With so many video game releases this fall, many of us video gamers are going broke, why could the video game industry not have spaced out their games more? Not only am I spending practically all my money on games, but also I will be having to review a lot of games! Don't get me wrong, it is going to be a blast, but I just don't know if I can get it all done! Here is a list of games that I am getting and plan on reviewing shortly after their release, in addition to the month in which they are released:
Resistance 3 (September)
Ico & Shadow of the Colossus Collection (September)
Dark Souls: (October)
Batman: Arkham City (October)
Modern Warfare 3 (November)
Uncharted 3 (November)
Zelda: Skyward Sword (November)
Now luckily, I believe my brother will be getting at least Zelda, so that helps the bank a little, but still that's like $460!!! (Collector's edition of uncharted)
Furthermore, that is 2 games per month and then 3 games in November, not including the previous titles of trilogies etc. That I must review first.
This means I am going to be popping out video game reviews left and right, so hold onto your butts and try to keep up! I first need to review Resistance 1 and 2, as the 3rd one comes out next Tuesday, let's get this ball rollin' shall we???!?!?!!?!!!!?!??!??!!?!!???!!?!!?!!?!!!!?!???!!?!!??!?!!
Resistance: Fall of Man was a science fiction horror first person shooter launch title for the PS3, released on November 11 2006 with the PS3. This was the 8th game created by Insomniac Games (independent American Video Game developer known for the first 3 Spyro games, and the Ratchet and Clank series). As such, this style of game graphically, and genre-wise was a huge turn from their previous titles.
Resistance: Fall of Man is historical fiction, where instead of WWII, in 1951 there is a virus outbreak known as the Chimeran virus, that supposedly came from Russia, and has spread across Europe, turning humans into these four eyed alienesque monsters who seem to be taking over the world. You as the protagonist Nathan Hale, is assigned along with the rest of your United States Special task force to locate a weapon in Britain, that should wipe out the Chimera. However, you and your team are quickly overrun with enemies from a Spire Attack which release these creatures known as "Crawlers" that act in a similar way as the scarabs in "The Mummy," and infect you with the virus. Everyone in your team is killed, except you. Your character for some reason has a "RESISTANCE," to the infection (ehhh? you liked that didn't ya???) Where he is not killed, and gets increased strength, minor health regeneration, and yellowey eyes resembling that of a Chimera. Your character, thus continues his mission as a super alien power buffed up soldier meeting new characters along the way, and blowing hundreds of Chimera's to bits and pieces like most first person shooters with alien type monsters, etc.
Resistance: Fall of Man has a special place in my heart, so this review may be a little biased. I have always been a fan of couch play with your buddies. I am not too into playing online with people, partly because most of my friends play the *mocking voice* "360... OOOoooOoohhhhhh," but also due in part to the fact that playing right next to someone adds to the camaraderie in a way that online gaming just can't get. Games like the Super Smash Bros. series started my love for this, as you can have 4 people playing on one couch on one screen!!! My love for split screen co-op in first person shooters; however, began with the TimeSplitters franchise. I never played the first game, but Timesplitters 2&3 were hell fun! Particularly the second one, (and I played those on the Nintendo Gamecube mind you) traveling through time with your buddy right next to you, just made for some really fun times. I digress, for this is a review for Resistance: Fall of Man, not TimeSplitters.
As you can guess, Resistance: Fall of Man offered Split Screen co-op which made the game for me! I literally played the campaign on this game, about..... 7 times? Once with a friend, 5 times with my brother (all 4 difficulties, plus another go on normal), and one time I played by myself (not as fun). I had SO much fun playing this game, maybe it was the alternate take on WWII? Maybe it was the unique storyline? Maybe it was the co-op? I think it was all of it. Playing through with a buddy was very nice, going through a minefield, with my brother lagging behind strategically, hearing all of them going off as I just plow through the field like a rampaging sand raider getting hit by minds hear and there, but avoiding most of them. Fighting off varied Chimeran species in dark places with your flashlight on, laughing it up at the yells of fright you and your buddy both make, etc. This was a first person shooter that did not have online too, so it was quite unique.
Another unique thing about this shooter, was the controls. There was no run option (Your character walked super fast all the time) crouch was holding down L2, L3 zoomed to your guns sight, L1 was alternate fire, R1 was primary fire, melee was triangle, reload square, x jump, R2 was cycle through weapons, holding down R2 opened up the weapon wheel where you could manually select which weapon you wanted. Just quirky controls, that once used to, you grow to like, a lot.
The weapon wheel is AWESOME! I have not played any other shooter, with such a vast amount of UNIQUE, VARIED weapons to choose from at anytime. Not the usual 2 weapon loadout, but as you progress through the game you pick up various weapons from normal human weapons, to sweet alien weapons eventually getting a total of 8 guns, and 4 different grenade types.
The variation of weapons makes for a particularly exciting gameplay, where you can strategically choose which gun to use for which situation, and how to use it in the most effective way. For instance, the Carbine is the first weapon you get, with decent accuracy, and a grenade launcher as the secondary fire option it is a decent option for those bigguns. The bullseye is the standard Chimeran weapon that shoots red laser balls, in a less accurate fashion; however, there is an alternate firing mode where you can shoot a tag onto an enemy and it acts as a homing tag, where you can shoot out from behind corners blindly and it will home in on your target. Then there are your standard frag grenades, but there are also Chimeran Hedgehog grenades which blow up hundreds of spindly needle spikes that pack quite the punch. These are just some of the various weapons, I am not going to give up the other weapons, as that is part of the fun of playing it, unlocking weapons, etc.
Another unique feature is the health system. Most shooters nowadays have less clutter on the hud (heads-up display) by having health regenerate, and the more hurt you are, the redder or bloodier your screen gets, then you get in cover to get less red, less bloody, less hurt. In the first Resistance game, you do have clutter on the hud, but I actually prefer it, because it tells you just how much longer till you are dead. You start off the game with one solid bar of yellow health, that when it goes down you die, your team mate (if playing co-op) can heal you though if you die. When you become infected though, your health bar gets divided into 4 sections, and there are these yellow Chimeran health syrum canisters that will heal one of the divisions, if you get hurt some, and hide before a whole section is depleted, and wait a while your health will regenerate back up to that section. If you lose two sections and half of your 3rd section, then hide, your 3rd section will recharge, but not the last 2 sections. But health canisters will fill those back up. It ends up being a very unique health system that just adds to the experience that is Resistance.
You can tell Insomniac's love for whacky games from the Ratchet and Clank series has transferred over to this game, which makes it a unique game that is extremely fun. Combining the special weapons of Ratchet and Clank with a grim real feel with updated graphics, and a historical fictitious story makes for a fantastic game. The graphics are actually very well done for being just a launch title (5 years old).
The story in this game is actually pretty intriguing, and I find it different from other shooters. The story is told through a British girls narration over a sequences of images, as well as some cut scenes. Furthermore, you can collect intel documents that reveal more about the story, as well as explaining all the creatures, weapons, so on so fourth.
With collecting all the documents, the game can run you anywhere from 8 hours to 50 hours of play time. I did not collect all the intel, but I have played through the campaign so many times it has been a worthwhile purchase, I just have had so much fun with this game!
Resistance: Fall of Man, is just one of classic games, that may not be for everyone, but I'm sure has a special place in the hearts of many. This is a very unique first person shooter that I think any first person shooter should try.
Breakdown:
Story: 10/10
The story line in this game is really fun, and keeps your interests peaked throughout.
Graphics: 8/10
The graphics for this game were on par, if not better than for their time period, compared to today's standards they could use a LITTLE touching up.
Sound: 8/10
The soundtrack isn't the best. It has militaristic tones with the snare drum etc. It just wasn't all there for me. The voice acting is fine though.
Gameplay: 9/10
The controls in this game are different from all other shooters, which are quirky and take some getting used to, but they are efficient. (Some day there will be a universal control scheme for first person shooters) The level design is great, with suspenseful moments, and action packed moments. Then of course intel to collect, weapons to unlock, and having a blast blasting with friends on splitscreen over and over again, till your thumbs are sore, cause lots of playtime.
Resistance: Fall of Man is historical fiction, where instead of WWII, in 1951 there is a virus outbreak known as the Chimeran virus, that supposedly came from Russia, and has spread across Europe, turning humans into these four eyed alienesque monsters who seem to be taking over the world. You as the protagonist Nathan Hale, is assigned along with the rest of your United States Special task force to locate a weapon in Britain, that should wipe out the Chimera. However, you and your team are quickly overrun with enemies from a Spire Attack which release these creatures known as "Crawlers" that act in a similar way as the scarabs in "The Mummy," and infect you with the virus. Everyone in your team is killed, except you. Your character for some reason has a "RESISTANCE," to the infection (ehhh? you liked that didn't ya???) Where he is not killed, and gets increased strength, minor health regeneration, and yellowey eyes resembling that of a Chimera. Your character, thus continues his mission as a super alien power buffed up soldier meeting new characters along the way, and blowing hundreds of Chimera's to bits and pieces like most first person shooters with alien type monsters, etc.
Resistance: Fall of Man has a special place in my heart, so this review may be a little biased. I have always been a fan of couch play with your buddies. I am not too into playing online with people, partly because most of my friends play the *mocking voice* "360... OOOoooOoohhhhhh," but also due in part to the fact that playing right next to someone adds to the camaraderie in a way that online gaming just can't get. Games like the Super Smash Bros. series started my love for this, as you can have 4 people playing on one couch on one screen!!! My love for split screen co-op in first person shooters; however, began with the TimeSplitters franchise. I never played the first game, but Timesplitters 2&3 were hell fun! Particularly the second one, (and I played those on the Nintendo Gamecube mind you) traveling through time with your buddy right next to you, just made for some really fun times. I digress, for this is a review for Resistance: Fall of Man, not TimeSplitters.
As you can guess, Resistance: Fall of Man offered Split Screen co-op which made the game for me! I literally played the campaign on this game, about..... 7 times? Once with a friend, 5 times with my brother (all 4 difficulties, plus another go on normal), and one time I played by myself (not as fun). I had SO much fun playing this game, maybe it was the alternate take on WWII? Maybe it was the unique storyline? Maybe it was the co-op? I think it was all of it. Playing through with a buddy was very nice, going through a minefield, with my brother lagging behind strategically, hearing all of them going off as I just plow through the field like a rampaging sand raider getting hit by minds hear and there, but avoiding most of them. Fighting off varied Chimeran species in dark places with your flashlight on, laughing it up at the yells of fright you and your buddy both make, etc. This was a first person shooter that did not have online too, so it was quite unique.
Another unique thing about this shooter, was the controls. There was no run option (Your character walked super fast all the time) crouch was holding down L2, L3 zoomed to your guns sight, L1 was alternate fire, R1 was primary fire, melee was triangle, reload square, x jump, R2 was cycle through weapons, holding down R2 opened up the weapon wheel where you could manually select which weapon you wanted. Just quirky controls, that once used to, you grow to like, a lot.
The weapon wheel is AWESOME! I have not played any other shooter, with such a vast amount of UNIQUE, VARIED weapons to choose from at anytime. Not the usual 2 weapon loadout, but as you progress through the game you pick up various weapons from normal human weapons, to sweet alien weapons eventually getting a total of 8 guns, and 4 different grenade types.
The variation of weapons makes for a particularly exciting gameplay, where you can strategically choose which gun to use for which situation, and how to use it in the most effective way. For instance, the Carbine is the first weapon you get, with decent accuracy, and a grenade launcher as the secondary fire option it is a decent option for those bigguns. The bullseye is the standard Chimeran weapon that shoots red laser balls, in a less accurate fashion; however, there is an alternate firing mode where you can shoot a tag onto an enemy and it acts as a homing tag, where you can shoot out from behind corners blindly and it will home in on your target. Then there are your standard frag grenades, but there are also Chimeran Hedgehog grenades which blow up hundreds of spindly needle spikes that pack quite the punch. These are just some of the various weapons, I am not going to give up the other weapons, as that is part of the fun of playing it, unlocking weapons, etc.
Another unique feature is the health system. Most shooters nowadays have less clutter on the hud (heads-up display) by having health regenerate, and the more hurt you are, the redder or bloodier your screen gets, then you get in cover to get less red, less bloody, less hurt. In the first Resistance game, you do have clutter on the hud, but I actually prefer it, because it tells you just how much longer till you are dead. You start off the game with one solid bar of yellow health, that when it goes down you die, your team mate (if playing co-op) can heal you though if you die. When you become infected though, your health bar gets divided into 4 sections, and there are these yellow Chimeran health syrum canisters that will heal one of the divisions, if you get hurt some, and hide before a whole section is depleted, and wait a while your health will regenerate back up to that section. If you lose two sections and half of your 3rd section, then hide, your 3rd section will recharge, but not the last 2 sections. But health canisters will fill those back up. It ends up being a very unique health system that just adds to the experience that is Resistance.
You can tell Insomniac's love for whacky games from the Ratchet and Clank series has transferred over to this game, which makes it a unique game that is extremely fun. Combining the special weapons of Ratchet and Clank with a grim real feel with updated graphics, and a historical fictitious story makes for a fantastic game. The graphics are actually very well done for being just a launch title (5 years old).
The story in this game is actually pretty intriguing, and I find it different from other shooters. The story is told through a British girls narration over a sequences of images, as well as some cut scenes. Furthermore, you can collect intel documents that reveal more about the story, as well as explaining all the creatures, weapons, so on so fourth.
With collecting all the documents, the game can run you anywhere from 8 hours to 50 hours of play time. I did not collect all the intel, but I have played through the campaign so many times it has been a worthwhile purchase, I just have had so much fun with this game!
Resistance: Fall of Man, is just one of classic games, that may not be for everyone, but I'm sure has a special place in the hearts of many. This is a very unique first person shooter that I think any first person shooter should try.
Breakdown:
Story: 10/10
The story line in this game is really fun, and keeps your interests peaked throughout.
Graphics: 8/10
The graphics for this game were on par, if not better than for their time period, compared to today's standards they could use a LITTLE touching up.
Sound: 8/10
The soundtrack isn't the best. It has militaristic tones with the snare drum etc. It just wasn't all there for me. The voice acting is fine though.
Gameplay: 9/10
The controls in this game are different from all other shooters, which are quirky and take some getting used to, but they are efficient. (Some day there will be a universal control scheme for first person shooters) The level design is great, with suspenseful moments, and action packed moments. Then of course intel to collect, weapons to unlock, and having a blast blasting with friends on splitscreen over and over again, till your thumbs are sore, cause lots of playtime.
Overall
I recommend this game to all first person shooter fans, get this game, get a buddy, and just have fun!
This game is rated M for Blood and gore, intense violence, and strong language.
Dude get it! It's $40, and it's already out I'm pretty sure. The first game is way better then the second. Although the second does have online multiplayer, it doesn't have splitscreen co-op :(. Still worth getting though, since Resistance 3 is going to be amazing.
ReplyDeleteAlso it includes some extra bonus content I believe, the dual pack.
ReplyDeleteMan I don't know... You should get both. Personally, I'm not too excited for Skyrim. I'm going to get my rpg fix with Dark Souls, (Spiritual succesor to Demon's Souls which was absolutely amazingly epic and difficult. I'm going to post a review of it too.)
ReplyDeleteI couldn't get into Oblivion at all, which is why I'm not too amped for Skyrim.
ReplyDelete