Retro Review – X-Files: Resist Or Serve

I’m becoming more and more surprised as I find some pretty decent licensed games on older consoles. Coming into X-Files: Resist or Serve, I expected a horrible money grab. However, I’m pleased to say I was very wrong. As an X-Files fan, I was thrilled to discover this game’s existence, and even more thrilled to get it within my grasp.

It released in 2004 and is set during the show’s seventh season. Black Ops Entertainment took on development duties for the PlayStation 2 console with Vivendi Universal Games acting as the publisher.

Set-up

I won’t delve too deeply into the story, due to the fact that I’d rather have you play the game and enjoy it as I did. I will say that it does follow the typical creepy X-Files episode, which includes Mulder’s dry one-liners. The game begins with a cutscene showing us the huge meteor that fell in Tunisia at the turn of the century. A Russian couple is dramatically killed, but their child survives. Cue Scully and Mulder, who are on their way to Colorado to investigate some unusual murders.

One of the murders was committed by a man who had been dead for at least a day. The town’s sheriff contacted Mulder and blamed two teens who were known to practice Witchcraft. As you enter the town, the two of you get separated and the game begins. Resident Evil 2 players will see some similarities after you choose who you want to play as.

Gameplay

Seeing as this is an early 2000’s survival horror game, you will have to master an easier version of tank controls. When you switch screens while running, you have to make sure to keep pressing the direction you were already pressing. If you stop, then repress the direction, you may go back to where you came. It’san inconvenience, but doesn’t take away from the game once you get used to it.

The circle button brings out the flashlight. This also works after you draw your pistol with L1, which is very handy. None of that Doom 3 crap. With your pistol drawn, X fires. When holstered X is used to interact with objects. You can melee attack with square when get caught off guard and run away with R2. For tank controls, the developers really made them tight. I’m surprised I haven’t died yet with the amount of enemies they’ve sent at me.

Inspirations

Black Ops Entertainment really took inspiration from prior survival horror games and melded them into this familiar, yet unique gameplay experience. As I said earlier, the development team took the hint from Resident Evil 2 to separate our main characters until they’re reunited, which is nice because it gives us two unique stories that intertwine in the same game. One thing I thought was very cool was the fact that if you step in blood, you carry it on your shoes for quite a few footfalls. Man, I got a kick out of that.

The maps that you find throughout the game mirror those in Silent Hill. The same look, feel and font, I believe, which made me wonder if Scully and Mulder went off the beaten path. For a late generation PlayStation 2 game, the graphics have held up surprisingly well. The scans of the lead characters look great as do the cutscenes look great and sound, considering the cast actually voiced the game. There was no phoning in on this title and I’m thrilled about that. I hate throw-away licensed games. 

Conclusion

I’m am grateful that I found this title. It was somewhat difficult to find, but well worth the look. Unfortunately, if you want to play it, you have to track down a PlayStation 2 and the game itself. The game will be tricky. However, your hunt will pay off greatly. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it and am bummed out that there are no X-Files games on the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. I would play them in a heartbeat. Fans of Silent Hill and Resident Evil need to track this game down. It meshes the two franchises almost perfectly, giving you a new story in a great television series. This game is how tank-controlled survival horror games were meant to be–that is before Resident Evil 4 revolutionized the genre.