Australian Gamer Review :: Resistance: Fall Of Man

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Resistance: Fall Of Man

Reviewed on: Playstation 3
Available on: Playstation 3

Just because it isn�t the holy grail of shooters, doesn�t mean it isn�t great fun to play.

Players: 1-2 Players (40 online)
Genre:
Release: 2007-03-23

Developer: Insomniac Games
Distributor: Sony Computer Entertainment

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When the Xbox 360 launched in Australia, we had a couple of killer titles. The sort of titles that make you go, �ok next gen is here�. For me those titles were Oblivion and Ghost Recon. The great thing about these two games is they more than kept me occupied through the early drought that faces every console. Sure there is a couple of mediocre games that you could have a go at every now and then to keep life interesting, but every launch needs that one game to keep going back to until the rest of the catalog fills up.

For the PS3, that game is Resistance: Fall of Man. After splashing out a $1000 on a console, most folks wouldn�t have had a lot of change left over to buy games. It is almost fortunate that Sony decided to only release 3 decent exclusives at launch. The top pick of the bunch has been a coin flip between Motorstorm and Resistance. I guess it depends on whether you�re a shooter fan, or a racing fan as to which you�d pick. Odds are you�ve bought both of them if you own a PS3. So you�re in good shape. For me, Resistance is easily the best game of the PS3 launch.

I really am a jaded FPS player though. I�ve played more shooters than I care to count. Frankly, I am just about over them. I don�t think I ever got around to finishing Gears of War on the harder levels�. Which is a shame, because it seriously rocked. The reason I didn�t play through it again is because, for me, a shooter has to be involving and have a great story to involve yourself in. Once I�ve played through the story, I am pretty much done.

The thing that first intrigued me about Resistance is the back story. Sure it�s not the first time we�ve seen retro-futuristic titles which mix historical settings with a �what if� scenario. Return to Castle Wolfenstein comes to mind for example with its WWII scenario blended with a bit of the Paranormal. So Resistance is pretty much in the same family as those titles, it�s hardly unique, and initially it does feel like �just another WWII shooter�, but as you get into the game the originality of the title starts to shine through.

When I first sat down to play this, I had just finished playing Call of Duty 3� on the 360 and then again on the PS3, and had not long played through Battlefield and several other WWII. The problem was that I also had about 5 others PS3 titles to play through, and so Resistance fell to the bottom of the pile because frankly I couldn�t deal with another WWII shooter. Now I wish I had picked it up earlier! I am sure you all know the storyline, but here it is again in brief. You play an American soldier helping to fight the resistance against an Alien species that has taken over all of Europe and has descended upon and infested London. Fairly standard really. The thing that makes the story work is the many questions that arise as you play through the game. Much like Halo, the desire to know more about the Chimera and more about the game�s protagonist Nathan Hale force you to delve deeper into the game to have these questions answered. Unfortunately, the game has a fairly �open� ending, so don�t expect to be able to cross all the T�s and dot all the I�s when you get there. But every game has to have a sequel right? Well, there is one coming next year, so we won�t have to wait too long to find out what happens to Mr. Hale and the rest of the Chimera in Europe.

Fortunately, there is much more to Resistance than just its storyline. Coming from the makers of Ratchet and Clank (Insomniac), it is no surprise that there are a vast array of interesting enemies and weapons. As we all know, it is these two things which make an average shooter into a great shooter. The weapons in Resistance are probably its biggest distinguishing feature. Ok sure, you start off with your typical WWII weapons, but before long you start collecting some truly awesome armaments. With some very cool weapons like the Auger which can shoot through walls, the Fareye which has the ability to slow down time (to make that head shot just that little bit easier), the Hailstorm which fires bouncing bolts of green unpleasantness. Of course, that isn�t where the fun ends. If you�re keen enough to play the game through a second time you�ll find some VERY cool weapons indeed.

Then there are the enemies. I don�t know how many varieties there are, but there are lot. As with any cool gun, a cool enemy has two requirements. 1. It needs to have a cool name. 2. It needs to have a cool ability. Steelheads, with their heavy armour and wall drilling Auger rifles. Titan, bigass bad guy that carries vehicle weapons�.oh yeah! And worst of all the Widowmakers�spiders�eww! The list goes on, but they all share a common link� you�ll hate them all (in a good way of course).

One thing that will surprise you about many of the enemies is their speed. If you�ve been playing Halo and GoW where enemies are often slow and fairly easy to target, then you will get a shock when you play Resistance. Resistance is more akin to a PC shooter in its speed than your typical console FPS. I don�t know whether it is because the game has a heavy auto-lock, or whether it is just generous with its targeting, but it never becomes impossible to hit enemies, even when they are moving quickly. Either way, the result is a game which has much faster pacing, and a lot more teeth gritting action than its feet dragging cousins.

So what do you do when you�ve got the perfect action game with high intensity firefights, massive battles against impossible odds with sweat inducing speed? Ruin it with cut scenes! Yeah. Way to go! I thought the cut scene was dead? Did someone forget to tell Insomniac? Why go to such great lengths to build such an immersive game only to ruin it unexpectedly at the end of a level by dropping the player back to 3rd person for a cut scene? Honestly! There is nothing worse than just surviving an encounter with a bunch of leapers and rollers only to be ripped out of your little world and dumped in a movie. If I want to watch a movie, I�ll rent a DVD. I didn�t pay $1000 for this damned PS3 to watch cut scenes dammit! If that wasn�t bad enough, there seems to be many occasions when you find yourself wandering aimlessly between battles for no apparent reason. It is either to let you get your pulse back down to safe levels, or it is because the PS3 needs time to cache the next battle� but whatever the reason, it really ruins the pacing of the game. This just one of the things that makes Resistance�s single player a little less than it could be.

Given the extra processing power available in this generation, one thing we are seeing a lot more of is co-operative single player campaigns. I love this. My wife and I played through Gears of War from start to finish and loved every minute of it, and the same can be said for Resistance. The thing that makes both of these titles so great for co-op (particularly when one player is less skilled) is the ability to heal your partner should they kick the bucket. Now while you may think it was always my wife getting shot dead, it was often me! Yes, I know what you�re thinking�but the cool thing about this sort of co-op is that one player (my wife) can sit back relatively out of harm�s way and still enjoy the game, while the other player can take the full force of the opposition for a real challenge. The added bonus of not having to restart when you die (assuming your partner can get to you and heal you, or respawning next to them assuming they stay alive), makes the single player campaign a lot more fun.

So what about the controller? Is this SIXAXIS thing any good for shooters? Well I still have a problem holding the damned thing. My thumbs have to bend at an almost impossible angle to get on the thumb sticks, and it really isn�t comfortable at all. Maybe it�s just the size of my hands or something�.I dunno, but it just isn�t good after an hour or so. The motion sensor part of the controller is only ever used in single player to shake enemies of you, and really doesn�t contribute to the game at all. You can tilt the controller in multiplayer to check your map, but that is about it and could�ve been done with any one of the 16 buttons on the PS3 controller (thumbstick click for example).

Speaking of online�. I�m not a huge fan of run and gun online shooters. As I said at the top of the review, I like an immersive story, and deathmatch just doesn�t do a lot for me. Having said that, you have to pay Resistance its dues. When you play online in Resistance, you can have games with up to 40 players and all practically lag free. It is very impressive, and nothing short of technical magic. Supposedly rather than going down the Xbox Live path of individuals hosting their own games, Resistance is hosted by Sony. This practically guarantees you a lag free game, as you�re not having to contend with a host with only 128kb upload speeds in Australia. Whilst the PS3 lacks Microsoft�s cohesive Xbox Live, Insomniac have done an awesome job building their own matchmaking system, persistent rankings (60 levels) and clan creation. In short, Resistance multiplayer is about as good as it gets.

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Final Verdict

Let�s be honest. Resistance: Fall of Man is hardly the most groundbreaking or memorable single player shooter going around. I�ve played better on the 360 and on the PC, but this definitely something to keep the PS3 owners happy until something better comes along. Just because it isn�t the holy grail of shooters, doesn�t mean it isn�t great fun to play. Resistance is great fun solo or co-op, but really the campaign pales in comparison to the online component. The online play in Resistance is something that other games will seek to emulate in future, and is the first time I�ve sided with the other guy with regard to online play. On this occasion, Insomniac HAVE done it better than Xbox Live.

Pros
Online multiplayer rules all. Awesome array of weapons and enemy. Clever but fun AI. Co-op campaign is great fun. Fast paced, intense battles.
Cons
Doesn�t really bring anything new to the world of shooters. Cut scenes ruin the intensity of the game. Story and characters have fallen victim to Halo�s �must make a sequel� syndrome.