Game Review: "Resistance 2"

Alot of PS3 games I get to play are borrowed from my youngest brother. (He somehow finds time to play tons of video games, watch all kinds of movies, & see every single Philly sporting event.) Since he gets alot of good PS3 titles, it's like a free personal rental service for me.

Recently, I played twice through the sequel to "Resistance: Fall of Man". As a first-person shooter revolving around an alien invasion of Earth, "Resistance 2" was my kind of game.


You are a soldier who is fighting an invasion of creatures called The Chimera. Unfortunately you have been infected with a virus, turning you into the very monsters you are fighting. You have a great array of human & alien weapons to use throughout the game; various machine guns, sniper rifles, rocket launchers, energy rifles that can see & shoot through walls, and even a gun that fires circular saws that bounce around, slicing up any Chimera in your way.

The main individual antagonist of the story is another former soldier who was overtaken by the Chimera virus & morphed into a large tentacled creature named Daedalus. This floating freak Daedalus has somehow aquired the knowledge of the Chimera's origin & purpose.

Probably the best aspect of the game is the continuous feeling of overwhelming alien power you are up against. Throughout the many environments you encounter (the forest, a desert canyon, an abandoned 50's era town, Louisiana bayou, & being on a Chimera mothership) one feature is eerily ever-present. Most of the time, when you look up to the sky you are going to see a massive fleet of countless alien craft. It gives you the distinct impression of a truly overwhelming invasion taking place.

Unlike "Dead Space", where you are in outer space stuck on a ship w/ creatures creeping up on you in the dark corridors, Resistance 2 is mostly fought in open battlefields on Earth. The action is intense with hordes of Chimera footsoldiers continuously attacking you in the various locations they have overtaken. Then there are are the inevitable boss battles against insanely huge Chimera monstrosities- like The Leviathan that you have to fight from the top of a city high-rise building:

Overall this is a great game that is alot of fun. I haven't had a chance to play the co-op 2 player missions yet & I don't bother playing other people over the PS network, but the single player campaign was definitely worth playing through a couple times. It seems that despite the efforts of the player, your character ends up totally infected by the Chimera virus & Earth is somehow teleported to some strange location in space at the end of the game. I imagine this will be the setting for Resistance: 3. "This is just the beginning..."

It didn't knock my socks off like "Dead Space", but it is a title I recommend for anyone who likes the FPS variety of games. The amazing locations that are overrun with alien fleets, the wide variety of weapons & Chimera enemies, and the constant blood-pumping action are some of the great features of "Resistance 2".

• The Monkey Buddha's official rating: 8.0