This just may be the gem in the PS3’s launch lineup. Insomniac Games brings a high level of creativity to their first FPS in 10 years. As one of the first games to showcase the PS3’s abilities it falls short in only a few areas while excelling in nearly every other aspect. Resistance: Fall of Man features the right amount of improvements and innovations to make it worthy of next-generation treatment.
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Resistance: Fall of Man has two fairly different faces. One is the solid single player experience. The other is the fast-paced multiplayer. Gamers may be surprised by just how different these two modes actually are. But thankfully, rather than feeling schizophrenic, Insomniac is able to pull these two entities together and give the game a truly well rounded feel.
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This game’s graphics are easily one of the highlights of the title. Movements and textures are smooth and realistic. There is a clear jump in processing power as there are more unique and interactive objects on screen at once. The rich details bring the bleak, war-torn landscapes to life but longer load times can be excessive and can sometimes bog down the pacing. The settings are also consistently bleak, and many may see the richest of details become repetitive. But looking beyond some minor hiccups, this really is a beautiful game.
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Being dropped into a 1950s alien infested bombed out Europe is instantly engaging. As airplanes fall from the sky and fellow soldiers are ripped down with alien fire, players face the games first challenge. Resistance: Fall of Man immediately slaps players with a steep learning curve. The Chimera are the variety pack of aliens – gigantic monsters, humanoid soldiers, jumping bugs – and all are tough to crack. Players must quickly learn to use cover effectively, move swiftly to beat the intelligent enemy AI, and learn the ins and outs of the innovative weaponry.
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Insomniac has made a name for themselves with cool and unique weapons, mostly born in the Ratchet and Clank series. Insomniac’s PS3 debut features some of the coolest weapons in any FPS. Every weapon has a main and secondary fire option, and each offers a new strategy twist. The Bullseye is a Chimera machine gun. Using the secondary fire for the Bullseye sends out a homing tag, then for a short while every bullet fired will home in on the tagged target. This means players can tag an enemy, and then duck behind cover and fire homing bullets around the corners. The Auger fires a high-energy blast that can bore through walls, floors and any piece of cover – and it is more powerful coming out the other side. Plus, the Auger’s secondary fire throws up a transparent shield that blocks all fire except from another Auger – essentially, players can throw up cover wherever they want, bring more strategic elements into the gameplay.
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Players are going to be thankful for the weapon variety when facing the varied landscapes in Resistance: Fall of Man. Winding through the claustrophobic hallways of an alien bunker takes a certain style of play – using the Bullseye to fire from cover, clearing rooms and watching for ambushes. FPS regulars should feel right at home during these sections. But assaulting a wide-open hill absolutely crawling with a Chimera army is something completely different. Players will be exhilarated as they are pinned down by fire from nearly every direction and mortars rain down from above. The melding of these two different FPS styles keeps the game fresh; players will never feel bogged down in the same kinds of levels one after another.
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Resistance: Fall of Man’s multiplayer is almost a completely different experience. Playing this game online is a lot of fun, even more so because it is free to play on the Playstation Network. As expected, a majority of players choose to jump into the standard Deathmatch, and with a maximum of 40 players these matches can be frantic and exciting. Sometimes it is too frantic. This is due to players often respawning right behind other players, resulting in cheap kills and a surprising amount of deaths. This is almost always in full Deathmatch games, and even though it doesn’t happen all the time, it happens too much.
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Players must choose to be either human or Chimera, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. The humans can take much more damage than the Chimera. But the Chimera have a rebounding health meter, Halo style, and the humans do not. The humans can also sprint on command, and crouch behind low cover. The Chimera cannot crouch, making it harder to use cover effectively. Humans can also use radar to see enemy positions on their mini-map. But this is off set by the Chimera’s Rage Mode. When activated, the Chimera run much faster, cause increased damage with every shot, and have the ability to see enemies through walls. But even this ability has its downside. If used for too long the Chimera begin to overheat, and their health is quickly drained away. Players can choose the species that best suits their play style.
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There are other online modes that are found less frequently when looking to join a game, but are worth a look. Team Deathmatch simply pits Chimera against humans to see who ranks up more points. Conversion is like regular Deathmatch but everyone begins as a human, but once killed players respawn as Chimera and then are out of the match if killed a second time – this one is surprisingly fun, as more is on the line with every death. Meltdown and Breach are variants of capture the flag where teams must capture and hold several coolant nodes to defeat the other team. These last two do not seem to be as popular, probably because they take much more teamwork and coordination to pull off – as soon as clans and larger groups get running on PS3s, these should become more popular.
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Player’s online profiles are ranked by their skill and accomplishments. Players are rewarded with ribbons for certain feats while playing online – killing streaks, headshots, multikills. These ranking stats will soon be available on the internet at [a xhref=”http://www.myresistance.net”]MyResistance.net. There players can compare stats with friends and the entire world community, and those stats will be updated in near-real time.
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Resistance: Fall of Man is a must have game PS3 owners. The next-generation graphics look great, even if you don’t own a HD TV. The split in styles between single and online play takes advantage of the strengths and necessities in each, and really pulls the game together. Aside from a few nags, this game is blast.