Resistance: Fall of Man

Insomniac are mostly known for their two bestselling plat formers that changed the play station forever, of course I mean Ratchet & Clank and Spyro. Resistance is Insomniac’s first attempt at making a game in the FPS genre and I must say, they’ve done a good job…

It’s set after World War 2 in December 1949 and onwards. Russia and Europe have been swept over by the unstoppable power of the Chimera, creatures believed to be part of a Russian experiment but then later revealed as a ruthless alien race. They advance on Europe and swallow it whole until all is left is Great Britain. The Chimera have managed to cross the channel and are wreaking havoc in England. The Brits are doing all they can through skirmishes and other means of small scale warfare but it’s not working. The U.S send aid to the Brits, aid meaning troops. You assume the role of one of these American soldiers, Sgt. Nathan Hale. Little is known about Hale and most of the time he remains silent which means you can never really understand him but unlike many other silent protagonists, I actually liked him. Hale is deployed in York where he and a band of soldiers manage to hold back a band of Chimera. All is well but when Hale and his brigade are swarmed by these spider like Chimera in a bunker the unit is wiped out, but Hale mysteriously survives…

As you fight on through York you are eventually captured and taken to a Chimera base in Grimsby. The methods and secrets of the Chimera are revealed as you realise that they are made simply through processing comatose human bodies and turning them into Chimera troops. You escape the plant alive and now you and the Brits have to make a comeback and form a, Resistance.



Gameplay is exactly what you would expect from your regular FPSs but the unique weapons and tactics you can use in Resistance slightly changed the conventional approach. First off you start with the average Carbine which is used in many military FPSs such as Call of Duty, but as you start progressing you will find some of the Chimeran weapons such as the Bullseye which allows you to tag and auto fire on an enemy. There is also the Auger which allows you to fire flaming shots that phase through walls, ideal for dismounting enemies on turrets. Other weapons include a sniper rifle, shotgun and many other twisted and complex Chimeran weapons. There is also a variety of grenades to select from including your regular frag grenade but also a incendiary grenade and a hedgehog grenade that spews out needles which can be used to get Hale out of all kinds of situations if used properly.

Unlike many of the bland FPSs starting to pop up, Resistance has a wide variety of enemies to kill which mainly consists of Hybrid soldiers who are the base enemy. Then there are Chimeras who can stick to walls and jump around like fleas, huge giants who have rocket guns and lanky stalkers who try to slice you with their claws. The Chimera also use vehicles such as the jellyfish-like ship that sucks up dead bodies in battles so they can be processed into more Chimera and also the four legged tank. All of these vehicles and enemies need to be taken care of in separate ways and you need to make sure you are carrying as many guns as you can (you will always be carrying all the weapons which you have found).



The visuals in Resistance are nice but there is a very bland texture which some argue as boring but I think it suit’s the mood of the game perfectly. Character design is good but Hale is made to look like any other soldier and so are the other main characters in the Resistance. The Chimera are humanoids that look strangely like the locusts from Gears of War but a lot more slimmer. Weapon design is great but some weapons aren’t really brought to life such as the shotgun or the sniper rifle. The location settings are brilliant, it’s rare for an event like this to occur in York and not New York which was quite thrilling for us Brits but when you here the names of the places mentioned in the narrative such as “Grimsby” they sound out of place. The locations are all designed to perfection and the Chimera ships and bases also look stunning.



There are little bonuses you can pick up on the way in resistance too. Skill points are awarded from completing small tasks in each level, some more serious and harder than others such as squatting over several Chimera corpses. These awards unlock extras such as concept art or even unlock able costumes that can be used in the online mode.

The online mode in Resistance is equally as plausible as the single player mode. You can jump straight into a game via selecting type of match or if you want, you can search the custom games for a lobby that suits you in terms of mode and settings. As expected, in the online mode you can either play as the humans or the chimera. The humans have the bonus of being able to see enemies and allies around them on the HUD minimap and the Chimera have the ability of triggering their senses to seek create outlines around enemies close by which makes them easier to spot, however the Chimera ability is short lived because there is a limit to how much time you can use it before loosing health. In all modes you will have to procure your own weapons, you start off with either the Carbine or Bullseye dependent on race. There is also an online levelling system that awards you XP for every kill or completed objective.

Overall Resistance was a real thrill to play and when I had ploughed through the campaign there was more waiting for me online. It still remains highly popular online even after the release of three giants such as Call of Duty 4, Rainbow Six Vegas 2 or Grand Theft Auto IV which in itself tells you this is going to remain as one of the Playstation 3’s most prized jewels for a long time to come…

Gameplay: 4.4/ 5.0
Design: 4.7/ 5.0
Sound: 4.4/ 5.0
Story: 4.8/ 5.0
Online: 4.7/ 5.0