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This volume of the Resistance story takes place in the weeks after the fall of the Chimeran toiwer at the end of Resistance: Fall of Man. The primary character is James Grayson, who is a British Royal Marine, who is forced to hill his brother Jonny inside a Chimeran conversion center. After these events James goes AWOL and enters into his own personal vendetta agains the aliens and sets out to destroy every conversion center he can find. Consequently, James is captured and thrown into a military prison for his disertion.
James is rescued from military prison from the Maquis (the European Resistance), in exchange for his help. James reluctantly joins Operation Overstrike to retake the Europe from the Chimera.
After this lengthy story setup, James and team parachute into a war-torn area that’s overflowing with Chimera. The first level serves as a training level, as the game pauses and shows how to perform certain maneuvers as the need arises. For example, at the very beginning, you must escape downstairs, but a large chest is in the way. The game pauses as you approach and tells you what you need to do to clear the path by pushing the furniture downstairs. Once on the lower level, you must take cover behind an overturned table. The game again pauses and informs you of its automatic snap-to cover system. Other instructions on game dynamics appear throughout the level, like how to zoom, how to use the auto-aim feature (which is a godsend on a system with only one analog stick), how to switch weapons, and other actions.
Controls
The game is controlled like another popular PSP FPS: Syphon FIlter. As a matter of fact, Retribution uses a modified Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow engine. Shooters are typically controlled either with a mouse and keyboard, or with two analog sticks. One stick controls movement, while the other controls freelook. The PSP only has one analog stick, so that is assigned to movement. Freelook is handled using the four primary buttons. Special actions like jumping over cover and changing weapons and managed from the D-pad. That leaves the Right and Left shoulder buttons for Primary Fire and Secondary Fire, respectively. You can cycle through weapons by pressing the Right D-pad, or can bring up a quick-select menu by holding the button down for a second.
This compromise in FPS controls is the best that the PSP can do, but trying to hone in on enemies is very difficult. Like the dumb kid in an AP class, the game adjusts its “grade scale” for the slower control scheme. Enemies pretty much stay put, move in a linear fashion, rush straight for you, and the game employs a great “auto-target” mechnism. There may be several enemies on the screen at one time, and an orange target appears over potential enemies, while a red one appears over the “active” target. Once that enemy has fallen, the system then selects another target for you. You can, of course, change your active target with a press of the D-pad. You can zoom in with your weapon, but that forfeits the auto-targeting system, and you must hone-in on your enemy using the four main buttons.
The opening cutscenes look like they were rendered using a game engine (a la Machinima), and you think “holy crap the graphics on this game are gunna r0x0rs!”. Then you actually get to the “real” game engine, where things look more like what you expect from a PSP title.
The graphics of PSP games generally come in one of two flavors: great visuals with simple mechanics, or complex mechanics with “ok” graphics. Retribution definately falls within the latter category, which are also occupied by Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Wall-E, and Syphon Filter. The game tries to do too much, and the textures just aren’t as good as they could be. The engine also overuses dithering and other tricks to make the game look better, but actually makes it feel cheaper.
The enemies all start to look alike, as well. There may be as many as eight Chimera on the screen at one time, but there is absolutely no variance in their appearance at all.
I know there’s a lot going on at once, and the PSP, while powerful, can only do so much. A PSP game either has to have good graphics or complex mechanics, just because of the limited horsepower. I know that a game can have both, because God of War: Chains of Olympus has the best visuals on the PSP, while still maintiaining great gameplay mechanics.
I know I’ve been riding a bit much on the graphics,but that’s because I expected more from one of Sony’s only good exclusive franchises. They’re not horrible, but I’ve seen better.
Like the other Resistance games, this volume feature excellent voice acting. The weapon sounds are just as good as in the other games, and the soundtrack is very good as well.
The game plays a lot like a combination of Syphon Filter and Gears of War. You must make use of all the ample cover if you want to survive (unless you play on Easy and can just go in guns blazing). Taking a nod from Gears of War, you automatically stick to cover. Thanks to the auto-targeting system, just press your primary fire to automatically reveal yourself from cover and shoot the targeted enemy, and then automatically resume cover.
The game varies its scenery quite a bit, which takes care of the rather blassé AI. At the beginning of the game you find yourself in a war-ravaged European villiage, but you quickly find yourself traverssing sewers and alien facilities. Ohter locations are Luxembourg, Paris, Rotterdam, Warsaw, and Bonn. The levels are fairly straightforward, and there isn’t a lot of room to get lost, but it is still very easy to become confused because of the slow Freelook. I found myself accidentally backtracking because the areas just started to look similar.
One of the ways Retribution tries to mix things up with is in terms of firepower. There are literally a dozen weapons in the game, and you’ll find yourself using every single one of them. Like many shooters, different weapons are better at different tasks. Sniper rifles are great for covering your teammates as they try to reach an objective. Chainguns are perfect for large Bosses, and the general assault rifle is great for Boilers (aliens whose only real weak spot is their head).
Every level has several sections, and three Skill Point objectives. These objective are similar to Trophies on the Playstation Network (or Achievements on the Xbox 360).
One of the most innovative features is its integration with the Playstation 3. If you have a copy of Resistance 2, you can get a lot more out of Retribution. You can hook your PSP up to your TV (using an optional cable), and connect your PSP to your PS3 via USB, and get a few new ways to play. Not only can you use your Playstation 3 controller to play Retribution (which takes away auto-aim mode), but you also get two new modes: Infect Resistance: Retribution and Activate Resitance: Retribution Plus (use your Sixaxis controller on the PSP, including rumble!). These moves appear after you select Connect PSP on your PS3 and run Resistance 2. The new options appear in the menu.
Retribution has one of the most online gameplay activity for a PSP game. Infrastructure is set up for eight-player matches (four as Cloven and four as Maquis) in five different modes. Of course, nearly every hardcore gamer is already familiar with most of the online game types: Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flat, Free For All (plain old Deathmatch), Assimilation and Containment. Retribution easily wins hands-down as the best online experience on the PSP. The online goodies match some of the best of Xbox Live: There are clans, voice chat, Trophies, friends lists, unranked matches, and medals.
Resistance: Retribution has some weak points, but makes up for it with other areas, that absolutely blow away every other PSP game. As Nintendo has shown with its sales figures: it’s not necessarially how flashy your graphics are, but how good your gameplay is. Retribution is on the very short list of PSP games that are a “must have” in the gameplay department.
The game also has good replay value if you own a Playstation 3. Playing the game with a “real” controller changes the gameplay drastically, and you won’t believe you’re actually playing a satisfying shooter on a handheld. The limited resolution of the PSP can be a bummer, because since auto-aim is gone, it can be difficult to hone in on an enemy that’s only a few pixels across.
Resistance: Retribution has a lot going for it for a single-player game. It has a compelling and satisfying storyline, good gameplay dynamics, and great sound. The game’s weak points exist in the slow AI and mediocre graphics. If you aren’t interested in online play at all, then you might be satisfied with a rental. If, however, you want to finally experience a handheld game that’s just as rich as its big-brother consoles, then you will be absolutely floored by all of the options available in this game.
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1 Comment
Did you hear about the Resistance: Retribution tournament where you could win $25,000 in Sony gear?