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"RISE. STAND. RESIST."
―Tagline

Resistance 2 is a 2008 science fiction first-person shooter video game developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3. It's the sequel to Resistance: Fall of Man.

Resistance 2 sees protagonist Nathan Hale travel to the United States in order to once again battle the Chimera, who have launched a full-scale invasion of both the east and west coasts. Hale is now part of an elite force of soldiers called "The Sentinels", who, like him, are infected with the Chimeran virus and must keep it under control through regular application of inhibitors.

The game was released in North America on November 4, 2008, in Australia on November 27, 2008, and in Europe on the following day. It had received generally positive reviews, with praise for its visuals, multiplayer modes and scale of the single-player campaign. However, there was some criticism of the story and aspects of the campaign, while the game's overall changes from its predecessors drew polarized reactions from critics and fans.

Gameplay[]

Resistance 2 emulates the mechanics of most modern shooters, discarding many of the ideas of Resistance: Fall of Man in favor of these. The player is only able to hold two weapons and has fully regenerating health in single-player, and the game's movement mechanics are more "realistic" than the previous game, with side-stepping no longer as fast as walking forward, the general movement speed slowed down and a sprint function added and using iron sights slowing the player down rather than allowing them to move at the same speed. Weapons have generally larger cones of fire, and enemies tend to be "crunchier" than before, with Hybrids going down to a single headshot from most weapons.

The game features a 13-hour Campaign and includes many of the weapons from Fall of Man, as well as new weapons such as the Marksman and the HVAP (High Velocity Armor Piercing) Wraith. The weapons are a mix of 1950s human technology and more advanced alien technology.

Bonus Options[]

The Bonus Options is unlocked once the player finishes campaign mode.

Name Description
Chapter Concept Art Concept art can be viewed in the Profile screen.
Motion Blur (off, low, med, high) Control the amount of motion blur.
Vehicle And Weapon Concept Art Concept art can be viewed in the Profile screen.
Depth Of Field (off, low, med, high) Control the Depth of Field of the game camera.
Motion Blur (off, low, med, high) Control the amount of motion blur.
Screen Tint (off, black & white, sepia tone, nuclear winter) Select a new tint for the game.
Arcade Mode Play the game with a limited number of lives, start new game to enable this mode.
Mirror Levels Mode Flip the levels and play through their mirrored reflection.
Super Hybrid Weapons (off, on) Re-arm the Hybrids with more powerful weapons.
Superhuman Difficulty (off, on) Play through the game on SUPERHUMAN difficulty, start new game to enable this mode.

Plot[]

Following the events of Fall of Man, soldiers from the Special Research Projects Administration (SRPA), led by Major Richard Blake, take custody of Sgt. Nathan Hale. They transport him to SRPA Station Igloo, an American black site in Iceland, but but are soon shot down by Chimeran forces that are attacking the base to free "Daedalus", an advanced Chimeran creature being observed by Dr. Fyodor Malikov. Blake attempted to eliminate Daedalus, but accidentally frees him as he had to undo the safety protocols put in place to contain Daedalus. Daedalus soon escapes after leaving a cryptic message to Hale. SRPA are forced to abandon the base. Blake later explains to Hale that he is part of Project Abraham, a covert effort to create super-soldiers infused with the Chimeran virus, known as Sentinels. Two years later, Hale is promoted to Lieutenant and given the command of Echo Team, consisting of Sgt. Benjamin Warner, Cpl. Joseph Capelli, and Spc. Aaron Hawthorne.

944521 20080226 screen011

The Chimeran invasion of the United States.

On May 15, 1953, the Chimera launched a full-scale invasion of the United States by attacking the west and east coasts with a aerial fleet of airships. Among the targets is SRPA 3 in San Francisco, where Hale is scheduled to undergo inhibitor treatment to prevent the Chimeran virus completely taking him over. With Blake providing backup, Hale oversees a full evacuation and retrieves inhibitor samples for the Sentinels. The survivors retreat to the Midwest, where they track a damaged Chimeran flagship to Orick, California. Hijacking a Chimeran shuttle, Echo Team boards the ship to destroy it with explosives. Hale soon discovers from the ship's control room that the Chimera are planning to breach the Liberty Defense Perimeter at Twin Falls, Idaho.

Echo Team travels to Twin Falls and activates the defense towers, resulting in an artillery barrage that breaks the Chimeran offensive. Hale later defies orders to return for needed inhibitor treatment and takes a squad to Station Genesis to extract Dr. Malikov as the Chimeran fleet's flagship under Daedalus had attacked the base to reactivate the local Chimeran tower. After coming to Malikov's rescue, Hale is unable to stop Daedalus from reactivating the tower. He also learns from Malikov that Daedalus was a human known as Private Jordan Shepherd, one of the first test subjects of Project Abraham alongside with Hale. Shepherd had been injected with Pure Chimeran DNA, which quickly overwhelmed his weakened immune system and mutated him into his current form. Malikov also warns Hale that the same will eventually happen to him unless he receives treatment.

After rescuing Malikov, Hale is reunited with Echo Team and they proceed to Chicago, where the Chimera have begun to restart their network of towers. SRPA forces defeats the Chimera that were defending the tower, including a massive Chimeran creature called the Leviathan, and Malikov successfully disables the tower. However, Daedalus reactivates the tower remotely from his command center in Iceland. SRPA forces later launch an attempt to breach the tower at Holar, but are overwhelmed by heavy Chimeran forces. Against orders to retreat, Echo Team enters the tower and tries to eliminate Daedalus. But Warner and Hawthorne are killed by Daedalus, who then badly wounds Hale. Capelli manages to save Hale.

Six weeks later, the Liberty Defense Perimeter had fell to the Chimera, killing 80 million survivors and forcing the remaining 3 million to evacuate to a poorly supplied refugee camp in Louisiana. Hale been left in a coma before finally waking up, discovering that his condition has become irreversible, and according to Malikov he only has a few hours left before the infection consumes him. Capelli informs Hale of the situation and that Daedalus's fleet had moved to the Chicxulub Crater in the Yucatan Peninsula for unknown reasons. Hale, Capelli, and Blake plans to make a final stand to stop whatever the Chimera's intentions and to finally kill Daedalus.

The group infiltrate Daedalus' flagship with a nuclear warhead, hoping to detonate it near the central reactor and trigger an explosion that wipes out the entire fleet. Unfortunately, Blake and his team are intercepted and killed by the Chimera, who take the bomb to Daedalus. Entering the core room, Hale battle and kills Daedalus. Hale is drawn to Daedalus' corpse and upon touching it, he inadvertently absorbs Daedalus' powers and is granted psychokinetic abilities. After priming the bomb, Hale escapes with Capelli on a Chimeran shuttle as the bomb detonates and wiping out the fleet. The resulting electromagnetic shockwave disables their shuttle and causing them crash land.

This is just the beginning

Nathan Hale fully succumbed to the virus.

Capelli wakes up and finds Hale standing outside staring at the sky that is now occupied by two planets. Hale then turns his attention to Capelli and revealing to him that he had fully succumbed to the Chimeran virus. He tells Capelli that "this is just the beginning." Capelli, realizing that he had no choice, reluctantly executes Hale with a gunshot to the head.

Campaign Levels of Resistance 2
Campaign SRPA Station Igloo · San Francisco · Orick · Battleship · Twin Falls · Bryce Canyon · Chicago · Holar Tower · Cocodrie · Chicxulub Crater
Co-op Orick · Chicago · Bracknell · Bryce Canyon · Axbridge · Holar Tower


Multiplayer[]

Resistance 2 features multiplayer in two variations: cooperative and competitive. Both multiplayer modes track the player's performance, gaining experience and leading to benefits and rewards, as well as assigning the player a skill ranking.

Unlike its predecessor and successor, Resistance 2 does not offer co-op for the single player campaign. Cooperative Mode features a separate campaign mode which runs parallel to the single-player campaign. The cooperative campaign supports anything from two to eight players, taking the role of a special forces group called "Specter Team". Players are tasked with many randomized objectives around the map, while defeating hordes of Chimera in the process. The strength of the enemy forces is altered based on the number of players and their skill levels. There are three classes to choose from: Special Ops - long-distance damage dealers, who also provide ammunition; Soldiers - the "tanks" who endure the most damage; and Medics - who drain life from enemies and impart to teammates.

Competitive Mode features support for up to 60 players at any given time; the highest number of players for any PlayStation 3 online game at the time of Resistance 2's release. Four games modes are available: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag (Core Control) and Skirmish, while involved players getting split up into squads of five and take part in objective-based proxy-battles. Players can play as either the Humans or the Chimerans, and get to choose their weapon loadout before and during a game while respawning.

Many weapons make a return from the original, most notably the Carbine, Bullseye, Fareye, Auger, Rossmore and LAARK (although this can be only accessed through a berserk). However, the Arc Charger and Dragon did not return, and were instead replaced with the Bellock, Wraith, Splicer and Pulse Cannon. The addition of berserks is a new feature and can only be accessed if the player reaches a required XP during a game through kills. The berserks give players an additional advantage such as a new weapon or added health but only for a short period of time.

There are a variety of campaign-based maps featuring maps of different sizes (10p, 20p, 40p, 60p) with the player choosing their preference. Custom games also made a return, although unlike Resistance: Fall of Man, players cannot receive XP in custom games. The ranking system is also identical to that of Resistance: Fall of Man, with players progressing through 20 ranks with three tiers each from private up to supreme commander (making a total of 60 ranks). As some ranks are gained, players receive unlockables such as different berserks and skins.

On March 26, 2009, the Aftermath Map Pack was released introducing new maps and skins to multiplayer. An accompanying update also introduced Meltdown to the game and also Superhuman Co-Op to the Cooperative Mode.

The game's online multiplayer, along with Resistance: Fall of Man, and Resistance 3, was disabled by Sony on April 8, 2014.

Maps[]

Multiplayer Maps of Resistance 2
Included Chicago · Chicxulub Crater · Holar Tower · Cocodrie · Orick · Redwoods · San Francisco · SRPA Station Igloo
Aftermath Aftermath · Outpost · Pit Stop


Weapons[]

Resistance 2 Weapons
Human HE .44 Magnum · HVAP Wraith · Knife · L210 LAARK · L23 Fareye · M5A2 Folsom Carbine · Marksman · MP-47 · Rossmore 238 · V7 Splicer · XR-13 Bellock · XR-42 Phoenix
Chimera Auger · Brute Minigun · Bullseye · Bullseye Mark II
Grenades Air Fuel · Frag · Hedgehog · Spider · XR-87 Proximity Mine


Development[]

The game was officially unveiled in the February 2008 issue of Game Informer, detailing the 8-player cooperative campaign, 60-player online multiplayer, and Fall 2008 release.[1] The first teaser trailer 200672656 (pin) debuted during the April 11, 2008, edition of GameTrailers TV, while the first gameplay trailer arrived on June 13, 2008, again on GameTrailers.[2]

Resistance 2 was showcased at Sony's E3 2008 press conference, with a live gameplay demonstration of the Leviathan boss battle. The multiplayer mode was playable on the show floor, while the single player was shown in the SCE lounge.[3]

The game previously featured a prototype weapon called the Tapper, which would shoot tubes and create a blood fountain, but this weapon was ultimately cut from the final product.[4]

On October 16, 2008, a new trailer entitled "Last Hours" was released, which contained clips from previous trailers with new footage from the game. It also showed changes in Nathan Hale's appearance.

Beta phase[]

Insomniac announced they were running a Public Beta in October 2008. One of the ways to give consumers access to the beta involved a pre-order program through GameStop. Gamers who reserved their copy from GameStop received a card that contained a beta registration code. Once registered through the official site, the beta voucher was emailed to the address provided. Users could then download and install third beta from the PlayStation Store. The Public Beta was available from October 24 to October 29. It included three multiplayer maps - San Francisco, Orick (California), and Chicago - and could be played in the 8-player co-op campaign and the 60-player online multiplayer.

Marketing[]

Note: All of these sites [as of August 8th, 2008] are based in November 1950, only eight months before the events of Resistance: Fall of Man. All of the sites featured that show signs of devastation are shown after the Chimera's invasion of America.

Project Abraham[]

The marketing campaign centers around Project Abraham, a top-secret military project under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of War.

Initially, specific details on the nature and purpose of the project were very bare and mysterious, though with time additional content added onto the website (in concurrence with the Project's latest developments) that reveals the purpose of the project: It is a research initiative designed to eradicate the Chimera virus, that is currently infecting Europeans by the millions. It lasts over the next two months, with an SRPA team of biochemical experts formulating several permutations of serums to be used on human volunteers in an attempt to discover the vaccine against the plague. The findings were ultimately inconclusive. Other purposes are to learn more about and better understand the virus. The next phase of the project is collecting all the immune soldiers together as an elite super-soldier task force code-named "Sentinels", dedicated to fighting off the impending Chimera invasion while the bulk of the U.S. population is safely secured in the Liberty Defense Perimeter.

In terms of characters, the primary characters are Colonel Grant Thompson and Doctor Cassandra Aklin (played by Katee Sackhoff, and is also the protagonist; with all written and recorded content either directed towards or generated by Aklin so far), but other characters, civilian, military or otherwise are mentioned. The test subjects include Captain Frank Anthony Gennaro, 1st Lieutenant Glenn Albert Khaner, Lieutenant Kenneth Danby, Sergeant Channing Brown, Sergeant Keith Todd Oster, Sergeant Nathan Hale, and Private Joseph Capelli

Apart from the project itself, the files and videos reveal the personal situation with the project's personnel; the soldiers, willing to endure the possibility of death, have detailed history, military careers and personality profiles (collected by Aklin), which often reflects in their actions towards others. More information about Hale's history, family and military career are revealed as well. It is also revealed that Aklin, suffering increasing emotional guilt over the continued deaths of the soldiers, gradually became more emotionally involved with Hale, who she admired for his strength and his de-facto leadership of the soldiers. Eventually, Aklin admitted on a recording she had fallen in love with him, feelings he reciprocated.

Other websites[]

A second website named America first America only is the website of the "Alliance for American Autonomy". The Alliance is a group of radicals bent on exposing the U.S. Government and its secrets to the public. The site shows a small dark area with a printing press, and an office containing a news board, news clippings, the alliances newsletter/paper, file cabinets, and a "tip box". The Alliances newsletter/paper is published every Friday. When a new article is posted the old ones are stored in the file cabinets for reference and can be viewed at any time. The newsletter/paper gets most of its information from "agents," people who have submitted SrpaNet codes through the Tip Box. One of the latest updates for the site has seemed to have ransacked the area and shows a letter that seems to have been written in a hurry. More recently, it now provides a link to a new site Metastasis, which provides a minigame for fans to solve various puzzles. There is also a new typewriter which contains locations and "dead drop" locations. Places marked with the dead drop symbolize areas where fans can receive memorabilia for the game.

A third website named Get A War Job has been discovered and can be accessed directly from Project Abraham. On the site a typewriter is shown along with pro and anti-war posters, cards, pamphlets, and a document which the player can fill out and possibly cause events to happen in the future such as a phone call or further information about the site/sites. The business card to the left may be called, toll free, to hear an inspirational recruiting message for the military. The latest update for the site seems to have burned nearly everything in view and the registration form is no longer available.

A fourth website named SrpaNet has also been discovered. It is an old computer interface in which the Project Abraham staff and the U.S. Government use. So far hidden and overt serial codes, found in various places on Project Abraham, have led to hidden documents and images relating to the Chimera and what is known about them.

Collector's Edition[]

The collector's edition includes a hardcover art book, special cover art, an in-game weapon skin (a Chimeran HVAP Wraith called the Brute Minigun, the same kind Ravagers use), and an action figure of the game's "Hybrids", the Chimera.[5] It also includes a bonus Blu-ray Disc with a behind-the-scenes featurette, a video detailing the game's alternate historical timeline, a digital copy of issue #0 of the Resistance comic book, and a preview from the upcoming Resistance novel "The Gathering Storm". The collector's edition was only sold in North America, and not in Europe due to the hassle of translating each aspect of the Collector's Edition to the various main languages in the continent, such as English, French, Spanish etc. as said by SCEE in a Press Conference prior to the game's release. The Collector's Edition Blu-ray also contains a hidden Easter Egg which can be accessed by watching the "scale" featurette, pressing Left on the arrow keys upon returning to the menu, and then pressing right.

Press Kit Edition[]

Resistance 2 Press Kit

The Press Kit Edition is a special edition for the release of Resistance 2. It includes a "Barlow" cookie box, the birth registration notice of Henry Stillman, a small book belonging to Henry Stillman, a cinema ticket for the movie "Attack of the 300ft monster!", two recruitment flyers for the army, a CD cover containing Resistance 2, a Hometown Gazette and a photograph of a man standing in front of a car.[6]

PlayStation Home[]

On March 26, 2009, Insomniac Games released a Resistance 2 SRPA suit for the male avatars. The SRPA suit is purchasable in Home's shopping complex.

On May 21, 2009, Insomniac Games released a dedicated space for Resistance 2 in the PlayStation 3's online community-based service, PlayStation Home in the Asian, European, and North American versions.[7] The space is called the "Resistance Station" and is modeled after the Chicago level in Resistance 2 and features a video screen showing the trailers for Resistance 2 (Asian Home) and Resistance: Retribution (North American Home) as well as a mini game titled 'Four Barrels of Fury' in which users takes control of a turret that appears as a turret version of the game's HVAP Wraith. The player must shoot down incoming Chimeran ships varying in size. The game is divided into waves. The player must shoot down ships for points. Occasionally the player must defend 2 incoming VTOL transports one carrying health the other carrying modified ammo. If the VTOLs are defended the player's turret is repaired and the damage dealt by the turret's shots will be strengthened as long as the ammo lasts. There are three different rewards for reaching a certain wave or score in the mini game. The first reward is a male and female Resistance 2 t-shirt for beating Wave 4. If users beat Waves 1 to 4 with a score of 100% on each wave, they get a hat that is modeled after the Chimeran flagship in Wave 4 and if users obtain a score of 1,000,000, they get a male and female Resistance 2 hoodie. For a limited time in the European Home, in the place of where the video screen is in the Asian and North American versions, there was a poster with a promotional code on it. The first 3,000 users that redeemed the code received a male and female Resistance: Retribution t-shirt. The trailer for Resistance: Retribution has replaced the poster. This space was released to the Japanese version on September 10, 2009. Outso developed the Resistance 2 Game Space for Insomniac Games.

In addition to the space, users can fully game launch into Resistance 2. Game launching lets users set up a competitive or co-op game in Home, have people join the game, then launch directly from Home into the game. Users can set up a competitive game of up to 32 players and up to 8 players for co-op.

Reception[]

Resistance 2 has been well-received by critics, with a current Metacritic aggregate score of 87 out of 100, based on 77 reviews,[8] and a Game Rankings aggregate of 87%, based on 58 reviews.[9]

It garnered a score of 9/10 from the Official UK PlayStation Magazine, who said it was, as they would have liked, "prettier and shootier", and 9.5/10 from IGN, elected there for an Editor's Choice Award. It also earned a 9/10 score from Official PlayStation Magazine Australia. IGN in particular praised the game for its single player campaign and online multiplayer, as well as the scale and detail of the level design, stating that the bosses would "make your jaw drop." GameRac gave Resistance 2 an 8/10, saying that the game had "amazing graphics and the single player was improved", also electing it for both the Editor's Choice Award and Most Anticipated Game Award. Resistance 2 sold about 803,000 copies worldwide in its debut week.

Other reviews include Gameplayer, which rated the game 9/10, NZGamer, which rated the game with a 9.2/10,[10] Gamepro, who rated the game 4/5, proclaiming it was "bigger, bolder and better than the first" and an "improvement upon the formula set by its predecessor in almost every way", and X-Play, which rated Resistance 2 a 5/5 in high praise.

Gallery[]

Box art[]

Videos[]

Trivia[]

  • Resistance 2's private online beta was called "Girl with A Stick" which is an in-joke on I-5 - an Insomniac Games project of the same name which had been canceled in 2000.
  • Resistance 2 is the only game in the series to not feature the weapon wheel.
  • Resistance 2 appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.[11]

References[]

  1. ^ Chris, Faylor Insomniac Unveils Resistance 2: Fall 2008 Release, 8-player Online Co-op, 60-person Online MP, Shacknews
  2. ^ Resistance 2 - Exclusive Debut Teaser, GameTrailers
  3. ^ The Big E3 List: 2008 Edition
  4. ^ "Resistance 2: Fighting For Your Country," PlayStation The Official Magazine 13 (November 2008): 60.
  5. ^ "Resistance 2: Collector's Edition," PlayStation The Official Magazine 13 (November 2008): 64.
  6. ^ "Media Kits: Spanning the Years", Fluid.
  7. ^ This Week in PlayStation Home: Resistance Space Unleashed, Game Launching Confirmed Sony Computer Entertainment
  8. ^ Resistance 2 (ps3: 2008): Reviews, Metacritic
  9. ^ Resistance 2 Reviews, Game Rankings
  10. ^ Resistance 2 review
  11. ^ www.mobygames.com

External links[]

Resistance series
Main games Resistance: Fall of Man · Resistance 2 · Resistance 3
Spin-off games Resistance: Retribution · Resistance: Burning Skies
Special Editions Resistance Dual Pack · Resistance: The Trilogy · Resistance Collection
Viral marketing games Project Abraham · America First - America Only · Get A War Job · SrpaNet · Metastasis
Comics Resistance
Novels The Gathering Storm · A Hole in the Sky
Strategy guides Resistance: Fall of Man Signature Series Guide · Resistance 2 Signature Series Guide · Resistance 3 Signature Series Guide
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