NamPaehc
11-09-2006, 11:15 AM
http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3155066
Following up on our Gears of War roundtable from last week, it's only fair to give Sony's marquee 2006 shooter, Resistance, the same treatment. So to prepare for PS3's biggest launch game, we got together three editors in the office who have been playing ridiculous amounts of it over the past week and posed a series of questions to them for one last preview before launch. For those concerned about spoilers, we went through and cut out anything too specific about certain events that happen late in the game, but if you're the type of player who doesn't want to know anything at all about how the game progresses and what kinds of gameplay you'll find as you go, heed our warning and stay away from questions like number seven.
#1: Having finished the single-player game, was there anything you didn't expect to come across? Any big surprises?
Greg Ford: Big surprises... not so much. I expected a fast, pretty, smooth shooter, and that's what it delivers. The environments are cool -- they certainly look good -- but they also aren't anything we haven't seen before, from war zones to giant alien architecture.
Joe Rybicki: I was surprised by how much of the, not "horror" per se, but creepy stuff there is.
Garnett Lee: The vehicular parts work really well and I hadn't seen much on that. That can always be a trap for an FPS -- trying to bite off more than the engine can do -- but here the controls, and particularly the feel of just being able to drive and go, work really well.
Joe: Yeah, I wish there was a bit more of the vehicular stuff, even.
Garnett: Particularly the tank. I've driven enough Warthogs... err, jeeps.
Greg: I like them all actually -- kinda wished there were a few more.
#2: Do the vehicles feel unique, or like Halo's?
Greg: Well, the jeep feels a lot like Halo's, and the tank is what you'd expect but very maneuverable, and I love how you can easily hop between turret and driver's seat.
Joe: I think it's hard for any vehicle to really feel unique in an FPS. They handle well, but I wouldn't say they're unique.
Garnett: There's an undeniable sense of the Warthog in the jeep's controls, and the tank is, well, a tank. But that's sorta because they are what they are. [Note: we cut out some chatter here for spoiler purposes, but rest assured the game features more than two vehicles.]
#3: With the weapons, how much did you find yourself experimenting by freezing rocket launchers in mid-air, tagging enemies and running around corners, etc.? And how much did you just rely on a few key weapons?
Joe: When playing through, the rocket launcher thing felt like it required a little more work to get the hang of than I had time for in the middle of a firefight, you know? I used the Bullseye all the time though -- very handy to get you out of a sticky situation. I switched up weapons pretty constantly; there were only a couple I didn't use much (like the Sapper). I felt like I'd get more in-depth with the weapons on my second playthrough (and there will be a second playthrough).
Garnett: The Bullseye was a key part of my arsenal too because so many enemies drop ammo for it. I agree that the air-brake move with the rockets is a pain, but there's a certain enemy late in the game that it's critical for. Overall, I really like how the guns don't just match up to weaknesses in certain enemies, but also lend themselves to different tactical situations. Like, if you get cornered after holing up, whether you have an Auger or not is the difference between life and death.
Greg: I enjoyed the rocket launcher once I got the hang of it, but there is a learning curve. And I dunno if it's just me, but the Bullseye is sketchy in terms of actually latching onto guys. I didn't use the Sapper much at first either, but once I realized its power... especially against those facehugger-like critters, it became a fave.
#4: How much of a big deal are "spoilers" in the game? Apart from cool battles and special scenarios, is the story going to surprise people?
Garnett: Probably not -- particularly anyone who's played the big name FPS franchises.
Joe: Yeah, it's very well done but doesn't strike me as really groundbreaking.
Greg: I agree on that. The story certainly does what it needs to do to keep you interested, but not much else... and is certainly not surprising. Love the setting though.
Garnett: Yeah, the fiction is really cool, but the design follows a lot of what's been done before.
#5: Obviously there have been a lot of comparisons made between Resistance and other shooters -- which is most valid? If you had to pick one game Resistance is most similar to, what would it be?
Joe: That's a tough one. I'd have to pick two, because it's got that huge WWII feel but also the claustrophobic creepiness. So I'd say it's like Call of Duty meets Half-Life.
Greg: Funny thing: people would walk by and depending on the stage, thought I was playing Call of Duty... and when you have a whole squad working with you, it definitely has that feel. But late game, it delves deeply into the sci-fi stuff. You can say either Halo or Half-Life 2.
Garnett: There are superficial similarities to several shooters -- Halo and Call of Duty have come up -- but it borrows so much from HL2. If imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, Valve should feel very flattered.
#6: What do you dislike about single-player?
Joe: The only thing I don't like is that it feels like the "grunt" enemies are a bit too similar. It feels like there are like five different variations of the weapon-toting hybrids, and that those are the guys you see the most of. There's really a lot of diversity in enemies, but there are stretches where it doesn't really feel like it.
Garnett: The developers get a little too clever with the storytelling, and interrupt awkwardly with cut-scenes. This makes the sections feel all unevenly chopped up. Several times I came around a corner and hit the softfocus fade going to a cut-scene when I was really in sync with the action. Like, the first time you get the tank lasts all of five minutes -- at most.
Greg: Yes! It seems like whenever I was engrossed with the game, it would take me out of it.
Joe: I said this in my review, but I gotta say how impressed I am with the pacing of the game -- there are some areas where you'll go from this intense firefight to a totally deserted, silent street... it works really well.
Greg: Yeah, it has great pacing, but it's somewhat hurt by the level breaks. Though some battles would have me so worked up, I'd be grateful for the break. And the enemy and buddy AI are particularly weak... guess I was hoping for next-gen AI as well.
Garnett: Yeah, that stands in stark contrast to me because I've been playing FEAR on 360 some and its enemies are so much more "lifelike."
Joe: You know, they didn't strike me as weak at all. Not the smartest to be sure but they make some savvy moves. Your teammates are not really smart at all, but they're also pretty much cannon fodder and I think you kinda know that from the beginning.
Greg: Well, the developers do a good job of covering it up by having multiple well-placed enemies. But many showdowns boil down to the enemy popping in and out from one spot. Never are they flanking or using any sort of tactics.
Garnett: They take advantage of cover, and fall back, but once covered, they'll just pop out pretty mechanically, making it easy to pick them off. Joe: That's true. And I seem to remember a couple moments where they committed the classical FPS blunder by apparently taking no notice whatsoever that they'd been shot. To be fair, that was rare though.
Greg: Yep, so they look good and are quick, but don't have the brains I'd like.
Garnett: Yeah, that is something of a saving grace problem late in the game where you can thin out their ranks with the sniper rifle before having to deal with them.
Greg: The other single-player problem is the deceptive world -- it seems much more open than it is... your actual path is actually quite limited. You can't jump over anything/go anywhere you aren't supposed to (invisible walls!).
Joe: Yeah, boo! But they do a really good job of hiding it, so it doesn't bother me that much.
#7: Bosses -- good, bad, plentiful?
Joe: Man, those spider things were a bitch.
Garnett: There are a couple of "bosses" and they're OK, but what works better is that the larger enemies aren't completely overpowering, so they get used more frequently than just special occasions.
Greg: Yeah, the big enemies kinda replace the traditional bosses, but they serve up good battles. One boss is taken care of in a cut-scene; that's always fun...
Joe: The bosses are smarter in some ways than the grunts -- they seem to vary up their tactics a little more (kept me guessing).
#8: Over the course of the game, did you notice any similarities -- at all -- to the Ratchet & Clank games?
Greg: Heh... I noticed that I wanted more weapons, but...
Joe: In the weapons for sure. Obviously they're more serious but they definitely have that somewhat off-the-wall quality.
Greg: There's this one platforming segment where you are walking along some pipes and navigating to the next one by jumping over a gigantic fan and getting blown to the next one.
Garnett: The platforming-like section Greg mentions is brief, but feels sort of out of place after how much the rest of the game has solid geometry design.
Greg: Right... definitely felt like a direct homage to R&C, which I thought was
pretty cool.
Following up on our Gears of War roundtable from last week, it's only fair to give Sony's marquee 2006 shooter, Resistance, the same treatment. So to prepare for PS3's biggest launch game, we got together three editors in the office who have been playing ridiculous amounts of it over the past week and posed a series of questions to them for one last preview before launch. For those concerned about spoilers, we went through and cut out anything too specific about certain events that happen late in the game, but if you're the type of player who doesn't want to know anything at all about how the game progresses and what kinds of gameplay you'll find as you go, heed our warning and stay away from questions like number seven.
#1: Having finished the single-player game, was there anything you didn't expect to come across? Any big surprises?
Greg Ford: Big surprises... not so much. I expected a fast, pretty, smooth shooter, and that's what it delivers. The environments are cool -- they certainly look good -- but they also aren't anything we haven't seen before, from war zones to giant alien architecture.
Joe Rybicki: I was surprised by how much of the, not "horror" per se, but creepy stuff there is.
Garnett Lee: The vehicular parts work really well and I hadn't seen much on that. That can always be a trap for an FPS -- trying to bite off more than the engine can do -- but here the controls, and particularly the feel of just being able to drive and go, work really well.
Joe: Yeah, I wish there was a bit more of the vehicular stuff, even.
Garnett: Particularly the tank. I've driven enough Warthogs... err, jeeps.
Greg: I like them all actually -- kinda wished there were a few more.
#2: Do the vehicles feel unique, or like Halo's?
Greg: Well, the jeep feels a lot like Halo's, and the tank is what you'd expect but very maneuverable, and I love how you can easily hop between turret and driver's seat.
Joe: I think it's hard for any vehicle to really feel unique in an FPS. They handle well, but I wouldn't say they're unique.
Garnett: There's an undeniable sense of the Warthog in the jeep's controls, and the tank is, well, a tank. But that's sorta because they are what they are. [Note: we cut out some chatter here for spoiler purposes, but rest assured the game features more than two vehicles.]
#3: With the weapons, how much did you find yourself experimenting by freezing rocket launchers in mid-air, tagging enemies and running around corners, etc.? And how much did you just rely on a few key weapons?
Joe: When playing through, the rocket launcher thing felt like it required a little more work to get the hang of than I had time for in the middle of a firefight, you know? I used the Bullseye all the time though -- very handy to get you out of a sticky situation. I switched up weapons pretty constantly; there were only a couple I didn't use much (like the Sapper). I felt like I'd get more in-depth with the weapons on my second playthrough (and there will be a second playthrough).
Garnett: The Bullseye was a key part of my arsenal too because so many enemies drop ammo for it. I agree that the air-brake move with the rockets is a pain, but there's a certain enemy late in the game that it's critical for. Overall, I really like how the guns don't just match up to weaknesses in certain enemies, but also lend themselves to different tactical situations. Like, if you get cornered after holing up, whether you have an Auger or not is the difference between life and death.
Greg: I enjoyed the rocket launcher once I got the hang of it, but there is a learning curve. And I dunno if it's just me, but the Bullseye is sketchy in terms of actually latching onto guys. I didn't use the Sapper much at first either, but once I realized its power... especially against those facehugger-like critters, it became a fave.
#4: How much of a big deal are "spoilers" in the game? Apart from cool battles and special scenarios, is the story going to surprise people?
Garnett: Probably not -- particularly anyone who's played the big name FPS franchises.
Joe: Yeah, it's very well done but doesn't strike me as really groundbreaking.
Greg: I agree on that. The story certainly does what it needs to do to keep you interested, but not much else... and is certainly not surprising. Love the setting though.
Garnett: Yeah, the fiction is really cool, but the design follows a lot of what's been done before.
#5: Obviously there have been a lot of comparisons made between Resistance and other shooters -- which is most valid? If you had to pick one game Resistance is most similar to, what would it be?
Joe: That's a tough one. I'd have to pick two, because it's got that huge WWII feel but also the claustrophobic creepiness. So I'd say it's like Call of Duty meets Half-Life.
Greg: Funny thing: people would walk by and depending on the stage, thought I was playing Call of Duty... and when you have a whole squad working with you, it definitely has that feel. But late game, it delves deeply into the sci-fi stuff. You can say either Halo or Half-Life 2.
Garnett: There are superficial similarities to several shooters -- Halo and Call of Duty have come up -- but it borrows so much from HL2. If imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, Valve should feel very flattered.
#6: What do you dislike about single-player?
Joe: The only thing I don't like is that it feels like the "grunt" enemies are a bit too similar. It feels like there are like five different variations of the weapon-toting hybrids, and that those are the guys you see the most of. There's really a lot of diversity in enemies, but there are stretches where it doesn't really feel like it.
Garnett: The developers get a little too clever with the storytelling, and interrupt awkwardly with cut-scenes. This makes the sections feel all unevenly chopped up. Several times I came around a corner and hit the softfocus fade going to a cut-scene when I was really in sync with the action. Like, the first time you get the tank lasts all of five minutes -- at most.
Greg: Yes! It seems like whenever I was engrossed with the game, it would take me out of it.
Joe: I said this in my review, but I gotta say how impressed I am with the pacing of the game -- there are some areas where you'll go from this intense firefight to a totally deserted, silent street... it works really well.
Greg: Yeah, it has great pacing, but it's somewhat hurt by the level breaks. Though some battles would have me so worked up, I'd be grateful for the break. And the enemy and buddy AI are particularly weak... guess I was hoping for next-gen AI as well.
Garnett: Yeah, that stands in stark contrast to me because I've been playing FEAR on 360 some and its enemies are so much more "lifelike."
Joe: You know, they didn't strike me as weak at all. Not the smartest to be sure but they make some savvy moves. Your teammates are not really smart at all, but they're also pretty much cannon fodder and I think you kinda know that from the beginning.
Greg: Well, the developers do a good job of covering it up by having multiple well-placed enemies. But many showdowns boil down to the enemy popping in and out from one spot. Never are they flanking or using any sort of tactics.
Garnett: They take advantage of cover, and fall back, but once covered, they'll just pop out pretty mechanically, making it easy to pick them off. Joe: That's true. And I seem to remember a couple moments where they committed the classical FPS blunder by apparently taking no notice whatsoever that they'd been shot. To be fair, that was rare though.
Greg: Yep, so they look good and are quick, but don't have the brains I'd like.
Garnett: Yeah, that is something of a saving grace problem late in the game where you can thin out their ranks with the sniper rifle before having to deal with them.
Greg: The other single-player problem is the deceptive world -- it seems much more open than it is... your actual path is actually quite limited. You can't jump over anything/go anywhere you aren't supposed to (invisible walls!).
Joe: Yeah, boo! But they do a really good job of hiding it, so it doesn't bother me that much.
#7: Bosses -- good, bad, plentiful?
Joe: Man, those spider things were a bitch.
Garnett: There are a couple of "bosses" and they're OK, but what works better is that the larger enemies aren't completely overpowering, so they get used more frequently than just special occasions.
Greg: Yeah, the big enemies kinda replace the traditional bosses, but they serve up good battles. One boss is taken care of in a cut-scene; that's always fun...
Joe: The bosses are smarter in some ways than the grunts -- they seem to vary up their tactics a little more (kept me guessing).
#8: Over the course of the game, did you notice any similarities -- at all -- to the Ratchet & Clank games?
Greg: Heh... I noticed that I wanted more weapons, but...
Joe: In the weapons for sure. Obviously they're more serious but they definitely have that somewhat off-the-wall quality.
Greg: There's this one platforming segment where you are walking along some pipes and navigating to the next one by jumping over a gigantic fan and getting blown to the next one.
Garnett: The platforming-like section Greg mentions is brief, but feels sort of out of place after how much the rest of the game has solid geometry design.
Greg: Right... definitely felt like a direct homage to R&C, which I thought was
pretty cool.