Resistance

Resistance launched in 2006 as one of the PlayStation 3's flagship titles, with Sony hoping it would become its own answer to console shooters like Halo. Resistance: Fall of Man set an alternate history in the 1950s, where an alien race called the Chimera had invaded Earth and pushed Europe and Britain to the brink of collapse – soldier Nathan Hale became the face of the series, and his gradual transformation under the influence of the Chimeran virus gave the story a personal dimension that wasn't a given in shooters of that era.

The sequel, Resistance 2, shifted the scale to American soil and brought a faster action pace, larger enemies and a stronger focus on cooperative multiplayer, while Resistance 3 returned to the darker, more intimate atmosphere of the first game, and many fans consider it the trilogy's most balanced entry in terms of both story and gameplay. Alongside the main series, handheld spin-offs appeared too – Resistance: Retribution for the PSP and Resistance: Burning Skies for the PS Vita – attempts to bring the series' mechanics to a smaller format, though they met a more muted response from players and critics alike.

The series helped define the PlayStation 3's early years as a platform with its own exclusive shooters, showing that Sony could build a competitive first-person franchise beyond a mere console launch title. While it's less discussed today than some of its contemporaries, and the trilogy ended with Resistance 3 without a further sequel, it remains an important reminder of how the PS3 generation got its start and searched for its own exclusive identity.