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[Bad_Boy]

Like a garden gnome.

I just replayed the level in London right before you go onto the rooftops (where I thought I had seen it) and it wasnt there...will keep an eye out for it this time.

lol so it's like an easter egg from insomniac. would that be the first one?

and...holy shit @ Belfast's pics.
I'm replaying the SP w/ the new tv, can't wait to get to the later levels again.

 

[Bebpo]

Quick, someone with a US PS3 and Resistance, post your save game on megaupload or something! You can copy the save by sticking any sort of memory stick/card in the 60gig slots or through a USB reader for 20gigs and hitting triangle -> copy from the XMB under saves.

We need this for testing region stuff!

 

[EviLore]

Quick, someone with a US PS3 and Resistance, post your save game on megaupload or something! You can copy the save by sticking any sort of memory stick/card in the 60gig slots or through a USB reader for 20gigs and hitting triangle -> copy from the XMB under saves.

We need this for testing region stuff!

http://www.abjecthubris.com/images/resistancesave.rar

 

[AltogetherAndrews]

Ooooh

Spoiler

Arc Charger

This thing is more useful than I thought it'd be.

 

[Wario64]

Quick, someone with a US PS3 and Resistance, post your save game on megaupload or something! You can copy the save by sticking any sort of memory stick/card in the 60gig slots or through a USB reader for 20gigs and hitting triangle -> copy from the XMB under saves.

We need this for testing region stuff!

I doubt this will work. PSP is region free but you can't use saves across regions. Here is my save file anyway, I copied this probably a week ago on my USB thumb drive


Actually, I'm positive this will not work because the directory name is BCUS98107_PROFILE. But try it anyway

http://download.yousendit.com/0A1117062F2E5A5C

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

One thing i would say was that Cheddar Gorge screamed "HALO!" to me. If that level floated your boat , i'd strongly suggest trying out Halo and Halo 2.

I actually own Halo and have never played single-player. Now I'll have to hook up the Xbox and try it.

FWIW, it wasn't the driving so much as the base assailts I liked. And I agree, not enough of them.

 

[Pacman2k]

Spoiler

I think this was in the Cheshire mission, in one of the areas that lets you scavenge empty train cars for ammo and such. I don't know if this was deliberate, but I jumped into one train car expecting to find either nothing or some ammo, and it was filled with those damned leaper pods! I hate to admit this, but I very nearly shat myself because that was absolutely the last thing I had expected to meet there.

Thats absolutely deliberate.

 

[dark10x]

I actually own Halo and have never played single-player. Now I'll have to hook up the Xbox and try it.

FWIW, it wasn't the driving so much as the base assailts I liked. And I agree, not enough of them.

Whoa whoa whoa, you like Resistance...but haven't played Halo (1 or 2) in single player?!?!?!?! You need to play these games pronto!

 

[kaching]

I've seen the garden gnome but didn't really regard it as an easter egg since it's basically out in plain sight. Funny though. Now, a target range full of garden gnomes to shoot, THAT would be an easter egg.

 

[Lord Error]

I actually own Halo and have never played single-player. Now I'll have to hook up the Xbox and try it

Play Halo for sure. I'm probably like you, not really into FPS games, but I really liked Halo. I didn't play it lately, but I have a feeling the game will hold up nicely even today. All these (positive) comparisons to Halo is why Resistance has me very intrigued actually.

 

[kaching]

Thats absolutely deliberate.

You bastards - trying to discourage looting, are ya?

 

[backbreaker65]

Here's what I and others experimented over at operation sports about emailing saves, maybe it will work with other saves as well, here are the directions. Replace rosters with your save file.

File sharing for the PS3
PS3 Direction

1. Make sure you have inserted your USB 2.0 flash drive
2. On the cross media bar (XMB) go to the “GAME” section
3. In game menu select “Saved Data Utility”
4. Scroll to your roster save and press triangle a sub menu pops up
5. In the sub menu select “Copy”
6. Select destination window pops up, highlight your flash drive and press “X.

Your rosters are now saved on your flash drive. The PS3 will create a PS3 folder for you, keep this folder for future transactions, it looks like this on your PC. F:\PS3\SAVEDATA\BLUS30014-ROSTERS the drive letter will change depended upon your set up. Your PC will recognize it as a removable drive. The rosters are in the SAVEDATA folder; this is where you will retrieve your rosters. The roster file has 4 files within the folder, they are as follows: IN THE BLUS30014-ROSTERS

1. HED-DATA 8bytes
2. PARAM.PFD 32KB
3. PARAM.SFO 2.67KB
4. USR-DATA 480KB


PC DIRECTIONS

1. Insert your flash drive in available USB slot.
2. Dbl click on “MY COMPUTER”
3. Dbl click on removable F: drive (remember depended upon set up drive letter changes)
4. Dbl click on PS3
5. Dbl click on SAVEDATA
6. Drag and drop roster file on your desktop.
7. Open your email and select new mail and chose that you are sending it too.
8. Attach each file individually. The ones up above. I’m assuming you guys know how to do this already, attach files I mean.
9. Once you receive the email, save the attachments into your “SAVEDATA” folder on your flash drive. Again don’t delete the Folder the PS3 creates for you on the flash drive.

Now unplug your removable drive, insert the flash drive in your PS3.

1. Go to the “GAME” menu
2. Select “Save Data Utility”
3. Highlight your USB Flash Drive
4. Press “X”
5. Press Triangle sub-menu pops up and then you select copy. Your files are now loaded onto your PS3

You can also Winzipp the files and attach them to the thread.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

Yeah, I got Halo for multiplayer, never played it single-player (since all anybody raved about was multiplayer). I barely touched my Xbox, so I didn't think much of it.

I did the same thing with SOCOM.

Well, now I have something to do when the inevitable drought of PS3 games hits (mandatory for all new consoles).

 

[hyp]

this has probably been talked about already but i don't have patience to read through the whole thread...

but, i really like the flow of the game. i've read a lot of complaints that the game doesn't feel cohesive and is less immersive because the sections end "abruptly", but i'm really liking this style. for a busy person like me, it's more accessible because i can play a couple sections per night and not feel like i have to sit through a marathon to complete it. it really doesn't take away from the game's story either. i like the recap/intros in between segments. in fact, i wish more games were like this.

 

[dark10x]

this has probably been talked about already but i don't have patience to read through the whole thread...

but, i really like the flow of the game. i've read a lot of complaints that the game doesn't feel cohesive and is less immersive because the sections end "abruptly", but i'm really liking this style. for a busy person like me, it's more accessible because i can play a couple sections per night and not feel like i have to sit through a marathon to complete it. it really doesn't take away from the game's story either. i like the recap/intros in between segments. in fact, i wish more games were like this.

It does work pretty well, I agree. The game never allows any singular segment to become boring as they never over extend them. I've noticed a lot of FPS games try to increase their length through the extension of specific ideas. FEAR, Doom 3, Far Cry, Quake 4, Call of Duty 2, and so many more. Each of them would have been better games if they were more focused on offering more variety in a smaller package.

I think this is why I was able to plow through Resistance so quickly. I simply didn't want to stop. Everytime I started to feel as if I might take a break, they'd jump to a new type of scenario.

 

[hyp]

It does work pretty well, I agree. The game never allows any singular segment to become boring as they never over extend them. I've noticed a lot of FPS games try to increase their length through the extension of specific ideas. FEAR, Doom 3, Far Cry, Quake 4, Call of Duty 2, and so many more. Each of them would have been better games if they were more focused on offering more variety in a smaller package.

I think this is why I was able to plow through Resistance so quickly. I simply didn't want to stop. Everytime I started to feel as if I might take a break, they'd jump to a new type of scenario.

it's funny you mention COD2 because that was the game i had in mind when i thought about how good the pacing in resistance was. in COD2 there were times i felt like i had to plow through the missions just to advance the story, many times wondering "when is this going to end?" not once have i felt like that w/ resistance. i like how the story is interspersed in small increments making it easily digestible during the breaks in action. it really helps that the voiceovers sound very professional as well. =]

 

[dark10x]

Yeah, CoD2 was especially bad. Everytime we reached a point where the game had you defend a structure or something, I would be reaching for the XBOX button. The game basically recycled 2 or 3 basic scenarios over and over and over again with only a few unique missions thrown in (like the tank section, which I didn't even care for). The pacing was simply terrible and made for a very uneappealing game in the end.

FEAR had similar issues. The game offered fantastic AI and some really cool firefights, but had you murking around through some of the worst environments I've seen in a modern FPS while essentially doing the same thing over and over again. As good as those battles could be, they simply got old.

 

[AltogetherAndrews]

The flow of the game is one of the reasons I'm enjoying my second run more so than my first run. I paid attention to the story in the first run, and now on the second run I can focus squarely on "being" my character.

I'm also appreciating the arsenal even more now. Aside from being plain wicked, I like the fact that weapons curb the trend of simple brutality in favor of introducing some "smarts" to their functionality. Not to take anything away from the destructive power of the weapons, but this feeling of wielding "smart" weapons is a pretty neat one, and pretty rare actually.

Thats absolutely deliberate.

I knew it! You guys should have attached some "Brown Trousers" skill points to that one.

 

[AltogetherAndrews]

Man, the intel document I just encountered was a good deal more messed up than any of the other ones I've come across. It's the final Bracknell intelligence document...

Spoiler

These Cloven characters are starting to sound like some form of jackal and hun hybrids hopped up on smart drugs and steroids

... no?

 

[jstevenson]

http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/12/01/ufocrash.shtml

UFO crashes in Siberia....

 

[Dante]

http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/12/01/ufocrash.shtml

UFO crashes in Siberia....

Chimera invasion eminent........It begins

 

[kaching]

jstevenson, do you know what the point is of Resistance being listed as an active "service" in the Account Management area of the PS3?

 

[jstevenson]

jstevenson, do you know what the point is of Resistance being listed as an active "service" in the Account Management area of the PS3?

Not off the top of my head. But I need to go find a drink, so I'll wander over to MP and ask around.

JS

 

[Dazzyman]

Im back from my hols in agony so loaded the USA save, confirmed its got blood and guts so starting again from scratch this evening (any excuse is not really needed :lol )

 

[Dahbomb]

http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/12/01/ufocrash.shtml

UFO crashes in Siberia....

Oh shit... it begins.

 

[jstevenson]

jstevenson, do you know what the point is of Resistance being listed as an active "service" in the Account Management area of the PS3?

So MP isn't really sure either. We're speculating that it shows up if you have played a game of Resistance (and thus have an active account on Resistance). It doesn't really mean anything though, so I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[kaching]

Thanks for checking, js. Was just wondering if we were supposed to be able to do something with these.

 

[TTP]

Hey jstevenson, do you think the "Blood trick" we found (about "unlocking" blood in the JPN version of the game) might cause any legal problems to Insomniac/Sony? You know, something alongside the Hot Coffe thing in San Andreas, where something is stated NOT to be present in the game (blood/sex) wheras it is (by unlocking it with a code/"mod").

Does the CERO "C" rate include blood?

 

[Wollan]

TTP, you just need to stay vevy vevy quiet!

PS! 100 000+ views, let's celebrate.

 

[AltogetherAndrews]

My review of the game. I'm almost done with my second run through the game, bloody awesome stuff.

Spoiler

But where in the hell is first piece of London intel

?

Story

I’ll resist the temptation to go into a long description of the story here, and instead settle for stating that there is a much, much deeper story there for those who bother to search for it. My advice is to find all the intel that is spread about the levels, and also spend some time reading through the descriptions of enemies, locations and weapons that the Document section of the pause menu holds.

Score: 95%


Gameplay

Well, where to start? On the surface, this looks and plays like, well, an FPS. A highly polished, complete and spot on FPS, that is. Now that can make for a good game, but Resistance is a special game, and this is (as anyone familiar with Insomniac would have guessed) in large part due to the creative arsenal featured in the game. This has been detailed in countless previews and reviews, so I’ll just say that Insomniac has done an awesome job in making its trademark creative arsenal mesh seamlessly with a world that is not your typical Insomniac fare. The result is intense and smart FPS action. Whereas other shooters commonly opt for destructive, brutal or smart weapons, Resistance manages to incorporate all of those aspects into a majority of the weapons on display in the game, and this is obvious regardless of which end of the barrel you happen to find yourself on.

Of course, even the smartest and most creative weapon would be worth nothing without interesting opposition, and luckily Resistance delivers that in spades. Not only in terms of how many individual enemies that the game throws at you at once, but also in terms of the large variety of unique Chimeran strains available, and in terms of the combinations of said strains that occupy the battlefields. Every strain comes with a preferred means of disposing of said strain, which of course means good usage of all sorts of weapons in your arsenal. Now given this wide variety of strains, and the fact that Resistance enjoys throwing various combinations of strains at you all at once, suffice it to say that there are some pretty damned intense battle sequences in this game.

Score: 95%


Visuals

With a large variety of environments and gameplay scenarios, ranging from subway and tunnel crawling to the wide open battlefield setting of Cheddar Gorge and Manchester, and onwards to the snowy, icy city landscapes of London complete with Chimeran architecture melding with period human architecture, the game is at times a veritable visual feast. That said, this variety seems to come at the cost of some environments simply not feeling up to par. I’d imagine developing a unified visual style, not to mention an engine capable of displaying all of these vastly different settings, must have been one hell of an undertaking, and unfortunately, it does not always work. Fortunately, due to the earlier levels being rather barren when compared to the levels later on, this lack of consistency becomes more a matter of reflection than anything else. But the issue is there, and it almost leads me to wish for Insomniac to limit the variety of the environments a tad for the inevitable sequel.

All of that said, what Resistance lacks in texture detail and consistency, it makes up for in terms of modeled detail (especially in regards to the chimeran end, both in terms of environments and in terms of creature models), scale and not least the visual FX. It’s hard to make a blanket judgement on the quality of the Chimera, as the designs range widely from the simplistic leapers to the massive Widowmakers. The common thread seems to be a focus on animal properties in out-of-this-world forms, and in that respect, the design throughout the Chimeran fauna is a near total success. The most common Chimeran strains feature plenty of detail, and are mostly well animated. Agility seems to be the name of the game when it comes to animation, and the movement communicates the inhuman nature of these beasts, critters and creatures very well. That said, there are some strains that I never cared for much, such as the leapers. I guess I understand the intention behind the design, and they are certainly nasty enough, but they do feel oddly cartoony, especially when compared to the more advanced chimera strains such as the hardfangs and steelheads.

Overall though, both the design and craftsmanship involved in the chimeran models deserve a good deal of acclaim, as does the technology that allows for these models to be implemented into the game without carrying much of that unfortunate artificial look that is far too common in games these days.

Score:

Design & craftsmanship: 95%
Tech & implementation: 85%


Lasting appeal

Ridiculously high. Aside from the 40player MP, there is the fact that the game (in true Insomniac fashion) rewards you with new weapons for your second run through the game. And if you didn’t manage to collect all the intel during your first run, that should be reason enough to replay at least individual levels. Add to this the abundance of available skill points (ranging from reasonable and near automatic to damned near impossible) and an additional difficulty setting, and it’s clear that the game was designed with longevity in mind.

Score: 95%


Audio

The subdued score may prove an issue to some, but it did not really bother me. While I would have probably enjoyed an epic battle theme akin to what you’ll find in Halo, that may or may not have worked with the game. The weapons audio FX is nothing short of amazing, with fitting audio profiles; the auger sounds like something that could likely fire straight through a wall, the bullseye sounds like it would fire a swarm of targetting shards, and the Reaper... well, they just sound plain evil (the trademark Hedgehog grenade sound is one that is instantly recognizable as one that requires immediate action if you happen to be on the wrong side of one). Similarily, the grunts, snarls and growls of the Chimeran forces are very fitting of the sources of the sounds, and really do an awesome job of adding to the already vicious, inhuman appearance of these creatures. If there is one thing that I’d say I missed, it’d be environmental sounds. The drifting and falling snow would have likely been even more impressive had it been accompanied by the sound of a bitter wind.

One other downside, and this wasn’t actually a problem until later on in the game, is the voice over. It’s all very well done, it’s fitting of the scenarios and there is nothing that I’d call overbearingly cheesy in there, but the radio distortion really started to grate on my nerves after a while.

Score: 85%


Summary

An engrossing, intense and complete shooter with an insane weapons gallery that basically amounts to an FPS highlight reel, with some rough cuts here and there. A story that on the surface may seem oddly straight forward is made deeper and more involving by the inclusion of descriptive location and enemy documents as well as by way of intel scattered throughout the levels. Some incosistencies in regards to visual quality throughout the game are easily forgiven when taking into account the variety, on-screen action and sheer size of the environments that the game throws you into, as well as the detail on display especially in later levels. A solid top tier FPS, and an awesome re-entry into the genre for Insomniac.

Overall score: 90%

Hope that wasn't too "wordy" and stuff

 

[Wollan]

For those of you subscribing to the Insomniac newsletter, you should have received the latest one by now.

On the site they have a blog entry by the lead multiplayer programmer Mr.Eric Ellis, professional 'Time Distortion Specialist'. The blog is quite interesting revealing a few details like the implementation of the Human/Chimera racial skills and such happening around E3 this year. He's also excited about their upcoming patch (releasing soon) which will bring a series of balancing fixes. People are working hard on making Resistance feel fresh apparantly and there's a lot more to read (jstevenson asking him for a dance for example).

http://www.insomniacgames.com/community/blarg_full.php?bid=27

 

[methane47]

Tech & implementation: 85%

What!! Next gen glass was enough to warrant atleast a 102%

It still amazes me when I'm in a gun fight and stray bullets hit the glass behind enemies and I see it crack and fly out... and break... Those Glass effects are somethin else!!

 

[AltogetherAndrews]

I may have given it too low a score in that area, and it's possible that part of what contributed to the tech score really belongs in the Design section. The glass is very cool, but then I wouldn't count that towards the graphics score in the first place. Maybe I should have included a physics and environmental interaction section, seeing as how there is a lot of cool stuff going on there.

 

[_Angelus_]

I avoid anything related to WW2 based shooters at all costs since I like more scifi shooters for the genre. When I got lucky and found a PS3 I decided to take a chance on the game since it was the flagship game for the PS3 system. I really came into the game expecting to be mildly entertained but I got so much more. This game is really something else. Its up there with some of my favorite shooters of all time now. I love the designs on the creatures alot. The war town towns look sad but beautiful to me,great looking game. And playing the game on the hard setting is so much more rewarding.

 

[jstevenson]

For those of you subscribing to the Insomniac newsletter, you should have received the latest one by now.

On the site they have a blog entry by the lead multiplayer programmer Mr.Eric Ellis, professional 'Time Distortion Specialist'. The blog is quite interesting revealing a few details like the implementation of the Human/Chimera racial skills and such happening around E3 this year. He's also excited about their upcoming patch (releasing soon) which will bring a series of balancing fixes. People are working hard on making Resistance feel fresh apparantly and there's a lot more to read (jstevenson asking him for a dance for example).

http://www.insomniacgames.com/community/blarg_full.php?bid=27

I didn't ask him to dance. He's referring to when I ended up on stage, but that's another story.

 

[Wollan]

Who was the celebrity?

 

[jstevenson]

Hey jstevenson, do you think the "Blood trick" we found (about "unlocking" blood in the JPN version of the game) might cause any legal problems to Insomniac/Sony? You know, something alongside the Hot Coffe thing in San Andreas, where something is stated NOT to be present in the game (blood/sex) wheras it is (by unlocking it with a code/"mod").

Does the CERO "C" rate include blood?

Well --- your workaround works because of the way the OS is set-up, so it's probably more of a Sony question.

 

[cank stoochie]

hey blim, i thought you were going to post some videos of resistance latter levels?

 

[jstevenson]

Who was the celebrity?

The first two that Eric mentions in the blog.

JS

 

[kaching]

What!! Next gen glass was enough to warrant atleast a 102%

It still amazes me when I'm in a gun fight and stray bullets hit the glass behind enemies and I see it crack and fly out... and break... Those Glass effects are somethin else!!

In the nottingham pit excavation level where you're sniping the chimera in their gun turret towers, I missed a chimera I was trying to snipe and then I realized I broke the window of a house hundreds of feet behind it, at the top of the pit in an area completely inaccessible to the player. Nice attention to detail, Insomniac!

 

[Flo_Evans]

hey neoGAF clan WTF where are all you guys??! I never see anyone on. As your Señor officer I demand you get your lazy asses online so we can play!

 

[AltogetherAndrews]

hey neoGAF clan WTF where are all you guys??! I never see anyone on. As your Señor officer I demand you get your lazy asses online so we can play!

Do the majority of you guys play with headsets? I was playing a match online last night, and only me and one other guy out of 16 players had headsets. I guess that works well in free for all matches, but in team matches... urgh.

 

[Flo_Evans]

I have one, but like you said the majority don't so I usually don't bother with it.

 

[kaching]

hey neoGAF clan WTF where are all you guys??! I never see anyone on. As your Señor officer I demand you get your lazy asses online so we can play!

Are you the clan owner? I thought White Man was. I PM'd him asking to be invited to join but he hasn't gotten around to it if is in charge. If someone else is in charge, invite me, I'll play!

Yeah, I play with a headset (usually).

 

[lunlunqq]

hey neoGAF clan WTF where are all you guys??! I never see anyone on. As your Señor officer I demand you get your lazy asses online so we can play!

I play resistance online at least once a day. I met you once in a match. I don't have a headset so I jumped up and down around you. You just ignored me...

other than you, I never met anyone else online... I need a neoGAF clan battle!!!!!!!!

 

[Flo_Evans]

Are you the clan owner? I thought White Man was. I PM'd him asking to be invited to join but he hasn't gotten around to it if is in charge. If someone else is in charge, invite me, I'll play!

Yeah, I play with a headset.

No White Man is the leader, I am just the highest ranked.

I just hit Major. And I would appriciate it if you ended and begain all your posts with "SIR YES SIR!"

I play resistance online at least once a day. I met you once in a match. I don't have a headset so I jumped up and down around you. You just ignored me...

other than you, I never met anyone else online... I need a neoGAF clan battle!!!!!!!!

yeah I did see you once. We need headsets people!


edit: hey JS where is the option to display your clan tag by your name... I swear I saw it once and now I can't find it anymore. Have to wear the neoGAF colors proud

 

[AltogetherAndrews]

nevermind

 

[_Angelus_]

I've played a few matches online but honestly I stink so bad that I don't play very long. I need to hang with some of you lesser skilled players because the second I jump in a game its frustrating as hell.

 

[BruceLeeRoy]

Story

I’ll resist the temptation to go into a long description of the story here, and instead settle for stating that there is a much, much deeper story there for those who bother to search for it. My advice is to find all the intel that is spread about the levels, and also spend some time reading through the descriptions of enemies, locations and weapons that the Document section of the pause menu holds.

Score: 95%


Gameplay

Well, where to start? On the surface, this looks and plays like, well, an FPS. A highly polished, complete and spot on FPS, that is. Now that can make for a good game, but Resistance is a special game, and this is (as anyone familiar with Insomniac would have guessed) in large part due to the creative arsenal featured in the game. This has been detailed in countless previews and reviews, so I’ll just say that Insomniac has done an awesome job in making its trademark creative arsenal mesh seamlessly with a world that is not your typical Insomniac fare. The result is intense and smart FPS action. Whereas other shooters commonly opt for destructive, brutal or smart weapons, Resistance manages to incorporate all of those aspects into a majority of the weapons on display in the game, and this is obvious regardless of which end of the barrel you happen to find yourself on.

Of course, even the smartest and most creative weapon would be worth nothing without interesting opposition, and luckily Resistance delivers that in spades. Not only in terms of how many individual enemies that the game throws at you at once, but also in terms of the large variety of unique Chimeran strains available, and in terms of the combinations of said strains that occupy the battlefields. Every strain comes with a preferred means of disposing of said strain, which of course means good usage of all sorts of weapons in your arsenal. Now given this wide variety of strains, and the fact that Resistance enjoys throwing various combinations of strains at you all at once, suffice it to say that there are some pretty damned intense battle sequences in this game.

Score: 95%


Visuals

With a large variety of environments and gameplay scenarios, ranging from subway and tunnel crawling to the wide open battlefield setting of Cheddar Gorge and Manchester, and onwards to the snowy, icy city landscapes of London complete with Chimeran architecture melding with period human architecture, the game is at times a veritable visual feast. That said, this variety seems to come at the cost of some environments simply not feeling up to par. I’d imagine developing a unified visual style, not to mention an engine capable of displaying all of these vastly different settings, must have been one hell of an undertaking, and unfortunately, it does not always work. Fortunately, due to the earlier levels being rather barren when compared to the levels later on, this lack of consistency becomes more a matter of reflection than anything else. But the issue is there, and it almost leads me to wish for Insomniac to limit the variety of the environments a tad for the inevitable sequel.

All of that said, what Resistance lacks in texture detail and consistency, it makes up for in terms of modeled detail (especially in regards to the chimeran end, both in terms of environments and in terms of creature models), scale and not least the visual FX. It’s hard to make a blanket judgement on the quality of the Chimera, as the designs range widely from the simplistic leapers to the massive Widowmakers. The common thread seems to be a focus on animal properties in out-of-this-world forms, and in that respect, the design throughout the Chimeran fauna is a near total success. The most common Chimeran strains feature plenty of detail, and are mostly well animated. Agility seems to be the name of the game when it comes to animation, and the movement communicates the inhuman nature of these beasts, critters and creatures very well. That said, there are some strains that I never cared for much, such as the leapers. I guess I understand the intention behind the design, and they are certainly nasty enough, but they do feel oddly cartoony, especially when compared to the more advanced chimera strains such as the hardfangs and steelheads.

Overall though, both the design and craftsmanship involved in the chimeran models deserve a good deal of acclaim, as does the technology that allows for these models to be implemented into the game without carrying much of that unfortunate artificial look that is far too common in games these days.

Score:

Design & craftsmanship: 95%
Tech & implementation: 85%


Lasting appeal

Ridiculously high. Aside from the 40player MP, there is the fact that the game (in true Insomniac fashion) rewards you with new weapons for your second run through the game. And if you didn’t manage to collect all the intel during your first run, that should be reason enough to replay at least individual levels. Add to this the abundance of available skill points (ranging from reasonable and near automatic to damned near impossible) and an additional difficulty setting, and it’s clear that the game was designed with longevity in mind.

Score: 95%


Audio

The subdued score may prove an issue to some, but it did not really bother me. While I would have probably enjoyed an epic battle theme akin to what you’ll find in Halo, that may or may not have worked with the game. The weapons audio FX is nothing short of amazing, with fitting audio profiles; the auger sounds like something that could likely fire straight through a wall, the bullseye sounds like it would fire a swarm of targetting shards, and the Reaper... well, they just sound plain evil (the trademark Hedgehog grenade sound is one that is instantly recognizable as one that requires immediate action if you happen to be on the wrong side of one). Similarily, the grunts, snarls and growls of the Chimeran forces are very fitting of the sources of the sounds, and really do an awesome job of adding to the already vicious, inhuman appearance of these creatures. If there is one thing that I’d say I missed, it’d be environmental sounds. The drifting and falling snow would have likely been even more impressive had it been accompanied by the sound of a bitter wind.

One other downside, and this wasn’t actually a problem until later on in the game, is the voice over. It’s all very well done, it’s fitting of the scenarios and there is nothing that I’d call overbearingly cheesy in there, but the radio distortion really started to grate on my nerves after a while.

Score: 85%


Summary

An engrossing, intense and complete shooter with an insane weapons gallery that basically amounts to an FPS highlight reel, with some rough cuts here and there. A story that on the surface may seem oddly straight forward is made deeper and more involving by the inclusion of descriptive location and enemy documents as well as by way of intel scattered throughout the levels. Some incosistencies in regards to visual quality throughout the game are easily forgiven when taking into account the variety, on-screen action and sheer size of the environments that the game throws you into, as well as the detail on display especially in later levels. A solid top tier FPS, and an awesome re-entry into the genre for Insomniac.

Overall score: 90%

Nicely written glad to see you like the game.

Flo_Evans!
Add me to your list! White Man sent me a PM saying he invited me but I never got it.
CFD_BruceLeeRoy

 

[Bad_Boy]

somebody invite me to the clan :/