Resistance: Burning Skies Preview

The Resistance series of games are a favourite among a great many people, and for good reason. In a time when all we seemed to get were remakes and sequels, the first Resistance game gave us something a little bit different, with an enemy that was also something new to be pitted against in the Chimera.

There have been three games in the series to grace the home consoles, as well as one for the PSP a few years back, now it’s the turn of the PlayStation Vita, the upcoming Resistance game being titled Resistance: Burning Skies. The one thing that those people that are considering picking it up when it released will be how the game handles, thanks to the fact that the Vita has a dual analog control system, something that many people wished that the PSP had.

Have their thoughts been answered? Does the new Resistance portable game handle like the series they’ve grown to love? Perhaps more importantly – especially in the eyes of Sony themselves – is will it be enough to sell yet more PlayStation Vita consoles to the masses?

The short answer to all of these questions is a simple “Yes”. The first thing that many people will notice when they pick up the game for the first time is the fact that, if they’ve played the previous games in the series at least, they will feel right at home with the controls. The dual analog stick system makes the case for its existence almost single-handedly with Resistance: Burning Skies. If you’re waiting to hear me tell you whether or not it plays like a console First Person Shooter then you’ll be happy to know that it does, the dual analog sticks serve their job perfectly, and not once did I miss any additional trigger buttons, something else that console counterparts often have more of.

The PlayStation Vita only has the two bumper buttons, compared to the PlayStation 3’s four shoulder buttons, however, the left bumper button serves as a method of bringing up the iron sights, while the right bumper button fires your equipped weapon. A very similar method of controlling the game as you would find in a console FPS, so it won’t take long to get used to things on the Vita.

The touch screen is used in Resistance: Burning Skies as a method of throwing grenades towards the enemy. On the right hand side of the screen there are icons that indicate which grenade types you’re currently carrying. Tapping, and holding on one of these types will select it for use and the gameplay will slow down allowing the player to throw it into the thick of battle without worrying about the inaccuracies of touch controls. This method of throwing grenades takes a little getting used to, as most frequent players of FPS games will be used to throwing grenades in the direction of their reticule, but it doesn’t take long to get used to this new method. In fact, a lot of the time it can be used as a tactical advantage as you may be attacking enemies on the left hand side of the screen when you see a group of enemies appearing on the right hand side, instead of moving the reticule to the newly appearing group of enemies, the player can simply throw a grenade in that direction without removing their sights from the task at hand. This method of control works so well – when the player has gotten used to it – that I’d be surprised if other upcoming FPS titles for the PlayStation Vita don’t adopt it.

The story in Resistance: Burning Skies follows a new protagonist, Tom Riley. A fire-fighter who is simply going about his day job when things start to go awry as the Chimera attack, Tom reluctantly joins a group of rebels attempting to drive the encroaching enemy back. If they’re focussing on trying to take him down then they’re not trying as hard to kill all of the innocent civilians that are attempting to evacuate the city.

The preview I had the pleasure of playing through had three of the game’s six levels and took me upwards of three hours to complete on their own. With that in mind it seems fair to assume that the full game will carry on the length of these level and will end up taking average gamers around six to eight hours to complete; not a bad length for a portable game. That being said, the game doesn’t have to end once the final credits have been seen. There will be a multiplayer component to the game too, one that unfortunately wasn’t a part of the preview build itself but is still worth a mention as when the game is finally released it will be the first Vita FPS to include a multiplayer component.

It will certainly be interesting to see if the multiplayer of the game takes off, if the previous Resistance games on the PlayStation 3 are any indication of how the multiplayer in this game will play then it will be very entertaining indeed and the idea of being able to play on the move (or wherever there is WiFi available at least) is something that I look forward to getting my hands on at a later date.

If sound within a game is one thing that is a deciding factor in purchasing a game, then you’ll be happy to know that Resistance: Burning Skies has some pretty impressive audio. Every section of the game is fully voice acted, with a great number of characters. Even Tom himself is voice acted which is a welcome change to the myriad silent FPS main characters that the past has been plagued with. All of the weapons with the game have realistic sound effects applied to them too, the humans weapons of the era sound exactly as most people would expect them to and the Chimera weapons that you’ll be picking up along the way sound like a mix between the human weapons that you’ll be used to, crossed with alien technology; just like the Chimera themselves. Nihilistic have created a game that deserves to be played with headphones on, just so you can properly hear all of the small sonic nuances within the game and not have the auditory treats spoilt by the sounds of the world around you.

If you’ve been looking forward to the release of Resistance: Burning Skies then you’re not going to be disappointed when you finally get your hands on it when it is released. The story of the game fits in quite well with the console games and most people won’t miss the fact that we’re not following the protagonist from Resistance 3, we’ve only followed him for one game after all. The multiplayer aspect of Resistance: Burning Skies is going to be something that people should keep an eye on, being the first shooter that will allow people to shoot each other in the face on Sony’s portable system. I know I’ll be jumping on that; I’ll see you there.

Resistance: Burning Skies is due to be released exclusively for the PlayStation Vita on June 1st.

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