The Magnum is easily a new favorite, as its secondary fire is explosive rounds. No, the rounds do not explode on impact, but instead act like a remote mine. Shoot a Chimeran running at you, then wait for others behind him to advance before you activate the explosion in order to take out multiple enemies with minimum ammunition. The Wraith, essentially a minigun, is also a welcome addition, as the secondary fire is a shield that comes out of the gun, making you a walking armored tank capable of taking out even the most powerful Chimera with ease-as long as the shield lasts, of course.

What may stick out the most as far as improvements go is the introduction of color to the game world. The first Resistance was one of the poster children for the “gray and brown” theme that was all over the first wave of next-gen titles; as dreary as the idea of the United Kingdom being overtaken by invaders was, the color scheme made it seem that much worse. This time around though, and almost immediately even, you will notice that Insomniac has injected color into the world. Just because you are at war does not mean that plants can no longer be green and the sky cannot be blue, and the introduction of color makes this a much more believable and impressive looking world.

Insomniac also did their best to make the game seem like it was on a larger scale. There are more open-area battles, and some of the backgrounds to areas you are in will make your jaw drop due to the sheer size of what you are seeing. It’s impressive to view, and is something that needs to be experienced rather than explained in detail here.

There is also a new game mode in Resistance 2, and that is the co-op. Unlike the first game, where you simply played through story mode with a friend, you now have a separate story with different characters to play through. Insomniac has created a set of missions and objectives exclusive to co-op mode, and they have also introduced an experience system that allows you to customize your soldier and earn new abilities, equipment and weapons.

There are three classes to choose from: the Soldiers, who carry Wraiths and are expected to act as the tank of the group; the Special Ops, who fight from behind the front lines while creating ammunition for the others in the group, and the Medic, who is capable of stealing life from the Chimerans in order to give it to their teammates.

This experience is where the replay value of Resistance 2 lies, as the co-op mode works with two to eight players; you can play offline or online, just you and a lone friend, or you can play the two of you online with six others, earning experience and playing through the separate campaign. If eight sounds like a way to make the game that much easier, don’t worry; the Chimera scale in difficulty the more players you introduce to your team, meaning you are going to need your teammates in order to progress.

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About The Author

Marc Normandin was gaming editor of Blast from 2008 to mid-2010. You can reach him via e-mail at [email protected], or follow him on Twitter @Marc_Normandin

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