Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 Hours or Less

The Bottom Line:

"Just plain fun"

Story - 8 : Although not the most original exciting story, RBS offers an enjoyable story with a fairly interesting cast, Tom Riley being the most interesting.

Controls - 9 : Being the first first-person shooter on a portable system that utilizes dual analogue sticks, Nihilistic has somehow managed to transfer console-like controls onto the Vita. Although the controls seem clunky at first, they soon become a breeze. Aiming is handled very well and feels like you are using a ps3 controlling and although there is no r3 for running, double tapping the back touchscreen becomes second nature the more you play. All-in-all, Nihilisitc nailed the controls!

Gameplay - 8.5 : Thanks to great controls, gameplay in RBS is a blast. All the weapons are fun to shoot and despite there being only 8 weapons this time around, each weapon has 6 upgrades that can be unlocked while having to of those upgrades active at a time. This adds some variety in the gameplay because although it is fun just to stick with your favorites, it is also important to experiment with all upgrades during certain situations. That cover system is a very welcomed gameplay choice as it fits right in to the game. It's fun to use the secondary fires of the weapons by using the front touchscreen as well as for tossing grenade. The only downside is that there isn't that much variety in the gameplay. The game is still lots of fun it's just there's nothing to change the pace of the cover and shoot mechanics. It would have been nice to see some turret sections or at least one vehicle section.

Graphics - 8.5 : To me, the graphics are great! There's nothing that will blow your mind but there is plenty for your eyes to behold. Areas are filled with detail despite being a bit bland at time and all the character models including the chimera look great although having a plastic shine to them at times. The massive bosses you fight in this game look amazing and the melee kills with the axe look badass. There are some muddy textures and pop-in, although it's very minor but should still be noted, but this is still one of the best looking Vita games out so far.
Sound - 8 : All the weapons sound good but a little underwhelming, voicing acting is great across the board. Great music however quite a few of the gun fights have no music playing in the background so there's not as much tension and excitement as there would be if there was music playing.

Length - 6.5 : Unfortunatley RBS is a very short game, clocking in around 5-6 hours. Its sort of to be expected since its a portable game and being that first-person shooters don't have the reputation of being the longest of games, but it's a bit disappointing seeing how the other Resistance games on the ps3 took around 8-9 hours. Even Retribution on the PSP was just over 6 hours. Hopefully there will be some sort of single player DLC that will lengthen the game but still fits well into the story ; for example playing as Ellie before meeting Tom. RBS fits into the category of 'short but sweet.'

Replayability - 8 : Since multiplayer isn't working, it's hard to say how much higher the score would be but the game still holds plenty of replayability thanks to an overall fun campaign as well as fully upgrading all the weapons and collecting hidden intel scattered across the 6 levels. It's always fun to experiment with the different weapons along with the different upgrades on different playthroughs.

Overall - 8.5 : Overall this is a terrific entry for the Resistance franchise as well as first-person shooters on the Vita. Hopefully Nihilistic will create singles layer DLC and although there are 8 weapons, all the other games in the franchise had 12 so it would be amazing if they also created a weapons pack DLC containing at least 2 new or redesigns of older weapons, just something to keep us playing and to add more variety. Also it would help if the servers were fixed for multiplayer. RBS is definitely a game that should not be missed and I'm excited to see where the Resistance franchise is headed on the Vita.