Game #989: Resistance - Retribution

  It tried to kick my butt, but I resisted.

 When I first placed the Resitance: Retribution UMD inside my PSP I didn't know what I was getting into, for this eventually turned into one of the hardest games I've played on this handheld. Most commonly known as a series of first-person shooters, this Resistance is a third-person shooter that somehow works relatively well on the PSP... although with some caveats.

 The game is pretty lengthy, I'll give it that, it's way longer than you'd expect. The story follows one of the most unlikeable protagonists ever, Grayson, as he joins the French resistance against the alien invaders, the Chimera. The story takes twists and turns, but I found it pretty forgettable. The fact that I didn't care about any of the characters didn't help. On the other hand, the game in unbelievably pretty, looking better than some PS2 games even... although the games does go a bit hard on browns and greys. On the flipside, the UMD tray CRIES in agony when loading every stage for the first time. At firs the game is very easy. There are about 20 stages or so, say, the first 12 are pretty easy. Incredibly easy even. The next few stages do turn up the heat a lot and then, suddenly, you are being thrown through extensive gauntlets with checkpoints very far and in-between to the point that it becomes trial-and-error as you learn which enemies spawn when and were in order to deal with them before they fry your bacon. It stopped being fun at times.

 The game manages to work on the PSP by automatizing many different elements. For instance, Grayson is one sticky bastard, so getting close to walls or debris if there are enemies nearby will automatically make him take cover. Basic aiming is done automatically, with the game targeting whatever enemy it decides at random. It works well for the most part. You move with the analog nub and move the camera/your reticule with the face buttons. Once an enemy is targeted Grayson will only target it as long as it's within a clearly designated area in the screen, so you have to track it with the camera. That said, tapping the face buttons also cycle through targetable enemies, so it takes a bit of work to get the most out of the system. But I'll say it again, MOST of the time it works well. Sometimes you'll wish that Grayson would've targeted another enemy or that swapping targets was easier in the middle of a battle, but it's alright. You can take matters into your own hands by tapping up on the digital pad in order to aim manually in a more precise manner. The game drops the ball a bit here because it LOVES spamming these annoying enemies with huge heads that can only be defeated by shooting at their heads... which can only be done my aiming manually. They are not too hard once you know they are coming and from where, but the game LOVES spawning waves off them just to annoying since just a few of them making it close to you can murder you in seconds. It doesn't feel like a fair challenge since AIMING with the face buttons isn't the most precise thing in the world, y'know?

 There are 8 different weapons, with sounds like a lot, but a lot of weapons have very low max ammo caps. Rule of thumb being the more useful the weapon is, the lower max capacity it has. This also means that you'll sometimes have to shake things up and can't rely on the same weapons all the time because they'll inevitably run out of ammo. Every weapon has some sort of alternate function or utility which is pretty neat. The Auger can deploy a shield and its shots go through anything that isn't an auger shield. The Sniper Rifle can slow down time. The chimera assault rifle can charge a devastating shot.

 At times fun, at times frustrating, Resistance Retribution delivers a pretty decent third-person shooter on a handheld that has a single analog stick. Once you get accustomed to the controls the game becomes yet another example of all the great things that could be done with the PSP.

 7.0