 Preview By: Andrew Joy |
Developer: | Insomniac Games |
| Publisher: | SCEA | |
| Genre: | FPS | |
| ESRB: | Mature | |
| # Of Players: | 1-4 (40 online) | |
| Online Play: | Yes | |
| Accessories: | TBA | |
| Estimated Release: | 11/17/2006 |
When it comes to Resistance: Fall of Man, easily one of the PlayStation 3’s most anticipated launch titles, there are two kinds of people: those who say this game is just Call of Duty with aliens, and those who take offense at that. Funny thing is, this game is right for both those people. While, certainly, this game does bear a striking resemblance to Activision’s staple franchise, this game also has several things that take it far beyond that simple description...with or without the aliens. However, the question here isn’t whether Resistance is going to be a good game, the question is whether Resistance is good enough.
You see, when this game arrives alongside the PS3 on November 17th, it won’t be alone. Several other shooters will be in attendance as well, including the latest chapter in the Call of Duty series (of which you can read our multiplatform preview here), but even those won’t be its biggest competition. While every system has its fair share of blindly eager, early adopters (better known as "fanboys," I believe), it is often the software that sells a console; it is simply the nature of the beast. And Sony is looking to Resistance to do that for it, and considering that this game will be going up against Microsoft’s own Gears of War for the Xbox 360, that is no easy feat.
Though the two games do have their similarities, they also have very different storylines. While Gears of War is set in the future, on the fictional planet Sera, with the mysterious Locusts Horde rising up from the ground, Resistance takes place here on Earth...though it may not be an Earth you fully recognize. In an alternate timeline, World War II never happened, the United States never suffered the Great Depression, the Nazi Party never took control in Germany, and Communism never gained popularity in Russia, with the monarchy sealing up its borders and isolating the country from the rest of the world. But all is not quiet on the western front and the world is not without its problems, as 1951 sees the Russian emergence of the Chimera, and alien race bent on taking over the world and eradicating mankind. Of course, the Chimera have quite a few ways to meet that goal, namely a variety of bizarre creatures, a host of crazy weapons, and most importantly the ability the infect humans with a virus that turns them into one of the aliens. Enter Nathan Hale. A sergeant in the U.S. Army Rangers, Hale and his unit are sent to Britain to help fend off the invasion. Contracting the virus in their efforts, the rangers fall into a coma and only Hale wakes up...with a detailed account of the enemy’s plans no less thanks to the virus. With his newfound knowledge, a last ditch effort is conceived to stop the enemy in their tracks. Really, I find the concept a little silly (Ed: and a little too Quake 4-like...), but I’ve never been much for sci-fi movies, and this one seems a hair’s breadth from being from the direct-to-video shelf to me. Then again, if you need an elaborate excuse to shoot monstrous aliens, perhaps you’ve picked the wrong hobby...or at least genre.
Posted: 2006-11-14 21:08:53 PST