The spirit of WoW in Resistance 2's co-op gameplay
Much has been said on the influence of World of Warcraft on the MMO industry, but comparisons between other games and WoW don't end with massively multiplayer online games. The multiplayer cooperative mode of Resistance 2, a Playstation 3 exclusive from Insomniac Games, bears some similarities in its design to the ubiquitous Blizzard fantasy title in terms of class interdependencies.
Insomniac Games co-op lead designer for Resistance 2, Jake Biegel, recently gave an interview with Christian Nutt from Gamasutra on the development of multiplayer cooperative gameplay, and the games that influenced its creation. Of course, the class-based Team Fortress 2 was cited as an influence, but Insomniac Games also looked to World of Warcraft for further inspiration. "We looked at experiences like Team Fortress 2, in which there are dependencies on classes, and games like World of Warcraft, in which there are large amounts of people working in tandem, creating this kind of epic synergy to overcome these encounters that wouldn't be overcomeable as an individual," Biegel says.
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The influence of World of Warcraft is more subtle in Resistance 2 than it is overt, however. Biegel clarifies this by saying, "It's definitely the spirit of that forced dependency and really relying on each other, and that buzz that you get from working together to overcome things, less than actually following the classes." If you're interested in reading more about how MMOs are influencing the development of console titles, check out Biegel's interview over at Gamasutra, which deals entirely with the multiplayer aspects of Resistance 2's game design.
