Video Game Review: Sony’s ‘Resistance: Retribution’ a Rare Must-Buy PSP Title

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HollywoodChicago.com Video Game Rating: 4.5/5.0
Video Game Rating: 4.5/5.0

CHICAGO – Sony’s “Resistance: Retribution” is a great game but it can be a frustrating experience. More than once while playing through this excellent handheld companion to two of the PS3’s biggest titles - “Resistance: Fall of Man” and “Resistance 2” - I kept asking myself, “Why aren’t there more PSP game like this one?”

The PSP may not have lived up to its potential as the next “it toy,” but “Resistance: Retribution” hints at what this machine could and should have been for gamers. I love my PSP, but even the most diehard Sony nut would admit that the low flow of games for the handheld has been downright depressing lately. “Resistance: Retribution” is a fantastic release that makes you wonder why there aren’t more like it.

Resistance: Retribution
Resistance: Retribution
Photo credit: Sony

“Retribution” bridges the gap between the two PS3 games in the franchise with the story of former British Marine James Grayson. The soldier is forced to kill his own soldier in a Chimeran conversion center and goes on a mission to destroy every conversion center he can find. He discovers that in Western Europe the Chimera have figured out a new way to turn humans into killing machines and works with the Maquis to retake the continent.

Resistance: Retribution
Resistance: Retribution
Photo credit: Sony

“Resistance: Retribution” doesn’t follow exactly the same gameplay model as the two PS3 games but it’s close enough for fans of the console titles to catch on quickly. The game follows a third-player camera shooter style with both an automatic targeting system and a way to turn it off (and you’ll need to in order to kill some enemies). It’s an incredibly fluid and easy-to-use shooting system that will be familiar to fans of the “Syphon Filter” system (the game was developed by the same company).

Fans of “Resistance” will recognize a lot of the enemies in “Retribution” including the gun-toting aliens known as the Chimera and the Titan, Slipskull, Hybrids, and Leapers, but the developers have included a few new bad guys and some very well-designed bosses. The enemy AI isn’t perfect but it’s way above average for the PSP and, honestly, I’ve recently reviewed games on next-gen consoles that don’t have the same quality of AI.

With an intriguing storyline, entertaining gameplay, and incredibly fluid graphics, “Retribution” would be the best game for the PSP in months just for entertainment value alone but there’s a lot more to this game. What’s most remarkable about it is how clearly it displays the potential of a system that may be going the way of the Gameboy and not just in the single-player game itself.

Resistance: Retribution
Resistance: Retribution
Photo credit: Sony

“Resistance: Retribution” can be hooked up to a PS3 running “Resistance 2,” opening up the wicked cool “Retribution Connect”. Players will be able to unlock new features in the game, including an alternate story, an additional uniform, new intel, and the use of weapons from “Resistance 2”. Players can even use their DualShock 3 controller to play the game either on the PSP itself or using the video out function on their big screen.

The idea that a portable game can be transferred and enhanced by its sister system - PSP to PS3 - is brilliant and something that more developers need to consider. It’s the kind of bell or whistle that could resurrect the PSP. Imagine a new “GTA” game for the PSP that plays differently when hooked up to your copy of “GTA IV”. Imagine the potential of roleplaying games that can interact with their handheld versions.

And then there’s the multiplayer. Users can engage in up to eight-player gameplay with five game modes available either ad-hoc or infrastructure. Multiplayer modes include “Team Deathmatch,” “Capture the Flag,” “Containment,” “Assimilation,” and “Free For All”.

Resistance: Retribution
Resistance: Retribution
Photo credit: Sony

Is “Retribution” perfect? It gets a little repetitive and a few of the enemies are just too easy to kill if you have even the most basic understanding of how to use cover. Played on a normal difficulty level, I wanted a bit more of a challenge from the waves of Chimera waiting to meet the ugly end of my Auger. Don’t get me wrong. “Retribution” is not super-easy and you can always crank up the difficulty level, but it’s more a complaint about the design of the game in that some of the bosses are shockingly easy and some of the Chimera are ridiculously dumb.

It’s early in 2009, but there’s a very good chance, especially with the state of the handheld, that we won’t see a better PSP game all year than “Resistance: Retribution”. It’s got a great story, wonderful checkpoint system, easy-to-use shooting design, and much, much more. It’s the best PSP game in over a year (since “God of War: Chains of Olympus”) and proof that there’s still life in this powerful little machine.

‘Resistance: Retribution’ was released by Sony Computer Entertainment and developed by Bend Studio. It is rated M (Mature) and is exclusively available on the PSP. It was released on March 17th, 2009.

HollywoodChicago.com content director Brian Tallerico

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

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