Video Game Vintage Title: Resistance 2

Resistance 2

Resistance 2 is a science fiction first person shooter video game developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3. The game was released in North America on November 4, 2008, Japan on November 13, 2008, and in Europe on November 28, 2008. Resistance 2 is the sequel to the best-selling PlayStation 3 launch title 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. In this game, Hale is 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.

Resistance 2 Plot

After destroying the Chimera Tower in London in 1951, Nathan Hale is extracted by Special Research Projects Administration (SRPA) soldiers in a VTOL aircraft, and sedated. Upon arrival at the SRPA "Igloo" Base in Iceland, they find it under attack by Chimera forces. Their VTOL is shot down by a Chimera Goliath and only Hale and Major Richard Blake of the SRPA survive. As the two make their way to safety, they encounter and unknowingly unleash Daedalus, an incredibly powerful Chimeran creature that is apparently controlling the Chimera Army. Hale and Blake find Russian scientist Fyodor Malikov who has been working with the SRPA investigating the Chimeran virus, and are able to safely extract him to America before the Chimera overrun the base. Hale is introduced to the Sentinels, others like Hale who have been exposed to the Chimeran virus, giving them superhuman strength and regenerative abilities, but take regular injections of an inhibitor to prevent them from fully succumbing to its effects. Over the next two years, Hale is promoted to Lieutenant and becomes a part of the Sentinel special force in charge of Echo Squad in the place of the KIA Lt. Hank Leavitt (revealed in Intel during the Cooperative campaign) - comprising Sergeant Ben Warner, Specialist Aaron Hawthorne and Corporal Joseph Capelli - and put on the same regimen of inhibitors to prevent the virus from changing him further.

The Chimeran invasion of the United States.

On May 15, 1953, the Chimera launches a full-scale invasion of the United States, attacking the country from both the east and west and overwhelming their defenses. Due to the attack, the United States declares war against the Chimera. Hale, Malikov, and most of the surviving SRPA soldiers escape from the destruction of their base at SRPA 3 in San Francisco after Hale kills a Chimeran sea monster, referred to as a Kraken as the Chimera lay waste to the city. The SRPA units pursue a damaged Chimera battleship to Orick, California, where they manage to board the battleship and destroy it using explosive charges. Following their escape, they are shot down and crash near Twin Falls, Idaho which lies on the Liberty Defense Perimeter. Hale and other Sentinels successfully reactivate two defensive towers to repel the Chimera fleet, which was about to breach the perimeter, after Hale knocks a giant leaper-like Chimera known as "The Mother Spinner" off one of the towers, sending it falling to its doom. Hale refuses to return to base for his inhibitor treatment, disregarding the fact that he is long overdue, and instead takes a black ops squad to 'Station Genesis' in Bryce Canyon, Utah in order to extract Malikov from the base before a Chimera attack force wipes out SRPA troops there. Hale is able to successfully retrieve Malikov from the base but not before encountering Daedalus again. Malikov explains to Hale that Daedalus used to be a human known as Private Jordan Adam Shepherd who, along with Hale, was part of "Project Abraham", a military program designed to try to create Chimera-human hybrids such as the Cloven to use as super-soldiers. Shepherd was part of Malikov's tests, one of two (the other being Hale himself) who were injected with pure Chimeran DNA to actually survive. Unlike Hale, who had the DNA become dormant until his re-infection in York re-activated it, Shepherd's injection mutated his body into the barely human form of Daedalus, and gave him knowledge of the Chimera's origins and goals, and the ability to control their armies.

After recovering Malikov and escaping Station Genesis, Hale and Echo Squad head to Chicago, against the orders of command, in order to deactivate one of several activated Chimera towers that are slowly powering up, since these towers are key to the Chimera's plans for Earth. After a vicious battle through the city, in which Hale kills a 300 ft tall Chimeran monster, known as the "Leviathan", Malikov is able to deactivate it, only to find the tower reactivated remotely immediately afterwards by Daedalus from Iceland, and the only way to shut it down is to travel there. The Sentinels and the other SRPA soldiers launch a heavy assault against the Iceland tower (Holar Tower map in multiplayer), but find it to be a trap, with many of the forces being lost. Hale and Echo Squad are able to enter the tower, only to find Daedalus waiting for them. During their time in the tower Hawthorne is ripped in half by Daedalus, then Warner is stabbed and killed. Hale is stabbed in the stomach by Daedalus and passes out from his injuries. Corporal Capelli finds his body and saves his life. Hale wakes up from a medically induced coma in a field camp in Cocodrie, Louisiana and finds that it is six weeks later; the Chimera overrun the American Liberty Defense lines despite taking heavy casualties, killing over 80 million people, and forcing the 3 million remaining survivors to America's last stronghold in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Even worse, Hale also discovers that because he went so long without the inhibitor, his body has succumbed to the virus, and he has only 3 hours, at most, before it fully consumes him. Hale decides to use this time to take part in an attack on the majority of the Chimera fleet currently hovering above the Gulf of Mexico around the Chicxulub Crater on the Yucatan Peninsula, waiting for some unknown purpose. Hale and Capelli are able to recover a nuclear warhead and deliver it onto Daedalus' flagship, but Major Richard Blake and his squad are killed taking the warhead to the ship's central reactor. It is taken by Chimeran forces and brought to Daedalus. Hale makes his own way to Daedalus and kills him; though upon touching his corpse, Hale is suddenly overwhelmed by strong psychokinetic abilities. After re-activating the bomb, Hale escapes with Capelli. The resulting explosion destroys the Chimeran fleet and an electromagnetic pulse forces Hale and Capelli's ship to crash land.

When Capelli regains consciousness, he notices that Hale is missing. Heading outside he sees that the sky has turned red with a number of destroyed planet-like spheres clearly visible in space, with Hale looking in awe at them. Hale recalls Daedalus' words: "Can you hear them? They are calling to us...It's beautiful!" finishing with, "This is just the beginning." Capelli sees that Hale has nearly become fully engulfed by the virus. In contrast to his previously disrespectful attitude towards Hale, Capelli replies "Forgive me, sir. It was an honor." then shoots Hale at point blank range in the head, killing him.

Resistance 2 Gameplay

Resistance 2 is a single-player campaign, with the player controlling protagonist Nathan Hale. The game includes many of the weapons from Resistance: Fall of Man, as well as new weapons such as the "Marksman" and a mini gun called the "HVAP (High Velocity Armor Piercing) Wraith". The weapons are a mix of 1950s human technology and more advanced alien technology. Unlike the first game, where there was no limit on the number of weapons carried, Resistance 2 limited the player to two weapons, as well as a more limited number of grenades. Resistance 2 also does not use a health bar in the single player campaign as it did in the first, but instead it uses an automatic regenerative health system, whereby players must keep out of the line of fire in order to recover health.

Reception
Resistance 2 was well received by critics, Aggregating review websites Game Rankings and Metacritic gave the game an aggregate score of 86.71% and 87/100.

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 409,270 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, 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. Game Informer gave the game an 8.5/10, saying that it wasn't as good as the original, "the slower movement is noticeable" and "the lack of a weapon wheel limits strategy," but praising the "absolutely gorgeous" graphics and the variety of multiplayer modes.

Despite the widespread praise from critics, some fans were not as enthusiastic about the game, primarily complaining about the unnecessary changes and exclusions, as well as a not-so-appealing campaign mode, which also lacked the acclaimed local co-op. Senior community manager James Stevenson of Insomniac said that the game "was a failure" for the hardcore followers of the series and admitted that gamers's negative feedback had weighed on him. Insomniac stated that they would take this as a lesson for the development of its sequel.

Resistance 2 sold 598,000 units in North America through 2008, 200,000 units in the United Kingdom, also sold over 3 million copies worldwide. and 65,191 in Japan.