I had one goal with my Gamescom trip, and that was playing the PlayStation Vita. After little over one hour in line, which is much less than I feared, it was my turn. The game I was set out to try was Resistance Burning Skies.

The game made by Nihilistic takes place before what happened in Resistance 2. The year is 1951, and starts when the Chimera arrives in New York. You play as a fireman, the every day hero, that now is in front of his biggest challenge yet. At the start, you grab your axe which hacks and slashes everything that comes in your way. There are two ways to attack with the Axe. One way is simply by clicking R1. The other is to touch the Axe icon on the touch screen. I prefer using R1, but when wielding a different weapon, touching the Axe icon is useful and easy. It felt precise and responsive.

I approached a Chimera that had his back turned against me. I surprised him, or her for that matter, by touching the screen and the Chimera died immediately in a gory fashion. I had killed my first Chimera on a handheld, and I finally had a real gun. With the added right stick of the Vita, aiming feels just right, and firing is done with R1. It’s secondary option is homing missiles, and you deploy them by touching several enemies, or simply drag a line through them with your finger, and then firing with the R1 button. Easy kill, and it feels great, and not tacked on to support the touch screen.

Another great part is you can take cover behind obstacles by pressing the circle button. Then you can simply aim down the sight to peek up and fire with the R1 button. It’s great to be able to take cover even in a first person shooter.

And yes, this is a first person shooter on a handheld device, and it works great because of the right analog controller. I eventually got the carbine, known from the other Resistance games. It’s the human made and more traditional gun in the game. Its secondary fire is like usual an RPG, and you fire it by touching on the screen and it fires where you touched. Again, aiming feels great.

The final gun I was able to try was a gun that resembles a Tommy Gun like eh… gun, that takes a while to get going, but when it goes around, out comes a huge amount of bullets, reigning fury down on anything you meet. I used it to bring down a tower that then collapsed down, and I almost thought it would crush me, but thankfully it hit the building. It was a great scene indeed. A little later, the demo ended as I was approaching what seems like a mini boss.

What we have here looks to be a first person shooter on a handheld that works really well, and it has no problems doing justice to the Resistance franchise. Considering this is the only game I’ve tried on Vita so far, it’s tough to compare, but it does look like a game in development, which it is in all fairness. The graphics could be a little better. I was able to sneak a peek at Uncharted: Golden Abyss, and the graphics in that game looked miles better. Then again, it has been in development for a longer time. With some polishing, Resistance Burning Skies will undoubtedly be another great Resistance game, and a first person shooter game on a handheld that really works. I’m exited to hear more about this game, and will buy it on day one, whatever that day may be.

Tags: Resistance Burning Skies
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