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Insomniac Games’ first-person shooter is one of the year’s best. Insomniac Games, known for their work on the Ratchet & Clank franchise, started off that series as a platformer with some shooting elements. Over time, it evolved into a shooter with platforming elements. It’s no surprise that their first game on the PlayStation 3 is a full-fledged first person shooter. A remarkable one at that.
In Resistance, you play as Nathan Nale, an American soldier helping the UK defend themselves against a new enemy. This enemy is a species called the Chimera. No one really knows where they came from but they took over Asia and Europe and have set their sights on the UK. The world in Resistance isn’t exactly normal. The game takes place in the middle of the 20th century in a world in which World War II never happened. The story, told through well done in-engine cinematics, in the game is straightforward enough to follow though not exactly engaging. It works well enough to get you from one level to the next, giving you some insight into your enemies and what Hale is thinking.
Resistance is a first-person shooter through and through. The analog sticks control your movement and aiming, while the triggers control your primary and secondary shooting modes. The game makes use of the PS3 Sixaxis tilt functionality quite well. There’s a creature in the game that jumps at you and to shake them off you literally shake the controller. It’s simple but works quite well. As is fashionable in current shooters, Resistance lets you regenerate your health. However, Resistance splits up your health into four quadrants and you’re only allowed to regenerate one. For example, if took enough hits that the first two quadrants were empty and the third was half full, you’d only regenerate that third quadrant and have half of your full health. This takes some time to get used to but the game does let you carry as many weapons as you want. As you progress through the levels, you’ll hit checkpoints from time to time although you’ll still end up replaying some portions repeatedly, especially near the end.
Resistance has a number of weapons all of which are fairly good. Even your default weapon is a 50-round clip rifle with a grenade launcher as its second firing mode. Early in the game you get an energy rifle called the bullsye. The primary mode is similar except that the gun uses energy shots instead of actual bullets. The secondary mode is a homing shot of sorts that tags enemies and lets you shoot blindly and still hit your target. Aside from this you’ll find the expected genre staples of a rocket launcher, sniper rifle and a shotgun. Aside from the weapons, the game gives you grenades to break up some of the tougher enemy groups.
The combat gameplay in the game is excellent. The chimera present great enemies because they’re quite lethal, travel in groups, and behave quite intelligently taking cover a lot and waiting for reinforcements. A lot of the shooting occurs in relatively open spaces but the game does move you into some houses to have a more intimate fight against the chimera. There are times where you’re joined by ally troops but unlike a game like Call of Duty, these troops are just there for show and will end up dying quite soon. Aside from just shooting, though, the game has some vehicle elements. You’ll be driving a gun-mounted jeep or a tank in your crusade against the Chimera. Don’t think that the Chimera don’t have their own vehicles though because they do. Tthe game increases its length (the main game takes about 10 hours) by rewarding you for replaying the campaign. Once you complete the game, you will unlock additional weapons that you can use the second time through. Additionally, you can play the entire campaign in a cooperative split-screen mode.
This isn’t even including the 40-player multiplayer mode. The game has a number of maps based on locations from the campaign, some of which are better suited for smaller matches and others which can easily accommodate all 40 players. Multiplayer lets you play as either humans or Chimeran. Humans are smaller targets, have a radar, and can sprint. Chimerans are bigger targets, radarless, but do have access to a rage mode that makes them stronger and faster. The modes include the expected deathmatch, team deathmatch, and capture the flag. You’ll also find breach, meltdown, and conversion. Conversion is sort of you against everyone else while the first two task you with taking over a part of the map. The game also includes four-player split-screen multiplayer.
Resistance is one of the most visually striking PS3 launch games. The graphics, especially when displayed in 720p, are stunning. The character models are highly detailed, and animate really well. They move and run realistically, you’ll see them take cover, lean and do everything with great ease. The game’s environments share a similar level of detail. The foliage looks great although we’re seen better in Call of Duty 3. The game has great fire effects and some of the best glass I have ever seen in a game. Shooting different parts of the glass makes it react just like you think it would. Shoot twice in a close area and you’ll see that area of the glass fall off and eventually the entire thing. The framerate is sharp during the game.
The audio is just as impressive. The soundtrack makes the battles sound important although none of it is all that great. There is a little speech in the game, usually for narration, that sounds great and would have been greater if there was more of it. The sound effects are great with superb weapon and vehicle effects.
Insomniac Games has developed one of the best first person shooters available and one of the best launch titles. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Nov 18, 2006
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