Resistance Fall of Difficulty?

So I Resistance Fall of Man for the PS3 was a game I had heard good things about, but never gave it a second thought since it was not heading for the PC.  However, a good buddy of mine was "done" with the game and was gracious enough to let me borrow the game.  Having a PS3 for several months and not owning any games yet, I was willing to borrow and play this FPS game on the console.  It would give me something to do while I waited for a game I really wanted for the PS3. 

My good buddy had finished the game on the normal difficulty.  Naturally, I felt I had to step it up a notch, so I played on the game on "hard".  On the very first level I almost regretted my decision.  I died more times in the first alley way of the first level than I had any where else in the rest of the game on this difficulty.  It was frustrating beyond all belief.  Eventually, I was able to "overcome" the controller and inch my way to the end of the level.  Which in turn leads to my demise (part of story).  

So after the first level, your character acquires the ability to rejuvenate health.  Since I played on Hard I can't compare to previous difficulties, but I suspect the difficulty would effect the amount and/or frequency of health for this ability.  (It's a given that difficulty effects enemy AI/Accuracy/Strength/Damage dealt/Number of...)  The health bar is broken in to 4 bars, and if you lose a bar, the "ability" will rejuvenate one bar for me.  If I never lost more than one bar in a spray and pray run, I could huddle and regain full health.  When I realized how it worked, I felt I was unstoppable, even on the "hard" difficulty.   With this new ability, everything was easier.  So what was up with that first level???

So on Hard, a few shots from the enemies "high tech" gun would drop a bar... four good shots and you were hosed.  Then tack on there were more enemies, and fewer health packs...it was a miracle to survive that first level.  It felt like playing Prince of Persia 3D...

Walk into room, run towards goal, die from trap floor...start over...Walk into room, run towards goal, jump over trap floor...die from poison darts...Walk into room, jump over trap floor, roll under poison darts, die from tumbling column...etc...  Eventually you get through, but there's almost no way to survive without knowing what to expect.
Examples in resistance...enemies coming through the one narrow barricade, no problem...all of a sudden there are enemies in the windows above the bus, wtf?, Where did they come from?  Ok no big deal, take out enemies in narrow barricade lob grenade into window above.  Next down the long back alley road, you pick up a new weapon sweet, as you follow your comrades, you get to the next firefight and get nailed from behind...wtf, where did they come from??  Well now you go running do that hall way back pedalling as you pick up the new weapon two enemies spawn...hahaha easy kill...next...etc...  So in the first level, when you do not have the ability to regen from a "mistake", and with minimal health packs, it was a frustrating almost agonizing first level. In contrast, I felt the rest of the game was very easy.  There were no frustrating or difficult passages that really tested the skill of the player, as much as the first level.  With the healing ability on top of the upgraded weaponry, the game became easier and easier.

Regardless of difficulty, there should be some balance in the first level to be adjusted for the lack of an ability.  The damage they dealt was the same on the first level as it was on the rest of the levels by those enemies... The difference is that in later levels (the majority of the game) you have a power up to rejuvenate.  The AI was balanced and tested for your "ability" at that difficulty.  So without that ability, it is an unfair balance towards the enemy, therefore making the first level very frustrating.  The balance could've come from any number of areas, more health from health packs, less damage from AI, less accuracy from AI...etc...but the first level should have been better balanced.

Why would you want to discourage players in the first 30 minutes of a game?  If this was on demo at a game store...there's a lot of FUD passed around on that first level.  Not good for trying to sell the game. 

So replay value...since the game was so easy on "hard" when you beat the game you unlock another difficulty...perhaps the "real" hard?  I didn't bother giving it a shot because I remembered the first level.  That first level will probably be the one thing I will never forget from this game...But on top of the extra difficulty, there are 6 new weapons that are unlocked, but stashed within the game.  A great way to make you replay the levels, to acquire those new weapons.  Maybe...I was more bummed that after I finished the game, I had to go BACK to find those weapons to try them out.  I got the first two new weapons and was bored.

There wasn't enough motivation to go through and find the rest.  On the other hand, if I could replay all the levels WITH all the weapons, and I could try out the new weapons immediately, I would've replayed more of the game. 

The additional weapons should have either been part of the original game, and not an unlocked feature, or once unlocked, available in campaign immediately.  If I were to design it differently, I would have included the weapons from the beginning, but left them locked from multiplayer until the game was beaten.

In addition, the weapons of the game were some of the best weapons I've seen in a FPS to date.  Apart from the standard shotgun/sniper/machine gun, they had some very creative new "alien" weapons.  For those that like to think outside the box, or play beyond the games intention, I would've also included modes to allow for unlimited ammo/usage of the weapons. 

I for one, loved the sniper rifles secondary mode of "slow" down to snipe.  I would've played through the entire game using just that mode if I could.  There's your replay value for ya!

Overall, The game was very enjoyable (after the first level), but was lacking the motivation for me to replay the game further.  However, as a one pass game, it was a nicely polished game and I am glad to add another notch for this game.