In 2006, Resistance: Fall of Man was released along side the launch of the Playstation 3. The title received critical acclaim and gamers loved it. The intense action packed single player campaign was fantastic, but the multiplayer modes kept people playing. Insomniac Games, the creators of Resistance, decided to release a sequel, Resistance 2. Not only does Resistance 2 continue the story, it improves it.

Resistance: Fall of Man told the story of an invasion of creatures called Chimera. The story took place in as an alternate history scenario where instead of World War II, a Russian experiment took a turn for the worst. They created some sort of virus that turns humans into mutilated monsters, Chimera. The Chimera rapidly spread across Asia and Europe and then moved over to England in the 1940s and that’s where Resistance: Fall of Man started. The player took the role of Nathan Hale, an American soldier sent across the pond to fend of the invading Chimera forces. Hale becomes infected with the Chimera virus, but he is somewhat resistant to the virus. Instead of transforming, Hale gains Chimeran abilities such as regenerating health and super strength. Long story short, Hale defeats the Chimera in England. The final scene is Hale walking through the snow and is picked up by a mysterious group of soldiers known as the Sentinels.

Resistance 2 picks up exactly where Fall of Man left off. Hale is brought to the Sentinels, or SRPA, home base in Iceland. Two years pass in game, while the players are introduced to SRPA, a group of elite super soldiers that are also infused with the Chimera virus. As if the Chimera invasion of Asia and Europe wasn’t enough, the Chimera move state side. They invade America with about ten times as much force and it is up to Nathan Hale and his team of Sentinels to stop the invasion.

The plot of the game is told through cut-scenes and intel hidden within each level. The story effectively engages the player. It feels like the player is actually a part of story and it drives the player to complete the game. The great graphics also add to the immersion. However, Resistance 2, and sequels in general, should answer many of the lingering questions from the first game. Resistance 2 answers a few, but in the long run it proposes more questions than it answers. In most of the missions, the player is confused about where to go exactly and some of Hale’s inspirations for fighting aren’t clearly explained. Hale seems like he is on a wild goose chase bringing the player to different locals all over America.

These locals, however, are where Resistance shines. Hale fights off hordes of Chimera in San Francisco, Iceland, Mexico, Louisiana, and Chicago to name a few. The levels are beautiful and immersive. The game captures the character of each local and twists it with a sharp contrast of alien-like metal structures. In any given level, the player can look to the sky and see massive Chimeran aircrafts hovering above. Chicago is a huge flooded city, but the Chimeran metal octagonal structures stick out and it terrifies the player.

Another key concept of Resistance 2 is scale. Everything around the player is larger than life. It truly makes the player feel like such a small part of the huge war taking place. One of the bosses, the Leviathan, is as tall as Chicago skyscrapers. Every boss towers over Hale, making the player feel utterly useless. The atmosphere is so incredibly immersive. Imagine walking through the small town of Twin Falls, Idaho, but instead of children playing in backyards, the player finds flesh pods (sort of like cocoons) that house the transformation of each townsperson into a Chimeran soldier. And there isn’t just one or two of these pods, there are hundreds. They fill houses and backyards, and they make their way to town hall and the town common.

Yeah, I guess you could call the Leviathan large.

Now, let’s discuss the most important part, gameplay. Resistance 2 is a first person shooter and it has the same feel of Resistance: Fall of Man. Resistance 2 doesn’t do anything to revolutionize first person shooters like Call of Duty 4 has done. Instead Resistance 2 provides excellent gameplay that is satisfying, exciting, and done right. The goal of most levels is essentially kill all the Chimera in each level. However, every once in a while there are platforming-like sequences, where Hale must navigate his way from one point to another with obstacles in his way. But there are only a few of these sequences. Another way the Chimera killing is kept fresh is with the variety of enemies and weapons. The enemies have a beefed up artificial intelligence. They are aware of their environment and they use it to their advantage. There are twelve new enemies in Resistance 2 that were not in the first game. The enemies range from “grims” to “steel-heads.” Grims are freshly transformed humans that attack mindlessly. Steel-heads are twenty-foot tall Chimera wrapped in armor and they carry “augers.” An auger is a large gun that can fire through walls and this becomes incredibly useful in the final levels when Hale is swarmed by dozens of enemies at once. Some other cool weapons are the Bullseye, the Splicer, and the Marksman. The Bullseye was developed by the Chimera. It fires laser-like orbs, but its best feature is the tag. Hale can tag enemies and all of the bullets follow the enemy that is tagged. The Splicer fires saw blades that sever limbs from charging enemies. The Marksman, my favorite, is a Chimeran semi-automatic rifle that can cause some serious damage.

Resistance 2 is a great game, but there are a few problems. The boss fights tend to be very easy because the weapon that Hale needs is always conveniently placed right before the boss fight. However, these boss fights could go down in history as some the best due to the scale and the uniqueness of each boss. Another problem is the difficulty of the game. Playing on normal difficulty, I was killed more than one hundred fifty times on the first play through. You must be thinking, “Wow, you suck.” But at least one hundred of these deaths were times that I kept dying over and over and I wanted to get through the parts as fast as possible. There are so many cheap and unfair deaths that I could help but have a sour taste left in my mouth. But these gripes are very small compared to all the great things in the game.

The Resistance franchise is commonly known for its competitive multiplayer. Resistance 2 takes advantage of the online Playstation Network and basically abandons Fall of Man’s multiplayer, but it is for the better. The competitive multiplayer features modes such as Skirmish, Team Deathmatch, Deathmatch, and Core Control (essentially Capture the Flag). The servers support up to sixty player matches. Yes, sixty. Thirty soldiers fighting against thirty Chimera. This can be overwhelming, so each team is separated into six squads of five players. This keeps the gaming personal and each squad can develop their own plan. The players can customize their character with clothes, armor, and weapons. Also, the player can pick a “berserk.” A berserk is a special ability that lasts for about a minute. Some berserks are increases health, increased bullet damage, or invisibility. Other than the competitive multiplayer, there is also a cooperative multiplayer.

The cooperative multiplayer takes players on an alternate campaign that coincides with Hale’s campaign. The cooperative multiplayer puts eight players on the same team and they must use each others skills to defeat the Chimera. There are three types of players (or classes) to choose from: medic, spec ops, or soldier. The only way to win is to combine each class with ideally 2 or 3 players assuming each class. This is a very different take on cooperative multiplayer, but it works fantastically and it is very fun to play.

Resistance 2 improves on every aspect of Resistance: Fall of Man. The story gets better, the gameplay exceeds it predecessor, and the multiplayer keeps the player interested. Resistance 2 should be in every Playstation 3 owner’s catalogue of games and with all the games coming out this holiday season, Resistance should be your first choice.

Presentation- 8.5: The menus are easy to navigate and everything is clearly defined by a scrolling ticker at the bottom of the screen. However, the equipment selection screen for multiplayer is a little awkward.

Story- 9: The story picks up right where Fall of Man left off and it keeps the player interested throughout.

Gameplay- 9: The gameplay is similar to the first game. Most of the game can be played using a run-and-gun strategy, but on harder difficulties I recommend that you use cover effectively.

Graphics- 9: There are a few ugly textures here and there, but the massive scale and scope of each level makes you forget about small glitches. The cut scenes look fantastic most likely because of the motion capture used to create them.

Sound- 8.5: The voice acting is solid, but when in battle, other Sentinels tend to repeat the same phrases over and over. The sound effects for the weapons are excellent and nothing is creepier than hearing Chimera talking to each other.

Multiplayer- 9: The multiplayer will keep you coming back for more. With sixty player matches, there is surprisingly no noticeable lag. The cooperative multiplayer is certainly a different take on a coop mode, but the change is welcome.

Overall- 9 out of 10

Photo Credit: www.ign.com

Photo Credit: Playstation.Blog

Also, the game play of Rock Band 2 is well done, for one thing, the graphics have been improved and the songs are good for the most part.  There are eighty-four songs in the game ranging from pop and rock to heavy metal.  There are also twenty free songs that are available, but have not come out yet.  One way that Rock Band 2 makes extra money is by selling bonus songs that can be bought at the Xbox live store.  I think that’s fine, but what annoys me is that they are selling more songs than what are actually available in the game.  I think they could of added some more of those to the set list of songs.

Rock Band 2 is a well-created game, but they are now starting to take it too far.  I know you can create bands and play songs, but people have to realize that they are not real bands.  I think it’s pretty interesting that you and your friends can face another band online.  But, Harmonix is starting to push it by selling merchandise for bands taking part in Rock Band 2.  People can create and buy T-shirts online with the name of your band.  Your band could have the satisfaction of wearing the shirt of their band.  But, it is not going to impress anyone when you wear it around because no one is going to have a clue about what it means.  They are now starting to let people customize mini figures of themselves based on what they look like in the game.  I honestly do not know anyone who would pay money to have a figure of them in a simulated game.  Buying T-shirts and other things might be worth buying if you were in a real band, but in a game like Rock Band 2, I think its better if people just stick to the game.

Photo Credit: mark sebastian

It is called Reason 4.0. Made by a company called Propellerhead, this software has been blowing me out of the water so far. This software is very flexible and has a lot of features that if used properly could change the way you think about music recording and making. Some of the features on this software include a digital mixing board with as many tracks as you need, samples for and type of MIDI device you have, drum computers and loop samplers, professional studio quality effects, the ability to create an “instrument” to a track and record, two sound banks, and the list goes on. The best way to get a glimpse at this magical piece of software is to try it out for yourself.

With all this stuff comes expensive software. Reason 4.0 is about six hundred dollars. But with everything that comes with it, it balances your checkbook. When you think about it. All the features that come with it can make any of your songs sound like have been recorded professionally. It may be a little confusing at first, getting to know the software and learning how to use it, but once you get the hang of it things become easier and a lot more fun as well. As your experience level goes up, your song quality also increases.

People who have Macs are in luck too. Reason 4.0 has a ReWire program that connects you with Garage Band when you open Reason first, then Garage Band on your computer. This comes in handy when you are trying to put lyrics into your songs on Reason. It will play your songs on Reason and you can record you vocals on Garage Band and they both sync up to each other. When your lyrics are recorded and mastered with your song. You can export your song on Reason as a MP3 or WAV File and load it onto Garage Band to go with you lyrics.

Overall, Reason 4.0 is the best software for your money if you are looking for a good music production software. The only bad thing is you can’t record vocals to Reason. But like I said, Mac users are in luck with the advantage of Garage Band, since it comes with every computer. Reason can run with any ReWire software as well, that’s a plus in my book.

Photo Credit: Static of the Gods