Resistance: Burning Skies Review (PS Vita)

NOT

Graphics Could Have Been Much Better
When you’re looking at the graphics of games like Uncharted: Golden Abyss and other PS Vita titles, they look great and they’re hard to distinguish them from PS3 games. Sadly, this is not the case for Resistance: Burning Skies. The character models have jagged edges all over and the levels themselves are bland and boring. There’s no cool snow level as seen in the Resistance 3 that’s for sure and the environments within the game shows no life and just feels flat for the most part. Those who enjoy explosive environments where a lot of things are going on at the same time, don’t expect it in Burning Skies because you’ll get burned trying to look for it as there are none.

Don’t Expect Anything New
If you’ve played a lot of FPS games, don’t expect to see anything new featured here in Resistance: Burning Skies. It’s the usual linear level design seen in most other shooting games these days. Don’t expect to see the elaborate set-ups and puzzles that were prevalent in older FPS games like DOOM. It’s just moving forward in one direction killing everything in front of you.

Disappointing Sound
The sound in Resistance: Burning Skies is also very disappointing. The machine guns sound more like popcorn popping inside of a pot. Hardly something you will hear in more realistic games such as Battlefield 3. Also, the music cuts off very often in this game as well. The only time music is played is if you’re up against a boss or engage in a major firefight. Most of the time, there’s no music in the game at all and you can mostly expect to fall asleep while playing the game.

Single Player Slightly Short
The single player campaign is quite fun to play through the very first time, although once you finally finish the game it all ends so abruptly. There are only 6 levels in all in this game and each level can be completed in around 30 – 60 minutes depending on the difficulty level you have it on. Unless you want to collect all trophies or want to challenge yourself on the game’s insane “Superhuman” difficulty, there’s no much incentive to play through the game again.

Dumb AI
The biggest disappointment that I’ve had with Burning Skies is just how dumb the AI is. Compared to the console Resistance games, the AI in Burning Skies seems to not be aware of their environments. Expect to see running Chimeras towards the wall continuously and shooting somewhere that is not within your view. Throughout the six levels of the game, you can expect blaze through the linear campaign very easily regardless of the difficulty you’re playing.

Verdict

Resistance: Burning Skies isn’t quite on par with Uncharted: Golden Abyss, but it proves a FPS can work on a portable console. Despite this shortcoming, the Playstation Vita is perfect for FPS fans, though the genre has yet to be fully realized. With less than stunning graphics and a short campaign, Resistance: Burning Skies feels incomplete next to other games in the genre. However, if you’re a diehard FPS fan, then you should definitely pick this game up.

[Editor’s Note: Resistance: Burning Skies was reviewed on the PlayStation Vita. The game was provided to us by the publisher for review purposes.]