VIVE LA RESISTANCE
Replacing The Mercenaries mode from the original is Resistance, an asymmetric multiplayer game that pits four Survivors against one Mastermind in what is framed as an Umbrella experiment to research the human response to fear. The Survivors need to work together to complete a series of challenges in order to escape. Meanwhile the Mastermind must keep tabs on them through a network of security cameras, spending action points on cards that correspond to a variety of hazards, to stop them.
It’s a smart idea that reminds us a little of the sadly scrapped Fable Legends. Each Survivor has their own passive skills and two actives bound to cooldowns. Martin, for example, is an engineer who can disarm traps without tripping them, with a flash baton that can blind enemies. Hacker January can disable a feed rather than waste time shooting the camera – either way, the Mastermind will temporarily be forced to shift to another view until it resets, a potentially valuable window to get things done.
At first, it seems scrappy and chaotic, with objectives hard to parse, but over a few games it begins to click. Sticking together seems like the logical move, and yet in the labyrinthine casino stage, at least, it sometimes pays to spread out. Sure, you’re at risk of being cornered, but it also gives you a better chance of locating (and alerting your colleagues to) the position of mission-critical items, whether it’s a key to open a puzzle lock or a specific zombie holding a card that can deactivate security devices. The time limit might seem tight, but it can be extended by completing objectives, and you’ll get more for having everyone alive when each part of the three-stage escape is completed. Reviving allies might be risky in crowded rooms, but letting them die and respawn incurs a 15-second penalty.
Playing as the Mastermind, meanwhile, is initially overwhelming, but soon becomes second nature as you flit from camera to camera, placing enemies and hazards into the world. You learn by playing and watching – figuring out each player’s strengths and weaknesses to work out how best to surprise them. And it offers moments of direct control, too – attach a turret or a grenade launcher to a camera and you can aim and fire as you would in any FPS, albeit from a static position. And if you’re bored of being in a single spot, you can assume command of certain enemies, from souped-up zombies to special units – and yes, that means you can stomp around as Mr X, who makes for an 11th-hour game-changer.
Entertaining stuff, then, but what does it have to do with the campaign? “We simply wanted to take a new challenge of creating this super-intense, online multiplayer experience,” Fabiano says. “On a conceptual side, both games have people trying to escape something in some way, so it’s thematically consistent.” A bit of a reach, perhaps, though it does have something in common with The Mercenaries in that both are a race against time where you can top up the clock by achieving certain goals. Though any similarities, according to Kawata, are purely coincidental. “We were more focused on just thinking how we could create a fun and unique multiplayer game.”