Resistance, Halo and the Future of the FPS

I've played many first person shooters. I love them. It's my gaming niche. I can say with confidence that I'm pretty damn good at these games. I enjoy making others weep when I utterly decimate them online. Over the course of time, I've developed strategy to make the AI my bitch. But Resistance made me feel like a small child in a prize fight with Tyson.



The AI in this game is relentless. You would think that if you are getting shot and you fall back to hide that they would just hang back and let you have a breather...WRONG...WRONG. The Chimera hunt you down and don't let up until you are dead. I have NEVER in all my gaming years have come across a shooter that I was just about to give up on. Not because I thought the game sucked; Its an amazing game with an equally amazing story. But because I wanted to crawl into a corner and weep profusely. 


I think in this age of first person shooters, we've been used to this "whack a mole" approach. 


You know the Elite that has been taking pot shots at you for the majority of a little skirmish will eventually pop his head out so you can convieniently dispatch him. It spoils the gamer and keeps us from developing true strategy. There was also no regenerative health. Which meant you couldn't just whittle down the enemy by healing yourself behind some sandbags.

THIS was my big hurdle when I played. I'm used to just charging in with guns blazing and slipping back behind cover until I destroy everyone due to sheer reckless abandon. Let me make this clear. 


Nathan Hale is NOT Master Chief. 


Not until Resistance 2 did I resume my brash tactics. Is THIS how FPS games should be? Games where you have to treat your character with a little TLC if you want to survive or games where you are a tank with Wolverine abilities? 


I know that the goal of these games is to essentially make it to the end. Beat the final boss. Crush your enemies. See them driven before you and hear the lamentation of women. Conan the Barbarian reference people...come on! 


But are we missing out on the true experience of a shooter? 

Experiencing the fear and adrenaline while in a fast paced firefight with alien invaders, insurgent troops, or the occasional zombie horde. With invulnerability comes a loss of that fear. It causes that part of your brain that strategizes on how to survive to shut down, turning you into a kid that's found his dad's toy gun.

Games like Resistance or even Halo: Reach let me experience that fear all over again...and it's a drug I kind of like. But next time, I'll play the game with a stuffed animal to console me.


Eric C.