History VideoGame / Resistance

-->-- The last radio transmission received from Russia, looped endlessly over 12,000 stations before the fall of the Red Curtain.

''Resistance: Fall of Man'' launched concurrently with the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3, and was the system's KillerApp for several months as Sony tried to figure out what they were doing.

A second portable game, ''Resistance: Burning Skies'', was released in 2012 on the UsefulNotes/PlayStationVita. ''Burning Skies'' takes place during the Chimeran invasion of America, and focuses on Tom Riley, a New York City fireman who joins the fight against the Chimera. Unlike ''Retribution'', ''Burning Skies'' uses the same first-person gameplay style as the main games, and also makes use of the Vita's touchscreen.

* DropTheHammer: The sledgehammer from R3.

** In the alternate 1950s where an alien race attacked Earth instead of the Axis Powers, the aliens sweep through Europe with stunning quickness after having already overrun Russia (where they first arrived in the Tunguska Event of 1906). The first game sees the joint U.S. and British forces trying to retake London, which had been abandoned by the Brits months earlier, and destroy the massive tower. Which proves to be a InstantWinCondition against the aliens on British soil.

A year passes, and the British Isles alone have thus far been spared by the Chimeran horde that has all but destroyed humanity on the mainland thanks to the English Channel - until the Chimera dig under and pop up in the middle of London, decapitating most of the surviving UED leadership and delivering England into enemy hands in one fell swoop as the survivors flee North to Scotland and try to hold off the horde. The USA, whose government has been strictly censoring all information coming from Europe, passing it off as an influenza epidemic, quickly sends help. The US soldiers are told they will be fighting an invading Russian army, and are completely unprepared for what they actually encounter. The first wave of their relief force is slaughtered within hours save for one man - Sergeant Nathan Hale, an Army Ranger who is resistant to the virus.

Cue a long slog through the UK, during which Hale kills several Chimeran Angels (more or less a telepathic General) and destroys the central tower of the Chimera's country-wide network of them, which allows the humans to kick the Chimera out of Britain and allows a stalemate in the European theater to ensue. In the end Hale is kidnapped by American troops in strange uniforms and gas masks for unknown reasons.

Insomniac released ''Resistance 2'' in 2008. In that, the US has captured a strange Angel called "Daedalus". Its appearance has caused the Chimera to greatly increase their tactical capabilities, and they have [[FromBadToWorse staged a massive invasion of the United States from the West and East coast]]. Nathan Hale, now a Lieutenant, is put in a platoon of soldiers who can also resist the Chimera virus and sent to track down the Russian scientist who can stop Daedalus. Notable for hinting at major revelations regarding the origin of the Chimera. The AlternateRealityGame ''Project Abraham'' was a lead up to ''Resistance 2'' that detailed what happened before ''Fall of Man'', and revealed that Hale’s resistance to the Chimera virus was neither accidental nor natural.

''Resistance 3'' was released in 2011. After the events of ''Resistance 2'' [[FromBadToWorse the Chimera have succeeded in invading the U.S. and the remnants of humanity live a meager existence in hiding]]. One of Nathan Hale's old comrades, Sergeant Joe Capelli, is persuaded by the Russian scientist from before, Dr. Fyodor Malikov, to go to New York and destroy a giant tower the Chimera built that is freezing the planet. Like its predecessors, ''Resistance 3'' raised questions about the Chimera, and failed to answer a single one.

* AmericaSavesTheDay: Averted. America gets its ass kicked. Twice. [[spoiler:There are three million Americans left over from the initial attacks.]]

** The former alt-fire (L1) button now aims down the sight.

** That said, all three games also give players the option to map any control to any button, which allows players to negate most of these changes. Although, since the aiming mechanic is altogether different between the first two, mapping it to the R3 button won't work very well in the second.

* EverybodysDeadDave: By the second game, there's only a handful of continents that haven't been completely overrun. As of Resistance 3, that number falls to [[spoiler: none]].

** The L11-2 Dragon from R:FOM, which is only available on the second playthrough.

* NewGamePlus: In a second playthrough of R3, every weapon you acquire will be at the same upgrade level you brought it to at the end of the first playthrough.

* GiantMook: The 9-foot tall Ravagers are the standard first person shooter version of this trope, having the durability and damage output of a [[VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare2 juggernaut]], while the 15-20 foot tall Titans and yacht-sized Widowmakers are practically walking tanks. And taken to the logical extreme with [[{{Kaiju}} the Leviathan]].

** The Steelheads appear in every game, and can kill you fast if you don't deal with them right away. Their weapon is not only powerful, it can also shoot through solid matter, so taking cover from them is very difficult.

** The Ravagers in R2 and R3, giant Hybrids who move [[LightningBruiser deceptively fast]], have a high-damaging weapon and can project a shield to defend themselves. A single headshot from the Fareye or the Marksman can kill them, but if you don't have either of them or the Ravager simply decides to rush you then you're in for a world of pain. And there is ''rarely'' just one of them, too.

* GiantMook: Ravagers are the standard first person shooter version of this trope, while Titans and Widowmakers are practically walking tanks. And taken to the logical extreme with [[{{Kaiju}} the Leviathan]].

* GlassCannon: Chameleons can kill you in one swipe of their claws but also die to a single blast.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: The Chimera have a metabolism roughly 12 times faster than that of a human's, which grants them the ability to healing much faster but also significantly raises their body temperature. Chimeran creatures are thus given cybernetic cooling devices to keep them from roasting to death in their own body heat, and part of their plan for Earth involves terraforming it into a much colder environment.