Resistance: Fall of Man, Insomniac's first outing in the next gen.
Resistance: Fall of Man, is a first person shooter, set in an alternate time from, where World War II never happened, and instead, aliens overran all of europe, with superior technology, and overwhelming numbers. Eventually they make their way to Britain, where this game takes place, following the actions of a US solder named Nathan Hale.
The game starts you off with with a telling of the story so far, with the cut scene's style along the lines of a documentary, with pictures moving across the screen, along with some in game scenes. When you first see the in game graphics, you realize that this game is truly beautiful, with extremely detailed character models and amazing environments.
The voice acting in this game is very good, and there are no parts that will make you complain about the actors. This game has amazing voice acting, and you feel like you indeed in London, fighting along side other solders. It's amazing to hear all the lines shouted between different characters on the radio, and it's great to hear solders talking to each other, be it while sniping, or just killing a few aliens right next to you.
The game gets you right into the gameplay, with you shooting at aliens within the first 20 seconds of being in control of the character. The gameplay is noticeably fast, compared to a lot of other first person shooters, such as Halo, Killzone, and BLACK. The game has all the new age features you would need in a first person shooter, such as jump, throw grenade, secondary fire, melee, and zoom. Unlike most of the recent shooting games, you can carry as many weapons as you can collect, which harkens back to the days of older first person shooters. The gameplay is very slick, and in general compared to most first person shooters, very smooth. Sadly, the amazing gameplay is not without fault, with minor problems, including, when zoomed in, if you reload, it takes you out of zoom for the animation, but then pulls you back into zoom when the animation is done.
One thing of mention, is the guns in this game are some of the most original guns seen in a first person shooter, ranging from rockets with air breaks, to a bullet time sniper, this game's weaponry puts, just about any other first person weaponry to shame. It's a bit of a sad thing that there is not more regular human weapons, or pistols, from the time period, but it can easily be overlooked, when compared to the other guns in the game.
The graphics in the game, can at times, look simply breath taking, with London looking very realistic, and most of the game's scenery being extremely detailed. In general, most of this game looks amazing, but again, this is not without problems. Though this game looks amazing most of the time, it suffers from having some of the environments so bland looking that it takes away from how amazing the graphics look, for example, looking at the outdoors of london, is incredible, looking down a hallway, however good it looks, will still make the graphics seem bland, so although most of the time the graphics look amazing, sometimes the blandness of it will look "last generation". Worry not gamers, this is not often, and most of the time, your eyes will be treated to very amazing visuals. There are so many things that could be said about the visuals, but in the end all that really need to be said is that they look great. This game additionally, has the best looking snow I have ever seen in a game.
The game's difficulty is a notch up from most other first person shooters, making you restart levels over and over again, even on easy. Don't think that this game is impossible to get the hang of, because you will miss out on a real gem. There are enough difficulties in this game to keep you coming back for a challenge.
The level design in this game is pretty good, with no levels that are absolutely horrible, and no levels that give you a sense of deja voo, in addition, there is no backtracking that is found in a lot of other first person shooters. There are a few levels that you will undoubtedly want to play over again, and in general, the game's level design is very good.
The sound element of this game is good, with just about everything sounding the way it should, though there is nothing incredibly outstanding about it. In general, the guns sound like guns, and the alien weapons and machinery sound like they ought to.
The music in this game is good, not incredible, and not something you would want to listen to when not playing the game, but it certainly works where it is used, and never sounds out of place. In general, the music really helps set some of the atmosphere.
The game's story keeps you wondering what will happen, and constantly makes you wonder how it could end, at the same time keeping you with all the action. The characters are pretty well fleshed out even if some are not given many lines. By the end of the game, the odds are you will be at least a little attached to the characters, and world. The cut scenes do the job of telling the story, and they work fine, but I know they could have been done better, in addition, there is a lot of the story that wasn't explained as well as it could have been, because a lot of the mysterious of this game are left unexplained, which will probably be explained in further sequels, but overall, the story is satisfying, and worth the time it takes to play through it. In general, this is one game world that many will be waited to return to as soon as possible.
This game has extremely well done multiplayer, allowing up to 4 players on one PS3, and with a load of maps, and a ton of gameplay customization options, from which guns you can use, to the damage they do. In addition to competitive multiplayer, this game also includes a cooperative mode, to play through campaign, although it is split screen only, it is still a large and welcome addition. the game has extensive online options, with a very good friends list, and clan set up, to the amazing matchmaking, and party system seen in Halo. Online runs very smooth with very low lag, even in the 40 player online matches. If you need even more reasons to come back to this game after beating it, there are multiple documents hidden in every levels which provide back story, and skill points to acquire by doing different tasks. After completing the game, you unlock 4 new weapons, and a new type of grenade for your next play through. If you beat the game on hard, in unlocks a new difficulty as well. This game has a ton of reasons to keep your interest for a long time.
Overall, the story could have been more detailed, and the gameplay could have been a little smoother, and there are a few things that could be added, but none of this stops Resistance: Fall of Man from being a very solid first person shooter, and a game that should be in every PS3 owner's library, and every first person shooter fan's hands.
Presentation: 8.0
The game's cut scenes, and story detail could have been better, but in general, the enemies, and game really speaks for itself.
Graphics: 8.0
The graphics look incredible most of the time, though sometimes, the blandness of some of the environments drags the game's visuals down.
Sound: 9.0
The sound is decent, along with the music, but the voice acting is very good.
Gameplay: 8.7
The gameplay has everything you'd come to expect in a first person shooter of today, and it's all implemented pretty well, though there are some rough spots.
Lasting Appeal: 10.0
This game has enough reasons for you to come back and play it for a long time to come, be in single or multiplayer.
OVERALL: 9.5