Did Finish – Resistance: Burning Skies

No, it’s an entire arsenal in my pocket
Resistance Burning Skies finds me in a strange place. On the one hand, I somewhat enjoyed myself, but on the other, it falls apart near the end. Let’s start at the beginning where I was having fun. I have never played a Resistance game (I plan on rectifying that) I have some idea what is going on, but not as deeply as someone who has invested the time in finishing all three main games.

Ax man
You play a fireman named Tom Riley. He has the personality of a doorpost, but that didn’t really bother me. When I play a first person shooter, I prefer the Gordon Freemen approach to the main character. Well, the Chimera decide to land in New York and start killing people. This goes against everything Tom believes in. He decides to start hitting things with an ax. Surprisingly, the touch screen ax swinging works well.

Army of one
Soon you are given your first gun taken off the body of a Chimera. It gets the job done of tearing things up, but it sounds something like a pea shooter. It’s kind of an issue throughout the entire game. Besides the Shotgun/Crossbow (what?), you don’t ever feel like the gun is powerful. More like it is what you use to shoot things. It’s a small nitpick I guess, but not a game breaker in anyway.

It’s a feature?
What is weird is that instead of using the Vita’s rear touch-pad to throw granades or use your weapons secondary fire, you use the touch screen. You can drag the granades to throw them where you want to throw them but just tapping the icon will throw them where your gun is pointed. That seemed to work far better. Tapping the screen to use your weapon’s secondary fire is slightly more useful than drag and drop grenades. Good news though, most of the secondary modes are next to useless. So, you are never bothered with it. I still don’t understand why the shotgun has a crossbow on it, but let’s just now worry about it.

That is a portable?
Graphically, Burning Skies is a good looking game. The environments hold up, and you are treated to some very cool set pieces such as crossing the George Washington bridge and fighting your way into a protection camp. The guns look good, the environments are good looking, and you have an over all good sense of place as you move though the world.

The Wheels
So with so much going for it what could go wrong? The last mission for one and the last boss for second. I am not quite sure what happened here. Everything before those two points was working so well! The last location feels super rushed. It just felt empty and way more “corridory” than the rest of the game. Yes, there is a tendancy to corridor you from one fight to the next, but it works here. I can’t think of one moment in the last mission that stands out. Should one mission ruin the rest of the experiance? It shouldn’t, but it does. There was a moment that was supposed to be very dramatic but felt more like a throw-a-way-by-the-numbers event that for some reason used the touchscreen in an odd way.

PROFANITY!
The last boss? All the bosses before him were well paced and fair. This guy? Most of the fight involves luck and more luck. You have to shoot glowing points on his chest and arms. He moves a lot and when you are trying to scope in to aim this becomes a problem. I tried to use my chaingun, but it is best for crowd control, not precise targeting.

Closing thoughts
Is it fair to judge a game by it’s lack luster ending? In some cases it can be forgotten but not here. For some reason the ending doesn’t fit the pacing of the rest of the game. It’s a shame that it had to be that way.

If you are big into shooting at other real people, there are your standard multiplayer modes here. Nothing to write home about, but good enough to clock a few hours into them. With it’s dual analog sticks and almost complete PS3 control layout, Resistance Burning Skies is a good step forward in the portable First Person Shooter arena.

Not a bad time, but not one that you will be longing for after the system goes to sleep.

Did you enjoy Resistance: Burning Skies? Leave a comment below, or hit me up on twitter and tell me about it. Don’t forget to join the Did Not Finish Facebook page (who know when I will give something away on that bad boy.) Also, feel free to mock me via Email.