Here is yours truly bringing you another critical opinion of the latest Playstation 3 Exclusion and forth entry of Insomniac’s shooter franchise, Resistance 3. First is first, let’s get the positives of the game out of the way.
GRAPHIC wise the game is a much bigger improvement the last ones. There is a fine detail to the way the characters and environments are presented. The main character Joseph ‘Joe’ Capelli looks a lot more different from his previous counterpart but the visuals of old age are shown here. That and the overall cast of characters in the game look almost real-like compared to the last ones but still with that artistic and cartoonist feel to them.
Examples of levels in the campaign showcasing the vast improvement include the first few levels including the Boat Ride Mission first shown in the trailers. The way the developers have managed to make it feel like the Player is there in the midst of the action happening around them, such as travelling through the fog and the sound of giant Goliath Robots making their presence known, their outlines and figures emerging from the windy, white, mist are views to behold.
Seeing thunder and lighting from the horizons while travelling on Train through wastelands and Forests give that sense of a long journey ahead while also adding in the emotional and creepy factor of loneliness that the narrative of the game brings with it.
The visuals are dark lighted and moody which helps to tell the story of lost hope and the overwhelming odds of possible failure and danger at every turn, something which the previous titles never fully managed to do until now. The presentation is such that it brings with it exactly what it intends to show to the player and overall without it the game wouldn’t be as good without.
The visuals help tell and drive the story forward with each level getting ever darker as the narrative itself goes onto dark territory to make the Player feel as hopeless and lonely as the characters in the game feel, giving it that sense of despair that separates Resistance 3 from its predecessors and other First Person Shooters that try to tell such a story as well.
GAMEPLAY is also a heavy improvement when compared to previous titles. However a downside to it would be that this is the shortest Resistance game yet. But that is expected of First Person Shooters these days, but unlike the current tread of FPS games, Resistance 3 brings with it back a style of the classics.
Regenerative Health is not included in this entry but can be unlocked as a cheat later, which resembles the Regenerative Health of the first Resistance game. With this feature now cut out from the main campaign, not only does it make the overall game unique and makes it stand out from other FPS but also adds in that tension and challenge that comes with it.
Strategy and quick-thinking is now required in order to survive and this is even more true when playing the game on harder difficulties as a few shots will bring a quick death for the Player unless patients and tactics are used to overcome the overwhelming and frustrating odds presented. Not to worry as there are Health Packs scattered throughout the levels but they are to be used with care and caution since Health isn’t fully regenerated when picked up.
This isn’t the only so called ‘classic’ feature to return. Resistance 3 in essence is more of a spiritual successor of the first Resistance. Returning is the fan-demanded Weapon Wheel that was sadly cut from Resistance 2. No more is it required to only carry two weapons like all the current traditional FPS. Now any weapon you pick up will be included in the inventory to use and each weapon brings with its own fun way to kill the Chimera enemies.
As more targets are hit and killed with that selected weapon, the weapon now upgrades, making it stronger, changing the way the secondary fire functions, the overall design changing with it and adding in its own form of melee attack to it. All the weapons in the games have their own unique function and that brings with it the fun replay value of the game.
Elements from Resistance 2 include the Monster Boss Battles, which make a return here. But where Resistance 2’s Bosses were all different, here the game repeats itself with having the fight the same Monster Bosses many times throughout the Campaign as they pop up with only really one big boss making a one-time appearance. But they are fun and chaotic but can get frustrating while having to take down the Boss and dealing with smaller enemies who are firing at you at the same time.
Other previous returns include Co-Op Campaign and sadly a more straight forward and simple version of Multiplayer Online. A more improved version of Resistance 2’s chaotic and 60 player Multiplayer is not included and that is one of the greater flaws of the game. The Campaign and overall Gameplay is different but the Multiplayer is more of the same that other FPS have already. But if that is what people prefer more then one will be right at home with it.
PLOT has the player controlling Joseph Capelli from Resistance 2 who killed the main hero of the game Nathan Hale with a bullet to the head after he finally succumbed to the Chimera Virus and turned into one of them.
Dr. Fyodor Malikov managed to create a cure from Hale’s blood and cured the virus thus in Gameplay terms explaining why there is no Regenerative Health. Joe is dishonourably discharged from SRPA and the Chimera take over planet Earth.
Joe meanwhile meets and marries Susan who is revealed ‘only’ in the tie-in Novel, ‘The Gathering of the Storm’ that she is Nathan Hale’s Foster Sister and this hint of the relation is never brought up in the game which is one of the major flaws considering they could’ve added more weight to Joe’s guilt of having had to kill Hale.
The two live secretly with other survivors in an underground outpost in Haven, Oklahoma with only 10% of the human population still alive and thriving for survival. Four Years Pass and now Joe and Susan have a Four-year old son called Jack.
Eventually their outpost is attacked by Chimera Forces who found it by following Dr. Malikov who has been travelling to locate Joe and to ask him to help him to guide him to New York City to shut of the Chimera Control Tower there which is powering up the Wormhole seen at the end of 2 that leads to the Chimera Homeworld and is also responsible for freezing the Earth over so the Chimera forces can start thriving there.
Malikov explains the human race will not survive the next winter and after some convincing from Susan to Joe that there could be a chance to give Jack a better life, Joe agrees to help Malikov with the plan, travelling across the Mississippi River, St. Louis Missouri, Mount Pleasant Pennsylvania and finally New York City.
The story is simple to understand and enough development is given to Joe and Malikov to show the way their characters have developed between the previous title and what they want to achieve now and what their struggles are. The story itself takes a darker tone towards the halfway point of the game and gets even darker while also presenting the aspect of loneliness despair and the violence humans go through in order to survive.
However, like all current games, the final never meets the standards that the overall game sets. It starts good and once it gets to the middle it only gets better but once it gets to the end it all just falls apart. Resistance 3 is one of those games that manage to deliver in all other departments except for a satisfying and epic final and emotional ending.
FLAWS is something every game has and Resistance 3 is one of those games that manages to do a lot of things but at the same time fails to deliver on other accounts.
Three Years this game I imagine has been in development and its short but sweet but at the same time fails to be something great.
There are points in this game where the playing time could have been extended but instead it’s all looked over in a cutscene or it just skips straight ahead towards the next plot or mission. The Developers could have taken the time to add in more Gameplay and story so as to flesh out some of the support characters whom make appearances only once.
Another negative aspect would include a sequence where the Player is forced to carry an object and run through a warzone without any means of protecting ones self and having to rely on the NPC AI to protect them. The irony is that when the player is actually firing away with other NPCs with them, they don’t do anything. They shoot but it never appears as if the characters can even kill the enemy and in the end it’s always in the hands of the player to do all the hard work. The NPCs are just stand around or run away and don’t provide any sort of crucial aid.
Once the game gets to Mount Pleasant it introduces the religious community and having to rescue the Priest. The whole level of running around in the infected town is pretty much a reference to Half-Life 2s Ravenholm Level. The game continues to pay tribute to Half-Life by adding in the element of having to escape the large giant monster by hiding and running into the smaller tunnels to avoid from killing the player. It isn’t original in anyway but it adds a much-needed element to it that gives off the terror and horror of been alone in the dark and having to fend oneself.
The next few levels go into dark territory as the game presents the darker nature of human survival. But once it gets to New York it all consists of fighting of massive amounts of Chimera forces which majority of the time include picking of snipers and avoiding them. You just go from point A to B fighting off overwhelming enemies, thus making the last levels tiring and repetitive.
It would have been good to have returned the Vehicle sections from the first game and perhaps had the player actually travel to and past he Stature of Liberty and other more famous land marks besides a ruined Washington and Times Square but this never happens. The developers failed to deliver in that department and it is one of the main aspects that made me disappointed in the game’s final moments. That and the lack of a final boss or enemy Capelli has to overcome. And speaking of final moments…
THE END doesn’t answer all the questions such as what the mysterious ‘Grey Tech’ is and what the ‘Pure Chimera’ or who the mysterious ‘Alien Race’ was that defeated the Chimera the first time along with other unanswered questions still waiting to be answered. These are questions that the game itself even brought up but didn’t answer and the truth is it is understandable because the game is centred on Capelli and Malikov’s journey to New York. The story sticks with them and their goal. But failure to answer some of these long awaited questions, considering it’s been three years since the last game it all seems kind of pointless in the end.
Considering that this game pretty much wraps everything up towards the end and answers some questions through its ‘Journal’ Option along with the Credits serving as a Epilogue, the only way those ‘main’ questions can be answered is if a Prequel is made that is set in the Four Years gap between Resistance 2 and 3 otherwise there’d be no point of making another sequel that kicks off after this once, unless they do something that takes place at the same time as 3 as well.
CONCLUSION
What Resistance 3 does so well is add in elements from all its games into one, creating a perfect balance of story, gaming and other elements that make this game worth playing more than once. These consist from the Weapon Wheel making a return along with newer weapons that making killing enemies more brutal and fun.
Capelli is more rounded out and developed than Hale was thus giving us a character that we care for and also is a game that is not afraid to get dark when it wants to while adding in a few twist and turns here and there that keep the tension, horror, action and atmosphere of the game high up.
Overall Resistance 3 manages to stray somewhat away from its Gameplay flaws of its originals but unlike its originals fails to deliver on the epic final that this game should do. Considering that New York is meant to be the Main location for this entry not much is done with it.
Nevertheless, the fun factor of co-op returning in the campaign gives it that replay edge. But the lack of a better more improved version of Resistance 2’s Multiplayer along with the flaws already mentioned don’t make this the top game it could have been. But the game succeeds in delivering a darker experience than the other ones and is still an enjoyable game that delivers on the fun and somewhat liner story.
Overall rating….8.5/10
Likes:
- Campaign Mode is darker then is previous sequel.
- Returns to what made Resistance 1 a good game.
- Brings in elements of both its Predecessors into one fine experience.
- Loved playing as Joe Capelli.
- The Homage’s to Half-Life 2 the game borrows elements from.
- The Weapons and Upgrading System.
- Trophies are piss easy to get. (The Irony. Both Resistance 2 and Killzone 2 are somewhat downright impossible to Plantium where as Killzone 3 and Resistance 3 is the total opposite.)
- Paul Eiding was a nice surprise.
- So was ‘General’ Cartwright’s little cameo during the beginning stages of the game. Keep an eye out for it.
- Credit Sequence was a nice way of saying the storyline was over.
Hates:
- Lack of a Final Boss and Epic Final to the game.
- Ending was too happy going for my tastes and too short.
- Some Characters needed more development.
- The whole of the New York Level should have been better developed.
- No Vehicle Sections in this. (Would’ve loved to drive from the Stature of Liberty to New York City on the Frozen Lake.)
- Some questions are left unanswered.
- Superhuman Mode takes the piss.
