Resistance: Fall Of Man
© Sony

Mania Grade: B+
Platform: PS3
ESRB: M
Genre: Shooter
Players: 1-40
Online: Yes
Developer: Insomniac Games
Publisher: Sony
Suggested Retail: $59.99
Graphics: B+
Sound: A-
Gameplay: B+
Replay: A
Fun Factor: B+

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"Resistance: Fall Of Man"

Rather than dealing with a regular World War shooter, the folks at Insomniac games took a different path. Their world removes World War 2 from existence, leaving Russia to be infected by a plague mutating its populous into killing machines. While they had remained under lock and key for ten years, eventually they broke free and began to infect the rest of Asia and Europe. For a while it seemed like the United Kingdom was safe, until the mutants burrowed under the English Channel and laid waste to the final reserves. These beasts are known as Chimeras, and several classes to battle against. As the storyline progresses you find out that they are using any human they can infect, and thus create more soldiers for their army. 

Playing as a soldier (Sgt. Nathan Hale) whom has been infected by the Chimera virus, you seek to put an end to their existence. It will not be easy at all, as it seems that any other human is next to worthless when it comes to combat. This means you will be doing the gross amount of groundwork for the game, so luckily you have considerable time to play during the war. The Chimera virus has not mutated the character like it has all of the others, rather it has offered up the chance to speed up the healing process, allowing them the chance to take a licking and keep on ticking. The single player mode promises around twelve to fifteen hours of playtime, so there will be plenty of levels to complete, even though they feel a little short at times. 

Combat for the game is served up in spurts, allowing for quite a few villains on the screen at any given time. This keeps the action hot and heavy, and oddly enough it seems they are better shots than you. You can have plenty of enemies on the screen, whether they are your average foot soldier, or face hugger like creatures. The game offers a bit more verity of enemies than many other similar games, so I am thankful for that, though there will be many levels of running through just a single type. 

Where the game truly shines though is in the variety of weapons. Along the way you will come across your standard weapons, from rifles to shotguns, which follow what man has created. You will also have the chance to pick up Chimera’s weapons as well, which is where the fun really begins. The bullseye weapon allows you to fire a tracking dart towards an enemy, and if it connects you can fire anywhere and the bullets will find their target. Some other weapons allow you to fire bullets that bounce off of walls, and others shoot through them, and even get a boost if that occurs. The sniper rifle will slow down time, allowing you to get your perfect shot in. There are plenty of weapons, and some are not even unlocked until you have completed the game, which offers replay-ability. 

The next best thing though, just by millimetres, is the online mode. This is where a knock down, drag out battle can occur if you are willing to sign up for it. Fairly surprising for the online play, there is minimal lag, considering you can have up to a 40-person brawl. There are different map types that range from 16, 24, 32 and 40 people, so that depending on how many people you want to play with, an enemy is never out of reach. You have the option of either playing as the good guys, humans, or the evil Chimeras, so if you want to be bad to the bone you can. The game also features a 60 rank system, and of course you can attempt to scale to the top of that mountain. There are plenty of different match types to keep you entertained, though if you hate going online, you can team up with a buddy and complete the story mode offline on the same screen. 

Graphically the game suffers from the launch title jitters, where it seems like it could have done with a little more time in the oven. There is plenty to look at on many levels, but it seems like the game is lacking detail. For a war torn area I was hoping to find rubble on the ground, or at the very least dirty / grungy areas, but everything looks spick and span. Fire looks nice, but it a few more colours should be added. There were a few issues with what you could interact with, and what you could not. I went around trying to break as many objects as I could, like hitting cabinets and refrigerators, and oddly enough the only way I could get their respective pieces to move was if I melee attacked them, rather than pushing into them. Occasionally they also phased through my body, which was fairly awkward to see. Vehicles often looked like they needed an extra level or two to make them look a bit more realistic, where things like burning vehicles need to become charred. They did a fairly good job overall, but I just wanted more. 

The game does have its graphical advantages, since the levels are fairly large. The characters move fluidly, and there can be plenty of action on the green. Many of the creatures can populate the screen, turning many of the battles into almost epic encounters. Many of the enemies look quite nice, though they could do with a bit more detail. Something that I will give major props to the creators involves the glass windows. Shooting the glass will make the glass fall apart, likewise so will throwing a grenade through them. The excellent part about involves how the glass breaks down, where only portions will fall apart. Likewise if you through a grenade through it, there will be a circle where it crashed through, leaving the rest of the window intact. The sound was also very good for the game, since it tied everything in nicely. 

In the end, I know this is a next generation game but it feels like a souped up Playstation 2 game. Not all of the graphics are beautiful, but many of them are good. The problem is that Gears of War just provides a better experience than this game, and as such it is the measuring stick of all future games until something can beat it. This game is no slouch, but it is no Gears of War either. This is the system’s first great game, and by far it is the best game to get on the Playstation 3 for now, and probably a few months into the future. While playing it though, I found that that as much as I tired to hide behind blocks for cover, I always ended up being shot from radical angles. I suppose it is just the post Gears of War gameplay that has me trying to stick to objects. Speaking about cover, there were always plenty of wooden crates to hide behind, but when they were destroyed nothing was inside. Where are the contents man? Where are the contents? Wrapping up, Captain Gordon gives Resistance: Fall of Man a B+. 

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? CaptainGordonEdward@Gmail.com