Resistance : Jinrui Botsuraku no Hi (Japan
Just hours after getting my hands on a launch Playstation 3 after waiting hours in line I made my way home, set it up, and popped in my first game which was of course Resistance: Jinrui Botsuraku no Hi as its known here in Japan. I know youre thinking, What, a Japanese guy likes First Person Shooters!?, but who could pass up a launch title from the guys who made Ratchet & Clank? So lets take a trip together as we assume the role of Army Ranger Sergeant Nathan Hale as he, or I guess we, attempt to curb the Chimera onslaught.
Everyone whos played R&C knows that the team at Insomniac loves making awesomely wacky weapons and Resistances arsenal is no exception. My favorite of the guns has to be the Augur. Hit the secondary fire button to throw up the Augurs shield and then let loose a round at some nearby wall. Then watch as it burrows through looking for victims. I dont know how many times Ive done this just to watch the Augurs innovative new ammo do its thing. Theres also a rocket launcher with ammo you can guide, a Chimera slime shooter that renders some incredible gelatinous goo, and even the Hailstorm which shoots bullets that bounce off walls for ages. The thing that really impressed me about these weapons was not only the fact that they functioned well but that their destruction looked life like. These very graphics that resulted from their destruction looked incredibly processor intensive and the PS3 seemed to handle it all with ease.
Aside from the new stuff mentioned above and others youll have to find out about for yourself, there are also some old favorites though theyre seriously modified. Nearly every weapon in the game has two firing options which make new weapons that much more fun and old weapons, like say the sniper rifle, a bit fresh. Your starting weapon, called the Bullseye, is essentially a rifle but with a secondary feature that allows you to mark several targets and unleash ammo at them all at once. The aforementioned sniper rifle also has a feature that lets you slow down time around you Matrix style to allow for easier shots
Features and graphics aside, what really makes the guns fun is that theyre all useful. Whether youre fighting tons of tiny enemies, regular size Chimera, or much larger boss like enemies youll have a use for a lot of them. This in turn makes the gameplay that much more fun and death-dealing that much more satisfying. A clear example of this is when you get swarmed by a large pack of enemies and you shoot off the grenade launcher. The grenade bounces up into the air and shoots needles out in every direction clearing the way for you and possibly some of your brain-dead AI buddies.
Honestly though, the single player campaign is a small bit of the meat compared to the amazing cut of steak that is the online multiplayer of Resistance. You will be playing with 40 players and will at no time feel a bit of lag. That fact alone is huge for a console game. And if youre not up for a huge match theres no problem as all the maps scale down in increments down to 16 players allowing for extremely flexible online gaming no matter how many people are online.
Youll also be happy to hear that it has a full fledged Battlefield style ranking system making it like a pseudo MMOFPS. Also speaking of Battlefield, most of the modes available on the maps are exact mirrors of the modes available in the BF series. From capture the flag, to deathmatch, to the all time favorite of capturing a number of flags to control spawn points, theyre all here. Add on the fact that you can create clans and the maps are very well designed and you have the #1 reason to go out and buy this game day one. All hail free Playstation 3 online.
And last but certainly not least weve got the visuals of Resistance which dont exactly wow you but they definitely will leave a good aftertaste. From the beautiful art of London, to the alien invader character design everything is masterfully rendered by some very talented artists. Everything also looks amazingly good in motion. Though what might be most impressive about the visuals actually has very little to do with the art team. You see when you kill an enemy it doesnt disappear and when you blow up part of the near fully destructible environments the pieces dont go away either. The obvious power of the PS3 and the masterful coding work of the developers let everything stay on screen all the time while never taking a frame hit. This is an incredible accomplishment for a launch game on any system.
So to sum things up the single player is a lot of fun but does have a few flaws, the multiplayer is to die for, and the audiovisual experience is definitely the best of all the PS3s launch titles
Import Friendly?
Full English support makes it look like it's US launch ready.
Pros
Incredible multiplayer thats free
Fun single player campaign
Physics of ammo and environment destruction are amazing
Cons
A few pacing issues in the single player game
Gameplay 9.25
Graphics 9.00
Sound 9.00
Overall 9.25
91/100
