resistance burning skies was actually one of the first FPS games i played back when i first started playing video games, it was never a genre that interested me massively and it still kind of isn't but this game stood out to me first and foremost as a real technical showcase for the vita when i was at one of the hype peaks for the system, it's really impressive i think just how much they managed to get a home console experiance on the go, and years later after playing the rest of the series, it's honestly even more impressive to me. it's slightly shrunk down compared to the ps3 games in scope and setpieces but it's shocking how much of the actual game managed to resemble the ps3 games and it does it well, there's even a multiplayer componant that you basically all but can't play now that was very similar to resistance 2's multiplayer!

the gameplay as mentioned is basically identicle, you have the silly but fun weapons with multple shooting styles (like a shield or shooting through walls) , the fun enemy variety of chimera and a roller coaster campaign with setpieces like a level set on a disaster report-esque broken bridge and fun boss fights against huge chimera and fun americana environments that'd fit right into 2 or 3. the guns are the highlight though, seeing through walls, 4 barreled rocket launchers and shotgun/crossbow hybrids really bring some creativity to the gameplay that i find a lot of shooters tend to lack, it makes the series stand out bigly for me, this one even gives some exclusive weapons like that shotgun and a fire axe that fits in with the MC's story as a firefighter! the duel analog sticks mean it plays super well too on a portable, unlike a psp shooer you dont need to deal with button aiming, just twin sticks standard aiming so it's really fluid and you'll find yourself adjusting to it super quick. the game is kind of short though, as are the levels but you want that in a portable game i think, it lends itself well to both short portable playsessions and even replayability with all the upgrades, which cannot be all gotten in one run, and the multiple difficulty options! there was even near integration with a feature that let you infect nearby friends with the chimera virus for bonus multiplayer XP which sounds really cute, though i was never able to do it.

it looks great too, on par with the first game on ps3 i think, just with a less muted colour palet and more interesting environments, the 50s setting does a lot for me although you won't find a lot of variety compared to similar settings in 2 and 3, with mostly indoors areas and factories outside of some standout levels like the bridge and a cool burning building. the music and story aren't all that interesting either sadly, the story is just kind of basic and ultimatly inconsequencial, though it is cool to see how things were at the start of the invasion seen in the other games and the propaganda postery cutscenes look really neat. the music though is a total bore, just generic and cinematic and not really even all that worth commenting on.

the game itself was developed by nihilistic software, a company vita fans will know well for both this and the kind-of underatted black ops declassified as well as for some other cool games like zombie apocalypse, a personal favourite twinstick for ps3, and ps move heroes for the move, a super fun minigame collection i really need to finish, it would be one of their last projects though, as after this and black ops both bombed they couldn't recover and ended up shutting down, which i think is a shame as this game shows they clearly had talent because it's a very impressive game for something that came out so close to the consoles launch and for me it would remain one of the most technically impressive standouts, only outshined in the shooter field by killzone mercenary.