Goliath

A Goliath from Resistance 2.

A Goliath is a massive walking siege battery employed by the Chimera to assault fortified military establishments or civilian positions. Each Goliath is approximately 150 feet tall, though their height has doubled to 300 feet in Resistance 3. Goliaths are primarily armed with concussion mortar batteries that soften up enemy opposition. Entire companies have broken under the mortar barrages of the Goliath, the human soldiers simply fleeing for their lives. Ironically, this only exposes them to the Goliath's most fearsome weapon, Spire missiles, which deliver Crawlers and Spinners that can infect thousands. As of 1957, Goliaths no longer carry Spire missiles due to the Chimera's new objective of annihilating humans instead of capturing them for conversion.

Resistance: Fall of Man

Goliath 3D model concept art from Resistance: Fall of Man.

Goliaths are mentioned several times during the course of Resistance: Fall of Man, and can be assumed to have been present as early as York, since a barrage of Spires are fired at the bus depot at the end of "Spires." However, they are not physically seen until Cheddar Gorge, wherein a number of partly-built Goliath chassis and limbs can be seen strewn around the facilities clustered near the excavated Chimeran tower. The threat of Goliaths is also the reason for the evacuation of Southern Command.

Fully assembled and active Goliaths are absent until London, when a group of them are attempting to cross Southwark Bridge to encircle the British forces attacking the London Tower, but due to Nathan Hale's actions, all but one are destroyed by demolition charges placed on the bridge by engineers who were infected by Crawlers before they could detonate them. The single remaining Goliath is engaged by Hale and Stephen Cartwright in a captured Stalker, with the latter two eventually destroying the former.

Strategy

The Goliath appears in London - "Giant Slayer" and serves as a boss battle against the player while commandeering a Stalker. The Goliath will strafe, albeit more slowly, and is armed with a total of three weapons: it can launch a volley of missiles, fire a single large missile, or launch a slow-moving mortar in the player's direction.

• Due to the Goliath's slow movements, the Stalker can easily strafe and avoid its attacks. Furthermore, move by holding "X" button and moving by the Left analog stick; it will give the Stalker a temporary burst of speed in the direction they're moving. It’s perfect for quickly changing direction or dodging an incoming volley, but it takes a few seconds to recharge.
• For the rest of the battle, try to lead the Goliath around the large piece of rock in the middle of the zone and use that to block its shots while leading it with the Stalker's missiles.

Intel

“	Goliaths are massive walking siege batteries the Chimera use to subjugate whole cities. They employ concussion mortar batteries to soften up opposition. Entire companies have broken down under mortar barrages and simply run for their lives. This exposes them to the Goliath's most fearsome weapon, the Spire. Spires are biological warfare missiles which deliver payloads of Chimeran Crawlers. A single spire can infect thousands, and Goliaths never use just one.	”

Resistance 2

At least three Goliaths attack SRPA Station Igloo; one of the Goliaths is seen continuously throughout the level and serves as the level's boss.

Strategy

In order to destroy the Goliath, the player must target and destroy only three (possible to hit 2 exhaust ports with 1 rocket) of the rear exhaust ports on its back throughout the level, meaning that the Goliath will take the entire level in order to be destroyed. Once the player destroys one exhaust port, the Goliath usually turns directly toward the player and attacks, so as soon as the player lands a hit, they must quickly follow Major Blake to a safer position.

• The player first receives the L210 LAARK after clearing out the first few enemies, in which the player can fire only one shot at one of the Goliath's exhaust ports. There are additional rockets that can be obtained from a ammo box if the player somehow misses hitting the Goliath. After hitting the Goliath it will retaliate against the player, in which they must quickly follow Major Blake outside and into a sewer pipe to avoid the Goliath's counterattack.

• While accompanying Major Blake to the airfield, the player finds another LAARK and attack the Goliath once its back is turned. Like before, escape with Blake before the Goliath attacks.

• On the last attack after fighting through a corridor, the player finds the last LAARK that can be used to finally bring down the Goliath.

Resistance: Retribution

A Goliath makes a cameo appearance in the starting level of The Guns of Rotterdam where James Grayson and the First Squadron lands in Rotterdam. It can be seen shooting down a VTOL in the background.

Resistance 3

By the events of Resistance 3, Goliaths have been upgraded and redesigned to be more effective at combating human resistance cells, in which their size has doubled to be over 300 feet tall and are armed with heat-seeking rocket launchers. The Goliath seems to have become nigh-invincible against human attacks, as their once vulnerable exhaust ports are now protected by metal armor plating and no character ever implies they can be successfully attacked otherwise. In the Goliath enemy journal, the survival tip is to simply "avoid at all costs."

A group of Goliaths participated in the attack on Haven, which Joseph Capelli and Tommy Dean narrowly avoided under the 'feet' of one of the massive machines as they advanced.

In Wrightsburg, Goliaths patrol the flooded area of the Mississippi River, accompanied with Dropships and Shock Drones. Capelli and Dr. Malikov attempted to avoid these patrols during their journey to St. Louis by boat. Unfortunately, several Goliaths detected them and destroyed their vessel.

In New York City, Joseph Capelli's attempt to gain access to the New York tower was thwarted as a group of Goliaths advanced on him, raining down concussion mortar rounds on Central Park and ultimately forcing him to be saved by Charlie Tent and retreat on the Remnants' VTOL.

Enemy Journal

“	This Chimeran automaton is able to destroy the whole city blocks with a single crushing step. It is used to attack large targets such as military bases and small cities. The Chimera have developed several models over the years, resulting in the most current version which stands over 300 feet tall and has no known weaknesses. Primary Attack - High-explosive, heat seeking rockets. Survival Tip: Avoid at all costs.	”

Gallery

Resistance: Fall of Man

Goliath concept art by Rodrigo Ribeiro.

A Pre-rendered Goliath

Pre-render

Rear view of a Goliath.

Goliath Intel.

A photo of a Goliath.

Goliath missiles seen being shot from an angle.

The Stalker narrowly avoiding goliath missile.

Goliath - Rockets

Resistance: Retribution

The Goliath's cameo appearance in Rotterdam.

Resistance 2

Concept art.

A Goliath firing at aircraft.

Resistance 3

Joseph face to face with a Goliath in New York City.

Concept art.

Upper view of a Goliath.

A Goliath in Haven.

A Goliath attacking the boat.

The boat with a Goliath in the background.

A clearer picture of both the Goliath and the boat.

Trivia

• Goliath is named after the "giant" Philistine warrior of the same name, famous for his battle with the young David, the future king of Israel, described in the Hebrew Bible/Christian Old Testament and, more briefly, in the Quran. The analogy to the biblical figure is appropriate, as in Resistance: Fall of Man the player uses a smaller Stalker to destroy a large Goliath.
• Goliaths appear to be unmanned drones, as an Intel in Resistance: Fall of Man implies their reactions are entirely dependent on target size and they will never launch Spire missiles at small groups no matter how badly damaged they are. No crew access is visible on the machine, nor does it have any obvious cockpit or bridge location.
• Despite their stated purpose, at no point in any of the games is a Goliath actually seen to launch Spires. The first instant of Spire attack in gameplay takes place in Resistance: Burning Skies, but the Goliath responsible is never seen.
• Goliaths in Fall of Man repeatedly change size, appearing only a couple of stories tall at times, not much larger than the Spires they're supposed to carry; for example, when seen crossing the Southwark Bridge. At other times they tower over their surroundings, as in the mission "Giant Slayer." During Resistance 2, their size is much more consistent.
• In Resistance 2, if the player has left the bottom left and bottom right exhaust ports undamaged until last, and the player shoots the bottom left port, the right one will still blow up. In addition, if the player dies before taking the final shot, the Goliath will spawn with all three other exhaust ports destroyed, even though the player has only shot the Goliath twice.
• In Malikov's enemy journal in Resistance 3, he wonders why the over-powered Goliaths are still operational in America in 1957. He dismisses the Chimera using them for mining before asking "Может это быть обусловлено людей", this translates to "Maybe it's due to people". Malikov is theorizing that Chimeran Death Squads were just using overkill.
• It's very likely that the Goliaths are partly inspired by the Martian Tripods from H.G. Wells' famous 1898 science fiction novel The War of the Worlds.