Resistance Retribution takes place between the first and second Resistance games on PS3 and acts as a side story. This time round you are not playing Mr Nathan Hale, the protagonist you have come to know, but instead play as the slightly nutty James Grayson. You start the game as you are being pulled from death row. James had been court-martialed for his actions in the war, but was saved from death (at least the immediate kind) by a mercenary group so that they can unleash the crazy bastard (being you) on the Chimera in Europe.
Putting a shooter onto the PSP is never an easy task. One of the first games to get it right was Syphon Filter, and it is the same developer (Sony Bend) that was tasked with bringing us Resistance Retribution. Those that played the Syphon Filter games will be very familiar with the two control options. You can either move with the analogue nub and aim with the face buttons or visa versa.
While this does not exactly provide precise movement or aim, it is also not all that necessary. That is because they have thrown in some very generous aim assist (auto aim). It will basically lock on to enemies that are in the general direction you are facing. While you may think this is overdoing it, it merely saves you from the PSP hurling frustration that would arise if it actually required you to aim precisely with the highly imprecise controls that are inherent to the PSP. While this is a good system for the most part, there are times when it will lock on to a target in the distance hiding behind cover, while a bigger and uglier creature is but an arms length away.
Besides, its not like the game doesn’t become difficult. While you are not required to aim precisely, you are required to deal with increasing numbers of enemies, and increasingly more tough enemies. There is also an easy to use cover system. You merely need to run up to a flat surface, and you will take cover. For the most part it is clear what objects can act as cover and the system is fairly intuitive.
Much like the main Resistance games, you have an exhaustive arsenal of weapons at your disposal. Each of the weapons has a main and secondary fire mode, and much of the strategy lies in knowing which gun to use when. If you have played the two PS3 games you should be familiar with most of the weapons in Retribution, including the Fareye sniper rifle that can slow down time and the Auger which can shoot through obstacles and walls.
As far as PSP games go, Retribution offers some pretty good multiplayer. There are a variety of team based modes on offer, from a control-point mode to the traditional capture the flag and team death match modes. The control point game mode is interesting as all killed players are converted to the other team. The somewhat limited control scheme does become more evident when facing off against human opponents however. While jumping into the odd game is good fun, in all likelihood if you are serious about multiplayer you will be doing so on a console or PC.
As a bonus for those loyal fans who picked up Resistance 2, you can “infect” your PSP by connecting to Resistance 2 through your PS3. Doing so will also infect your character with the Chimeran virus in addition to some minor changes to the storyline. Being infected has its benefits, as you will be able to regenerate health and breathe underwater. For some reason it also gives you some new guns. This is all good and well, but if you don’t own a copy of Resistance 2 (like me) then this is all out of reach for you. I borrowed a friend’s copy and from my experience it seems like you need to “infect” your PSP each time you wish to play this mode.
While Resistance Retribution does have some niggling problems, most of these arise due to the platform it is on. However it is a very enjoyable, nice looking and fairly lengthy game for the PSP. There hasn’t been all that many great PSP games in recent times, so if you need a PSP fix and like shooters, you are unlikely to be disappointed. If you own Resistance 2 then there is a bit of extra incentive in there for you.
Tags: Sony