Resistance: Retribution Review  

Played on PSP
Reviewed by Nic 

Resistance: Retribution marks the Sony franchise Resistance’s first foray into the handheld market, and given the somewhat mediocre history of shooters, either first person or third person, on the PSP, I was worried that Resistance: Retribution wouldn’t really live up to the hype surrounding it and its older brothers. 

Retribution is set in the same alternate history universe of the first game, before the events of Resistance 2, in Europe overrun by an alien species named the Chimera, Retribution’s protagonist is former British marine named James Grayson, who starts the story in prison awaiting execution by firing squad for going AWOL after his brother’s death and single-handedly destroying dozens of Chimera installations in Britain. Grayson’s as bad-mouthed, smart-assed and annoying as they get, and you’ll love him all the more as the game progresses,  

Saved by the European Resistance’s poster girl, Raine Bouchard, and offered the thankless job of grunt work in occupied Europe, Grayson accepts for the chance to kill more Chimera, and joins the Maquis in the remains of Holland and Belgium, along with Colonel Roland Mallery, who’s about as French as Frogs can be – which rubs constantly against Grayson.  

The story line is long and complex, with each member of the supporting cast having their own backstory and motivations, and the cutscene interactions are easily some of the most amusing I’ve seen in some time. (Not that it was unexpected, with a brash Brit and a stuck up Frog paired up.) Without spoiling and of the later stages, expect to see twists and betrayals from a number of characters, and an ending which leaves as many questions as there are answers. 

Gameplay is third-person shooter, based mainly upon the Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow engine also developed by Retribution’s creators, Sony Bend, with an adaptive cover system which will automatically place players in cover if they move near it. Aiming is easy as well, the game will auto-lock onto the target nearest the center of the targeting reticle when the view is moved with the thumbstick.  

There are 12 weapons available, both standard human ammunition (that is, bullets) and energy weapons adapted from Chimera technology, each of which has it’s own alternate fire, like rifle-mounted grenades, a bouncing energy-ball, as well as various grenades, and other neat weapons, like a guided missile launcher who’s projectiles can be paused in midair and redirected, and a weapon which projects a forcefield only certain weapons can fire through. 

Multiplayer is also available for the handheld via Sony’s online multiplay and the ad-hoc discover, with infrastructure supporting up to 4v4 games in a number of gametypes from death match and team death match, capture the flag and two unique game modes called Assimilation (starts off as 1v7 then becomes more interesting as the 1 Chimera converts fallen enemies to his side), and Containment, a variant of base-control.  

As if that wasn’t enough to keep you occupied, there’s replay value in spades here – from the skill points you can earn in every level – that you can only find out about on a second playthrough, to the intel items hidden in various levels, and the final twist which really had me intrigued – Infecting your PSP. If you have Resistance 2 on PS3, and you can plug your PSP in via a USB cable, you can select an option from R2 called ‘Infect My PSP’ – which changes the game of Resistance completely – instead of the original storyline, Grayson instead if offered a job working with the Specters from R2, and also as a nifty twist, becomes infected with the Chimera virus like Nathan Hale. 

I wish it’d been taken to a bit more than just a few small dialogue changes and the obvious visual change, as well as Grayson becoming able to breathe underwater and regenerate health. There’s a lot of potential in the concept, and it’ll be interesting to see if the concept is reused in the next game in the series. 

All up, Resistance: Retribution is a great game for the PSP and an excellent addition to anyone’s collection. There’s fun gameplay, a storyline and protagonist who you will actually find yourself caring about, and there’s replay value in spades. 

Oh, and did I mention the Mechwarrior sequence? Ohh, you’ll have to play it to find out.