriend tried to log on and fry some alien rear, all I’d get is a network failure display.
I know the game is still new, but this was an issue in the public beta and was not fixed before release date. And the game already is at software version 1.20. So obviously they are working on it, but in today’s market, and with a gamer’s limited resource of time and money, these types of bugs could make or break a title.
Simply put, Resistance 2 is a solid FPS, just like almost every other FPS sequel getting released this season. If you are a fan of the franchise or the genre it is worth a rent, but with so much scheduled to drop this winter I find it hard to hand out the cash for a game that we have seen before.
By Barry Rolapp For the PS3 Rated "M" for Mature $59.99
|Contact Us
|Advertiser Services
|Home Delivery
|Newsstand Locations
|Classifieds
|Feedback
|About the Company
|Work@the Herald
|Site Map