
	Platform PSP Genre Shooter Publisher SCEA Developer Sony Bend ESRB M (Mature) Released March 17, 2009

- Great portable game - Soundtrack - Fills in more details of the Resistance universe and sets things up for a sequel

- Stop and pop can get boring - Same old problem of not having a second stick on the PSP

Review: God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP) Review: Medal of Honor: Heroes (PSP) Review: Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow (PSP)
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Resistance: Retribution

Score: 8.0 / 10

Resistance Retribution gets high marks for the simple fact that I played this portable game at home, where my consoles and PC beckon, rather than during a commute or while I stood in a line-up somewhere. That’s high praise for a game that essentially boils down to moving from point A to kill four or five enemies then moving a little further to point B to gun down four more enemies then moving to point C and so on.

The repetitiveness of this theme – stop and pop – might actually work in the game’s favor since the PSP is without a second “nub” for the shooter controls we’ve all

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become used to on the consoles. Instead we have to use the buttons to turn and look up and down. So, it’s a good thing that enemies will rarely – aside from some boss fights – attack from anywhere other than directly in front of you exhibiting very predictable patterns. Besides some work with the sniper rifle any pinpoint accuracy is thrown out the window because the auto lock-on feature

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does an extremely good job of targeting the nearest and most threatening enemies. It all comes together to be a strangely relaxing experience because you don’t have to fight with the controls.

Instead, I could focus on what was happening with the extended Resistance universe and Retribution’s loose cannon protagonist, Lieutenant James Grayson, because the cinematic aspects of Retribution are awesome. The soundtrack in particular does a great job conjuring up the menace of a bombed out, alien-infested Europe. (It fits like a glove with the visuals.) Sometimes it moves subtly through the background then fires up to match some really neat scripted events. The whole package is really put together with an eye on keeping it entirely consistent with its big brother counterparts, right down to the photo interludes between major operations.

Augmenting the package is a round of multiplayer modes that could be interesting had I been able to find anyone to play with, either ad hoc or over wifi, but even without these modes, I still had a lot of fun with the main game.

- Aaron Simmer

(April 29, 2009)