Resistance: Fall of Man (PS3)

A few weeks ago I traded in my old Playstation 2 games console (and a large sum of cash) for a shiny new Playstation 3 (PS3) model. I was left with enough money to buy myself one game to go with it and after browsing the various titles on offer, I decided to go for Resistance - fall of man. The main reason I was swayed to choose this game is the fact that it was made by the very same people responsible for the fantastic Ratchet and Clank franchise ...
...and speed at their disposal just had to be top notch.

Basic Premise:

The game is set in and around various UK cities around the time of the Second World War. But this game is set in an alternate reality and instead of the Second World War taking place, the world is at war with an alien race known as the Chimera (cam-air-a). The Chimera invaded earth for our recourses and are intent on wiping out mankind. Any prisoners ... more

A few weeks ago I traded in my old Playstation 2 games console (and a large sum of cash) for a shiny new Playstation 3 (PS3) model. I was left with enough money to buy myself one game to go with it and after browsing the various titles on offer, I decided to go for Resistance - fall of man. The main reason I was swayed to choose this game is the fact that it was made by the very same people responsible for the fantastic Ratchet and Clank franchise (insomniac Games). So their first PS3 title with more power and speed at their disposal just had to be top notch.

Basic Premise:

The game is set in and around various UK cities around the time of the Second World War. But this game is set in an alternate reality and instead of the Second World War taking place, the world is at war with an alien race known as the Chimera (cam-air-a). The Chimera invaded earth for our recourses and are intent on wiping out mankind. Any prisoners they take are delivered to large alien warehouses to be genetically changed into Chimeran soldiers to do battle against humankind.
The game focuses on a small platoon of English soldiers and one in particular Nathan Hale - A.K.A You, Me or whoever is playing the game. Helped by a handful of US troops Hale must travel to different UK cities (York, Manchester, London, Grimsby, Cheddar Gorge ect) and execute various strategic missions in order to find a way to defeat the Chimeran hordes before earth's time runs out. Will Nathan and the humans succeed? Well that is entirely up to you as the game player.

Graphics and Sound:

I have to say that this is definitely one area where I personally think the game really excels. I'm not a great fan of war type games but this one has me totally addicted. The game design is similar to most first person shooter games such as Quake 4, Halo and Half-life 2 or for those a little more retro bound, the Doom franchise. So you basically see from behind the main character's eyes, as you run, jump, and blast your way through each of the games levels.

The graphics are fantastic, light years away from anything you'd find on the Playstation 2 console. The area's reminded me of the war scenes in the movie Saving Private Ryan, there is just so much going on all around you that you barely have time to notice half of it in any detail. The buildings are all in ruins, the atmosphere is grey and dusty with bodies and rubble strewn around everywhere you look. There is movement everywhere, even when there is nothing happening, bits of debris and dust particles are floating past the screen really keeping your senses on their toes. Everything looks so realistic right down to the lighting effects that add to the wonderful atmospherics of the cities and buildings and it leaves you in an almost claustrophobic state as you progress.

The graphical design is as such that after a few minutes of playtime, I quite literally believed I was in there fighting aliens in an apocalyptic England town, the realism just draws you in and refuses to let you out again.
The sound effects are just awesome and totally blew me away (mind the pun), real sounding explosions batter the game play areas and you can hear distant sounds of machines, weapon fire and blood curdling screams of the war raging all around.
Even when you are not in a battle zone the war between the Chimera and the humans rages on which you can hear before you even arrive where the game tries to push you.
The music is great, it doesn't overpower the rest of the in game sounds and is quite faint in parts of the game.
However, in other parts the music literally stabs at you, usually at the same time a chameran warrior is jumping at you from around a blind corner almost giving you heart failure.
The pacey military style themes just add to the already mind blowing sound effects within the games infostructure.

Where as on PS2 games when you kill an enemy on screen, the power of the console meant that the enemy had to disappear to save game space, taking with it some of the realism.
The PS3 game engine doesn't need to do that and so whenever you kill an enemy here, its dead carcass will stay where it was killed blood stains and all until you progress to another level, so you know instantly if you have been to a certain area or not. Should you get lost, simply follow the path of death and you'll get where you're supposed to go.

Game play and manual:

Firstly, the game manual that comes with it is packed full of simple, easy to understand instructions. You are told all the basic moves and in game details without giving away too much of the plot and in game surprises. It simply gives a brief tutorial and then lets you get on with the ride.

The game itself is extremely easy to play, the movements are so simplistic and fluid that even the most inexperienced gamer could learn in mere minutes. The fast paced and extremely engaging battle sequences are reliant on such ease of use and it certainly doesn't disappoint.
The only gripe that I have is that maybe the weapons controls could have been a little simpler to use. Some weapons have up to three different functions (and three different buttons to use) and as some of these functions are highly explosive, pressing the wrong feature button in a tight space can be fatal as your own weapons can cause you damage if you get too close.

At certain points in the game, you get to control various vehicles (Tanks, jeeps, huge walking spider type machines hijacked from the Chimera ect), and again, the controls on using these vehicles are extremely easy and simplistic.
They are quite literally, steer, forward, reverse and fire, one button for each now how much more simple can it be? As for picking up items, health and ammunition, this is done automatically when you walk over them (providing you don't already have a full quota) but documents and intelligence items are picked up manually by walking over them and pressing triangle.

As well as the game itself, there are various skill points you can earn which then unlock various rewards (artwork packs, new skins ect).
You are not told how to get these skill points however, you are simply given clues as to what they are.
E.G. On one level the skill point 'mirror mirror' means you get the point if you break every mirror in that area or 'fetch' means you get the skill point by killing a chimeran dog with a grenade. You are given the clue and then you need to solve that clue and execute the action to get the points, these are of course optional and only serve to make the game last longer thus giving you maximum value for your money.

The skill points don't all have to collected on your first go round either, this gives the game a valuable replay goal which gives you as a gamer, something to aim for on your second playthrough.
Another huge bonus of playing the game twice is that once you complete the game the first time around, four new weapons are added to the game for you to pick up and use. I can't wait.

Weapons and enemies:

Now this is most definitely the fun part, the weapons choice you start with is very simple, a sub machine gun with a grenade launcher built in and then a few hand grenades to boot. The grenade launcher is mega powerful but unfortunately carries very little ammo, the machine gun itself is, well, quite naff to be honest. It works well enough at the start of the game but as you go on and enemies get much more powerful, it becomes near useless unless you've exhausted all your other resources.
As the game progresses though, you pick up better and more adventurous and powerful weapons to the point where it can quite literally turn most men into putty. Missile launchers, laser guns, armour piercing weapons, guns that can shoot through solid objects and only stop when they hit soft matter, exploding putty launchers that detonate at the merest movement of enemy flesh they just get better and better.
And if that hasn't already got you drooling your hand thrown weapons are just as awesome. Grenades, electric flash bombs, mini nukes and (my favourite) the hedgehog grenade which is basically a ball of metal spikes that floats at head height and explodes at such ferocity it annihilates anything in its path.
So as with the Ratchet and Clank games, Insomniac Games supplies you with an absolute orgy of imaginative weaponry to use as you see fit.

The enemies you will face are just as numerous, the Chimera themselves are kind of like large humans with dragon type heads with lots of teeth and claws but as the game advances the human/chimera hybrids they create become more and more freakish. Some are like large monster dogs, others more like cockroaches that infect you on site.
There are various human type forms of Chimera and other more animal looking types but the design of all of the creatures are original, outlandish and in some cases down right scary. As well as the various forms of fleshy creatures you will have to face the chimera also have a wide range of machines that you will have to face in order to complete your missions as well.

Other information:

Resistance Fall of man can be played by up to four players off line in co-operative modes or within a split screen scenario. You can create a deathmatch where you pick a battle arena, choose any or all of the in game weapons (with infinate ammo no less) and go head to head against up to three of your mates. You are all basically thrown into the chosen arena and have to hunt each other down and destroy each other either for points or simply till the last man stands.

Online you can log onto the website via your PS3 link up and play in a huge environment against upto forty different players from all over the world.
I haven't yet got my PS3 onto the net so I can only drool at the prospect at how cool that is going to be.

There is no need to keep saving your progress on the game as it automatically saves your progress at the end of each segment. The only time you need to save the game manually is if you have to leave the game during a level in which case the game saves from your last checkpoint.
The game can be played on three different settings, easy which is ridiculous, even a child of three could complete this. Medium, which is probably the best place to start from, and Hard, believe me, I tried five minutes of this and was blown to pieces, lots of very hard to kill enemies and very little ammo and health pickups. Completing the game also unlocks a new setting, very hard although I'm not sure I'd like to even try it.

As a bit of trivia, Insomniac games and Sony were almost taken to court by the Church of England for depicting the Manchester Cathedral without their permission for a battle scene within the game. They also slammed the use of guns in the game as a reason for street crime and real life violence, all of which Insomniac and Sony denied. The Church of England were told that all the neccessary permits and such had been obtained before making the game and so the threat of lagal action has since been dropped.

Overall impressions:

I have to say that I have been immensely impressed with this game. It outshines any other game in the first person shooter genre that I have ever played.
I really enjoyed driving around in the tank just blasting away at anything that moved, call it a boys toy thing but I found myself shouting Hollywood style insults at the camera whilst being in control of the tank. Obviously they couldn't hear me but that's how immersed in the game I was.

If the game has one flaw then I'd have to say that it is quite simply too addictive. I have twice now been ready to go to work and thought, 'go on just a quick game' and ended up failing to tear myself away in time.
This has left me trying to make up excuses to my boss as to why I am late for work.
I have had this game now for just over a week and am still playing it frequently, it seems that all I think about when I'm at work is getting home to blast my way through some more levels which I'm not sure is a good thing as far as my job goes, but I suppose it says a lot for how good this game really is.
The deathmatch play where you pit your wits against your friends is just awesome, me and my mates are hooked on it and frequently play against each other at the weekend with a few beers, it really is great, noisy stuff and makes a change from playing each other at virtua tennis or football.

The game story is never boring and the movie sequences between levels just holds your attention while the next part of the game loads up. The characters are so immense that I actually found myself caring about what happened to them.
The graphics and sound are first rate and the ease and playability is what makes the experience so addictive.
An excellently put together game that has obviously been worked on to give you, as a consumer, really good value for money.

I bought the game for £35 from Gamestation and I have to say that it is the best £35 I have spent in a long time.
If you like shoot em up games with masses of high explosive weapons at your disposal, if you love the thought of driving huge armoured vehicles with mega firepower, if you drool at the thought of blasting your way through an array of nasty aliens intent on taking over the world, or if you just relish the idea of blowing up your best friends with awesome weaponary and not going to jail for doing so, then you simply have to buy this game at all costs. However, if your more into a spot of cross stitching I recommend you avoid this like the bubonic plague.

Resistance fall of Man

£34.99 sendit.com - £34.99 play.com - £24.99 Amazon.co.uk

Certificate -15 - for violence, gore and harsh language.

Received IGN awards for:

PlayStation 3 Game of the Year 2006
Best First-Person Shooter on PlayStation 3 of 2006
Best Graphics Technology on PlayStation 3 in 2006
Best Original Score on PlayStation 3 in 2006
Best Use of Sound on PlayStation 3 in 2006
Best Online Multiplayer on PlayStation 3 in 2006
Most Innovative Design on PlayStation 3 in 2006

GameSpot's Best of 2006 - Winner of Best PlayStation 3 game
Gaming Target award - 52 Games We'll Still Be Playing From 2006 selection

Official game web site:
http//www.resistancefallofman.com

Thanks for reading.

Dean. 

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