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Resistance: Burning Skies survival mode announced

Plus, pre-orders to get day-one level bump.

Sony has taken the wraps off forthcoming Vita shooter Resistance: Burning Skies' new Survival multiplayer mode.

As detailed on the PlayStation Blog, it's the third pillar of the handheld FPS's multiplayer offering, alongside Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch.

Players will be divided into humans and Chimera, who'll start with six and two squad members respectively. When a human is killed they'll be transformed into a Chimera, slowly shifting the balance of play. The winner is the last human left standing.

"We really wanted to offer something that was unique to Resistance, keeping with the franchise's theme around humanity's struggle to survive against overwhelming odds," explained product manager Phil Lynch.

"We wanted the game to start relatively simple for the humans and then become increasingly harder over time, much like the way the Chimera invaded Asia, then Europe and then America in a flood.

"Previous Resistance games have had modes similar to this, but Survival is our own special twist to create a new mode that focuses on the balance of power changes."

Sony has also announced a new pre-order incentive for the title. Put your money down now and you'll automatically start multiplayer at level 5. In addition to that, you'll also get three extra character avatars and a Vita lock screen theme.