KILLZONE

Billed as the Halo-killer prior to launch, Killzone 1 on the PS2 couldn’t even kill a fly. It was a beautiful looking game, but was dragged down by stupid AI, timid shooting, and a bland campaign. A whole lot of people gave in to the enormous hype surrounding it, and a whole lot of people were immensely disappointed with the investment they made in its purchase.

Adventure games, platformers, experimental games, and even several first person shooters like Killzone and Resistance really found their footing on the Playstation 3. The latter ended up turning into a very well-received trilogy all on the PS3 with two hand-held spin-offs, one on the PSP and one on the Vita. The developer, Insomniac Games, who was very well known for their work on Ratchet and Clank series from the PS2 era was in full-swing as a developer churning out Ratchet games and Resistance games all throughout the PS3’s life, both carrying the common denominator of being extremely fun and featuring some of gaming’s most interesting and entertaining weapons.

Resistance to this day might be Insomniac’s most mature series though, with lots of darker themes and tones ringing throughout the main trilogy’s alternate history timeline, creating an interesting contrast with the studios’ other work. All three of the mainline Resistance games reviewed and sold quite well and cultivated a healthy online audience, especially with Resistance 2, so what happened? Why haven’t we seen any word of a fourth game in the series in so many years? What the hell happened to Resistance?

Resistance certainly started out with a bang! The first game featured many great weapons and an very interesting plot of Allied forces fighting against an insect-like extraterrestrial species, who would be called the Chimera, from taking over Europe in the 1950’s. The marketing was a snap as the skull of said Chimera was quickly turned into an unmistakable image synonymous with the series. The game-play featured a unique mix of traditional World War 2 styled weapons and alien tech  that had more in common with guns that you would see in a Halo game than any other game based in the 1950’s, and this kept things infinitely interesting throughout the campaign.

Another excellent addition that Resistance had to offer was its massive multiplayer that could house up to 40 players at once, offering sheer chaos that few other shooters offered at the time. The online mode was supported well after launch with multiple map packs and other DLC content being rolled out for a long time after launch. These basic tenants continued into the second game that had a comparable story but an even better online mode that had one of the PS3’s best co-op experiences.

Most of the weapons from the first game’s multiplayer were back as well as a few additions and servers for this mode were active well into the current decade, and made it all the way to 2014 before they were shut down. Resistance 3 was perhaps the best game in the series with more focus on narrative and story and had what was easily the best campaign in the series. The multiplayer was a little more on the generic side this time around but still rounded out the game, and the series, quite nicely. So it’s no surprise that the Resistance series did quite well and, to this day, has a pretty dedicated fanbase.

Like I touched on before, Insomniac really lived up to their name by being straight up workaholics for the last 15 years. Countless quality games have been produced out of that studio and one can’t really blame them for wanting to move on from any given franchise. The first game was a launch window game for the PS3 and really sold quite well, so a sequel or even a trilogy weren’t too out of the ordinary for something that was successful, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the studio behind it is going to want to continue with it forever. We see this all the time with developers. Once three or four great games are out in a franchise, its only natural for the developers to want to stretch their legs creatively as Guerrilla Games did with Horizon Zero Dawn and Naughty Dog did with The Last of Us.

Insomniac Games’ CEO Ted Price did tell GamesRadar in an interview a few years back “We decided to bring Resistance to a conclusion when we looked ahead and realized that Resistance 4, while possible and something we seriously considered, wasn’t going to be the right game for us at that time.” Which does make sense as Resistance 3 was certainly the pinnacle to what the first two games were ultimately getting at thematically and stylistically. Insomniac’s success as a studio was probably what happened to Resistance. The team has been working on excellent projects like Sunset Overdrive, a Ratchet and Clank reboot, and now what appears to be their best work with Marvel’s Spider-man. With a team this busy expanding their reach, it makes sense that they wouldn’t want to go backwards.

Will the series carry on without Insomniac though? I think it’s entirely possible. With fans of the previous games still not even close to giving up hope for a new one, and still expressing interest on a regular basis, and Sony already showing that they’re willing to move on without the original team at the helm with the Playstation Vita’s Burning Skies, I think its safe to say that the series will make a return one day.

So, the question really is when it will make its return? Perhaps Insomniac isn’t out of the picture though. While they are currently busy wrapping up Spider-man now, Resistance 4 could very well be on the agenda for their next project. But like all matters of this sort, only time will tell.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

One of the most overlooked and underrated members of Sony’s first party lineup for PlayStation is the Resistance series, and it makes sense as to why- not only did the series really not hit its stride until Resistance 3, which was incidentally the conclusion of the franchise.

But it also has had a number of highly mediocre entries (Resistance 2, Resistance Burning Skies), was subpar compared to Insomniac’s other efforts such as the famed Ratchet and Clank or Spyro series, and always felt out of place, considering Sony already had a major shooter franchise it was billing as PlayStation’s flagship with Killzone.

That said, it had its fans, and those fans will undoubtedly be delighted to know that Sony has just filed a brand new trademark for Resistance in Europe. It’s a standard trademark, and it says nothing new- and before you get your hopes up too high, it’s probably just been filed to further extend and protect the original trademark on the series. The likelihood that this suggests is not of a brand new Resistance game in development (3 bombed, and Burning Skies poisoned the well), but rather, the possibility of a remaster/repackaging of the PS3 games, probably for the PS4.

Which would still be fine as long as more players get to play the great Resistance 3.

To be clear here, Resistance: Burning Skies isn’t made by Insomniac Games – the original developers of the franchise; it’s Nihilistic Software. The less said about their pedigree, the better. Uncharted: Golden Abyss was a launch title for the Vita, and it’s also one game that demonstrated how easy it is to pair gyroscope and analogue aiming on the system, resulting in increased accuracy.

My one gripe about Golden Abyss was the easily noticeable input lag that damped my enjoyment. It’s really not fun struggling to get the cursor on the enemy and  getting blown to bits by others. Here in Burning Skies, the aiming is smooth as butter but the game does have problems that should have been solved before being shipped. Lack of polish is apparent as the visuals are quite inconsistent in places.

The game does look good, but it also has other areas that are completely washed out and bland looking. This inconsistency spills forth in other departments like multiplayer and the general gameplay mechanics. The game does contain a weapon wheel – which is a good progressive design. The weapons themselves are quite ingenious, featuring some of the classic Resistance weapons like Auger and so on. There are some new ones too like a shotgun that doubles up as a bow.

The story isn’t something that will enthral you till the end. It’s about a fireman getting trapped during the Chimeran invasion and has only one goal of finding and rescuing his family. Of course, things aren’t that simple as it sounds and the situation gets complicated just like in all Resistance games. You will fight various forms of Chimera and big bosses too – which you should expect by now especially if you have played the PS3 Resistance games.

Let me talk a bit about the aiming since the game features a multiplayer component as well – and it’s also quite fun. There isn’t a lot of auto-aim here, so you have to put in a lot of effort and it will take a while to get used to playing games on a portable such as the Vita. I kind of noticed that after a few hours, it was really easy to aim at things compared to when I started the game and was struggling to get some hits. So it’s imperative to finish the campaign, or at least play a little bit before jumping onto the MP.

The campaign isn’t that long and will last you 6-7 hours, depending on how you play, but it does contain a lot of variety in level design and the encounters are handled well. The sprint is mapped to the down button on the d-pad, which is, quite hilarious and made no sense. How about double tapping X to run? That made sense, didn’t it? Things like these are why it’s such a chore playing FPS games on a portable, although, the Vita with its second analogue stick makes it bearable. I shudder at the thought of using the face button to aim.

Vita has an OLED touch screen and this makes navigation a breeze, and some of the secondary fire function of weapons requires you to utilize the touch screen. It’s well implemented and far from a gimmick. Some of the levels are absolutely horrible, though. However, the whole campaign is something that can be termed as decent and worth a single playthrough, considering its by default the best FPS on a portable.

I am a huge fan of the console Resistance games; having spent a lot of time on the multiplayer modes there, I felt Resistance: Burning Skies’ multiplayer mode was quite fun and engaging. It also makes me think that we are actually playing this on a portable with basically no lag or any other issues. The multiplayer supports 4v4 team deathmatch and other modes, and is most definitely a showcase for the system as far as mulitplayer is concerned. It will take you a while to get adjusted to the online gameplay mechanics.

If you are a Vita owner and are on the lookout for a good FPS to waste time on, you wouldn’t go wrong with Resistance: Burning Skies. However, if little design issues and shoddy production values are detrimental to your enjoyment, then I would advise against buying it. Hopefully, there should be some better FPS games on the horizon for Vita which showcases what the system is capable of, but for now, Resistance: Burning Skies will do.

This game was reviewed on the PS Vita.

Watch this launch trailer for Resistance: Burning Skies on PS Vita! As New York fire fighter and National Guardsman Tom Riley, you’re about to come face to face with the brutal Chimeran invasion force in this blistering shooter built from the ground up for the PlayStation Vita.

The latest installment in the hugely successful franchise focuses on the initial days of the assault by overwhelming Chimeran forces on the U.S. eastern seaboard and intense multiplayer.

Tell us what you think in the comments section below. Stay tuned for our review soon.

• Experience day one of the Chimera invasion of the United States of America through the eyes of everyday hero and New York City fireman, Tom Riley.
• Take part in action packed multiplayer battles via PlayStation Network with up to seven of your friends.
• Play Resistance in an entirely new way using a range of the PlayStation Vita system’s capabilities.

Resistance: Burning Skies is due out later this month on the PS Vita.
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For the first time on a handheld device, FPS fans will experience the familiar home console way to play shooters with dual analog support and can expand their gameplay online with multiplayer and location based gaming capabilities.

The game comes out on May 30th for the Vita. Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

There are some spoilers here, however, so be careful if you are going to play the game. Regarding how well the game runs; the frame rate is a little iffy but it looks and runs smoothly for most part.

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

Key Features:
• The first ever portable first-person shooter with true dual-analog control. Console-quality shooting in the palm of your hand.
• Competitive 8-player online multiplayer across 6 unique maps and 3 modes
• A frenetic campaign mode told from an entirely new perspective in the Resistance
• Developed from the ground-up to take full advantage of the power of PlayStation®Vita System, delivering the ultimate portable shooter experience with front and rear touch controls

Stay tuned to GB for more news and updates.

Resistance: Burning Skies is, at its core, a story about an everyday hero becoming a legend. On August 15th, 1951, New York City fireman Tom Riley is called away during a seemingly routine fire call and finds himself thrust into the midst of the brutal Chimeran invasion (Resistance 2 fans: this parallels the period when Nathan Hale returns from Europe).

You can see some snippets of gameplay at 01:16, and it doesn’t look too shabby. It seems the developer has done a great job.

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.