Resistance 2

Resistance 2 is an alternate history first person shooter video game developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment America. It is the sequel to the best selling PlayStation 3 launch title Resistance: Fall of Man.

The Chimera have launched a full scale invasion on both the east and west coasts of the United States. Nathan Hale joins "The Sentinels", a special task force group put together by the Special Research Project Administration (SRPA), who are also resistant to the Chimera virus. Hale will fight the Chimera through various locations in the United States as he fights the Chimera virus inside himself.

Gameplay
The game features a 13 hour Campaign and includes many of the weapons from Resistance: 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. Unlike the first game, where the player was able to carry all weapons at once, Resistance 2 limits the player to two weapons, as well as a limited number of grenades. Resistance 2 also does not use a health bar in the single player campaign, but instead uses an automatic regenerative health system, whereby players must keep out of the line of fire in order to recover health.

Singleplayer
Resistance 2's single player has the player controlling the protagonist Nathan Hale as he faces a massive invasion of the United States by the Chimera. The player will guide Hale through the American resistance of the invasion, as well as the ramifications of his own infection.

Resistance 2's campaign is far more violent and gorier than the first, with scenes such as soldiers being literally ripped in half by the Chameleon's claws.

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 26th 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.

Prologue
Upon successfully destroying the Central Chimeran Tower in London, England, breaking the Chimera's hold on the country, Hale is somehow able to escape the destruction of the tower. He finally ends up wandering aimlessly through a snow covered field outside of the city. Suddenly, a VTOL aircraft spots Hale and lands, depositing a team of five Black Ops soldiers who apprehend him at gunpoint. Upon boarding the aircraft, Hale is grabbed by two additional Black Ops and given a sedative as he struggles. Hale fights against his captors, but a Black Ops soldier draws his pistol and "suggests" that he relax. The sedative takes effect and Hale passes out.

Hale regains consciousness as the VTOL continues to its destination, and is met by an officer who is leading the Black Ops. The officer introduces himself as Major Richard Blake, the Director of Advanced Tactical Operations for the Special Research Projects Administration ("SRPA") Base Three. Blake knows that Hale is a survivor of Project Abraham, a confidential project undertaken by the SRPA. Hale was monitored during the American invasion of the Chimeran-controlled British Isles, and when his immunity was discovered, they made plans to extract him.

The VTOL's destination is Dan Aric Johnson Air Force Base in Holar, Iceland. In reality it is SRPA's Base Station "Igloo". Blake, Hale, and the others find the base under attack by the Chimera. A Goliath shoots the VTOL down as it slowly advances over the base. Blake and Hale survive and make it into the base, defeating any Chimera in their way. Blake leads Hale inside the base to "Daedalus", a test subject being observed by Fyodor Malikov. Blake is unable to contain Daedalus and he escapes, but not before leaving a cryptic message for Hale. Hale and Blake, upon destroying one of the Goliaths, are able to rescue Doctor Fyodor Malikov; the Director of Science for SRPA and leading scientist into creating an inhibitor to the Chimeran virus. Hale, Blake, Malikov, and the other SRPA personnel in the area are able to evacuate the base, and Hale is brought to meet the the "Sentinels"; a mobile strategic reserve fighting task force formed from soldiers found to be immune to the Chimeran virus, brought together, trained and equipped for the purpose of defending the United States of America from the inevitable Chimera invasion.

San Francisco
Two years pass and Hale is promoted to Lieutenant. He becomes in charge of Echo Team; the Sentinels' vanguard unit, which consists of Sgt. Benjamin Warner, Cpl. Joseph Capelli, and Spc. Aaron Hawthorne; and is put on the same regimen of inhibitors to prevent the virus from changing him further.



On May 15, 1953, the Chimera launch a full scale invasion of the United States, attacking with their huge aerial fleet of battleships, transports, and fighters on both the East Coast and West coast. Hale, Malikov, and the other Sentinels are able to escape from the destruction of San Francisco after Hale kills a Chimeran sea monster, referred to as a Kraken.

Hale and Echo Team were ambushed near Orick, California on their way to a battleship that was damaged in the battle at San Francisco. After battling through the town of Orick, the squad boarded the Chimeran battleship to destroy it from the inside. As they fight through, Hale becomes increasingly pale and showing the signs of the Chimeran virus. Hale eventually discovers one of the ship's control rooms and learned the Chimeran fleets' headings is towards the center of the Liberty Defense Perimeter. After destroying the battleship, Echo Team, which is piloting a Chimeran shuttle, are shot down by Stalkers and crash near Twin Falls, Idaho which lies on the Liberty Defense Perimeter.

Twin Falls
At Twin Falls, Idaho, Hale regroups with the rest of Echo Team as they fight to activate two of the defense towers around the Liberty Defense Perimeter before the Chimera can break through the lines. After several encounters with different strains of Chimera, Hale and Capelli are sent to activate one of the towers while Warner and Hawthorne are sent to activate the other tower. A Mother Spinner attacks the pair, dragging Capelli off the tower in its jaws and pursuing Hale until he finally defeats the creature at the top of the tower. Upon learning Capelli is alive and has been extracted, Hale and his allies successfully reactivate the towers and the Chimera fleet is repulsed. Hale disregards Blake's advice to go to an inhibitor station, despite the fact he is long over due for treatment, before boarding a VTOL to extract Dr. Malikov from the besieged Station Genesis.

Station Genesis
Hale takes a squad of Black Ops to Station Genesis at Bryce Canyon to rescue Dr. Fyodor Malikov, only to discover it is under attack from the Chimera. Fighting deep within Station Genesis, Hale encounters Daedalus for the second time, who continues to use his telekinetic powers to communicate with Hale and tell him that humanity's resistance is useless. Hale learns from Malikov that "Daedalus" used to be a human known as Private Jordan Adam Shepherd, but, along with Hale, was part of "Project Abraham", a military program designed to try to create Chimera-human hybrids such as the Cloven. Shepherd was part of Malikov's tests, and one of the two (the other being Hale himself) who was injected with pure Chimeran DNA. Unlike Hale, who had the DNA go into submission, Shepherd's injection morphed his body into the barely human form of Daedalus, and gave him knowledge of the Chimera's origins and goals. From there, Daedalus was able to take control of the Chimera and remove their weaknesses of being too linked to Angel controllers.

Hale escapes Station Genesis with Dr. Malikov and is angrily reprimanded by his team member, Capelli, for not going to an inhibitor station in order to treat the Chimeran virus. Hale dismisses Capelli, who is wary of Hale, and continues to Chicago.

Chicago and Iceland
Hale and Echo Team are ordered to deactivate a "hub" tower in Chicago in order to deactivate one of several activated Chimera towers which are slowly building up energy. Much of Chicago has been damaged or destroyed, and much of the populace either evacuated, killed, or turned into Chimera since its exposure to a spire attack two years prior. Hale and Echo Team encounter heavy resistance at Michigan Avenue but ultimately dispose of the hundreds of Chimera sent to reinforce the position. Hale encounters a giant mutated Chimeran creature named the Leviathan. Standing above the Chicago skyscrapers, the Leviathan attacks Hale and the SRPA forces who are trying to take it down. While Hale is able to kill the Leviathan, Dr. Malikov is unable to deactivate the Chicago tower. Malikov learns that the Chicago tower was activated remotely from Iceland by Daedalus.

A large contingent of SRPA forces, including Echo Team, head to Iceland to kill Daedalus. While at first the missions seems to be succeeding, it becomes increasingly evident that SRPA has walked into a trap. Numerous SRPA VTOLs are shot down and the soldiers are subsequently pinned by heavy Chimera forces. While Command recommends that Echo Team abort the mission, Hale decides to push forward and rescue as many SRPA forces they can while they head towards Daedalus. Having helped as many soldiers as possible to evacuate, the team makes their way into the tower.

Once inside the Chimeran tower at Iceland, Hawthorne is killed by Daedalus. Hale, Warner, and Capelli split up in order to find Daedalus. Warner finds Daedalus first, who kills Warner as Hale arrives. Daedalus stabs Hale in the stomach, causing Hale to pass out.

Baton Rouge and Chicxulub Crater
Hale wakes up six weeks later, almost a full-fledged Chimera, at an American camp in Louisiana. Dr. Malikov informs him that when Capelli found him after Daedalus had stabbed him, the virus had progressed too far and that Hale had less than three hours before converting to a Chimera. Once outside, Capelli informs Hale that after the Iceland tower was activated, towers all around the world were activated and connected by arching beacons of light. The Chimera broke the defense perimeter and killed nearly 77 million of the people residing within it. The remaining 3 million survivors are now stranded within the Baton Rouge protection camp, and supplies are running out fast. SRPA and the remains of Echo squad plans to make a final stand against the Chimera.

SRPA decides to execute one last mission in an attempt to destroy the majority of the Chimeran fleet that are hovering above the Gulf of Mexico around the Chicxulub Crater in the Yucatan Peninsula. Blake, Hale, Capelli, and several SRPA soldiers successfully hijack a shuttle and bring along a fission bomb to wipe out the majority of the Chimeran fleet. The forces split up once inside the ship: Blake and the SRPA soldiers move to place the bomb near the core reactor of the ship, while Hale and Capelli move to take down the reactor's defences. Unfortunately, Blake and the SRPA forces, who are taking the warhead to the ship's central reactor, are killed in an ambush, and the Chimera take the bomb and try to remove it from the ship. As Hale makes his way to the bomb, he encounters heavy resistance and finally Daedalus hovering over the bomb.

After a pitched battle, Hale kills Daedalus. Hale is drawn to Daedalus' corpse and upon touching it, is engulfed by energy that advances his mutation and grants him psychokinetic abilities. After activating the bomb, Hale escapes with Capelli on a Chimeran shuttle. The bomb goes off, destroying the Chimeran fleet and dealing them a grievous blow in their occupation of Earth. The shock wave from the explosion hits the shuttle, however, and despite Hale's efforts, the shuttle crashes nearby.

Capelli wakes up, unharmed, and finds Hale is no longer in the shuttle. Capelli walks outside and finds Hale gazing at the sky, now visibly red with three planet-like spheres where the Chimera flagship once was. Hale then turns to face Capelli; he has now finished his transformation into a Chimera, his eyes completely gold, his face distorted, his skin turned pale-white and is in mental contact with the other surviving Chimera. Hale, his voice eerily similar to Daedalus, echos Daedalus' first words to Hale and tells Capelli: "They are calling to us. Can you hear them?... It's beautiful." Capelli responds immediately by drawing his pistol, forcing Hale to not come any closer towards him. Hale finishes by saying "This is just the beginning," confirming the Chimera's intentions.

Consumed with remorse (and entirely contrary in nature to his earlier attitude towards his superior officer), Capelli whispers, "Forgive me, sir. It was an honor." Capelli then shoots Hale in the head, killing him.

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. 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.

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.

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.

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 thir 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
It should be noted that 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.

Viral Website 1
The marketing campaign centers around Project Abraham, which is a top-secret military project, while originally initiated by the U.S. Government, is under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of War.

Initially, specific details on the nature and purpose of the project was 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 the collect 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 "Cassie" 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 other main characters are seven soldiers who volunteered for the project from different army units, all brought together at the Project Abraham Compound in Alaska (the specific location is classified). 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
 * 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

Six of the seven soldiers were selected for injection:
 * Capelli: He became withdrawn over a span of several hours. He then flew into a psychotic rage and appeared to exhibit superhuman strength. The staff were able to subdue Capelli after an intense struggle, at which he descended into a coma from which he has still not emerged. Capelli was then moved for further study to SRPA Headquarters & Central Operations at Base Station Genesis in Bryce Canyon, Utah.
 * Brown: The serum had disastrous effects on his system. Brown began vomiting uncontrollably, eventually losing several pints of blood and suffering a breakdown of major organs, making him the first PA test subject to die.
 * Oster: He was unwilling to cooperate, and attacked an orderly in an attempt to stab him with the hypodermic needle and was gunned down as a result. Oster did not survive.
 * Khaner: The serum administered to him soon ravaged his flesh. The tissue cells in his head, neck and lungs began dividing at an alarming rate, thus cutting off his air supply and suffocating him to death.
 * Hale: Instead of being injected with the latest viral load configuration, PA staff received an urgent memo informing them that the testing protocol had changed; they were to use Doctor Fyodor Malikov's serum instead. This decision may have saved his life - Hale endured a short-lived coma, yet survived the ordeal.
 * Gennaro: He received the final injection at the Alaskan base. His core body temperature rose to lethal levels and, in his delirium, Gennaro mutilated his own body in an attempt to cool himself down.
 * Danby: He was spared from participating in Project Abraham, as operations have now been relocated, in their entirety, to Base Station Genesis.

The project has also shed light on some mysteries of the Chimera, the "Cloven" (who are revealed to be a version of Chimera, but are more human-like in appearance and possess their individuality, and were created and controlled by Malikov), and even the tenuous political situation in the United States.

The Alaskan facility was attacked by the Chimera, but its personnel were able to escape. The base was left in destruction and frozen over, with certain research left behind. Aklin escaped, but sometime before (revealed in a surveillance video), she met Hale for the last time in her office. Hale, by this time, has fully recovered to the point of being shipped out to Britain (leading to the events of Resistance: Fall of Man), and is intent on, not only finding out the truth of what is transpiring in Europe, but also to find out what he is now, as the injection has "changed" him. The dialog between them implies Hale and Aklin shared a romantic encounter, explaining Aklin's reluctance to say goodbye.

All of the sites featured that show signs of devastation are show after the Chimera's invasion of America.

Viral Website 2
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.

Viral Website 3
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.

Viral Website 4
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 lead 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. 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 bluray 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.

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. 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, and a Game Rankings aggregate of 87%, based on 58 reviews.

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, 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.

Trivia

 * Resistance 2's 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.