Resistance Retribution for the PSP. Photo / supplied
The PSP gets overshadowed by its bigger next-gen consoles these days but for those who still get lots of enjoyment from the small console, here's the best third person action shooter you can buy.
Resistance: Retribution
(Sony Blend: rated R13) is set just a few weeks after PS3's
Resistance: Fall of Man
and involves the war to retake the European continent.
Check out the trailer.
While playing as third-person rather than PS3's first person, this shooter style plays to the PSP's strengths and is an exciting game in its own right, not some adapted version for the smaller machine.
In fact there's a lot to recommend this as an outstanding game.
There's a new likeable lead character, British marine James Grayson who stumbles into a Chimeran human conversion process transforming a man into a monster. The opening scene depicts his brother's mutation and execution leading to Lieutenant Grayson's rage and subsequent storming and destruction of many Chimeran conversion facilities.
Whilst Grayson gets used to his new-found status of hero his military record and reputation earn him a conviction of desertion and his place on death row. From here his story begins.
You can connect your PSP to your PS3 for unlockables (NB: you need to have a copy of
Resistance 2
) including being able to infect the character with the Chimeran virus.
There's a massive 20-mission campaign lasting around 12 hours plus there's also a multi-player mode for gameplay. Graphics are especially sharp with larger styled environments.
The orchestral and dramatic soundtrack is cinematic and the CGI cutscenes are movie-like and impressive. Weapons are fun such as the infamous Auger rifle with alternate shield and used for shooting enemies through walls. The only letdown is the voice acting (french accents) which try too hard sometimes and demand the subtitles.
Technically, the (selectable) controls work well once you have it worked out - an assist feature auto-targets enemies (and makes aiming simple), the R1 button fires, the nub controls player movement, and you use the D-pad to zoom and switch weapon types.
All up a solid story, strong characters built along the storyline, reliable control dynamics, good looking graphics for the PSP and a lot of fun with its dark humour in check. Frankly, one of the best on PSP yet and shows there's life left in this handheld which I've always liked.
MadGamer rating: 9.5 / 10
Visa and Mastercard push back.