Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

The opening hook is simple and effective: you are not a super-soldier dropped into a distant battlefield, but Tom Riley, a New Jersey firefighter and National Guardsman trying to fight his way through an American Chimera invasion. That premise gives the shooting immediate purpose. You move through the campaign in first person, shooting grotesque extraterrestrial enemies, mixing gunfire with melee attacks, and hunting for Riley’s trapped relatives along the way.

Eight weapons is a respectable toolbox for a handheld shooter, and the alternate ammunition is where the combat has its best moments. Bullets that can punch through walls encourage you to think about cover differently instead of always waiting for a clean line of sight. When the arsenal starts opening up, firing into an enemy’s hiding place feels more satisfying than merely trading shots from behind a corner.

The Vita controls are the game’s defining compromise. Dual sticks and shoulder buttons handle the fundamental movement and shooting you expect, while the front touchscreen covers melee, interactions, target locking, and secondary weapon functions. In a calm moment, these gestures can feel like convenient shortcuts. Under pressure, reaching for the screen can be less comfortable than keeping both hands planted on the physical controls. Sprinting by double-tapping the rear touch pad is another idea that sounds clever but can prove fiddly when you simply want to run.

That tension keeps Burning Skies from becoming a truly smooth portable shooter. The core action is functional, and fans who want more Chimera shooting can enjoy a compact campaign, but the touch inputs regularly remind you that the game is working around the hardware as much as it is using it. Patience with those controls matters more than any familiarity with the series.

Graphics

The first-person view keeps the focus on ruined invasion-zone spaces and the Chimera themselves, which are described as deliberately abhorrent creatures rather than generic human soldiers. New York under attack gives the action a stronger sense of place than a detached science-fiction arena, while the close-range perspective makes the enemy threat feel immediate.

Story

Set on August 15, 1951, the campaign occupies the gap between Resistance: Fall of Man and Resistance 2. The key dramatic turn is that the Chimera are invading America for the first time, putting New York City and the wider United States at risk. That is a good frame for a Resistance story: familiar alternate-history stakes, but seen through a more ordinary man caught inside them.

Tom’s firefighter and Guardsman background gives his mission a practical, personal angle. He is fighting to save the city and country, but he is also trying to rescue relatives caught in the invasion. That family objective keeps the campaign from being only a chain of firefights, even if the game’s main draw remains shooting through the Chimeran threat.

You do not need deep series knowledge to understand the immediate goal, though existing Resistance fans will get more value from its placement in the timeline. For a concise overview of the game’s history and release, see Resistance: Burning Skies. As a story chapter, it works better as an adjacent tale from the war than as a major reason to revisit the broader saga.

Overall Experience

Resistance: Burning Skies is easy to understand and harder to love. The first hour offers exactly what a Vita Resistance game ought to promise: portable first-person action, nasty Chimera, a recognizable 1950s alternate-history crisis, and enough weapon variety to keep firing from becoming monotonous. The campaign’s wall-piercing ammunition and personal rescue motivation help it rise above a completely routine shooter.

Then the control gimmicks begin to wear on you. Touchscreen actions and rear-pad sprinting are not automatically disastrous, but they can turn ordinary combat pressure into a small ergonomic irritation. If you are happy to adapt and want a shooter built specifically around Vita inputs, there is some novelty in learning its shortcuts. If you want the cleanest possible stick-and-button shooter, this is where frustration can set in.

The separate online multiplayer component offers deathmatch, team deathmatch, and survival across six maps, with campaign weapons unlocked by leveling through combat. It has no connection to the campaign plot, so it reads as an extra rather than a continuation of Tom Riley’s story. The single-use online pass is also an unfortunate barrier attached to that side of the package.

At a 6, this is a fair but unremarkable Resistance outing. Give it a chance if you already enjoy the series and can accept touch-driven compromises for the novelty of Chimeran combat on PS Vita. Everyone else is likely to find a few enjoyable firefights, but not enough consistency to make Riley’s New York campaign a must-play.

Retro Replay Score

6/10