Resistance Retribution preview

Name: Resistance: Retribution
Systems/s: PSP
Developer: Sony Bend Studio
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Release Date: March 17th, 2009

Ah Resistance, the first game (Resistance: Fall of Man) was a launch game for the PS3 system, and was the highest rated, and biggest seller of the launch line up. It has since gone on to sell 3.29 million copies, and was considered the first 'must buy' of the PS3's library.

I bought a PS3 after playing Resistance: Fall of Man, I was planning to anyways, but after I finally played it, I realized I needed a PS3. I really liked the game a beat it many times, solo, and cooperatively. I later played it online, collected most of the secrets, and played it spilt screen. In short, I liked the game quite a bit. I got into Resistance 2 beta, and was initially very happy with it, but after a while, I realized I didn't really like it too much, so I was surprised when the full game was a lot better (Which I have yet to beat, or play all that much).

A while back there was a rumor of a PSP Resistance title, and I really wanted it to be true, however the rumor was all but shot down, then a few years later, woe and behold, Resistance: Retribution. From the first time I saw this game, I knew it would be a purchase (Day 1 if I had more money). After seeing some screenshots, the auto-aim, and third person made me a little wary, but it was still #2 of my most anticipated games.

Now I finally got my hands on a demo of the game, here's what I think. First off, it's really pretty, you can't deny it. It is the best graphiced portable game I've ever seen; and I've seen God of War: Chains of Olympus, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, and Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops. Sometimes it really reminded me graphically of the PS3 game, Resistance: Fall of Man, and that's amazing for a handheld title.

The gameplay is different from the other Resistance titles, where the others are FPS games, this is a third person shooter. In the two other Resistance games you play as an American solder named Nathan Hale, and in this game you play as a British solder named James Grayson.

Overall the gameplay is like a mixture of Syphon Filter (Another title by the company behind this) and Resistance: Fall of Man. Considering the PSP Syphon Filter games are generally regarded as some of the best games on PSP, this is not exactly a bad thing, however I think what they chose to keep from the Syphon Filter games and what they got rid of is a little strange. You can't manually wall press or crouch anymore, it's all controlled by the new cover system, which automatically kicks in when there are enemies near by, and you are close to cover. The cover system however does work quite well, which surprised me, because it didn't sound like a good idea when I first heard of it.

Confession: I hate lock on shooting. In any game where lock on is used, I try to turn it off right away. I thought Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron was ruined by the lock on. When I first heard this game contained lock-on I was pretty worried, but upon hitting the options screen in the demo, I found that it could be turned off, and I played through the demo with it turned off. However, after beating the demo, I tried it again, but with lock-on turned on, and I have to say, this is the best, or one of the best lock-on system I've seen in any game, which is saying something.

The controls were pretty good, and they get a buy from me for including analog aiming (I wont play PSP games that require button aiming). However I wished I could change two buttons, when I found that you can't change the button configuration, which was kind of strange because the Syphon Filter games had this. Overall, there's not much to complain about here.

Having played the demo without lock-on, I found it extremely hard, with me dying multiple times at each check point, which I thought was good, because it was a nice challenge, but upon my second play-through with lock-on, the game seemed very easy, to the point of me being very rarely really hurt. I think the difficulty system is fine however, which is probably strange considering what you just read, but I justify it by the fact that the first Resistance game was quite hard, with me dying a load of times trying to beat it. As for the easiness, I can suggest this to gamers who don't generally play shooters on PSP because the brilliant lock-on system is great for gamers new to PSP shooters.

The voice acting was alright, out of the four people that talked in the demo, I think three of them sounded great, and one sounded passable. The main character seemed likable, and I can't wait to learn more about him. The music was generally good, with some seeming a bit too techno-y for this game, and others sounding spot on, and really nice on the ears.

Overall, I was a bit worried, but very excited for this game, and it has lived up to my expectations so far.


The demo can be obtained by pre-ordering the game.