Publisher:
SCEA
Developer:
Insomniac Games
Release date:
Nov 12 2006
Reviewed on:
PS3

Not another World War II…no wait, it is not another one of THOSE first-person shooters. Despite its initial look, Resistance: Fall of Man for the PLAYSTATION 3 is not another one of those World War II FPS’s instead it is a pretty unique take on this often overused piece of history.

In this alternate history World War II never happened, neither did Nazis for that matter. Instead we have the Chimera; humans mutated by a strange disease and they are packing a variety of unseen technologies that they are using to conquer the whole of Europe. You step in with the American army as you try and liberate Britain. The remainder of the story is presented through not only cut scenes between missions, but also bits of Intel that you find hidden about. The intel does not only provide something to collect (like the dog tags in Gears of War) they also provide more pieces of the story and leave more mysteries for a sequel to answer.

Many of the early environments have a very appropriately designed war torn look and feel, and portray the chaos of war while still clearly leading you through the level. Unfortunately, the artistic design of the later portions of the game involving the Chimeran bases loses a lot of creativity and all that remains are the “alien ships” that we have seen many times before. A steam-punk direction with regards to the Chimeran technology could have really given them a more grounded realism.

Sets and backgrounds aside, Resistance excels at creating “moments”. Moments that keep mundane battles intriguing. What spices these moments up more than anything are having supporting troops that you join in battles. One moment is when acquiring the sniper’s rifle you join a group of other snipers who are talking a carry on while popping enemy heads giving a sense of life to the world. This is when the sense of a war is the most clear and the style of the game is most appreciated and removed from standard FPS fare. Vehicles also play a part in this; while they never steal the show you are given several vehicles to control throughout the story that are a welcome reprieve from the duck and cover shootouts.

First thing when it comes to gameplay that Insomniac Games deserves much credit for is how solid everything feels, from firing the weapons to smacking someone with the butt of your gun. This is really impressive because they manage to achieve this feel without rumble, which going into my first PLAYSTATION 3 title had me concerned. Apparently proper attention to detail can overcome the systems one blaring shortcoming.

Controls seem to follow all that is standard in first-person shooters while adding in a touch of the Six-Axis motion control. Fortunately the motion sensitivity is used very little and is unintrusive to gameplay only surfacing to shake off enemies that get a hold of you. While I say that the controls are standard this is by no means an insult as Resistance is very comfortable to play.

One of the greatest feats accomplished in Resistance: Fall of Man is that weapons never become obsolete. That carbine that you begin the game with will find use throughout and that trusty Rossmore 236 shotgun never needs a successor. So while later weapons can in some cases pack more punch they are used for more specific instances and never overshadow their predecessors.

For the achievement whores out there, Insomniac was kind enough to give Resistance its own in game goals. While made a bit shallow without a gamer score, they are humorous with ones like “Why Are These Candles Screaming?” Which is achieved by killing a group of enemies with fire.

Resistance:Fall of Man offers a variety of multiplayer options including local co-op, free for all, team death match, and objective based team games. Co-op is truly a great time, while the story does not support the second player plot-wise it does provide a great environment for you and a friend to strategize attack plans. The online multiplayer, with servers provided by Sony, offer very smooth play. While the modes of play are all ones you have heard of before they are spiced up a bit with dropping players into a Chimeran body and actually differentiating this experience considerable from that of controlling a human soldier. Better online shooters are sure to come along on the PLAYSTATION 3, but Resistance does a great job of getting it done in the meantime.

Many people say that this is the only game to play on the PLAYSTATION 3 at this point, and this is true. Insomniac however made sure that this was a game that was sure to get more than one play through thanks to good design and great moments. This should be an automatic pickup for any new PLAYSTATION 3 owner, and for the PS3 owners that have not picked it up yet…what is your problem.

Grade: B