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Insomniac: Resistance 2 nearly had "Hollywood" ending

  • Posted November 13th, 2008 at 10:41 EDT by
  • 24 Comments

Insomniac's well-larded blockbuster shooter Resistance 2 is even now filling North American living rooms with the whiff of scorched mutant flesh (Europe's turn comes on November 28). What better time, then, to stop by Insomniac Towers and get a little post-match analysis?

Speaking to Gamasutra among other ardent fans at the developer's Burbank, California headquarters, lead Insomniac staff have divulged a few of the key decisions underpinning their fourth PlayStation 3 project. Apparently the game's downbeat finale wasn't set in stone: the writers were making changes "right up until the wire".

Company CEO and Resistance 2 Creative Director Ted Price and his staff even toyed with the possibility of a more conventional, uplifting conclusion. "Every story's going to have an up or down ending," Price observed. "At one point we did discuss more of a Hollywood ending, and it... felt like we were lying to ourselves. The story couldn't end this way, believably."

"We did talk a lot about creating a bleaker world and a greater sense of despair," Price continued. "Because if the stakes aren't raised, it's not compelling to the player. Our goal was to push that as far as we could to make players feel really overwhelmed. We wanted it to have an emotional impact on players."

Audio director Dwight Okahara chipped in to point out that the game's colourful soundscape somewhat counters its deadening premise. "[The developers] created this bleak dead world, and we can't do a lot with that, so we added a lot of atmosphere into that with this Americana."

Co-op Lead Designer Jay Biegel insisted that traditional two-player support for the main storyline would have been disastrous. "All of the superficial add-ons you have to do to gate in a second player would detract from the personal story. Imagine playing BioShock in two player -- it would be horrible."

There's plenty more through there.

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Comments

  1. daevv

    • 6:07am EST - November 13th, 2008

    I really liked the ending to Resistance 2!

    "It was beautiful" heh

    ~d

  2. DaLi6

    • 6:09am EST - November 13th, 2008

    don't have the game yet but will be buying it once its out in my country i wish they bring collectors edition to my country , ps having 2 players in bioshock would be ownage 2 guys fighting a room with big dadddies is ownage :P

  3. ephracis

    • 6:15am EST - November 13th, 2008

    I can't wait for the EU release.. Lucky americans.

  4. gingo

    • 6:54am EST - November 13th, 2008

    psn id: gingo... 28th of november cant come soon enough for me so i can finally get this, i wish insomniac could have got this out closer to the american launch

  5. MMDs

    • 6:55am EST - November 13th, 2008

    i wouldn't of thought of any other way then to end it the way they did. I highly recommend this game.

  6. Infernoz0

    • 7:36am EST - November 13th, 2008

    well,, " its just the beginning " :P

  7. DJDarkViper

    • 7:39am EST - November 13th, 2008

    i love Insomniac but Resistance isn't exactly my favorite game lol. Bet the fiurst one though, eh maybe ill give R2 a shot in the near future

  8. hitman8062

    • 7:41am EST - November 13th, 2008

    Im getting this on christmas

    Anyone want to play

    psn id:hitman8062

  9. Solrac

    • 7:41am EST - November 13th, 2008

     The ending was incredible and i believe there is more to come. Fantastic Work Insomniac

  10. Drew1987

    • 9:05am EST - November 13th, 2008

    how about getting 2 player online to work correctly

     

  11. stovich

    • 9:31am EST - November 13th, 2008

    I'm on my 3rd time through (Superhuman) and the ending is great every time I see it. Now, if we could get Resistance: Retribution released on the PS2, I'd be a happy camper.

  12. supamariobrotha

    • 9:48am EST - November 13th, 2008

    the ending was good on resistance 2 but for some reason i don't think hale is dead!!!

  13. PantherHeel93

    • 9:55am EST - November 13th, 2008

    *SPOLERS*HALE GETS SHOT!! I was like... WTF! HALE JUST GOT SHOT!  IN THE HEAD!

  14. edward_moffet

    • 10:09am EST - November 13th, 2008

    i love resistance 2, i feel that this game is not getting the credit it deserves, the story and characters are amazing, the graphics are beautfiul, the sheer scope of the gameplay is awesome, and the multiplayer modes are unrivaled and yet it recieves an 8.5 people DO NOT listen to reviews go buy this game

  15. SOLWAY

    • 10:28am EST - November 13th, 2008

    fable 2 4ever

  16. Fatso

    • 2:10pm EST - November 13th, 2008

    OMG.  I can't believe you just spoiled it.  I have not finished it yet.  That is very rude to do that.  Everyone that has spoilers in the forums puts a spoiler tag on it for that reason.  screw you two who spilled it.

  17. Lp47PS3

    • 2:42pm EST - November 13th, 2008

    "Do you hear them?" heh

  18. GOD_OF_CHAOS_KRATOS

    • 4:06pm EST - November 13th, 2008

    The ending was awesome(I now want to buy the book and can not wait for either a movie or resistance 3)

  19. jduck

    • 4:47pm EST - November 13th, 2008

     hey posters, thanks for ruining the game for me... well i suppose not ruining exactly, but definately spoiling. your comments were uh... unnecessary considering half the world doesnt have this yet. either way, at least i know what to expect.

  20. hush404

    • 5:11pm EST - November 13th, 2008

    The ending sucked almost as much as bioshocks ending. FRACK, I played the game all the way through to get that ending?! BAHH (won't bother detailing as to not provide spoilers for others).

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Related information

  • Related game: Resistance 2

    Release date (US):
    November 4th, 2008
    Developer:
    Insomniac Games
    Genre:
    Shooter - First Person
    Rank:
    7 of 2,395 Games
    Up 0 places (in last 7 days)

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