Review by: Mitch Dyer

When Sony Bend surprised us with its double offering of Syphon Filter games for the PSP, proving that third-person shooters are totally doable on the single-analog system, it was hard to imagine the developer tripping on their shoelaces when they went for a third go-'round. This time, however, Gabe Logan is hitting the bench. Generic, annoying Englishman, James Grayson replaces the secret agent in a side-story to Insomniac Games' Resistance series. Resistance Retribution ditches Syphon's terrorists for aliens, laser rifles and big-ass mechs, but it also adds heaps of unnecessary repetition.

We expect shooters to keep you focused on the action by swarming you with waves of enemies, and Retribution makes a point of it. Each of the varied areas, including devastated Euro-cities like Luxembourg and Paris, to the depths of the Earth-invading Chimera’s experimental facilities, is a series of short arena sequences to fill in the gap between the lame Go-Kill-Them-Aliens story segments. You'll run, shoot, and take cover, but you'll find that the enemy variety quickly stagnates with repeated robots and cloned armies of identical aliens. The clever automatic lock-on system is handy and helpful, but periodic difficulty spikes that require precision aiming prove frustrating when you’ve become habitually reliant on an automated system that does the work for you.

It’s fun enough to launch grenades and sniper rounds into evil aliens’ faces, but I found myself sticking to the always-reliable Razor, which dishes out a fiercely devastating ricochet round that kills up to four enemies consecutively. As a result of repetition, the solo campaign is ultimately a dud with short-lived thrills that take place behind the windshield of a giant robot or in super-mega-giant boss’ lairs. The narrative is lazily told and seems to merely exist as a vehicle to hurl Grayson across Europe at a rapid pace rather than filling in the story gaps between the first and second PlayStation 3 titles.

The retribution of Retribution is its multiplayer. Taking aim against seven other players in standard deathmatch and capture-the-flag will definitely entice clan players to play longer sessions than the short campaign missions, but the real hook is the creative Assimilation mode. With one player running solo as a nefarious Cloven (a more humanoid, though equally terrifying version of the Chimera), the seven members of the French Maquis forces must defend themselves from their overpowered nemesis for fear of being converted into their enemy. As the Cloven team builds up its numbers, the Maquis become stronger to stack the scales against its outnumbering opponents. It’s a cool way of playing a third-person shooter that adds a significant amount of worth to Retribution.