Mike Bantick
Wednesday, 19 November 2008 10:14
Opinion and Analysis
Page 2 of 3
And so we jump into the action, with a short, spectacular training
mission, followed by some rather mediocre initial tasks. After the
third-person view, and corresponding wonderment of detail that is
presented in GOW2, the character models of R2 seemed a little light on
for polygon crafting. Cut-scenes in particular showed up flat textures
for soldier uniforms, standing stark against backgrounds alive with
features. Once you are into the first person perspective, much of
this issue goes away.
As I have already stated, the first parts of the Resistance 2 campaign
felt a little done-it-all-before. Bland selection of weapons,
run-and-gun corridors of samey enemies showing only rudimentary
artificial intelligence. There are some action breaking sequences
that mix things up a little, but if you are thinking of packing the
game away after only a couple of hours campaign time, think again.
Though the weapon choice rarely gets above “vaguely interesting”,
despite secondary fire options, this is understandable – the setting
after all is an alternate 1953, and though we are talking alien
invasion 1953, to keep some semblance of setting it seems natural not
to go too nuts on the technology front. It would have been nice to
have been able to pick up the heavy weapon of some downed creature from
time to time. That little feature is something that Gears of War 2 has
over this game.
The AI of the enemy is on the surface quite good, but after many a
shoot-out it becomes quite predictable, either barrel straight at you,
or run from one piece of cover and back again. Some larger creatures
completely lose their bearings making them quite easy to out-wit.
But, with all those negatives out of the way, we can tell you what R2
does really well. First and foremost it out epic’s Epic Games. Not so
much in those gigantic boss battles, where both Gears of War 2 and
Resistance 2 present players with set pieces of a magnitude not seen
since games such as Shadow of Colossus.
No, R2 has epic ordinary battles, if that makes sense, round a corner
on any given level and Nathan Hale could easily find himself in the
middle of tens of enemies and allies battling it out in a sprawling,
confusion of gun fire, energy projectiles and explosions. The feeling,
as Hale’s vision blurs from taking wounds, and the cries of the wounded
fill the room is one of a chaotic war of street gangs rather than of
two (okay, disparate and completely different) professional armies.
CONCLUDED on PAGE 3
