After a long pause, I am back into gaming. And since I missed many titles, I decided to go for an “Unbiased” type of review.

The idea is that the hype is all gone, the game is out and it’s been a while.

Todays subject is Resistance 2. I got the game along with 20+ other titles I missed, so there is no hype there. I popped in all of the games and didn’t know which one to play first. Prototype was ok, inFamous was okay-ish, Dead Space is intense, Killzone 2 is pretty and so on.

But the game that got my attention the most was Resistance 2 – probably because I wasn’t expecting anything from it. Seriously, after the Halo series I got this “all marine shooters are generic crap” feeling. That is what I thought about the first game and what I assumed the second one would be.

But then comes the first mission with the big walking robot. Now, initially after watching the trailers I thought it was going to be a scaled down model in the background. But when you actually almost get stepped on by it, that kinda changes the game perception. But I’m not saying the game looks amazing – after KZ2 it looks just OK. The AA is a bit off, the character animation is so-so, but hey – giant walking robots!

Ultimately it all goes down to the pacing. Gears of War became popular because the action is nicely layered out. And here the pacing is great. Now you’re fighting off hordes of monsters, later you’re exploring a dark alley with zombie-running-things hatching out of eggs and scaring the crap out of you. I actually found myself paranoid and destroying all of the eggs before they hatch. Didn’t help though with the waves of enemies.

So the pacing. Resistance 2 manages to hit the sweet spot – it is enjoyable both when you sit in for 8 hour marathons, or when you pick up the game for an hour or less. It is a great example of what game producers should look forward to. I especially hate the Chameleons, but they are there just enough times to make you be cautious for the owl-ish howling sound.

Other instances include constant lack of ammo – which is great. If you give the player too much ammo, it’s going to be too easy. If you give not nearly enough, it will be very frustrating. Yet, when you give just enough, the tension and tactical thinking makes the gaming experience great.

For example, one time I had to charge the big flamethrower wielding thing with no ammo. I jumped on it from a cliff in the middle of one of the final in-battlefield fights. Jump – punch – run, do it 10 times and he falls.

The only real issue with the campaign is that most enemies totally ignore your comrades and attack you. And the AI is useless. There is a place where you enter a theater that’s filled with the running zombies. 2 of your comrades enter it, you come in and zombies start chasing you. I run out of the building and shoot off the zombies with my last bullets. What does the AI do? Sit there and wait for me. When I come in, there isn’t a single zombie killed. Were they having a tea party?

The story is a bit obvious, but it’s ok. It reminded me of the epic feeling after watching Starship Troopers (too bad that game flopped). And while the final boss fight was disappointing, the part of luring the cloud monster into the generators was intense.

And yeah, the huge monster battle is great. This easily tops any boss in Gears of War 1/2.

It’s a shame that fanboys tend to go “nah resistance sux cuz it’s on ps3s”. But the truth is that I enjoyed both Gears Of War 1/2 and Resistance 2. They are all great franchises, and while both lack great stories, it’s the pacing that makes them great. If a game keeps you on your toes all the time, isn’t frustrating and just naturally sucks you in, it is a great experience that shouldn’t be ignored.