What all games should aspire to be!
User Rating: 9.5 | Resistance: Fall of Man PS3
Resistance Fall of Man was quite a pleasant surprise for me. Originally I had no intention of buying it, in fact when I first got my Playstation 3 I didn’t buy it. It was only after messing with my new system for a few days that I downloaded the demo from the PSN store had my first crack at it. RFoM is a shooter that really takes the shooter genre in a new direction. Is it revolutionary? No. In fact what makes it so enjoyable is that it takes some of the best concepts from other shooters and makes them enjoyably unique. I don’t mean to imply that this game feels ripped off in any way shape or form, quite the contrary in fact. It feels refreshingly original because it behaves so differently and takes the player on a different path than any other current FPS while still using the same core concepts that made modern FPS games what they are. I think first and foremost, RFoM’s game play needs to be addressed. When I first played the demo, I died about ten times in a row, but for some reason I still desperately wanted to keep playing. I learned quickly that this is not Halo and enemies do not go down easy in Resistance. Even the most common enemy can take and give quite a beating. The player must learn to adapt to a new style of combat in order to get anywhere in this game. But the rules are always changing because of the ingenious weapons and enemy types. I hate to compare everything to Halo unfortunately Halo seems to be the overbearing shadow on all FPS games, soooo, unlike Halo RFoM manages to create enemy types that require entirely different tactics than one another and because you are carrying a host of weapons you (more often than not) have the right weapon for the job. This game is from Insomniac Studios, the creators of Ratchet and Clank and a lot of that personally rubs off on RFoM in a good way, particularly in the weapons department. The player can hold everyone weapon at a time so when you walk into a street where an enemy squad is well entrenched you can opt to blast away with your assault rifle, lob grenades, fire missiles, snipe, or use any of the variety of special weapon functions to dispatch them. The weapons above all else are very innovative and unique. They add a very tactical element to the game, knowing what works best and how to use it can make or break you in this game. The second thing I learned very quickly is that you need to be on your toes all the time in this game. Take pot shots from cover when you can, because, while your health does regenerate to a certain extent, standing out in the open is a sure way to get splattered. Another interesting component is the world around the player, much of it is interactive. Cars littering the streets can be shot until they catch fire and explode; glass has a very unique breaking effect, many times in the game you will find yourself using the lay of the land to help you win a fight. All in all RFoM’s game play is refreshingly fast paced, exciting and challenging all at the same time. Even on Hard mode the game is still possible, but you do receive quite a punishment trying to get through it. The multilayer is also extremely fun because both sides have different abilities to help them out and because the matches can be so large (up to 40 players). There are also several different game types to keep players interested as well un-lockables for winning and killing. Speaking of un-lockables, RFoM has a long list of achievements or skill points the player can acquire by doing (or not doing) little things throughout the levels, as well as allowing the player access to new weapons after the beat the game once. All in all the game play is fantastic and in my opinion deserves nothing less than a I’ve played through the game three times fully at this point, and I’m still not bored with the game, in fact I keep finding fun new things to do and collectibles and skill points to get. (10).
Graphically RFoM is a feast for the eyes, but they are not the best graphics available and there are some oddities throughout the game. While I would have liked to see the game a little crisper graphically, it does display in 720p which still makes it look quite remarkable though some textures remain strangely bland looking and low resolution in even in 720p. Fire effects leave a little to be desired as they look almost cartoon-ish, but that isn’t something that the player really has time to notice unless they stand and stare at a burning car (I did, I won’t lie). One of my absolute favorite little effects in this game is the glass shattering. The glass is done in such a way that sections will break depending on where the next bullet impacts. This is done in a very realistic way that really adds something to the enjoyment of looking around after a battle and seeing what happened to the world around you. Animations and character models are quite well done and strike a nice blend between realistic and stylistic. Overall the graphics are a very sharp presentation and really help make the game fun to play and explore and look at. There are some things that stick out nonetheless but they are minor all in all, (9). Sound, well the sound in RFoM is what you would expect from any next generation game, it is appropriately balanced to be able to hear the fighting and the dialogs (which I must admit is far and few between, most of the story building is done during cut scenes between levels rather than in game). There are some points in the game in which the audio quality stands out, grenades going off behind you sound particularly cool. High quality, sometimes surprising, overall it is just what you would want and expect. Resistance is a game that delivers on all fronts, it has classic feel to it while still offering completely new and compelling game play. Though not without its flaws it is a must own for any gamer. (9.5) 
