It's 1951 and Europe has fallen. America is keeping its people in the dark, but there those who know, and those who know, are sure they're next. So when an unexplained explosion draws a fire engine to a building in New York, it comes as quite a surprise to our fireman hero Tom Riley, who has to save a colleague from the grips of an seven foot alien Chimera, armed with a comparatively pitiful axe. Stumbling across a pulsating chunk of alien hardware, we're ready to join the Resistance...
In facilitating the early stages of evacuation for bewildered locals, we're given an interactive turorial which offers us our first proper look at the potential of the PS Vita's First Person Shooters. Drag and drop grenades for maximum distance, sprint with a double-tap of the track-pad and a bullet curving auto-target system which follows your enemy with a touch and hold of the screen.
The control basics make any concern over Vita's FPS potential void though, with Left trigger aiming, Right trigger shooting, X jumping, O crouching and of course the dual analog sticks. Oh, those dual analog sticks. Overall control of the Resistance: Burning Skies universe is as smooth as either of its PS3 counterparts, and at times, remarkable in its interactivity.
Resistance: Burning Skies has a tendency to ask a lot of your [very active] fingers, with heated battles often involving several weapon changes, the variety of firing techniques can be a drain and can make public transport gaming a bit of a spectacle. We're nit-picking though, as R:BS does an almost unfathomable job of sitting between its two PS3 siblings, both in story and gameplay. As a fully-fledged member of the Resistance, your thirst to destroy the Chimera is quenched with some brilliantly designed levels which give us great hope for the eight-player online mode, to which we were lovingly refused access [thanks Sony].
Summary
Resistance: Burning Skies answers so many questions about the capability of the PS Vita and offers as satisfying a handheld game as we've known. Maybe not quite as addictive as a simple flick and swipe smartphone app, R:BS is a genuine triumph for the console and the potential future of handheld gaming. We'd got as far as to call it a must play.
4/5
Resistance: Burning Skies is released May 30 on PS Vita.
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