The Chimera Will Crush Resistance: Retribution's Online Servers in May

Resistance is futile

by Sammy Barker Wed 11th Feb 2015

It's not often that a handheld spin-off becomes the best entry in a console-based series, but this author reckons that Sony Bend's brilliant Resistance: Retribution gives Insomniac Games' numbered trilogy a real run for its money. Released on the PlayStation Portable way back in 2009, the outing offered a third-person twist on the not-so popular alternate history property, and boasted a surprisingly enjoyable plot.

It also packed a full competitive online suite for up to eight players, but the Japanese giant confirmed overnight that this will be shut down from 5th May. This means that the iffy PlayStation Vita romp Resistance: Burning Skies will be the last entry in the series to offer multiplayer, as all three of the PlayStation 3 instalments had their servers pulled last year. Sorry Grayson, but you're on your own now.

[source twitter.com, via psu.com]

As the Editor of Push Square, Sammy has over 15 years of experience analysing the world of PlayStation, from PS3 through PS5 and everything in between. He’s an expert on PS Studios and industry matters, as well as sports games and simulators. He also enjoys RPGs when he has the time to dedicate to them, and is a bit of a gacha whale.

1
get2sammyb
Wed 11th Feb 2015

I honestly loved this game. It came out during that period where Sony actually started giving a crap about PSP games, and it also dropped MotorStorm and LittleBigPlanet, as well as Patapon and LocoRoco sequels. Good times!

2
italodance
Wed 11th Feb 2015

Well someone please tell me how's the game on Vita?!? I mean image quality?!? I not interested in pixel pixel games.

3
Victor_Meldrew
Wed 11th Feb 2015

@get2sammyb why isn't this on Vita :/

4
TXP
Wed 11th Feb 2015

@get2sammyb

Your comment has really got me thinking about something i've been wondering about for a while - how is it determined which games Sony's first party studios work on? The reason i am curious is that Sony is often criticised for not supporting the vita however i also imagine that the overwhelming majority of their first party studios probably (sadly) don't want to develop for it. So how does it work? Do Sony instruct their studios what to develop? Or do studios pitch to Sony? Or some combination of both?!

5
XFsWorld
Wed 11th Feb 2015

@italodance Graphics are meh, could have been better. But I enjoyed it though. The controls are great, [this was my first Resistance..] so I found the weapons were pretty cool. The enemy AI seemed to be OP though and unfair. The online multiplayer sucks. But overall this game is good. An easy Plat by the way.

6
get2sammyb
Wed 11th Feb 2015

@XFsWorld I think you're getting muddled up with Burning Skies. There was no Platinum in Retribution as it was a PSP game.

@TXP I get the impression the studios are given the option to work on what they want to. Obviously, they'll need to make a pitch, but if that gets the green light, then it's all systems go. My understanding is that Sony Bend worked on PSP for so long because they wanted to keep a small team.