Resistance: Fall of Man
Developer: Insomniac Games; Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America

Independent developer Insomniac Games has long been known for its third person action platformers on Sony systems. During the PlayStation era, it concocted the well known (and no longer platform-specific) Spyro the Dragon franchise, and on PlayStation 2 the company has seen even greater acclaim and recognition for its Ratchet & Clank series. Before either of those, however, the company released a first person sci-fi shooter called Disruptor. Now, the company is returning to its roots with its upcoming first person sci-fi shooter Resistance: Fall of Man, which just happens to be one of the most anticipated titles of the PlayStation 3 launch lineup.

Resistance is set in England in the middle of the twentieth century, but it is not a historical shooter. Rather, it takes place in an alternate reality where there are a lot of nasty aliens. Really, that's all you need to know off the bat. During Sony's recent event, I had the chance to play through a section of the game taken from its ruined and war-torn Nottingham area. In many ways, Resistance plays like a sci-fi version of an atmospheric World War II shooter such as Call of Duty. That is, the game is more about creating the atmosphere of war and large-scale conflict, with the player taking an instrumental but not necessarily omnipotent role, as opposed to a Quake- or Half-Life-like game in which the player operates almost entirely as a one-man army and/or savior. Throughout the level, I came across bands of human soldiers trading fire with hulking enemies from behind cover. Situations like these mean it is sometimes possible to flank an enemy or group of enemies undetected as they are engaged with your compatriots, which is always satisfying.

With its Ratchet & Clank games, Insomniac has developed a reputation for coming up with creative weapons, and Resistance looks to continue that trend, which is certainly one of the game's unique strengths in a sub-genre filled with historically accurate firearms. The game has expected weapons such as shotguns and assault rifles, but then there are also weapons like the Auger. The Auger fires a powerful shot that can fire straight through solid walls, making it an obviously handy tool. Its secondary fire summons a rectangular shield that will deflect incoming fire but through which the player can still shoot. These two properties made the Auger the weapon of choice against a large robotic boss enemy at the end of the Nottingham level. The enemy had a vulnerable area on its back side, and the Auger was able to simply shoot through the tougher parts of the enemy from the front to attack its weak point for massive damage. Next up is the Bullseye, a rapid fire weapon that lets loose a barrage of individually weak energy bolts. Its hook is its secondary fire, which will tag an enemy as the gun's target. After an enemy has been tagged, the gun's projectiles will seek out that target, regardless of from where it is being fired. This makes it possible to quickly tag an enemy then fill him full of lead (or energy) without poking out from behind cover. Hedgehog grenades will stop and hover in the air after reaching the final point in their trajectory, and after a brief pause will explode and eject a barrage of painful energy spikes in all directions.

Other intriguing weapons include a rocket launcher whose secondary fire option will pause a rocket in mid-air until released, no doubt useful in taking out an unwitting group of enemies just about to cross a corner. The game's sniper rifle has a time-slowing effect when zoomed, allowing for particularly precise shots which take advantage of the game's detailed hit model. Finally, there is a set of dual pistols called Reapers, which operate differently from most video game dual wielding guns in that they can actually aim independently.

Resistance is a great looking game, with an appropriately bleak and chaotic feel, and there's plenty happening on the screen at any given moment both on the friendly and enemy sides. To keep the game's framerate and graphical touches intact, Insomniac has opted to drop the game's tentatively announced 1080p resolution support. The game looks quite solid in 720p, and given the low number of consumers with 1080p television sets, it is likely that most will consider it a worthwhile tradeoff. Online multiplayer will be featured in the game, and will support up to 40 players, though there will of course be a range of maps as well as scaling options for games with fewer people.

All in all, Insomniac seems to be delivering what is arguably the premier launch title for Sony's upcoming system. The game takes a genre that has become a bit tired in recent years and refreshes it with a different setting and plenty of inventive weapons, while maintaining quality core shooter gameplay mechanics. Were I to be charged with singling out one PS3 launch title to watch, this would be it.

Lair
Developer: Factor 5; Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America

Known largely for its flight combat Star Wars games on the GameCube, Factor 5 is preparing to release Lair, a new flight-centric game on PlayStation 3. This one's got guys riding dragons instead of spacecraft.

Though many early PlayStation 3 games are paying lip service to the tilt sensing capability of the PS3's Sixaxis controller unveiled at E3 2006, one genre is already making use of its fully: the flight combat genre. Lair is no exception, with in-game directional control being manipulated by banking the controller appropriately. To ease players into this new technique, Lair has a brief tutorial consisting of navigating a dragon through a series of floating rings. If you haven't used the Sixaxis to control a flight game before, it's a bit disorienting; much like with the Wii controller, the first instinct is to jerk it around wildly, sometimes resulting in madness onscreen. Only subdued motions are required, and it becomes fairly intuitive soon enough.

Lair's demonstration level has the player defending friendly troops marching across an enormous stone bridge while under assault by enemy troops, large hostile creatures, and squadrons of enemy dragons. The level consists of a sequence of goals, starting with simply blasting as many enemies troops as possible with your dragon's fire breath then continuing on to taking out the various other threats terrorizing your buddies. Taking out enemy troops and ground-based creatures is straightforward, and achieved either by doing low-altitude fire breathing runs or by landing and stomping around. While on the ground, you can not only breath fire but run and do broad sweeping close range attacks.

Dragon-to-dragon combat is a little more complicating, itself consisting of multiple stages. Enemy dragons can simply be shot with fireballs, but they can also be targeted for close-range combat. After locking onto a dragon, there are several context-sensitive actions to be performed. The camera pulls in closer, tightly cropped around your dragon and your enemy's, and you must quickly jerk the controller in the direction of the enemy in order to swoop in for an attack. After a few such attacks, you are able to perform combo attacks using the four face buttons; it seems that essentially any string of buttons results does the job in short order, but it is possible that the difficulty has been toned down for a demo version. The last phase of combat is a Resident Evil 4- or God of War-like interactive cutscene affair. As your rider attempts to leap on to his enemy's dragon, you must press face buttons in time with a red glow that bleeds into the sides of the screen. Unlike in the aforementioned games, any face button will suffice; there is no need to match up with a corresponding button symbol onscreen. Successfully completing the face button cues will have your rider knock the enemy off of his dragon, then jump off to be caught by his own.

Factor 5 is shooting for 1080p resolution support in Lair, which is impressive given the high number of character models rendered at any given time, with the hundreds of soldiers marching on foot while numerous dragons fly around overhead. There are some odd minor visual quirks; for example, fireballs never quite look like they are coming from your dragon, but rather from the general close vicinity of your dragon. The game has occasional framerate problems, but this level is the same one Factor 5 has been showing for quite some time now, and it may not be reflective of all recent tweaks. Unlike several other games on display, Lair is not slated for launch.

It is difficult to get a handle on how exactly Lair will play for an entire game's worth of gameplay. Based on this level, it seems to make use of a variety of extremely context-sensitive mechanics rather than focusing on simply dragon-based dogfighting throughout. This is probably a good thing, as the flight mechanics, while solid, do not necessarily seem compelling enough to hold up for an entire game. However, this design choice does make the game tricky to gauge at this early stage.

Factor 5's Lair is expected to ship in the first quarter of 2007.

Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII
Developer: Ubisoft Romania; Publisher: Ubisoft

Unlike the rest of the games profiled in our Gamer's Day coverage, Ubisoft Romania's Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII is not exclusive to PlayStation 3. The game has already been released for Xbox and Xbox 360, and is set to hit Wii as well. As made apparent by its title, the game is a flight combat game set in the second world war. Unlike many World War II titles, Blazing Angels makes little pretense towards realism, instead opting for a more arcade-like flight combat experience. Players requiring an in-depth simulation should look elsewhere, while gamers looking for some quick dogfights might be interesting.

As Blazing Angels has already been released for other platforms--on which it received generally favorable but mixed reviews--these impressions will be more concerned with the differences in the PlayStation 3 version of the game. Like the other currently announced PS3 flight games, Lair and Warhawk, Blazing Angels uses the tilt sensor of the Sixaxis controller to steer the aircraft. As in Warhawk, the actual flying bit is quite enjoyable; particularly in less sim-like games such as these, the interactive nature of the controls works well. However, also as in Warhawk, quick and accurate aiming can be tough since the tilt sensing is entirely relative. The game adds some very slight auto-aim--similar to what one would find in a console first person shooter--but being able to keep a bead on enemy fighters requires something of a learning curve.

For players who simply prefer not to use tilt sensing, Ubisoft Romania has added in the option to switch to traditional analog stick control. Unfortunately, control options cannot be changed mid-mission, meaning you won't be able to go back and forth depending on whether you've got a long stretch of navigating or a series of dogfights. By default, Blazing Angels is set to the "Motion Sensitive (Arcade)" option, but there are three other choices as well--"Motion Sensitive (Sim)," "Joystick (Arcade)," and "Joystick (Sim),"--with "Sim" and "Arcade" corresponding to how forgiving the player wants the controls to be.

Ubisoft Romania has also added a fair amount of new content to the game. For one thing the PlayStation 3 version includes a new cockpit perspective. There are also several new multiplayer modes not present in the Xbox 360 game, bringing the total number to 13. The gamer's multiplayer modes span various versus, cooperative, and team-based game types. There has been some added single-player content as well.

Graphically, the PS3 version of the game looks pretty much in line with the Xbox 360 version of the game, including the presence of the film grain visual filter that gives everything a vintage quality. The game isn't going to be a system seller but it seems to be a well handled port. Prospective PS3 owners who have had their eye on other versions of the game will find the most complete version so far here.

Ubisoft Romania's Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII is set to ship for PlayStation 3 alongside the console's North American launch on November 17, 2006.