"I wonder if playing Resogun after Killzone: Shadow Fall was a mistake?"
I've asked myself that question at least a dozen times over the last two weeks. Like Contrast, Resogun was barely even a blip on my radar before Sony confirmed plans to offer the game as a free download to PlayStation Plus subscribers. Even then, I didn't really care all that much. In fact, had it not been for regular media comparisons to Geometry Wars, there's a fair chance I still would not have bothered to download Resogun.
What can I say?
A twin-stick arcade shooter just didn't sound very "next-gen" to me.
Ultimately, Resogun proved to be better than I was ready to give the game credit for; however, my enjoyment of the latest project from Housemarque - creators of the PS3 classic Super Stardust HD -- still seems to pale in comparison to that of many others. While there can be no denying just how beautiful Resogun's ever-changing chaos is at times, the game just can't seem to sink its hooks into me, no matter how badly I want it to happen.
Maybe, it's because I played the game after more than a dozen hours with Killzone: Shadow Fall, and already had my mind blown by what Guerrilla Games was already accomplishing with their first release for the PlayStation 4. Maybe I just don't have the patience for these sorts of asynchronous score-battle games that I used to. But maybe, just maybe, Resogun isn't nearly as good as some people would have you believe. Let's take a look, shall we?
Resogun Review - Graphics
There's no doubt that Resogun looks good. With more particles splashing across the screen than could have ever appeared in a PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 release, downloadable or otherwise, Resogun makes for a stellar demonstration of the PlayStation 4's technical capabilities. Showers of voxels pour from the fragments of each enemy that you destroy, lasers and multi-colored bullets fill the screen, and at times it can become a bit difficult to pay more attention to steering your ship than to the absolutely gorgeous destruction unfolding around you.
As if laser beams and constant particle showers weren't enough, each of Resogun's five levels also features a crumbling city situated in the center of the cylindrical tracks on which the game's action unfolds. Those remnants of civilization slowly erode as you progress through each stage, ultimately resembling little more than piles of discarded building blocks by the time you reach each level's boss encounter. The destruction isn't randomly-generated either. Instead, cities will crumble and fall in response to nearby explosions and other events (like player deaths) that can trigger massive changes to each level's background.
Of course, there's quite a bit more going on in Resogun than changes to the scenery, and the game throws an ever-changing mix of enemies at you that look almost as impressive as they are deadly when the screen begins to fill. Resogun may leave you ready to pull your hair out at times, but I cannot envision a scenario in which that frustration would be rooted in the visual appeal of the game. Even if, like me, the game doesn't really turn out to be your thing, you are unlikely to come away from Resogun without at least some newfound appreciation for the artists who made the game look so incredible.
Resogun Review - Soundtrack
This could very well be indicative of how absolutely sick and tired I am of hearing EDM music spew forth from damn near every form of media I've ever enjoyed, but I seem to be the only person on the planet who preferred playing Resogun while listening to literally anything other than the game's soundtrack.
To be honest, you're probably going to get tired of the five-track long Resogun soundtrack too, regardless of your own feelings on the recent rise of electronic dance music. It might take a couple of hours, maybe longer, but I suspect anyone who plans to dedicate significant time to Resogun will ultimately be forced to switch to an external source of music from time to time. It's just too small.
Games like these virtually guarantee that you will hear the opening notes of a given song far more often than you will hear the closing ones, making an extensive soundtrack almost a necessity for those of us who get sick of hearing the same 60-seconds of a song fifteen times in as many minutes. At the very least, not tying the game's five musical selections to a specific level would have been appreciated, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for custom soundtracks if/when Sony finally expands the PlayStation 4's audio playback capabilities.
Resogun Review - Gameplay
While the game has been widely compared to Geometry Wars, Resogun actually owes quite a bit of its game design to 1980's arcade classic Defender, which saw players trying to protect a group of scientists from the aliens coming to abduct them. There are some slight differences - most notably, Resogun's introduction of boss battles at the end of each stage - but the parallels can't be denied.
Unlike Defender, where the scientists roam free from the get-go and need only the player's protection, Resogun tasks you with hunting down specific "Keepers" in order to free the ten humans held captive on each of Resogun's five levels. Once you've taken down the keepers, you'll have a limited window of opportunity to save the human you've just freed; otherwise an abductor will leave you without one of your only means of acquiring new lives, bombs and ship upgrades.
As with most games of its ilk, Resogun bestows players with a limited number of screen-clearing bombs when you begin your game, along with Boost and Overdrive abilities that help you maintain some semblance of control over the on-screen action. Occasionally, you'll even have a chance to recover power-ups that improve your weapon strength, Boost duration or Overdrive longevity, and a few extra bombs can be earned by saving humans from captivity.
At only five levels long, Resogun relies on the basic premise that you are interested in mastering all of its mechanics, and etching your name as high as possible on the Resogun leaderboards. There aren't even any new ships or power-ups to unlock along the way either. All three of the ships that will ever be available to you while playing Resogun are available from the minute you begin playing the game and, truth be told, they didn't feel that different to me while in-use. If you aren't into maximizing your score, or seeing just how high you can turn up the difficulty and still emerge victorious, then Resogun is unlikely to spend more than a couple of days/weeks on your hard drive.
Admittedly, my own impatience might have played a major role in my (lack of) enjoyment; however, the amount of time wasted by game developers in titles like Resogun remains an enormous pet peeve of mine. I love playing games that have clearly been inspired by both the walk-up-and-play nature and unflinching difficulty of many arcade classics, but will never understand why Housemarque felt the need to subject their players to some elaborate process before beginning a level again.
One of the primary reasons I was able to work my way through Bit.Trip Runner, Runner2 and Super Meat Boy this year, without losing my mind, is the almost non-existent amount of downtime that players experience in what are generally considered to be three of the more rage-inducing platforming titles of this console generation.
ll three handle death in the same basic manner, near-instantaneously returning players to the start/checkpoint of your current level and allowing you to begin your next attempt. In the Runner series there's a brief countdown, but that's a result of the game's heavy reliance on timing, Bottom line, you aren't sitting around kicking yourself about the mistake(s) you just made for an extra 20-30 seconds after each and every death.
Rather than following this philosophy, Resogun draws out the time between level attempts, leaving impatient gamers like myself mashing on the X button and wondering why the developers won't just let you press "Options + Restart Game" in the moments immediately following your final death. If you're going to have a continue screen, fine; but return me to a point of action once the button prompt has confirmed that I didn't set the controller down and walk away.
Resogun Review - Final Verdict
Like most games, Resogun is likely to find a dedicated core following, but I suspect we'll begin to hear increasingly harsh opinions about the twin-stick shooter as more thoughts are shared by those who didn't score a free download during the PS4 launch window. While fun, Resogun isn't exactly what I had in mind for next-gen gaming when I spent half a day camped outside of Best Buy in below-freezing temperatures. It's definitely not what I was picturing when I swiped my credit card that night.
I also have little doubt that part of my less-than-pleasant feelings about the game are a direct result of me trying to smash my way through the game as quickly as possible for this review. Resogun seems like a game that was intended to be played in short bursts - for example, while you're downloading a full-size PS4 game --That said, I also know I'm not the only person who prefers to buy games that I can sit down and play for extended sessions, rather than to kill 20-minutes while another game finishes downloading from PSN.
Though fun, it's hard to look past the fact that Resogun only ships with five levels, each of which have preset enemy spawn patterns on all four of their difficulty settings. Sure, the game looks great, but at what point do we stop giving developers a pass for sub-par launch titles?
It's far from the worst game to emerge during the PlayStation 4 launch period, but it's hard to think some of the higher scores being given to Resogun aren't partially a result of both the game's lack of price tag and the general public's excitement over the arrival of the PlayStation 4. Does anybody really think Resogun would be getting this sort of attention if it was released on the PS3 and Xbox 360 instead?
Will I ever play Resogun again? Probably. But I'm more likely to do so as quick demonstration for friends and family than out of any real desire to revisit the Resogun experience. The game is great for showing off some of the advanced capabilities of the PS4, but I just don't see myself devoting the same sort of time to Resogun that I have to previous arcade shooters like Geometry Wars or Ikaruga. It may be one of the most visually-stimulating games currently available for the PlayStation 4, but I'm not spending ten dollars Resogun just doesn't fall into "Must Play" territory for me.
Score - 3/5
Think I'm out of my mind for only giving Resogun three stars out of the five possible? Agree that the PS4-exclusive twin-stick shooter seems to be getting a bit more critical acclaim than it deserves? Have another question/comment about Resogun that you'd like to share?
Let us know in the comments section!
