Resistance: Fall of Man

Very rarely does the gaming world see phenomenal shooters. Let's face it- even though games like F.E.A.R. And Quake 4 impress us graphically and with interesting gameplay, they always end up mashing somewhat together in this big mix of ?shoot everything and move on?. There is, though, one plus for shooters- you can really show off what you can do without having to worry about complex RPG engines or deep storylines. This is right where Resistance: Fall of Man comes into play.

Resistance: Fall of Man is a first person shooter game for the PS3 developed by Insomniac, the company known for doing the ?Spyro the Dragon? and ?Ratchet & Clank? series. The game is set in an alternate world where the world did not experience World War II, the Cold War, or the USSR. Instead, both England and America have to team together to fight the Chimera, a strange creature that infects humans and turns them into monsters, slowly crawling over England and turning even the most powerful soldiers into demented beasts.

The game is set in a ?historical background? setting, following the exploits of Army Ranger Nathan Hale for three days as he fights in a last ditch effort to save England from the invading Chimera threat. Of course, much like any other shooter on the planet, Nathan Hale is not your average soldier- in a freak accident on the first day, he finds himself infected with the Chimera virus- but not turned into a beast. This only expounds on itself in the period of the three days, as Nathan Hale dives deeper into the somewhat post-apocalyptic England.



Of course, there is a lot that needs to be explained about Resistance before I even begin, primarily about this game's hype. You see, Resistance: Fall of Man is Sony's ?killer app? launch title for the PS3- that is, it is the primary game that is being pimped to convince you to purchase a shiny black $599 system. While this is honestly slightly odd (usually companies prefer launch titles to be from their own studios), this was probably the best choice they could have made- because Resistance shows off the PS3 hardware like no other game on the system can even come close to.

Resistance: Fall of Man reminds me quite a bit of a mix of the mega-popular Half Life 2 and the slightly disappointing Quake 4. Where Resistance excels, much like Half Life 2, is it's engine and gameplay options- the game is literally perfectly rendered, from the graphical quality to the physics engine. Resistance: Fall of Man has literally done what no-one could have even imagined: beat Half Life 2 graphically. That's like Nintendo beating Squaresoft in the RPG market- that's scary.

But it's completely true. Everything in Resistance is rendered to perfection, from the guns to the graphics. Resistance makes heavy use of filters to augment the graphical quality of it's display- not so much to ?hide? anything, but rather to give stylistic effects to the graphics it's already pumping out. A good example of this is how the game will often switch filters on the fly- black and white for a death scene, a lens blur effect for the death, and so on. This is done so seamlessly and perfectly that it resembles a high quality movie, rather than a simple video game.

Where Resistance resembles Quake 4 is unfortunately it's rather bland and predictable plot. This happens in virtually all shooter games- anyone with a functional brain can predict Resistance's plot without lifting a finger. It is very clear that Insomniac, as talented as they are, wanted to make Resistance a kind of graphical showcase rather than a story hard hitter. Sure, the whole concept of their ?alternative universe? is detailed- but that's not much in the long run, and Resistance falls back to tried-and-true story concepts to make it's game progress.



The gameplay of Resistance is probably the best shooter gameplay of any console, even making the very famous Halo blush in envy. Resistance's weapons and tactical abilities make up for any lack of story the game could ever have. For example, one particular weapon, called the Auger, literally penetrates through any cover that the enemy may take- meaning you can kill those pesky hiding enemies. Another one, known as the ?Bullseye?, allows you to ?tag? enemies with one bullet, thus making every single other bullet you fire hit that enemy like really advanced homing missiles. The list goes on and on forever.

And hell, you will need the weapons. The enemies in Resistance: Fall of Man are no idiots- in fact, they are markedly too clever for words, and not in the cheap way. One notable example is how the majority of the gun-wielding enemies will literally track you down, taking cover along the way, and hit you whenever you expose yourself. Never before have enemies been so smart- you will be floored as you watch many enemies literally team up on you, making your life a living hell. On on hand, that's impressive. On another, it's one big pain in the ass.

But Resistance is not all about the single player- the game also features co-op mode and multiplayer as well. The multiplayer can hold- get this- up to forty players in a single room.

Forty players.

That's literally the size of your average Battlefield 2 game, and Insomniac guarantees the game never lags- and it doesn't. The multiplayer games are much like the single player games in that the graphics are phenomenal, the gameplay is tough and enjoyable, and everything is spotlessly perfect. I've never seen such quality on a console game, ever.

Insomniac, as they usually do, has also included some decent ?bonuses? for those of you who like that kind of thing. Gamers can win awards for completing random tasks- these tasks giving you points which can unlock various different things. For a game that is a launch title, this is a flooring amount of detail.

But, are there really any problems with the game? Well, yes and no. The primary issue some gamers may find is that the PS3 controller (the DUALAXIS) is still something slightly foreign, and it may be hard to aim and control the game as well as one may like. This problem goes away quickly, but gamers new to the Playstation style controller will no doubt notice it from time to time.

The only other complaint I would have would be the lack of music or anything really definitive in the sound department. While it is by far a comparatively minor issue, I somewhat felt as if the game substantially lacked anything to ?hear?- basically meaning that you could play the whole game muted and not miss much. The voice acting is decent, but much like the sound effects and ?music?, still fails to be anything other than ?decent?.

You should get the idea by now. If you have a Playstation 3, it is almost imperative that you have Resistance: Fall of Man. The game is literally a perfect example of the PS3's potential power, and a great sign of future things to come for the system. If this is the kind of game we will be seeing on the PS3, there will be no competition against any other console by far- we can simply hope that companies like Insomniac keep this kind of stuff up.

5 star(s) out of 5

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