(This is a piece I did back in 2009. With the upcoming release of Resistance 3, I thought it was appropriate for whatever new audience there may be to see it. Especially considering I'm seeing the same kind of problems I had with R2 popping up in R3 trailers. Not a good sign. - Dominic)
I'm going to go out on a limb and say 2008 only had 2 FPS's that managed to deliver, Crysis Warhead (which was basically an expansion) and FarCry 2. Neither of which are some big console exclusive aimed at taking down the others juggernaut title. No, last year, in '08, MS and Sony fell flat on their faces with their forays into the realm of triple A shooters.
Gears 2 was last years big shooter from MS, riding ont he coattails of the first game, it was touted as "bigger, better and more badass." While most would argue the story mode lived up to that, the multiplayer was found to be "buggy, buggy and more buggy." While the foundations for the gameplay are solid and fun, massive and numerous bugs literally destroy the chance the game has at having a fair and fun online experience. Not many people like waiting 20 minutes in a lobby just to fight against invisible opponenets who can chainsaw with any weapon either.
Then enters Sony's offering, Resistance 2. While the first was lauded as solid and fun, it was nothing too spectacular. But the second promised so much more. Previews showed giant bosses and epic locales, they talked about updated multiplayer and an inventive new co-op mod, but the press couldn't get enough of the leviathan, the city destroying colossus. The "Cloverfield monster" of Resistance 2. Now, with the game out, the competitive multiplayer as proven to be a fun, fast paced and balanced experience. Co-op has become a huge selling point as well, with it being the favorite part of the package for most people. Leveling up a class and taking on hordes of AI with 7 other friends is a blast.
But, how could we forget the story mode? The continuing tale of Nathan Hale and his struggles against the Chimeran virus spreading across the world. All of the epic bosses, new, AMERICAN locations! it all sounded so nice, but the more you play it, the more you realize they barely paid any goddamn attention to it.
All of the proceeding text in no way describes the Chicago level, which was actually a solid romp. No, this describes the rest of the godforsaken story mode which I hope holds a place in hell as the biggest letdown from a triple AAA title of this generation.
The single key factor to the story modes demise, from what I can surmise, is laziness. I've thought this since Insomniac started making "next-gen" games, but I always blew it off and figured it was just them getting a grip on the PS3 before really jumping into the whole next-gen swing of things. You know, before getting into their groove. Resistance 2 however, shines a bright light onto the very PS2-era game design that I've noticed Insomniac struggle with destroying.
They're very good at seeming like they understand. All of the features you'd expect in a modern console shooter are there and then some. But there's something off putting about the design and all of it is embodied to extreme degree's in the games story mode.
I'll make a list. First off, every enemy goes straight for your ass. Doesn't matter if you have a squad of 15 dudes right in front of you, the enemy will sprint right through them and unload a thousand bullets point blank into your jugular. Speaking of teammates, I'm half sure they're all autistic kids standing on each others shoulders, wearing army suits. Because they stumble around during battle, shooting 4 bullets a minute, and letting just about anything hostile pass right by them without a care in the world. Just those 2 things alone, completely ruin the game already. The AI is terrible. Unrealistic, and overly simplistic, it looks and feels as if no time was put into how they react.
Now, if you have AI, and you have character models attached to that AI, well you need a level to put them in, right? Of course! Now, this is where tInsomniac either lost complete focus, or is showing off their strengths in making a PS2 game on a next-gen console. This game is 90% copy/paste corridors. Now and then they let you outside, because that's just the kinda guy he is, and you get to go "Whoa! That looks so cool!" and stare at all of those massive ships in the distance. But you're stuck behind this chain link fence. And the fence leads you to a corridor.
In that corridor, lie your enemies. this is where it's a coin toss. You'll either have to fight a swarm of enemies upon enemies, with extremely limited ammo, all by yourself. Or they'll give you a ton of space (just a big corridor, don't get excited) and throw 2 enemies at you. The haphazard approach to the design of the situations is almost mindnumbing. It's impossible to tell what they were thinking when they threw it together, but it's ridiculous. It feels off-balance and lazy. It's a very strictly room to affair, with a random selection of scripted enemies running at you whenever you turn a corner.
If I had a better video capturing device, I would record this perfect area that shows the incompetence of the design perfectly. Imagine a square, and then one of the lines on the square is twice as long as the rest. Now those are hallways. Nathan walks through a doorway and unleashes 8-10 regular Chimera's with guns, and then 2 behemoth motherfuckers, all the while your teammates are duking it out on a bridge. This square is now called Rape Central. You were sent there to be raped 20 times over until you get lucky and manage to actually wipe out this group in this tiny fucking corridor, with no help (teammates are on a bridge, they're busy!) and limited ammo (ammo pick-up's in this game are always extremely obvious indicators of oncoming fights, but sometimes it's hard to tell when they don't fucking give you any ammo) you're basically forced to get lucky.
When designing an area, you think they'd keep in mind what weapons you have, what types of enemies they throw at you, and the setup of the area you're fighting in. But they don't. Most battles are either two sides exchanging glowing hot energy rounds, or you by yourself in a tiny string of boring, unimaginitive corridors with no intention of being an interesting battleground.
Couple that with the AI blind toy our teammates, and teammates that are blind, and you have a massively frustrating experience that feels like something rushed out for the PS2. It's flat, unimaginative, lazy and in a lot of parts, just plain broken. And to me, it's stunning that something this horrendously designed ever got the okay for a company's AAA title.
Author's note: Barely worth reading (I need to work on my writing more, this is the beginning of that for me.) but I really had to rant that out.
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