Resistance: Fall of Man Review — A Forgotten Gem?
It’s rare for a franchise to produce three titles in a series. It’s even rarer for every title in that franchise to achieve critical and commercial success. But despite its surface-level successes, the Resistance series failed to have the lasting popularity enjoyed by other exclusive FPS titles such as Halo and Killzone. Sony too has abandoned the series, failing to produce a sequel for the PS4 generation. However, look online and you will find many fans still singing the franchise’s praises and hold it up as a forgotten gem. Today, we will look at the first title in the series Resistance: Fall of Man to see how it holds up fourteen years after its initial release.
Fall of Man tells the story of well… the fall of man. It’s a sci-fi retelling of World War Two where an insect-like alien race known as the Chimera who are hell-bent on conquering the planet take the place of the Nazis. An intriguing premise, but one the game fails to build on. The Chimera never become more than a visually striking stand-in for the Nazis. They’re not fleeing their homeworlds destruction, nor do they have ideological reasons for conquering the planet. They are simply here to conquer. It’s a massively missed opportunity to create real tension between the two sides. Even Killzone gives its enemies a more interesting backstory. Ultimately, Fall of Man’s premise is story-wise, its main hook, and if that doesn’t interest you then Fall of Man’s story has little to offer.
Compounding its weak story is even weaker characters. Fall of Man puts players in the boots of Sgt. Nathan Hale the game’s gruff almost silent protagonist. I say almost silent because Hale says almost nothing throughout the games 15–20 hour campaign. Only occasionally grumbling an acknowledgment of orders. To put it simply, he is boring, a shortcoming unhelped by the fact that most of the other characters are too. Take Parker for example, the British scientist studying the Chimera and the game’s narrator. Instead of expanding the game’s backstory or explaining the motives of the Chimera, she mostly orders Hale from location to location. It’s another missed opportunity. Games like Bioshock intertwine exposition and character development in short radio calls. The game’s only enjoyable characters are the nameless British soldiers who you’ll fight alongside in numerous battles. These characters provide some much-needed humanity to the principal characters more lifeless and dour personas. It’s a credit to the game that I found myself genuinely trying to protect them from dying.
Despite its age, combat in Fall of Man is still undeniably fun. Its tight controls allow quick movement from target to target and really make use of your limited ammunition. But it’s Fall of Man’s creatively destructive arsenal that is the real star of the show. Players unlock eight weapons and three grenades on their first playthrough and more on their second. Weapons come in many forms, from the mundane automatic rifles, shotguns, and rocket launchers of humanity to the alien weapons of the Chimera. Insomniac’s talent for crafting alien weaponry shines through with Chimera weapons not just looking alien but actually playing alien.
Weapons also come with alternate firing modes that range from using both barrels of your shotgun to generating temporary shields. This creates a sense of urgency in combat as I constantly switched weapons to suit the scenario. In an area where the Chimera are dug in, I found the Auger’s ability to fire projectiles through solid objects the most useful. But when facing Leapers, the game’s swarming spider-like enemies I found the wide range of the Shotgun most effective. It’s a subtly tactical experience that few First-Person shooters achieve.
The game’s driving sections were also a highlight. Scattered throughout the game, these chapters see players take control of three devastating vehicles. Mowing down Chimera in an insanely driftable SUV or using a Tank to take out entire enemy squads in one shot is more fun than you would expect it to be considering you are only in vehicles for a handful of chapters. It also adds variety to the games mostly on-foot sections.
Despite being outdated by around two console generations Resistance doesn’t look too bad. While clearly aged, it surprised me how good some textures were particularly on the weapons and the Chimera can still horrify up close. The game loads fast too barely taking twenty seconds between chapters and less than that from a death. This Is likely due to how short each chapter is, barely taking at most 15 minutes to complete unless you get stuck at a hard part. This keeps the game moving at a quick pace only slowing down when you get to a harder area. Luckily the fun combat and quick load times make those slower moments bearable if not fun.
Ultimately, Resistance: Fall of Man still holds up as a shooter today. Gunplay is fluid, weapons are creative, and the vehicle sections offer a surprising amount of fun. But the game’s failure to do anything with its intriguing premise leaves it an ultimately hollow experience.
