System: PS3
Dev: Insomniac
Pub: Sony
Released: Nov 2006
Players: 1 - 40
Review by Patrick

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Review Rating Legend
1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid
2.0 - 2.4 = Poor
2.5 - 2.9 = Average
3.0 - 3.4 = Fair
3.5 - 3.9 = Good
4.0 - 4.4 = Great
4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy
5.0 = The Best

It may not be a “killer ap” but Resistance is as strong a launch title as we’ve ever seen. by Patrick Evans

The lines of hopeful PS3 fans have begun to sprout all over the country. One day before the PS3 launches, many may wonder “will this system be worth the price, or the wait?” Will the software at launch warrant a purchase, or are we looking at another dud launch like earlier Sony systems and last year’s 360 launch? While it may not be the “killer ap” that everyone at Sony is claiming it to be, Resistance: Fall of Man is easily one of the best titles seen in a launch window.

At first glance, Resistance actually didn’t impress us. We looked at the enemies, the first few weapons, and the opening environments (a decimated urban area) and saw little that really opened our eyes. After a few hours, however, we were forced to do a 180 and change our perspective on the game. The enemies, which lack in variety but make up for it in creepiness, all animate smoothly and convincingly. When the game shifts locations (and we won’t spoil it by telling anything here), the environments become more science-fiction than WWII, which is a huge relief for gamers that have seen entirely too many WWII shooters.

In Resistance, an alternate reality Europe has fallen under siege by a mutated race of humanoids known as the Chimera. Having broken containment in Russia and spread throughout Europe, it was only a matter of time before the British were overrun. America, a spectator to the devastation for the longest time, finally agrees to send support to England. On it’s way to meet with British intelligence to learn of these beasts and what they are in store for, Sergeant Hale and his unit are attacked, forced to repel an enemy the know very little about.

Resistance’s storyline, narrated by the female British intelligence office that Hale encounters early on, is an interesting blend of typical WWII shooters and sci-fi epics. The Chimera increases their forces by infecting humans, and the lead character becomes infected almost immediately after the start of the game. As he continues his campaign, Hale struggles to discover what is happening, or will happen, to him and his body. A cloud of doubt and impending doom surrounds the protagonist, always gnawing at the gamer as they mow through Chimeran forces.