Resistance: Fall of Man (2006)

When Resistance: Fall of Man came out as a launch title for the PlayStation 3 that I bought, I was blown away. It looked like a game from the far future and the term “next generation” felt like an understatement.

Right from the start, I was sucked into its story, it’s beauty and the intense action that greeted me in the first stage. This is one of those games that lasted an impression on me and showed me the power of the next generation of gaming. It was a unique experience at the time.

The story in Resistance: Fall of Man is simple but strong. You are Nathan Hale a soldier in the era of WWII. The second world war never happened and after the first world war, only the tensions in Russia with their Tsar and the revolution of Lenin remained. Monsters called Chimera are created by the Russians as some sort of twisted genetic experiment. After years of isolation from the rest of the world and strange events happening in Russia, a wall is constructed along the border to keep everyone out and/or in. After a while, the walls are breached, and countless Chimera invade Europe. Humans are kidnapped and infected with the Chimera virus or simply killed off where they stand.

It is your responsibility to stop the attackers and wipe out the core of the invasion. This is easier said than done and the struggle is real. Nathan has fallen victim to the virus and is slowly transforming from within. He is able to suppress it while fighting and progressing, but his eyes start to glow yellow, and the symptoms cannot be denied anymore. In the end however, you succeed in destroying the breed facility of the Chimera, giving the human race a fighting chance once again. It was this sprinkle of hope that mankind needed to repel the invaders.

I really liked the setting in which you feel that your efforts are hopeless and the chance for success is minimal. Yet you push on, never giving up, booking some small successes along the way. Every battle you see your squad mates die and more times than not, you are on your own.

The graphics are really beautiful. Back then, I was flabbergasted, and it felt like the best thing I had ever seen on screen. Nowadays, it is certainly not that impressive anymore but still, they are more than fine to look at. The environments are detailed and full of action, objects, Chimera factories and soldiers that interact with it. Almost every building, street and road is destroyed, and it really shows the effects of war. It remains a work of art.

The sound design was also a completely new experience for me back then, that still holds up today. Firing the Carbine rifle or the alien Bullseye gun felt great when the bullets just blasted trough your speakers. The grunts and screams of the Chimera’s are also really well implemented and actually make you feel that you are killing their asses. The music on the other hand is a little standard and generic, but in this game, I did not mind it that much.

The controls are easy and simple to understand. You aim, you shoot, can change grenade types with D-pad buttons and just walk forward, to war. I also really liked that this game features a health bar instead of waiting for a few seconds to be healthy again. Finding health pickups can be tricky and even then, when you get flanked by a Chimera, it can be over soon.

I really like the different weapons in Resistance: Fall of Man. You got your standard “human” weapons like the Carbine, a reliable weapon with excellent rate of fire, a shotgun that blast enemies away, a very accurate sniper rifle and a rocket launcher. Then you can find all kinds of alien weapons like the Auger, the Bullseye and the Hailstorm. Experimenting with them and finding out which weapon works best in which scenario keeps the game fresh and challenging.

Enemies are really well created too. You fight the standard Chimera infantry, a hideous monster with eight eyes, razor sharp teeth and a bony, half cyborg body. Then you got workers, who creep up on you, arms at the ready to lunge at you. Then you got all manners of foul alien beasts and critters that hinder you in the most inconvenient places. And my personal favorites, the Auger Chimera’s, big chunky boys with armor and a devastating Auger gun that can shoot through walls.

I cannot stress enough how much I loved this game. It can become a little repetitive over time, but just when you got enough of a certain area of facility, the game changes the environment again to a glorious open world battle, before sending you to some dump of a place again afterwards. My only complaint were the last levels, which all took place in some kind of facility that kind of looked the same all throughout.

In the end, I really enjoyed my experience with Resistance: Fall of Man. It was fresh, it was new, and it lasted an impression on me back then that I will always cherish.

Definitely recommend this (in present times) blast from the past.

I think I played this one too late, the voice acting and story felt very cheesy and the visuals were pretty bad too. I liked the premise of an alien attack during World War 2 and shooting around was a lot of fun (especially with a friend) for a while but things got boring pretty quickly for me.