Resistance: Fall of Man

"I was quite surprised at this game actually."

Whenever a new console is released, there is always a game that always comes with the console, and no one seems to be without. Resistance is that game for the Playstation 3. Yep, I gave in and brought a PS3, hopefully to replace the Wii (I hate most of the games on it, not really my thing). I got to know a lot about Resistance since it was the only game I had for a while (got a few others though which I'll do reviews of soon), and despite a lot of negative word about the game, I really enjoyed it.

The story is a fairly simple affair, and quite generic in all honesty. The game is set in an alternate history where World War 2 didn't happen, and the game is set in 1951. However Russia mysteriously closes it's borders. Soon after, an alien like creature, known as the Chimera, spread across Europe. Soon they take over Britain, and will probably head for America next. The heroic Americans thus head over to Britain to defeat the Chimera, spanning many different cities and bases. You play as American solider Nathan Hale, a fairly bog standard hero (not silent, although he doesn't talk much) who defeats masses of Chimera enemies where an army failed. The story still has a bit of depth to it, you can find intel hidden which reveals more info on a third faction, the Cloven, and of course, the question still remains: Who/What are the Chimera, and where did they come from?

Gameplay is fairly generic and standard FPS fare. You run through the levels, killing all the enemies as you go along, and thats literally it. No puzzles, just killing. Obviously there are a few vehicle sections as well, including a jeep, in which the controls for it are laughable, and the pretty good tank. Again though, these are fairly generic and its been done before. One of the main things about Resistance however, is it's design. The game is incredibly challenging, even on Medium difficulty. A lot of people are complaining games are getting too easy but Resistance gave me a challenge. I struggled at quite a few parts on Normal difficulty, but it wasn't incredibly stupid or anything, just quite challenging. You never get stuck at a particular part for too long or get frustrated. The difficulty was just right (and of course, if you think you're good there's Hard difficulty, and another difficulty after that even) and provided a good fun challenge (even on normal difficulty, where as other games like Call of Duty 4 provided a good challenge, but only on their hardest settings). The game is also quite long. Games now seem to last around 5-10 hours but Resistance lasted me a good 15-20 to complete, and it was an enjoyable experience. Yeah, it's fairly generic but it's fun and thats what matters the most. The level design, although slightly repetitve is solid enough, and the guns are interesting enough. However as it is, I would probably give Resistance an 8 out of 10. However the superb, although equally flawed online saves the day.

Fortunately the PS3's online service is free (although is lacking compared to the 360) and Wi Fi ready, so I was able to connect my PS3 to the internet straight away and have some matches online on Resistance. Resistance supports up to 32 players, although in all honesty, the max I ever saw in a match was 16. There are quite a few game modes, and you choose to search for a match in three categories, Free For All, Team Deathmatch, and Team Objective (that being stuff like Capture the Flag etc). There are a load of great levels based upon the single player campaign which vary in size, depending on the game mode and the amount of players. You can level up your rank (although its never clear what it is, I just prefer it in CoD4 where it gives you a number, plain and simple, rather than a badge that changes so often I don't recognise it) and you can customise your players appearance (more things you do online and in single player, as far as I am aware, unlocks more equipment). You can also gain badges which are displayed on your profile. When playing online you can see anyones profile which literally records everything. Play Time, Kills, Deaths, kills with each individual weapons, wins, losses, matches played, everything is recorded. The badges that I mentioned are also shown here, which are rewarded for getting a certain amount of kills with a weapon, getting wins online, and getting certain kill streaks. You can also join or make a proper clan where you can do clan matches (or simply play Team Deathmatch as a clan), and a full in-game friends list. The game modes are fairly standard and it doesn't offer customisation on Call of Duty 4's level, but its great fun. The game does support voice chat, but since the PS3 doesn't come with a headset, I simply muted the Voice Chat, since it came out of the TV speakers and was quite loud. The game also ran smoothly online and I encountered absolutely no lag what so ever. However I did have a few problems with the online. One thing I did notice is that when playing Free For All, or most game modes, you can easily gain kills by simply shooting at the enemy first. If you shoot them first from behind, they barely have time to turn around and shoot you back, since they're just killed. I also noticed the respawn system didn't really work, since it always respawns you in random places, including right in the middle of a fight, where I promptly got blown up. Apart from some minor online frustrations, it's good fun.

The graphics are technically impressive, but rather bland. Although you visit many different cities, the level design all looks too familiar at times, and it includes a lot of brown and grey. Like I said though, they're technically impressive and I was quite pleased. Although I understand the PS3 is more powerful than the 360, the graphics pretty much matched everything on 360 (although thats impressive for a launch game) and the game runs fine. I didn't encounter any frame rate dips at all, although personally I can never tell if the game runs in 30 or 60FPS. The music... Well in all honesty, I don't remember much. I think it has some fairly generic pieces that suit any FPS war game really, but I can't really remember hearing much. The Voice Acting was alright and so were the sound effects. I just don't remember hearing much music, so apologies there.

If you've already got a PS3, chances are you probably have this. If not I really recommend you pick it up since it goes very cheap now. The second Resistance is coming out later this year and it will be worth while to check this one out first. It's a very enjoyable, albeit generic FPS, and boasts an impressive online service. There are better FPS games out there, but Resistance is a fine game, it's fun, long and challenging, something a few FPS games are missing.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/17/08

Game Release: Resistance: Fall of Man (EU, 03/23/07)