Resistance: Burning Skies

Resistance: Burning Skies is a first-person shooter game for the PlayStation Vita developed by Nihilistic Software and published by Sony Computer Entertainment in June 2012. It is the fifth installment in the Resistance franchise. It was formally announced on August 17, 2011 at GamesCom.

Premise
In August 14th, 1951, one month after the liberation of the United Kingdom, the Chimera attacked the east coast of the United States. New York fireman Tom Riley is caught in the middle of the conflict. In spite of the fact that he fights against the Chimera, he only has a desire to find and rescue his family caught in the middle of the invasion.

Plot
The story begins with Tom Riley, along with Engine 174, driving through Staten Island. They arrive in a power station that is caught on fire. They enter the station and Tom is separated from his fellow firemen after accidentally falling into the lower levels of the station through a broken floor. As Tom works his way back up, he sees one of the firemen being attacked and killed by Longlegs. Tom is forced to fight his way out of the station and rescuing only one fireman.

Once outside, Tom came to witness that the Chimeran invasion is in full swing. Riley makes his way through the city, eventually meeting up with a woman named Ellie Martinez, who is the leader of the self-titled Minutemen, and her ally Mac. They make their way to a highway bridge where Tom reunites with his family. They are about to leave together but only to separate as more Chimera show up, as Riley is forced to stay behind with Ellie to buy the survivors some time. Along the way, Tom and Ellie come across a mysterious shipment in a military truck called Gray Tech, which demonstrates the capabilities of upgrading their weapons. It is revealed that the shipment was being sent to Richard Gorrell. They are again attacked by Chimeran ground forces but Tom and Ellie defeat them. Before they could leave the highway, an Executioner attacks them. Tom and Ellie able to destroy the Executioner before they escape from bombardment of Spires and Crawlers.

Then, they make their way to a military base in Bayonne of New Jersey, where Ellie introduces Tom to her ally Colonel George Amherst, who notifies Tom that his family has been sent to a Protection Camp in Union City. Immediatetly after, the Chimera ambush the bash. Riley assists in fending off the attack, which includes in killing a gargantuan Chimeran creature called the Abomination.

As Tom and Ellie progress towards Ellis Island, they sight some reinforcements traveling along the George Washington Bridge. Ellie calls in an air strike in an effort to eliminate the reinforcements. Unfortunately, a VTOL then crashes on the bridge, but it is too late to call of the air strike off. Tom goes drops onto the bridge and begins to make his way to the crashed VTOL's crew. Tom eventually locates the VTOL only to find a sole survivor. Tom provides cover for the soldier as several Chimera lay out heavy fire. Tom then discovers an injured soldier trapped inside the VTOL. Tom then rescues the soldier, and reunites with Ellie. Tom and Ellie then make their way to the end of the bridge, encountering Grims along the way. They eventually reach the exit, only to find that it has been sealed off by the government. As Ellie attempts to find an escape route, Tom faces off againts an Impaler. Tom and Ellie then jump down an emergency exit just as another air strike hits the bridge.

Tom and Ellie then regroup with Mac, who helps them reach Ellis Island. Tom and Ellie then are ambushed by some Chimera. After clearing out all the hostiles, they eventually reach the laboratories where they reach a sealed vault door. A man then contacts them asking for help. Tom and Ellie then fight their way to the man, only to learn that he has been infected. Once Tom kills the man, he proceeds towards Richard Gorrells office. Tom and Ellie then find a projector which plays an instructional video. They then learn that Gorrell is working in Project Phoenix

Gameplay
Burning Skies offers a console quality experience on-the-go. Players are given an arsenal of eight guns, a fire axe,  and two types of grenades to use throughout the course of the campaign. Every weapon (excluding the fire axe) has a secondary fire mode that can be activated through touch controls. Additionaly, double-tapping the Vita's rear touch pad activates sprint mode. Once you have completed the campaign, you are given the "New Game+" option which resets you back to the beginning of the campaign, but allows you to keep the weapons you earned in your previous playthrough. Hidden pieces of intel are also scattered throughout the campaign for the player to find.

Multiplayer
Burning Skies has a 8-player online multiplayer across six unique maps and three modes, which includes Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and a third mode called "Survival"; the latter being somewhat similar to Resistance: Retribution's Infected mode. The player is given the options to create loadouts, and view their character in a human or Chimeran form. You also earn experience from getting different types of kills and assists. With the experience you recieve, you may purchase weapons for use in matches. You also recieve "infections" that grant you extra experience points.The game does not feature lobby chat, nor does it make use of the Vita's motion sensor. On release the games multiplayer mode was very buggy, kicking players out of matches. However, Nihilistic eventually posted an update that fixed many of the games multiplayer issues.