Resistance: Burning Skies

16 cert, Sony, PS Vita **

There was a lot riding on Resistance: Burning Skies. The first appearance on Sony’s new platform, the PlayStation Vita, it was also the first FPS to make

it to the platform. So high expectations were raised higher. It’s a pity, then, that it just misses the mark. There isn’t one specific thing wrong with the game. It has all the elements you’d expect: heroism from ordinary people; the enemy chimera; the desperate struggle to survive against the odds. But the truth is that although you walk in the shoes of firefighter Tom Riley, you don’t really care if he’s fighting the Chimera to save mankind or simply cutting a bloody swathe to save his family. There isn’t the same level of character engagement that we’ve come to expect from Resistance titles.

Still, Burning Skies does just enough to make you keep playing. There’s action, for a start, with plenty of enemies to blast your way through. Multiplayer is also worth a look, offering deathmatch and survival modes. As expected, the controls are different from your average console FPS. It’s a little odd to use the touch screen or rear touch panel to control the action, but if you’re an experienced Vita player you’ll probably have gotten over that.