Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Great multiplayer"

OK let's get started with another cookie cutter WWII shooter. You kill a bunch of Nazis. The end. Ha, just kidding! It may look like a WWII shooter considering the setting but that war never got started due to an invasion of those pesky aliens, the Chimera. These dudes pack a mean infection and it has been spreading through Europe. A this virus is infecting and killing half of Europe, the good ol' USA is called for some backup. You are Nathan Hale and you are starred here to crawl through corridors and battlefields to fill any Chimeran threat full of lead. Or Bullseye energy slugs.

Knowing famed game developer company Insomniac was constructing the game, I knew it couldn't lack in the gameplay department. Moving, shooting, and ducking never feels this fluid. And you will need that fluidity when a bunch a Steelheads come knocking. There are some intense battlefield scenes here. Every one of them is a blast (literally). And that blast will be coming from your gun. Which gun? It's hard to choose because there are so many unique firearms here in play. The rate of aquiring weapons is paced nicely and multiple playthrough offer new toys. You can shoot through walls, richochet bullets, set organic mines, tag people, and flame just to name a few. Gameplay, in short, is key in this game and is executed perfectly.

Games are fun to look at (duh) and Resistance is no exception. This game looks pretty good and utilizes the graphics chip in the PS3 more than any other launch title. Although I have got to say, if you are playing in SD you are missing out. HD does look significantly better and you can tell that it was meant to be played in this fashion. Explosions dazzle your eyes and weapons effect look great. Every Chimera is creepy and evokes a sort of scary vibe as you shoot them down. Something minor but extremely cool was how the glass breaks. It breaks in a hyper-realsistic fashion that it makes you want to break more windows in the game because it looks great. Although the game looks great, the draw distance isn't as good. It isn't bad but it is still noticeable. Just think, this game is a lauch title and still looks great. It seems hard to top.

Your ears also won't be disappointed. Voice acting is said in a good way, but the fact that there isn't that much hinders the experience a bit. The explosions really feel and look very beautiful. When you are unloading clip after clip at a gigantic Stalker or Widowmaker, the music is right intact and ramps up along with the action. It sets the frantic mood when needed and the creepy mood when needed. The "creepy mood" music really get you when you are corridor crawling. The screeches that it emits made me jump more times than I will admit. You will often find yourself walking agonizingly slow so you won't get suprised. I loved the effects from the weapons and you will too. The sounds for the real and fictional weapons sound like they should and I really admire that.

Since the PS3 library is on the slim side (as for now...) Resistance won't leave the Blu-Ray drive in the near future. As for the single player, multiple playthoughs are encouraged for unlocking skins in multiplayer and weapons in single player. Skill points also help here. For example one of them is shooting dart board targets with your sniper rifle. They range all over the place and are very fun to "achieve" (take a hint Sony...). Single player is a jolly ol' time but the real attactiveness here in the multiplayer. Multiplayer is the real deal and the funnest part of the game. Sniping a fool or stealth killing and noob isn't more exciting any where else. I gotta admit, I follow my stats in mulitplayer. It is kind of hard not to, considering that they are very well tracked. You even get ribbons for smaller things (like 3 kills in a row without dying) and medals for biggers things (killing 10 people in a row without dying). These become VERY addicting to get and you find yourself using specific weapons to achieve them. If you don't DSL, you simply won't get the most out of this experience, but you can play locally with a pal or co-op through story mode. The only gripe is that I would wish that you could play online co-op through the campaign. I still have fun playing this and so will you.

While shooting aliens isn't new by any means, it is rarely presented so perfectly. But all is forgiven, given on how well produced this game is and how fun it is to play. Insomniac is known to to put incredible amounts of polish in all of their products.

At the end of the day, this is a great game and must be picked up if you own Sony's newest platform. Six hundred dollars might seem steep but with a launch title like this, you have to be curious to what the future will hold for this system.