Platform: PlayStation 3

Release Date (NA): November 17, 2006

Developer: Insomniac Games

Publisher: Sony

Genre: FPS

Nerd Rating: 7 out of 10

Reviewed by Shadow Links

Insomniac Games, famous for the Spyro and Ratchet and Clank series, took a significantly new approach in their new IP for the next generation with the creation of Resistance: Fall of Man, an almost psychological FPS set in an alternate 1950s during an alien invasion of the Chimera. It was a departure from the typical bright and colorful scenes and silly humor to an M rated war story with realistic visuals, a sepia filter and a dark mystery behind it all. As one of the launch titles, it has the remarkable feat of being the first PS3 game to sell over 1 million copies.

How much of the story is told?

The story takes place in real locations throughout Europe, such as the Manchester Cathedral, following a soldier named Nathan Hale. You follow his exploits in the war as he is given missions exploring locations of interest. He stumbles across pieces of what seems to be a much larger puzzle. Most of the time you play alone, but occasionally you have NPC squads in the area or a single character that sticks with you for a mission. While there is some chatter from other characters, it usually doesn’t do more than tell you the next objective. The story is almost exclusively told through cutscene stills, which I often would find annoying, but the narrative and the tone improves the experience and adds to the mystery. However, there are a few exceptions to this when you interact with one of the main NPCs.

The gameplay is somewhat typical of an FPS, with the inclusion of a variety of weapons that are all significantly different. I had a tendency to use only around three of the weapons, but each is very useful in different situations and all of them have an alternate fire-mode for some variability. There is a basic assault rifle with a noob-tube alt, the Auger, which can drill through cover including a barrier created by the alt-mode, and even a unnerving organic mine cluster shooting gun. The map locations were very linear with open rooms typically serving for firefight areas.

More Guns

A nice addition to the game was the way they approached health. It has a four-bar system with small regeneration and itemized health. Your character is human, so your health never increases its max past the original four bars. When you take damage, the bar drains, but can regenerate with time as long as you don’t lose the entire bar. You can only gain full bars back with health packs, which even on normal difficulty are scattered all over the place. I’ve always been more of a fan of this method for health since it has a degree of forgiveness in taking damage, but doesn’t make you feel like you are a regenerating god by stopping and eating rocks on the ground or something.

Intel can be found in the maps

The insomniac tradition of skill points made its way in, which if completed, unlocks various content. For each level, there are a few points which you can try to complete but your only hint is the title of the skill point. Replay value is also added due to some weapons only being unlocked in the second playthrough, which might disappoint some.

One thing that really struck me while playing it was the uneasy feeling I had the whole time. It’s kinda like a creepy feeling that something horrible was going on that I wasn’t aware of.

Nerd Rating: 7

I had a hard time rating this title. I found the story an intriguing mystery that tends to be missing from standard FPS titles, but it lacked the punch to really show it since it was only told through the cutscenes, but still manage to add to the effect. (.5) The gameplay was fairy well paced since you received new toys at well timed intervals to keep the action interesting, but later it really bogged things down with too many options. (1) Even with all the weapons and enemy types, firefights ended up always being very similar. (1) The insomniac system with extras and skill points, while interesting, didn’t really seem to fit the game in my opinion. (.5)

Regardless of my review, as a launch title for the new generation, this was an outstanding game that was able to build into a multi-game series and keep Insomniac as one of the top developers for Sony.

There is a competitive multiplayer aspect with map packs available, but at the time of reviewing, I was unable to play it.

Game recommendations:
Spyro series – Insomniac Games
Ratchet and Clank series – Insomniac Games
Killzone – Early PS3 FPS with similar gameplay

Reviewed by Shadow Links