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Gears of War 2
Developer: Epic Games (“Unreal Tournament 3”)
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Available On: Xbox 360
Resistance 2
Developer: Insomniac Games (“Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools Of Destruction”)
Publisher: Sony
Available On: PlayStation 3
They are two of the most anticipated games of the year, sci-fi shooter sequels whose originals not only helped define (and sell) their respective systems, but also helped populate their online communities. But while these games are fundamentally different—“Gears” is a cover-based third-person shooter set in the future, while “Resistance” is a run-and-gun first-person shooter set in an alternate version of our past—there are some striking similarities in how these sequels improve upon their already impressive predecessors.
Both are decidedly bigger and more epic in scale. Though they tell different stories—“Resistance” has you trying to stop a race of infected humans from conquering the world in the 1950s, while “Gears” has you fighting the indigenous peoples of a far-off planet we invaded—both now feature even bigger and more open battlefields than before, and have populated them with both more enemy soldiers. “Gears” even adds a gigantic “Dune”-ish worm for one rather fantastic voyage of a level, while “Resistance” has the Grim, which is like being attacked by a crowd of naked skinny people who’ve mistaken you for a buffet.
The two also offer a lot more variety, though not at the expense of the frantic and intense shoot-outs that made the originals so much fun. In “Gears,” for example, there’s one level with the kind of environmental puzzles normally reserved for “Mario” and “Tomb Raider” games, while “Resistance” has you taking on some gigantic monsters and robots that would make Godzilla and Mechagodzilla envious. Good thing that you have both improved and new weapons, such as the rapid-fire shotgun-esque Hammerburst Assault Rifle in “Gears,” and the saw blade-shooting Splicer in “Resistance.”
The improvements in both games also extend to online multiplayer. Matches in “Gears” have been bumped up to five-on-five, while “Resistance” can accommodate anywhere from twenty to sixty combatants. And while both feature all the usual modes, including variations on “Team Deathmatch” and “Capture The Flag,” they’ve also added some great and inventive new ones, such as “Horde” in “Gears,” an unrelenting, addictive, and destined-to-be-copied new gametype in which you and up to four friends have to survive fifty waves of increasingly tough enemies, while “Resistance” has the equally compelling and interesting “Skirmish,” in which five squads of eight work together to complete objectives and undermine their opposition.
Similarly, the co-op in “Gears,” while still just a replay of the story mode, now has more divergent paths and requires a lot more, well, co-operation to complete, while “Resistance” changes things up by offers a totally new multi-part story for its up-to-eight player co-op.
Heck, these two games, befitting their status, also both come in regular and rather similar special editions, with the latter for both including mini art books, DVDs with making-of features, and special codes for multiplayer bonuses (though “Resistance” wins by including an adorable Chimera action figure. Who’s a good Chimeran soldier? You are. Yes you are).
But perhaps the biggest quality these game share most closely is just how effortlessly fun they both are, no matter what mode you’re playing. The controls on both are smooth and responsive, both are among the best looking games on their respective systems and both are just as great as their impressive predecessors. Which is why both easily rank among the best games of the year. In fact, the only bad thing about “Gears Of War 2” and “Resistance 2”—besides neither having the best sequel suffix ever, “Electric Boogaloo”—is that you can’t play them both at once.
Bottom Line: These wars are not healthy for your thumbs and other living fingers. (In a good way.)
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