Resistance: Burning Skies Review

**Luckay** · 11-25-2012

Resistance: Burning Skies Review
by dsluckay

Basic Information:
Developer: Nihilistic Software
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
North American Release Date: May 29th, 2012
European Release Date: July 1st, 2012
Trophies: Yes, 1

/ 7

/ 10

Overview
As the Chimera undergo a brutal attack on North America, firefighter Tom Riley has just one wish: to save his wife and daughter caught in the midst of the chaos. Buckle up for the second portable game in the Resistance series.

Gameplay
Burning Skies plays just like any other Resistance game (except for Retribution). You're given a gun, and told to kill some Chimeran punks that ruin your day. This is what makes Resistance so fun, but it feels odd however in Burning Skies. It lacks creative guns, and amount of guns in general. You could lose all of your fingers and still count on one hand how many guns are unique to Burning Skies. Sure each game has a Bullseye (standard infantry weapon for the Chimera) and the Carbine (standard infantry weapon for the Humans) and a few others, but this is just funny to me. They've taken guns from others, and given them a new name. The Wraith becomes the Mauler, LAARK becomes Sw.A.R.M., Marksman to Hunter, Rossmore to Mule, etc. Though the Mule is the most creative gun, instead of looking like a shotgun it's a crossbow, but it has the same effect as a shotgun. This is not why we love Resistance! The guns are usually the best part, and that's been squandered.

Same old guns, same old gameplay.

Other than that, there really isn't much else. The addition of the fire axe makes sense due to Tom being a firefighter. It's used frequently, but could've been utilized a lot better. It's mainly used to open doors (like a regular fire axe) but it could've been used to defeat bosses throughout the game, and really emphasize the fact that you are only a firefighter trying to help.

I had a hard time getting used to the run mechanic. To run, you need to double-tap the back of the Vita, but before I finally got the hang of it, I would just make Tom run in spurts, and when I was in a rough spot that I needed to get away from, it was just annoying.

Singleplayer
Tom Riley is just a firefighter trying to survive. While fending off waves of the Chimera, his main goal is to keep his family free of harm from them. That hope quickly diminishes. Not only this, but you find out a crazed scientist is trying to use the Chimera's technology against them, and well, I'll try not to spoil the rest. But really it's not much of a plot, near the end it gets enticing and interesting, but Burning Skies just shrugs it off and continues to let you blow up Chimeran heads.

The boss battles feel rushed, and uninspired. Even the best boss in Burning Skies has been used before (the end boss), or is very close to one in Resistance 2. In fact all of the enemies have been used in previous games as well. The chimeras that jump from wall to wall, standard chimera soldiers and those creepy-crawlers. There's nothing to really wow the player, here. And that's something that saddens me. I expected much more from a Resistance title.

Multiplayer
The online multiplayer can be fun for a while, but gets stale. It's basically a dumbed down version of Resistance 3's multiplayer. You can create classes, pick weapons and equipment, etc. but it isn't in-depth enough. Due to the limited amount of weapons you'll get bored quick, or find one weapon that you'll stick with. Like I said though, it's good for a laugh but don't expect something great.

A lot of the old Resistance modes return in Burning Skies.

On top of that there is a hideous exploit with the crossbow (Mule) where, if you put the correct perks on it, you can kill others in one shot almost every time. And almost everyone abuses this. It makes some matches unplayable, especially if more than one person is abusing this exploit.

There is a fair amount of ranks compared to Resistance: Retribution on the PSP, which motivated me to keep playing if however small. Usually though when I would try to get into a match, I would get a matchmaking error kicking me back to the menus, or a notice saying the lobby is full. In short, the matchmaking is just bad.

Technical
Along with terrible matchmaking and an exploit, Burning Skies has this one glitch with AFK players. For some reason, when you kill them they stay in one spot, and are able to be killed again. So if you stand near an AFK player, and tap the melee button a bunch of times you get kills and points. You can stay there for upwards of five minutes before they are either kicked or moved.

And on top of even that (oh yes, there's more) multiplayer runs about as smooth as a jagged cliff, the frame rate can drop a little, making you experience a bit of lag. There's too many problems with the multiplayer to even say it's a great experience.

Other than the multiplayer troubles, the rest of the game runs well. I didn't like how low-quality the singleplayer cutscenes were, but I would blame that on the Vita rather than the game. The graphics are on par with the PSP as well, so I'm really not sure if it is the Vita's fault or Nihilistic's.

Trophies
Trophies are the only reason I would recommend playing Burning Skies. They are extremely simple, most can be earned just by completing the game once. Killing 1000 chimera is the toughest trophy, but it still isn't even hard. By the time you finish the game you'll have around 900 kills. A trophy whore's paradise.

Closing Thoughts
Resistance: Burning Skies is by no means a bad game, but it is far too mediocre from what I'd expect from the Resistance franchise. I've also come to the conclusion that Nihilistic is not the company that should be handling these large franchise games, because it seems as thought they half-ass it.

Gameplay: 7/10
Regular FPS gameplay, don't expect any unique things here.

Singleplayer: 5/10
A bland story with no "wow" factor. A major disappointment in my eyes.

Multiplayer: 6/10
It lacks depth, and has a terrible exploit that hinders the experience.

Technical: 5/10
Multiplayer has many things wrong with it, which is basically what brings down the score entirely.

Overall: 6/10

**Nagflar** · 12-13-2012

Good review Luck. Now I know why everyonoe forgot about the game after it was released.

**Kid_Loser** · 12-13-2012

I completely agree man, though I may have had more fun in the sp, but just barely

**Digitalman123** · 12-13-2012

I personally thought it was much worse. The touch screen controls were messy, the story did nothing to put you in the role of Tom, forced you against super easy and bland enemies, and the multiplayer was barebones. I can see your side though.

**Feral** · 12-13-2012

I'll definitely be steering clear of this. Definitely agree with you that Nihilistic shouldn't be making these games, they suck.

**UNCLEPAULIE** · 12-13-2012

I actually thought it was decent after the poor start , in no way great but showed me the Vita had a lot of potential as far as shooters went . My biggest problem is price £40 for short handheld games is greedy and IMO the reason the Vita struggles to sell , they should be 20/25 tops

**eternalunderdog** · 12-13-2012

6 out of 10 seems right, it wasn't the worst game I've played by far but there was nothing really unique or that much engaging in this game. I'm glad I played it in the aspect that I think it should hints of some good ideas someone could build off, but overall it is a lackluster title.

**dr_mayus** · 12-13-2012

Originally Posted by eternalunderdog

6 out of 10 seems right, it wasn't the worst game I've played by far but there was nothing really unique or that much engaging in this game. I'm glad I played it in the aspect that I think it should hints of some good ideas someone could build off, but overall it is a lackluster title.

That is exactly how I viewed the game. As a big Resistance fan I am glad I played it (to complete the story) but it could have been a lot better (but it could have also been a lot worse

)

**cengizbobengiz** · 12-13-2012

I've heard nothing but crap from this game. It's only worth it for the Plat, really.

**dividsmythe** · 12-14-2012

Very good review there. Bang on the button.
I only played multiplayer to get the trophy. Although if was woeful when I did play it. My advice for this game just wait til it comes out on PS+.

**Luckay** · 12-14-2012

Originally Posted by Feral

I'll definitely be steering clear of this. Definitely agree with you that Nihilistic shouldn't be making these games, they suck.

Yeah Nihilistic needs to just stop handling these big name games, they've killed both games they've made like that.

**JackAttack** · 12-14-2012

Originally Posted by dsluckay

Yeah Nihilistic needs to just stop handling these big name games, they've killed both games they've made like that.

Killed both games and quite possibly the FPS genre on the Vita. After two huge failed attempts on big-shooter titles that sold awfully, other devs will have second-thoughts taking chances to make FPS games. Nice work, Nihilistic.