Developer: Insomniac Games
Publisher: SCEE
Release Date: Out Now
Players/Online features: 1, 2-player split-screen co-op, 2-16 online
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Resistance 3 is the first in the series to support 3D and PlayStation Move controllers and is also the first game to introduce the PSN Pass program, a code that enables online multiplayer and co-op modes.
It’s August 1957 in Resistance’s alternate timeline and the USA has fallen to the Chimera. Set four years after the events in Resistance 2, you play as Joseph Capelli, a dishonorably discharged soldier hiding out with a gaggle of other survivors in a dusty Oklahoma town called Haven. Joe comes into contact with a Dr. Fyodor Malikov, who has a plan to strike the Chimeran force a crippling blow by attacking a terraformer set atop a massive tower that is freezing New York to make the climate more Chimera-friendly. Malikov has seen what an effective fighter Joseph is and wants him to lead the attack on the Chimeran base. Joe is reluctant to go but thinking of their son’s future (who might just be the ugliest kid I’ve ever seen), Joseph’s wife convinces him he should go. The game chronicles the trip from Oklahoma to New York; a battle for the hometown, a “pleasure boat” ride up the Mississippi river to St. Louis, an unplanned visit to Mt. Pleasant, a thrilling train journey and an unwanted stay at Graterford prison in Pennsylvania, and then on to the war torn, snow covered streets of New York and the Chimera terraformer.
Now, back to the harrowing, real world of PS3 gaming. The first thing I had to do on startup was download an update. This update took a remarkable 20 minutes to download, with another couple of minutes to install. Then on launch day I had another 676MB update, (20mins worth.) Presumably if you buy the game on or after launch day, you’ll only have the one update, and not have to update the update, but I don’t know that for sure. I think it’s about time developers had to outline what these updates do, and what they’re supposedly fixing. I also think they probably ought to apologise for making a broken game in the first place. I’m not singling out Resistance 3, Insomniac, Sony or the PS3 for this because, although they seem a lot less intrusive the Xbox 360 has just the same sort of irritations, but isn’t it about time some sort of quality control was put in place to make sure a game was of saleable quality before it went gold? I’d also like to know what the thousands of gamers who never connect their consoles to the internet are supposed to do; just live with all these rushed, flawed, badly finished and bugged games or what?
Anyway, rant-ette over, back to Resistance 3; after the update the actual game data will then automatically start installing in the background as the intro starts, about 25% of which is masked by the intro. I think Bart Simpson would probably say “Ay Caramba” at this point and go do something else instead... The game’s presentation is unimpressive, and during loading I found myself staring at a plain black screen (or a black screen with a skull flashing in the bottom right-hand corner) for so long I thought my PS3 was on its way out. This is not the sort of thing I expect from a ‘triple A’ Sony third party release.
Resistance 3 has a pretty typical control setup; by default ‘R1’ is fire and ‘R2’ is secondary fire, I always change this around if possible (and it is) because I prefer my gun’s primary trigger to be at the bottom. With the controls remapped ‘L1’ throws grenades. EMP grenades deactivate Chimeran shields and drones; the EMP can also kill Hybrids by making their cooling backpacks explode. You crouch with ‘R3’, and sprint by clicking ‘L3’. Quick weapon swapping is done with ‘triangle’, and you hold it to pop up the weapon select wheel (which also pauses the game, which is handy). Resistance 3 has a lot of weapons and you can carry them all so it’s a feature that’s really needed. When you use the default controls you have a primary and secondary weapon, and can swap these out from any you have, but when you do this it replaces the secondary weapon and not the primary weapon for some reason, and this is obviously daft if you’re swapping weapons because one is empty because you then have the new weapon and the old, empty primary one equipped-which is plain weird. Anyway, moving on, the aiming is smooth and accurate, and the weapons have a nice, chunky feel to them.
Sucker Punch have always had inventive weapons in their games and the weapon list includes both human and Chimera weapons. Many of the R3 weapons are picked from dead Chimera and some are made from old guns and recycled junk- and look like it. They’re all upgradeable and become more powerful the more you use them. They include the Magnum (with explosive bullets as the secondary fire), Rossmore (shotgun), M5A2 Carbine, Marksman (powerful burst-fire medium to long range weapon that can deploy turrets) and a Sledgehammer for ‘up-close and personal’ work. Chimera weapons include the Bullseye (energy-based submachine gun that’s secondary fire tags enemies so bullets home in on them), Auger (shoots through walls), Deadeye (sniper rifle), Wildfire (rocket launcher), Atomizer (frazzles enemies with electrical current and has a “mini black hole” as a secondary fire). New additions include the Chimera Cryogun which freezes enemies, and the human improvised Mutator, which shoots infectious biological globs that cause enemies to rapidly develop pustules and eventually explode messily, causing a large amount of splash damage. There are also 4 types of grenades; EMP (removes Chimera shields), Hedgehog (anti-personnel mine), a new tin-can based shrapnel bomb, and delightfully effective Molotovs that I had a disturbing amount of fun with. The trouble I have with this vast arsenal is that, although the game is finely balanced so you use all of the weapons at one time or another, I often felt more like a weapons manager than a fighter-I can’t recall ever spending so much time changing weapons in a game and deciding which two to have equipped, and although you can play with weapon selection set to ‘weapon cycle’ when you have 12 to sort through it just seems ham-fisted. This obviously removed a lot of the immediacy from the game, but I accept that could just be down to me and the way I played it. Despite it generally being plentiful, you will use all of the ammo at times (unless you’re anally retentive or playing on ‘Easy’) because the enemies are so numerous, but that’s what the sledgehammer’s for.
Resistance 3 is a beautifully balanced game to play; hectic shootouts demonstrate the amount of destructible scenery and are interspersed with quieter sections that are no less intense because the game conjures up an effective sense of dread. Even the most deadly of battles seems do-able and I had to replay no section more than two or three times on ‘Normal’ difficulty, and the checkpoints are frequent and sensibly placed, there’s no artificial padding going on here. The creatures you encounter are varied (sometimes HUGE and sometimes tiny) and without doubt the stars of the game. At times they get so numerous and aggressive that you’ll wonder how you survived, but you always seem to have just enough ammo.
You’ll need to redeem your PSN pass to even try it, but if you’re into online shooters then it’s definitely worth a look. Resistance 3’s multiplayer mode includes Team Deathmatch, Chain Reaction, Deathmatch, Breach and Capture the Flag, as well as customizable classes, perks, abilities, upgrades, profiles etc for the first time in the series. As with every CoD-like FPS out there now I found the online game slightly frustrating as some players seem to have been playing the game non-stop and already are levelled up so high they have perks and passive abilities that make them next-to invincible. If there is any level-based matchmaking in place then it doesn’t work. Constantly getting outgunned rather than outplayed will do one of two things for you; you’ll either get addicted to R3’s cool weapons set and progression system and grind and grind to level up, or quit because, like me, you just don’t have the time for another CoD/Halo-wannabe that’s not as good as either. Once you get to level six-which took me about 4-5 hours-you can start spending accrued “skill points” to unlock more weapons, upgrades, perks and abilities and making custom classes. By level 6 you’ll probably know which class is for you and which weapon loadout is going to be the best to start a game with. Unfortunately (and possibly because of the regions included) some of my online sessions were an uncommonly laggy experience, never fatal, but I did occasionally find myself cussing as I felt I had the drop on an enemy that killed me. As a perfect antidote to an unbalanced and frustrating multiplayer session, the online cooperative campaign feature is a welcome inclusion and literally gives the game a new lease of life when you’ve completed it solo or tired of the competitive modes. If you don’t play online R3 retains the same full split-screen co-op campaign as R1 and not the crappy offline specific co-op levels of R2. The split is horizontal-only though, we know not why because it’s obvious that vertical would work much better as there’s a lot of looking up and down, and R1 had vertical split so this is mystifying. The screen size is clipped width–wise anyway, so you’ll want to play on a sizable TV or much of the experience will pass you by.
Although the levels are varied they all follow a similar pattern; linear sections that open up into a wider area where you know you’re going to have a boss battle or a pitched battle with numerous Chimera. The graphical style, colouring, sound and music also mean the game has a dour, oppressive ambiance throughout. I must say I rather liked it (R2 was all a bit too colourful), but some watching me play the game remarked how dreary, bland and well… BROWN it all looks, so spectacular moments and massive enemies or not, this probably won’t be one of those games you dig out to show off your PS3 with.
The back story is presented in a 2D graphic novel style, much like inFamous 2 was, and this works well but the presentation could have been a lot slicker as the game frequently goes to a plain black screen for 10 seconds or more during loading, which looks shoddy—but at least it’s not brown….
The human character models aren’t exactly bad, but some of their animations are simplistic, and their lip-synching is terrible-even absent altogether with some NPCs. The Chimera and other enemies are much better however, and the active ragdoll effects add to some spectacular deaths.
Many of the coolest action sequences are portrayed in cut-scenes using the game engine, but you’ll wonder why some weren’t playable. If you’re a Resistance veteran you’ll also wonder where the vehicle driving sections have gone. They broke up the action nicely in the previous two games and although they weren’t anything to write home about, and not as fundamental to the gameplay as say, Battlefield Bad Company or Halo, I thought they were an integral part of Resistance gameplay experience. Without spoiling anything the game has an extremely exciting and impressive finale, but even this plays like an interactive cut-scene with pre-scripted events. The end of the game, although spectacular is as inevitable and predictable as it gets, and ultimately I was disappointed with the déjà vu ‘been there done that before’-edness of it all.
PlayStation Move compatibility adds a new feel and challenge to the game, and if you have the Move Navigation controller I highly recommend it, but it doesn’t work quite so well if you use a Move Motion controller to aim and a PS3 joypad for movement.
Resistance 3 may not live as long in my memory as some first person shooters but it’s a fine ending to the trilogy with a satisfactory conclusion. At 8-9 hours (and sure to be longer if you want to find all the collectibles) it’s a decent length campaign to boot, especially considering what some developers call a “campaign” these days (Homefront I’m looking at YOU). The previous two Resistance games had driving sections and while they were never up to Halo or Battlefield Bad Company standards we kind of missed them here (particularly as one of the developers actually describes the game as “kind of a buddy road movie”) as there are no controllable vehicles despite the huge distances covered in the game. Because of the new weapons, new enemies and greater verticality R3 somehow manages to be both more varied yet less interesting than R2. It also manages to be a less memorable experience than its Sony stablemate Killzone 3, despite having a better story, better weapons and better enemies.
Resistance 3 is a no-brainer purchase for fans of the series, and it’s a fine example of the genre if you’re a newcomer to it. I highly recommended it, with a few reservations, especially if your budget is limited because there are some very big names about to hit the shelves.
- Excellent weapons. - Cracking co-op, offline and on. - Enhanced multiplayer mode. - The Chimera & Co. are a great enemy. - Spectacular set pieces.
Worst Bits
- A nice BIG update to start you off! - Bland visuals. - Too much fiddling with weapons. - Poor character models, animation and lip sync. - Dude, where’s my car?
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