Resistance: Fall of Man

Finally, Sony released the powerhouse known as the Playstation 3. The PS3 fan boys all remember the first PS3 show when Phil Harrison demonstrated just how powerful this technological marvel is. Now it's here, but how is all this power being used? Fairly good in my opinion! Resistance: Fall of Man (RFM) is a first person shooter (duh) for the Playstation 3 (double duh), set in the 1950's where all of Europe and most of Asia has been overrun by a virus, capable of mutating humans into alien creatures, known as the Chimera. The game is built up around the endeavors of the American soldier Nathan Hale, who is dropped in on an assault, on the city of York. From here, he too is infected, but not mutated. He thus becomes a powerful half-human, half-chimerian hybrid, and must now join his fellow humans in the battle against the vicious E.T. look-alike invaders.

The game itself runs in 720p HD, which is jaw-droopingly beautiful providing of course that you have a HD TV and a HDMI cable. Otherwise, the crisp details in the textures are washed away by jaggies from standard TV sets and SCART cables. Although the graphics are inconsistent from time to time, it is a very beautiful game on the bottom-line. The Blu-Ray discs really show just how much potential the machine has, unlike the X360's DVD drive. (Yes, I am a PS3 fan boy, please close your e-mail client.)

As for game play, the RFM is pretty basic. The enemies can take quite a lot of damage since there's little reason to get to cover. Just aim and shoot. However, the AI is strafing, dodging, ducking and jumping and aims irritatingly well. Rest assured, you'll be up for quite a challenge. The strong point in game play is the weapons. These are the guys that made Ratchet and Clank people, they have some twisted ideas for tomorrow's arsenal. Like the Chimerian standard rifle that can "tag" and enemy, so that all future shots will be homing to that position. Or the Auger that slowly goes through walls, and doesn't stop. It even has a force field for you to hide behind. Awesome!

And of course, there is the multi player. 40 people can kill some time killing each other with little to no lag. That's impressive. Sadly, the vehicles available in single player are nowhere to be found on the online arenas. I surely would love to blast through a wall with a tank and surprise a few unwary noobs gone camping.

The only problem RFM has, is that it becomes very linear at points. Even though the scenery is very different from one place to another, there're little to no cut-scenes, even though they are brilliantly done. All you get are 30-50 seconds of dialog and some black and white stills, and then a load of new aliens are thrown at you. Give us a tiny break please.

Still, Resistance: Fall of Man is a well done FPS, and for a launch title, the best on it's field. If this is the beginning of what we can see on the PS3, Bill Gates is in for quite a time. It combines the cool elements from classics like Halo and Call of Duty, with weaponry worthy of any childish inventor. With brilliant graphics that easily competes against X360 classics like Gears of War, I'll certainly will be on the lookout for a sequel. If you got a PS3, get out there and buy it!

There are hardly any games out for any system that I want right now, but I got the urge to get my first PS3 game after owning one for almost two months. I finally broke down and got Resistance.

Resistance shows just how good of a game it really is with me actually hating FPS games before this and still do. This game stands out amongst the rest though. I actually enjoy this FPS and this will probably be the only FPS game I ever own.

I don't know much about standard shooters, but the gameplay in this is great. The physics in this game are great. The glass breaks realistic. You can knock over most stuff with shots or melee hits. You can't damage buildings that much. The storyline is decent, but I've seen better, but the atmosphere and locations make up for what little the story lacks. The guns are all great. They all have great sub things they can do. Difficulty isn't cheap on any of the harder settings.

This game also brought out another first in me. I tried the online play which I don't normally do in games and I love it. There's plenty of modes and maps to play in. There is NO lag for me at least. It's awesome. Clans to join, buddies to make, and plenty of stuff to unlock. In fact this whole game is awesome and worth a buy.

An all time favourite of mine. No matter how many Chimera you shoot, blow up and stab... it's not good enough.

This game is both fun and haunting. A very interesting re-imagining of the early 19th century.

The story is both atmospheric and engaging with fantastic voice acting and scripting.

If you haven't played and you enjoy a classic feeling FPS with a good story, I highly recommend.

Welcome to Next Generation gaming, Resistance is the Gears of War of Playstation 3. Incredible graphics, great and lengthy storyline, great multiplayer, awesome weapons, great on and offline gameplay, This game is better than gears of war, and i can prove it. Storyline is much longer, more weapons, better multiplayer, graphics on both games are great, and gears gets boring after a while, and if you don't have xbox live, it'll get REALLY boring, the story is too short, but Resistance's storyline is great, lengthy, detailed, and just fun. If you own a PS3, THEN GO BUY THIS GAME RIGHT NOW

Because this is the first Epic Ps3 masterpiece

Chimeran have invaded Russia and Europe, the US has been called to help fight this threat, the world is at a standstill as this unknown alien super-force continues to kill and destroy – oh, and was it mentioned that this is happening in 1941 instead of WWII? Introducing "Resistance: Fall of Man", Sony's launch title for their PS3 release, and subsequently the game I decided to start with upon purchasing my system – why not begin at the beginning, right? Having been an enormous fan of the early FPS game, "Goldeneye" for the Nintendo 64, games of this nature have always been close to my heart. The "Halo" series has received mixed reviews in my eyes, with mediocre game-play, and repetitive story lines – so "Resistance" needed to bring its best game forward, and honestly it wasn't bad – could have been worse, could have been better – but overall the beginning of a long friendship between myself and my PS3.

STORY:

This was probably the weakest area for this game. While it was obvious that Sony was just testing the waters for what their system could produce gaming-wise, there was an air of conservatism with "Resistance". The faded black-and-white pictures between the game-play instead of full length CGI-cuts, seemed cheap. While the story was follow-able and lengthy, the detail seemed to be missing. Absolutely, the images were stunning (which will be discussed in the graphics portion), but there needed to be something more. Nathan Hale, our hero, seemed lifeless. His role was random at best, merely being a random soldier plucked out of many to have a genetic anomaly to the Chimeran disease. One hopes his changes are what future releases develop further, instead of just accepting it with ease like this game did. Our sideline characters had more soul, Lt. Cartwright especially, who I would have preferred to play instead of Hale. Again, this is the biggest complaint I have with this game – I didn't expect full-blown character development for a FPS, but something would have been better than nothing.

GRAPHICS:

Amazing, to say the least. Using the full capability of my HDTV and my PS3, this jumped me direct into the action. Detail upon detail was laid before you, allowing the player to fully submerge himself into the environment. This was a world where enemies react to your movement, and it was great to finally be able to have an equal playing ground. While the cut scenes were minimal at best, it was the in-game experience that demonstrated the raw power of the PS3, as well as the technology surrounding it. This was a great foundation for the beginning of PS3, and now with the release of "Resistance 2", I am eager to see how they have grown.

SOUND:

Bullets everywhere. The sound of terror behind you, the impact of the explosion in front, while hearing dogs howl in the background and the scream of your comrades was intense. This is a game that needs to be played without the lights on and with your surround sound turned all the way up. This isn't a horror game, but element (if you allow it) will make you jump and react. It uses not just your sight, but also your ability to hear where your enemies are coming from, making the full-spectrum of game-play intense. Combined with the great graphics, this made a simple game into a blockbuster.

REPLAY:

Can it be played again and again? For me – no. I saw the ending, I went through two campaigns, unlocked the further weaponry, but after two finishing moments, I was done. That is not to say that the online ability isn't worth owning the game, but if you are lacking the online ability – this was a lengthy game that was incredible the first time, substantial the second time, but ready to be put down for the third time.

Overall, I enjoyed playing this game. While there may have been some repetition to the game, and honestly no really big boss to defeat, this FPS was a great introduction to the Sony's Playstation 3 and its hardware. From the graphics to the sound, this game was perfect – where it lacked was the actual story and repeatability of the game. Perhaps in two years I could pick this game up again, or if there were a gaggle of friends about to arrive – this game would be perfect. It was a strong foundation for the console and I eagerly anticipate both the sequel as well as the other genres that Sony is going to explore.

Bravo Sony, Bravo!

Grade: **** out of *****