REVIEW: Resistance: Fall of Man

December 5, 2006

And to what I am sure will be the first of many, I have beat my very first PlayStation 3 game. Finished up Resistance last night. A very solid start for Insomniac on the PS3. If you own a PS3, you really should have this game. Not just for the single player, but for the ass kicking multiplayer. While I did have fun with it, there are a few issues that I would of changed if I was in charge. Lets see if I can cover those in this review.

As always, lets start with the graphics. Seeing as how I really don't have a 360 and this is my very first game I played with an HDTV, I really don't have anything to compare it to. The graphics are very good for a launch title, and it only makes me look froward to seeing what type of stuff we will see in the future. It gives it that real life, but not really type of look. Not sure how to say it any other way. I guess if you take a game like Half-Life 2, you kind kind of compare it to that. Or something.... yeah I don't know... What most cool kids are doing this day are taking this game and comparing it to Gears of War. Well, duh, its not going to look as fantastic as Gears, but I think it does a great job of standing on its own. Give it a year and lets see where it goes. :)

Sound is great too. Every enemy sounds unique. If you hear one, you can tell what type it is and how you could use that to your advantage. Where it really shines though, are with the weapons. Every gun/grenade has its own unique sound which not only lets you know what you are up against, but it leads to some pretty laugh out loud moments during multiplayer. I think my favorite is when you throw an Air-Fuel grenade on someone and they hear the whine as it charges up. They think they better get the hell out of here before it blows up, only to realize that the thing is stuck to them and they will die anyway. What happens is that they try to get into some cover where a group of people might be hanging out, the whole thing blows up and everyone dies in the huge inferno. Trust me... that NEVER gets old. :)

As for game play, there is where I had a few problems with the game. While there are really nothing major, it does become a pain in the ass as you get further into the game. The biggest of those problems is the way the checkpoints would work. Now, like I have said before, I consider my self to be an above-average gamer. Certainly not the best, but if things came down to it, I bet I could hold my own against the best. That said, this game can be frustratingly hard at some points, causing you to restart a checkpoint over and over again to get it right. Enough times where you know where the enemies will be or what type of waves they will come in. The checkpoints and or health were always in these weird spots where it felt like hours before you even saw one. You could be doing really good only to have a bunch of dudes jump you a few steps aways and you had to restart this really huge ass level. I guess it made sense so you are forced to stay alert, but it just felt really unfair at times. Add in the fact that one of the guns can shoot THROUGH walls and I think you can see where this is heading. Oh well.

Next is the multiplayer. I think this is the best multiplayer experience I have had in a while. Compared to Metal Gear Online, it comes pretty damn close. I haven't seen an once of lag ever since I have been playing. With all the crazy shit that can go on during a match, 40 people playing all at one time, and all the weapons, Insomniac needs a pat on the back for sure. There was a time where I would compare the net code from any Valve game to other games to see how the size up, but I think now the winner goes to Insomniac and their net code. I don't know how they do it, but they do it good. :) The one thing they really need to fix though are how the ranked matches work. As it stands now, you could get thrown into a TDM that is maybe 3v3. Sounds pretty normal. Well not when you need 2000 points to win. Each kill nets you 10 points and an assist nets you 2 or 3 (I can't remember). Then throw in your team dropping, or the other team dropping, and things can take FOREVER. Plus, if you leave a ranked game. You don't even get ANY of the credit you got while playing. Also, I haven't see anyone new join once a ranked game has started so you are left to try to duke it out. Insomniac has said they will be bringing out a patch very soon, so maybe this will fix a few issues.

Anyway, that's pretty much it for this review. I have MGS:PO sitting right next to me and I really want to play it!