In some
ways, Resistance: Fall of Man is a step backwards for Insomniac Studios. Sure,
the game is being developed for the PlayStation 3, and yes, Insomniac is the
studio that has been behind Ratchet and Clank as well as Spyro games, but with
Resistance, Insomniac is reaching into the past.
Way back in
1996 Insomniac released its first title, Disruptor, a first-person shooter that
really put Insomniac on the video-game map. Since then, the company has made a
pretty good living off other characters, and the third-person perspective. But
with the next generation PlayStation platform, Insomniac reached into the past
and rekindled its love of the FPS genre.
Resistance:
Fall of Man is set in 1951, but not in the world we all know. This world had a
divergent history, one in which World War II never occurred. The game itself
actually takes place during four days – July 11-14.
Sony and
Insomniac hosted a media day back on August 29 in Burbank, and only now can
we let the cat out of the bag.
Resistance
is, in a word, sweet. While some of the story elements could be seen as borrowed
from other ideas, the game – on the whole – plays out with intensity and
glorious gameplay elements all inserted into a stunning three-dimensional
realization that will really become a benchmark for the FPS genre.
Ted Price,
president and CEO of Insomniac, was frank in stating that “this is different than
what we have done in the past,” but he also stated that Insomnia is “taking the
power of the PS3 and creating a lot more depth.” He cited the four pillars
(goals) for Resistance as being immersion, believability, creepiness and fun.
Ok, a little
bit about Resistance. It begins with a mutated race called the Chimera sweeping
out across Russia. The Chimera are a parasitic life form that infects other life
forms with a virus that mutates the infected into new Chimera. Before long,
Europe has fallen and is under the dominion of the Chimera. England is all but
conquered when the United States decides to end its isolationist stance and
sends forces to the island nation to help. But if the U.S. government knew more
about this enemy, it didn’t tell its military. U.S. Army Ranger Nathan Hale is
patrolling with a group of British soldiers when they are suddenly overwhelmed
by bug-like creatures. The unit is destroyed and Hale is infected with the
Chimera virus. But it does not have quite the effect on him that it does on so
many others. For the next four days, he fights his own war against this race,
and players may begin to unravel the origin of the Chimera, and much more.
Not only is
this a vibrant single-player game, but it is also a robust multiplayer one as
well. The game features 40-player maps, with some of the maps being sized for
8-40 players, depending on the number entering the event.
Mike Stout
was in charge of the multiplayer design. He stated that the four points the team
strove to achieve were diversity, community features, fun and a fair gaming
experience.
“There are
two types of multiplayer gamers out there,” he said. “There are the hardcore
ones who like to compete, and the people who go on to just have fun. We wanted
to create a game where those two groups could go.”
The goal was
to create a frantic, fast-paced and visceral game. While there are not vehicles
in the multiplayer games, there are five modes of play – death match, team
deathmatch, capture the flag, breach (destroy the opponents reactor and capture
nodes along the way) and meltdown (like breach only scaleable). There will be 60
available player ranks (the higher the rank, the more stuff you can get) and the
game will support downloadable content. There will be two factions – the Chimera
and humans.
As with any
Insomniac game, part of the fun is the exotic weaponry and Resistance has that.
There is the Bullseye (can paint a teammate and then blow them up along with
nearby enemies), the Laark (rocket launcher except you can stop the missiles in
mid flight and redirect them with the controller), the Augur (fires through
walls), the Fareye (human sniper score that can also slow time for brief
periods), the Sapper (create goopy fun with globules that will explode if an
enemy touches them), the Hedgehog (exploding grenade that sends spikes out in
360 degrees), and the Hailstorm (shoots “crapload” of bullets that can ricochet
and do more damage). At this point, there is no Sheepinator. Each of the weapons
does have an alt attack though.
The game
itself uses Insomniac’s proprietary engine and the entire single-player campaign
can be played in co-op mode. There will be three vehicles that can be driven in
co-op mode.
Graphically
the game was stunning. During the event in Burbank, it was running at 720p, but
the goal is to have it up to 1080 by launch. The environments are destructible
and detailed. The sound was equal to the graphics, with a rich narrative.
Hands on
allowed the media to play parts of levels, not full levels, but the experience
was somewhat typical of the FPS genre in some regards, but not so in many
others. The AI of the enemy was bright and often the Chimera employed tactics
that some FPS gamers use – like run forward, shoot and then backpedal while
continuing to shoot.
In all this
is one launch title that is looking like a must-have for potential PS3 owners.
Sony allowed a treat in seeing snippets of the game, but these were more than
enough to whet the appetite for much more.
