Release date 4 Nov 2008
Launch Game Gets Second Life
http://ps3.ign.com/objects/142/14211237.html
http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/action/r...;picks;title;2
Update:
http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3167708&p=37
Update:
http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3168839
Update:
http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=...UserId=5443146
Launch Game Gets Second Life
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| As is the case with most batches of platform-launch games, critics weren't especially kind to the titles that debuted alongside the PlayStation 3. According to Metacritic, the most consistently well-reviewed launch title for the platform was Resistance: Fall of Man. Developed by Ratchet & Clank creators Insomniac Games, the title blended science fiction and Harry Turtledove-esque alternate history, portraying an alien invasion of England in the 1950s--after World War II didn't happen. |
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| -One campaign with Nathan Hale, takes place in US -One separate story based campaign supporting 2 players offline, 8 players online -Online Multiplayer with dedicated servers, supporting up to 60 players, lobbies for individual squads -Classes for online, including Heavy, Special Ops, Medic, etc. -Mobile phone quality headset voice chat -Partial randomized geometry in level spots -Boss fights in FPS gaming -All new vehicles -Fully-realized stat tracking & community features coupled with MyResistance.net |
http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/action/r...;picks;title;2
Quote:
| Sony held a media day today and let the assembled US press spend some time with a work-in-progress version of one of Resistance 2's multiplayer modes. The ensuing battle took place on the same Scotia map that was shown in the UK a few weeks ago, and pitted us against both players onsite and at Insomniac's Southern California offices. Despite a fussy onsite Internet connection which got things off to a slow start, we had an opportunity to get embroiled in some fast-paced 60-player matches. The demo level kept the action moving along at a pretty steady clip thanks to in-game objectives that popped up as the matches progressed. The big bread crumb trail in the multiplayer experience is the points you earn for killing enemies and for achieving the aforementioned objectives. Points can be used to unlock various bonuses, such as the mobile energy shield that we got our hands on at one point, which we could activate simply by tapping right on the D pad. The shield is purportedly one of several different power-ups you'll be able to get, although it was the only one available in the demo that we played. While having a mobile energy shield sounds cool, Insomniac has already made sure it won't be a crutch--it's just big enough that an enemy player can slide in alongside you and shoot you in the face, and it's also only effective against projectiles, so headbutts and grenades are still deadly, for example. As far as combat goes, Resistance 2 stays true to the core mechanics of the original game, so the control scheme will be familiar to veteran players. You'll have primary and secondary fire options on weapons as well as a healthy sampling of grenades to throw. When you're in motion you can try to avoid death by crouching, running and jumping, although you'll flag yourself on the radar when you're running and shooting. Speaking of shooting, the demo we played had four unique weapon load outs to try, which included a sneak peek at some of the new firepower that you'll have at your disposal. Besides the familiar dynamic duos of the carbine and the shotgun, the auger and the bullseye, the sniper rifle and shotgun, we got to try out the marksman and the minigun. The marksman is a semi-automatic battle rifle with a scope that's almost as powerful as what you might expect to find on a sniper rifle. The minigun is just that, a power hose of bullets you can spray all over your foes. While it's slow to get going, the weapon is not to be trifled with. Better still is the minigun's secondary fire, which ups the fire power and also gives you a shield. The trade off is that you're unable to move while using it. The action purred along at a crazy pace thanks to the game's respawning system, which drops you right back in the game close to whoever killed you--helping to foster the in-game rivalries that Insomniac is hoping will be key to the whole experience. Your rivals in any multiplayer game are called out with a unique color highlight, so you can seek them out and give them the special payback love that can only be delivered by a beatdown. As far as visuals go, the demo we played made a good first impression but it's also not totally representative of the final game and clearly featured some placeholder art and animation. The color highlights on your foes are also being tweaked as in the demo they were bright red. Resistance 2's potential was plain for all to see, though, thanks to the large, detailed environment with a rich color palette. Most importantly, the game burned rubber in the framerate department. While still incomplete, R2's action is speedy and hectic, which is appreciated. The forest area, with log cabins and tons of foliage, was impressively large and offered plenty of nooks and crannies to maneuver in for maximum killing. Some areas of the map appear to be tailor-made for bottlenecks when teams are rushing to an area, but if players get creative with their energy shields and some teamwork, the tables can be turned. Overall we'd have to say that we're pleased by what we played today. There's a lot of potential there and the pace felt good. There are some minor control quirks that took us a little while to get used to, but R2 will offer the same level of customization for sensitivity that its predecessor did, so we reckon it won't be much of an issue. We're anxious to see more of the multiplayer modes and see what kind of flavors Insomniac is going to be serving up to make the game's multiplayer offering unique. Resistance 2 is slated to ship later this year for the PlayStation 3. Look for much more on the game at this year's E3 and in the coming months. Sony held a media day today and let the assembled US press spend some time with a work-in-progress version of one of Resistance 2's multiplayer modes. The ensuing battle took place on the same Scotia map that was shown in the UK a few weeks ago, and pitted us against both players onsite and at Insomniac's Southern California offices. Despite a fussy onsite Internet connection which got things off to a slow start, we had an opportunity to get embroiled in some fast-paced 60-player matches. The demo level kept the action moving along at a pretty steady clip thanks to in-game objectives that popped up as the matches progressed. The big bread crumb trail in the multiplayer experience is the points you earn for killing enemies and for achieving the aforementioned objectives. Points can be used to unlock various bonuses, such as the mobile energy shield that we got our hands on at one point, which we could activate simply by tapping right on the D pad. The shield is purportedly one of several different power-ups you'll be able to get, although it was the only one available in the demo that we played. While having a mobile energy shield sounds cool, Insomniac has already made sure it won't be a crutch--it's just big enough that an enemy player can slide in alongside you and shoot you in the face, and it's also only effective against projectiles, so headbutts and grenades are still deadly, for example. As far as combat goes, Resistance 2 stays true to the core mechanics of the original game, so the control scheme will be familiar to veteran players. You'll have primary and secondary fire options on weapons as well as a healthy sampling of grenades to throw. When you're in motion you can try to avoid death by crouching, running and jumping, although you'll flag yourself on the radar when you're running and shooting. Speaking of shooting, the demo we played had four unique weapon load outs to try, which included a sneak peek at some of the new firepower that you'll have at your disposal. Besides the familiar dynamic duos of the carbine and the shotgun, the auger and the bullseye, the sniper rifle and shotgun, we got to try out the marksman and the minigun. The marksman is a semi-automatic battle rifle with a scope that's almost as powerful as what you might expect to find on a sniper rifle. The minigun is just that, a power hose of bullets you can spray all over your foes. While it's slow to get going, the weapon is not to be trifled with. Better still is the minigun's secondary fire, which ups the fire power and also gives you a shield. The trade off is that you're unable to move while using it. The action purred along at a crazy pace thanks to the game's respawning system, which drops you right back in the game close to whoever killed you--helping to foster the in-game rivalries that Insomniac is hoping will be key to the whole experience. Your rivals in any multiplayer game are called out with a unique color highlight, so you can seek them out and give them the special payback love that can only be delivered by a beatdown. As far as visuals go, the demo we played made a good first impression but it's also not totally representative of the final game and clearly featured some placeholder art and animation. The color highlights on your foes are also being tweaked as in the demo they were bright red. Resistance 2's potential was plain for all to see, though, thanks to the large, detailed environment with a rich color palette. Most importantly, the game burned rubber in the framerate department. While still incomplete, R2's action is speedy and hectic, which is appreciated. The forest area, with log cabins and tons of foliage, was impressively large and offered plenty of nooks and crannies to maneuver in for maximum killing. Some areas of the map appear to be tailor-made for bottlenecks when teams are rushing to an area, but if players get creative with their energy shields and some teamwork, the tables can be turned. Overall we'd have to say that we're pleased by what we played today. There's a lot of potential there and the pace felt good. There are some minor control quirks that took us a little while to get used to, but R2 will offer the same level of customization for sensitivity that its predecessor did, so we reckon it won't be much of an issue. We're anxious to see more of the multiplayer modes and see what kind of flavors Insomniac is going to be serving up to make the game's multiplayer offering unique. Resistance 2 is slated to ship later this year for the PlayStation 3. Look for much more on the game at this year's E3 and in the coming months. |
http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3167708&p=37
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Previews: Resistance 2 We play competitive multiplayer mode at Sony's London PlayStation Day. Resistance 2 came out for its first public viewing at Sony's PlayStation Day in London, and we took the opportunity to try it out. While only a limited multiplayer demo, what we played left us with plenty to be excited about. Considering a good six months' worth of development time remains to polish and perfect things before this fall's release, the game already looks impressive, easily equaling the standard of the original. That amounts to no small feat for a game supporting 60 players running around vast levels with a variety of crazy weapons, but developer Insomniac Games has its sights set higher. President and CEO Ted Price says that there's plenty of new technology yet to add to the game. As far as he's concerned, these are still the early days of development. Extensive community features figure to be a big part of the online component. Plans center on making myresistance.net a hub for online players, built around the sort of social features that drive popular sites like Facebook. Price declined to go into detail, but expect Resistance 2 to become the flagship online title for PS3, and not solely for its 60-player battles. Price did offer a little deeper insight on the design direction behind the large-scale battles planned for competitive online. Because the chaos of full, 30-on-30 battles would detract from much of the potential fun, combat comes down to what he calls "battles within battles." Each side in the conflict consists of smaller squads, but more than that, these squads get individual tasks assigned to them. The result pits squads against each other, all vying to achieve a number of different goals around the battlefield simultaneously. The demo level we played showed these microbattles in full effect. In forest of giant trees, our team had to defend a blue energy core from the opposing faction. A standard arrow popped up to guide us to the base and get in position. Once secured, things get a little more complex. We could stay and defend that point, move to secure the next objective, or move to help another squad on our team that was in trouble. This sense of having real choices that mattered to the outcome helped make it feel like we were doing our part in something on a far bigger scale. Voice chat with your squadmates and the intimacy of the fighting also keep things up close and personal. And that's the perfect range to enjoy all the toys you get to play with. One particularly interesting new feature, which Price called a "berserk," sees you earning points in battle by taking down enemies and making sure you execute your orders. That last part provides another incentive for sticking together as a group: Once these points fill up your gauge, you can activate a special power-up. In this demo, only an energy shield was available, but the plan calls for several different ones. How exactly you get them and whether certain powers might be tied to your character class remains to be decided as part of Insomniac's ongoing tuning. In its present form, the shield proved plenty effective, particularly coupled with the new minigun. We could run up on a group of defenders, pop the shield, and then mow them down in a hail of bullets, Predator-style -- very cool. Along with new weapons, we also got a hint of some of the changes to old favorites. The auger gun, with its projectiles that slowly burrow through walls, now features an X-ray sight for targeting hidden enemies. Controls also have seen some changes. A simple toggle system lets you swap between two weapons with the triangle button, replacing the old radial menu for managing your arsenal. And a nifty little new Sixaxis addition lets you flick the controller to the left to open the map and to the right to call up the scoreboard. In action, this worked surprisingly better than you might suspect. The demo came to an end all too soon, though, which says a lot about how immediately addictive it already is. That alone bodes well for the final game, but it's only a small part of the full package. There's still both co-op and single-player campaigns that we haven't seen at all yet. Between now and its presumed November release, Resistance 2 still holds plenty more for us to find out about. |
http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3168839
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| Previews: Resistance 2 The Chimera wreck Chicago in the PS3's other anticipated shooter You're reading an E3 2008 preview, which we've broken into three sections to make it easy to sift through during this week of convention madness. Check out E3.1UP.COM for all (meaning words, screens, and videos) of our E3 2008 coverage. What's the game about? This time, it's personal -- for U.S. players, at least. The Chimera, the humanoid maybe-aliens from the first Resistance, have hopped into their enormous airships for a sightseeing trip of the USA. In Resistance 2, hero Nathan Hale must now take to the streets of Chicago, San Francisco, and Twin Falls, Idaho -- among other real-world locales -- to fend off the invasion. What's new for E3? How about new weapons, new enemies, and new details about the extensive community features? We saw a .44 Magnum equipped with remote-detonating bullets -- take down a couple enemies with this sweet puppy and you've got the perfect trap for their friends coming up behind: They get near the bodies, you detonate the bullets, and they're sent flying in satisfactory fashion. We also saw the marksman rifle, a medium-range hybrid assault/sniper rifle with a nasty electric treat for anyone in its path. Long distance electrocution really never gets old. You'll need to be more selective with your weapons this time around, though; you can only carry two at a time, which Insomniac head Ted Price says will allow the designers to add bigger, more devastating weapons without making the player too powerful. We also saw a couple new enemies: One was the absurdly huge boss shown at Sony's press conference, in an encounter Price demonstrated as being entirely real-time by dying for our benefit. The other was a type Insomniac is calling "the Grim Horde" -- skinny, fleshy creatures that run full-tilt toward you in vast numbers; picture the Darkseekers from I Am Legend and you're on the right track. Just as interesting as the new weapons, though, is the new detail inherent in your, ah, interactions. The game now supports what Insomniac calls "limbing" -- that is, the forcible removal of limbs via heavy firepower. So you can expect to see your enemies dissolving into more gruesome chunks than in the first game. Finally, Insomniac talked a bit about the new community features that will be delivered alongside the game. While they were quick to emphasize that none of these features are final, they showed elements of an all-new community site that will allow players to customize their homepage with blogs, screenshots, news feeds (think Facebook status updates), and a personalized "combat badge" with icons representing players' achievements. (Note the lowercase "a" there, in spite of the badge's similarity to a Gamertag.) What's our take? It looks simply gorgeous. A short demo of the beginning of the San Francisco level was particularly stunning, showing vast alien ships bombarding the city, silhouetted against the setting sun. Of course, pretty isn't everything, but fortunately, the game looks like it'll have some real meat to it to complement the eye candy. The enormous boss battle in Chicago gave a really striking sense of scale, but not just in appearance; being thrown from rooftop to rooftop throughout the city offered the feeling of something really new. And of course, the 60-player competitive multiplayer and 8-player online co-op campaign (completely separate from the single-player campaign) make it clear that Insomniac is focusing on the community aspects of the game more than ever. But of course, we've talked about that before. Perhaps the most intriguing element is the story, since the previous game left so many loose ends regarding the origin of the Chimera, the involvement of the Black Ops, and the mysterious Cloven. And while Insomniac's keeping mum about most of the details, they did promise to pull back the veil considerably more on these mysteries. |
http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=...UserId=5443146
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| Meet Insomniac's Mike McManus **We take a break from Bryan's regulary scheduled blog for a word (or two) from Insomniac's Mike McManus**
 Hey! My name is Mike McManus, gameplay programmer at Insomniac Games. I came onto the Resistance 2 team after wrapping up Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction in September 2007 and was given the task of programming the Grims that everyone has recently seen from the Chicago portion of the R2 demo. I am here to give a glimpse into how we developed those creepy creatures. RCF and R2 are pretty different games, so it shouldn't be entirely surprising to hear that they are made differently. It took some time to get comfortable with the codebase and change in workflow. Some of the big changes, from an enemy programming perspective are: a) Each enemy in R2 has way more animations. For example, the Grims have more than 100. b) There are many more systems required to get an enemy "functional," which means more systems that need to be understood, maintained, and debugged. c) Scripts, which are a crucial part in realizing a designer's idea for a particular level, are far more complex. After the prototyping phase in the project, which ended around December 2007, we decided we wanted to support huge hordes of frothing Grims. For E3, we had to make that a reality. That meant making any code Grims relied on as efficient and fast as possible. I spent a decent amount of time analyzing various systems and suggesting implementing things to speed them up. For example, our scripting system was taking a huge portion of the frame so I quickly whipped up a script scheduler. This spread the expense of updating scripts over multiple frames, thus solving the problem. The Grim Alley demo in Chicago was one of the first polished demos we did. Working on it was both a blessing and a curse. Since it was some of the first gameplay we showed, there was lots to be done. It was pretty stressful; there were more than a few moments I felt really stretched, but it was definitely worth it. For example, a motion capture delivery came right before a big deadline. So the animator and I were in a frenzy trying to get all of the new animations in the game and looking great. It all worked out, though, and we now have a segment that everyone feels proud of. One of the funny things about making games is that there's no real celebratory "We are done!" moment. It's a matter of days (if not weeks or months) by the time a demo gets into people's hands. It's not until reviews start coming in or the Sony E3 Press Conference happens that you get to see what people think. It's pretty nerve-wracking when you finally see the game on the big screen! So what makes R2 different from all of the other FPSs out there? Scale! We now have two PS3 titles under our belt and it really shows. While game studios are often faced with a question of quality or quantity, the Cell has put us in the amazing position of being able to choose both. We are able to support larger groups of richer, smarter enemies that interact with each other and their environment more than in Resistance: Fall of Man. We even have 300-foot-tall monsters in R2, as you have seen! All in all, R2 is shaping up to be the best game Insomniac has ever made and it's a pleasure to be a part of the team making it. |
