Resistance: Retribution – PSP – Preview 3

Starting with the first game that
launched alongside the PS3, Sony’s Resistance franchise has been a tour de force
on the PS3, representing one of the best original IPs to debut on the system.
The second entry to the series recently launched last fall to wide critical
acclaim. Now, Sony and its Bend, Oregon studio are preparing to launch the first
PSP iteration of the series with their upcoming third-person shooter,
Resistance: Retribution.

Last month, GameZone was given a
chance to check out the game’s
single-player portion courtesy of a demo. Now, at
a recent press event, Sony unveiled the multiplayer portion of what is sure to
be one of the must-own PSP titles of 2009.


Resistance: Retribution PSP screenshots

Resistance: Retribution will allow
for 8 players to take each other on via ad-hoc (local) or infrastructure
(internet). The multiplayer elements will allow players to use the same
auto-assist control function as the single-player elements, as well as give you
access to all of the weapons available in the single-player game.

The multiplayer portion of the game
will really emphasize the “Maquis vs. Cloven” element in the game, pitting the
two sides against each other in team-based combat. While a good chunk of the
multiplayer element is familiar territory for online shooter fans, with
well-known game modes like Capture the Flag, Team Deathmatch, and Free-for-All
playing exactly as many gamers would be expecting them to, there are some fairly
different modes available as well, in the form of the Assimilation and
Containment modes.


Resistance: Retribution PSP screenshots

Assimilation is a pretty interesting
mode, with one player starting on the Cloven side and the others on the Maquis
side. The Cloven character has the ability to take down other players, and once
they’ve been killed in battle, they will switch teams from Maquis to Cloven,
charged with taking down their former allies. The mode is based around a point
system like other modes, as killing your opponents will net you a different
score depending on whether or not they are on the Cloven or Maquis sides, with
more points coming to you if either of you are the “last man standing” on either
side. You’ll play through several games as scores are built up to determine the
true winner.


Resistance: Retribution PSP screenshots

The other new mode in Resistance:
Retribution is Containment. In Containment, each side has to take over
emplacements on the map in order to get the enemy side to “overheat”; the more
emplacements your team takes over, the faster your enemies will overheat. In
order to take them over, you and your team have to shoot them out, and vice
versa. Once you’ve taken an emplacement, you are required to protect it as well,
or else your opponents can take control and cause your team to overheat.

The modes in Resistance: Retribution
are pretty fun to play and handle exceptionally well. Even though most of the
online modes are common ground for online shooters, they are still a blast, and
the new ones are exciting and engaging.