Resistance: Fall of Man

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $29.99
Sale Price: $12.37
Today's Bonus: 59% Off

No one can resist the urge to keep playing Resistance: Fall of Man once the game is started. Chapter after chapter of exhilarating battles against a plethora of creatures that you use a plethora of weapons to defeat (and they'll use them against you too).

To really put the plot of the game in context (if you care about the plot), it's well worth the visit to the official Resistance: Fall of Man web site; there's a ton of story there that I'd bet 90% of the people who start the game are unaware of. For me, the story helped me "get into character" for the game. If you just want to start wasting some nasty beasts, "Get to it, soldier!" Rest assured, the story won't help you beat the enemies or evade the barrage of defenses that will be fired at you by them.

As a relatively new gamer, I'm glad that I played Call of Duty 3 Call of Duty 3 before I cracked open Resistance: Fall of Man. It was good FPS training (set in approximately the same time period) for this much more difficult PS3 title.

Resistance has an M (mature gamers only) rating which miffs me a bit, but then I'm a bit more liberal when it comes to what I think might warp the little minds of kids these days. I've seen this classified as a Horror title, but I think that Sci-fi Action is much more fitting. Resistance deserved a T (teen) rating. My kids and I get hung up all too often on sunny days playing Resistance's Co-op Mode when we should be outside playing ball. And hopefully that alone speaks volumes as to how addictively fun this game is.

Co-op Mode is split screen of course because the game is FPS; it would be nice if some games could give the option of switching to a single screen, third person view for Co-op in order to negate the need for split screen, but that would distinctly change to look, range, feel and some of the weaponry...so I assume that's why it's never offered on Co-op mode.

Multi-player is very cool. Multi-player is not like Co-op where you play the Campaign Mode with a partner. In Multi-player you battle against your friends offline (4 player max/split screen) or online (40 player max/full screen). You get some areas of battle to play in that you encountered in Campaign Mode and some new map scematics.

But Resistance's real challenge is in single player Campaign Mode.

Your weapons are plentiful. You start with a pretty standard machine gun (M5A2) that includes a grenade launcher that will become your best "little friend" in the game. It's very useful on the enemies that you encounter most throughout the game. You also get several mean weapons that you pick up from your fallen comrades and defeated beasts including the enemy's main machine gun (The Bullseye...very handy), grenades, a shotgun, a sniper rifle, a radiation blaster (The Auger), a mine thrower, a rapid fire subsonic bolt dispenser (The Hailstorm) and a rocket launcher.

Grenades are key to survival...use them, but you'll want to keep in mind that you can run out real real fast...so use them pretty much exclusively to take down groups of enemies.

(And five other weapons aside from the ones that I mentioned above are unlocked only after beating/completing the game once on medium difficulty or higher.)

If you missed the countless gamer magazines' synopsises of the creature types and the power of the individual weapons, there are some great gamer help web sites that are worth taking a look at to help you strategize (just click on my profile above and email me if you'd like me to point you in the right direction).

And speaking of getting pointed in the right direction, part of the fun of this game is figuring out on your own how to get from chapter to chapter. There are no maps, which at times was frustrating. Let me tell you that if the phrase "the best route is not always the most obvious" ever applied to trying to get from here to there it applies in this game on more than one occasion.

You'll also need to at times navigate a jeep and a tank.

So what exactly are you fighting? Where exactly did they come from? If you're up to the challenge to find out....You're Sgt. Nathan Hale, and you're the only one with a Resistance to the Fall of Man. Prepare for some serious battle.

Click Here to Read More Reviews >>

Resistance Fall of Man is a first person shooter that combines World War II era environments with Doom-like horrific enemies to fight. It also offers great online multiplayer gameplay.

The plot is that, around the time of World War II, enemies attacked the world, starting with Russia and moving westward through Europe and England. In the 50s, the US launched a counter-attack, landing in England. You're fighting, at least to start with, with WWII era weapons and outfits through the streets of England.

Let's start with the graphics. The game goes for a very Call of Duty style of look not quite realistic, more "cartooney" or stylized. Textures are smoothed out, some objects are simplified. That's not to say this is a Disney kiddie look. The monsters are grimey and nasty looking, the war-torn streets are very gritty. If anything, because this is set in a WWII type atmosphere, much of the game is brown, grimy and shell-shocked.

The HUD is reasonably well done and not intrusive. A small series of bars on the left indicates your health. An equally small but useful display on the right tracks your ammo, magazines and grenades.

The sound leans towards epic thundering scores, a la Gladiator or Conan. Players who love heavy rock music might not enjoy this, but I actually love this kind of music. I own both of the soundtracks I mentioned :). So to me, this really draws you into the atmosphere. The yells, gun noises and so on seem relatively realistic to help you feel you're really in the middle of a fight. I also like that, during gameplay, it's usually done without music. If I'm trying to sneak somewhere and listen for enemy movement, I don't want that objective made difficult by a soundtrack.

Gameplay itself is typical FPS fare. You can crouch, jump over things, zoom in on your enemy, throw grenades, strafe, and so on. Your friends and enemies are rather good about taking cover and not just rushing an enemy head-on. There are a few situations which seem quite scripted if your pals are meant to die, you could play perfectly and take out every enemy quickly and your friends will still be killed by mysterious off-screen snipers. Still, the game needs to keep you on course for the plot so this is to be expected.

Checkpointing is reasonably good, although sometimes it sends you further back then you might like to start again. Healing is done via canisters you find, but depending on your skill you might wish there were more canisters scattered around :). That's why they have 3 levels of difficulty here.

The interactivity with your environment is pretty impressive. Say your enemy is hiding behind a car. You can shoot out the car's windows and then shoot the enemy through the open space. Or you can shoot the car to damage it, and have it explode a la the infamous 'red exploding barrels' found in most shooting games. If you shoot at a window a few times, it will first crack, then pieces will fall out.

Not only is the game great in single player mode, but you can play co-op with a friend at your home, or online in larger groups with friends or strangers from around the world. This helps turn the game from a play-for-a-few-months-at-home style game to a play-eternally-with-friends-online game.

Well recommended!

Buy Resistance: Fall of Man Now

I don't know how any one can get the real picture on this game with reviews from the fanboys and haters being so predominant. I hope my review is helpful to you.

This is the best first-person-shooter for a SONY platform. The gameplay is fun and solid. Controls are responsive and, as stated by another reviewer, hit detection is accurate. It's a must own launch title for the PS3.

The graphics are in a bit "flat". They don't have that multi-dimension feel that I expected from a next-gen title on such a powerful system. There's no depth to inanimate objects such as grass, boxes, chairs and so forth. Also, you can just run right through dead characters. You don't have the ability to push the bodies around. Also, when walking through grass you literally walk "through" it. It doesn't move you just pass through it. The environments also aren't very interactive. There's not much more you can do besides run, hide and shoot.

The smoothness of the gameplay is impressive. Even when there are loads of characters on screen everything still runs smoothly. This is a testament to the PS3's power. That being said, it also means that this game doesn't really stress the hardware. Resistance delivers and goods and does everything well.

We have to remember that the PS3 is still in its infancy and has a way to go before the software catches up to the hardware. We'll have to wait for the next round of high end games to find out just what the PS3 is capable of.

Read Best Reviews of Resistance: Fall of Man Here

I am really, really picky about my FPS's. Over the years, only Halo, Halo 2, Half Life 2, Socom 2, and Counterstrike have been able to make me say "wow" and keep playing for months. My games have to have it all (story, gameplay, online, sound). This is another one to add to that list. Resistance is all around incredible. I would say this is one of my favorite games ever (and thats saying a ton for a launch title). The single player comes second only to Half Life 2 and the multiplayer is on par and may be even a little better than the rest of the titles I mentioned. I have been playing relentlessly since launch and plan to play for months to come. Throw in the coop op mode and all the unlockables and leveling up in the online game and you have an instant classic.

Probably the biggest stand out in the game are the weapons. This game has a weapon that shoots through walls for goodness sake. The sniper rifle slows down time. Even the rocket launcher can be stopped in midair, fire its own volley of rockets, and then be aimed again and launched in another direction. Its just amazing how much thought and innovation went into these weapons. The sound is great, the story in engaging, and the graphics are very good. They aren't Gears of War good, but then again, Resistance puts more than 4 creatures on the screen at ones and keeps a steady framerate.

And last but not least, the online play (20 vs 20) is LAG FREE. I have yet to see one instance of lag in my entire time playing the online game, and everyone else seems to have the same results.

All in all, this game is amazing, and the fact that it is a launch title makes it all the more impressive. BUY THIS NOW. If your waiting to buy your ps3, BUY IT THEN.

Want Resistance: Fall of Man Discount?

One thing you're sure to hear from 360 fanboys is how Gears of War blows away Resistance, etc etc. Since I own both systems, I went ahead and gave this game a shot a couple days ago, and I was _not_ disappointed. The game may not be as pretty, but it still looks great, and is a blast to play. I wished for a while that there was a cover feature like Gears, but really every other shooter I've played doesn't have it, and I was used to it within minutes.

Pros -

* Campaign plays like a story, feels like you're playing through history.

* Co-op campaign mode, I'm a big fan of this, for me it makes the game much more enjoyable.

* Great gameplay and graphics, not quite GoW quality, but looks awesome on an HDTV, controls and gameplay are standard, but pretty much flawless.

* Easy to launch into multiplayer play, I downloaded the patch and was playing (for free even) within a couple of minutes with 39 other people in the game, fun stuff.

* Atmospheric, great AI. Challenging for all skills levels, get a feeling of immersion playing through.

* Weapons! These can make or break a shooter...if the weapons aren't fun to shoot, then a shooter can lose it's appeal quickly. I enjoyed pretty much every gun you get, but I didn't really understand why you need to beat the game to get access to a few new weapons...not a good reason to replay a game in my opinion.

Cons -

* Not _quite_ the graphics I expected from PS3, but it's first gen, so very minute complaint. Only supports 720p I'm actually not sure if this going to be standard for PS3 games, or later games will be 1080p, (ala blu-ray)but it would have been that much nicer for it to look that much better. If you don't own an HDTV, don't worry about this, if you do, you might not even have 1080p resolution, so this "problem" really doesn't apply to most people.

* I'm noticing a trend here with games like this where the campaign is only around 10 hrs...it's a great 10, but it kinda sucks to be done in a couple of days, and I don't gain much satisfaction from beating it on a harder difficulty. (I beat it on medium)That being said, the free multiplayer option is nice. (Also, it's about 10hrs not including restarts, moving at a fairly fast clip through the game, it could take novice players double that at medium difficulty)

Overall -

Very fun to play through the story, I honestly got as much of a kick out of it as I did GoW...very similar yet somehow not as mindless in presentation. If you want to play through the story once, and don't enjoy multiplayer, _RENT IT_. If you like playing through on different difficulties, or especially if you enjoy multiplayer shooters, _BUY IT_.

4.5 stars.