Review : Resistance 3

     This one is a little late coming but I’ve been swamped with college, work, blogging, drinking, and obvious new playthroughs. So here it is Resistance 3. 

     So as many of you will know the Resistance series has been around since the beginning of time, well since the PS3 was released at least. From the start we were immersed in the heroic story of a lone American soldier fighting alone against a horde of alien mutants hell bent of terraforming the earth and converting all its populace. I won’t bore you with the details but the first two games were really quite something, Resistance Fall of Man (1) was renowned in my home for being the first choice for split screen play on my new system, in fact I think I racked up enough hours in that game to contest my time on Modern Warfare. The second resistance game took the franchise a little further, bringing back the protagonist Nathan Hale, but this time he is part of an elite team of Chimera virus immunes like Hale, called the Sentinels. Resistance 2 took us across the United States on a crash course for trouble all the while Hale’s condition worsened and the team were slowly killed off, until at the very end of the game (SPOILER ALERT) Hale finally loses his humanity and is put down execution style by his last remaining teammate Joseph Capelli. Now Joe is the last person I thought would end up starring in their own game as he was a complete douche throughout the campaign, but being the only one still alive I guess Insomniac didn’t have that many options.

      Anywho Joe Capelli, having slowed the chimera invasion and killed humanities savior attempts to live a normal live after the events of the second game. He settles down, gets married, has a kid, and lives in a small town called Haven. The game starts up with us in the tunnels under the ruins of Haven, we are called to a makeshift war room were battle plans are being drawn, see a Chimeran patrol has stumbled onto their little home and Joe is sent (after picking up his starter weapons) to check it out and reinforce the garrison. So we sneak through the tunnels and eventually up into the old bowling alley, from there someone’s head gets ripped off and shit gets real, after that things get a little hazy. Something about some new breed of chimera with new and improved weak spots, glowing yellow for your shooting pleasure and a terraforming floating island ship thingy heading towards the town. Anywho dr. Malikov from the first two games shows up and crashes the alien burning party taking Joe away from his family and on a reckless hike across the country to New York city where a large chimeran tower is apparently opening a wormhole to the Chimeran home world…

     That’s more than enough story to keep us going, the plot is a little thicker than I portray it but overall I was pleased with how they bridged the series, although I was kind of depressed after Malikov gets killed in a very brutal fashion. Speaking of brutal this game seems to add a bit more gore to it, attempting to spice things up with a little blood, and a few exploding skulls. Also the character they chose to replace him is a little lack luster and disappears halfway through the game only to be heard from again in hidden journals and audio diaries. Yes like all games the resistance series has always had collectables, being mostly dossiers on weapons and characters, audio diaries kept by survivors living their last moments, and the odd hidden easter egg.  Although if you are the type of person who cares not for exploring the levels for these hidden gems, they really don’t do much for the story and aren’t required for any missions, they just enhance the story and provide you with a little more information in case you are the inquisitive type who can’t take the time to read the wiki or the books.

     So, gameplay, I was happy they brought back the health bar, although there is still a red screen when you get hurt. Like all games there are directional properties to the raspberry jam that spreads across your screen, and most of the time the direction that it displays isn’t where the enemies are and more than once I found myself turning away and exposing myself to a fanged monstrosity sitting just outside my vision laughing at the whimsical control settings. Speaking of settings I was perturbed by the motion blur at high sensitivity levels, and even though I had the X and Y levels set to the highest possible speed I was still turning like an asthmatic green horn. That being said the controls are intuitive, and comfortingly common, mimicking that of most modern shooters. Also making a comeback is the weapon carry system of the first game, where every weapon you pick up stays with you throughout the game so you will always be prepared for any situation. The second game annoyed most old school players by allowing you a certain amount of space in your character’s pack to carry weapons, and the first game although allowing you to carry them all included so many weapons you barely had time to try them out before something new and useless came along. But I digress the weapon system is back and that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside and its not just the whiskey.

     Weapons, it’s a good topic for this series, throughout the first two games there were more weapons than I could hope to remember but here there a few classic guns with maybe five or so new ones, that really the franchise could’ve done without. New to the game is the ammo counting system, a series of bars at the bottom of the screen decreasing in size until you can no longer fire your weapon, I was impressed by the addition of ammo counters inside many of the games scopes, being mostly the sniper and auger, but also the addition of a sort of holographic sight with many of the weapons that always had a sort of lack luster iron sight. Also new to single player is the ability to earn XP with weapons and unlock upgrades based on your experience, this adds a whole new level of gameplay, encouraging you to move past your normal weapon set and try the new guns, also if you’re a trophy whore like myself you’ll need to get your entire inventory to level three to see that shiny award.

     So game mechanics and such, overall impressed besides the aforementioned motion blur/sensitivity problem, although in a couple cases the game did glitch up and I’m not entirely sure why. The graphics are as much as I could ask for, nothing new but a little prettier in place. Particle physics don’t really come into play here as the game seems almost devoid of weather or other distractions. Low points I noticed would definitely be the ladder climbing animations, very clunky and often hindered by having to wait for a certain old man to work his way up one level. Also decreasing the reading level of this game is the addition of the over used critical location system that seems so important these days. No longer do we just pour bullets and laser fire into an enemy we can barely see the top of, no now there are armor plates that glow orange and yellow that tell you where to shoot. Chock that up as the dumbing down of mainstream video games.

     The game itself is very linear, but not to the point of being a dungeon crawler, you have no options as to where to go until later in the game when you may have an option of going into a tunnel or being the target of multiple snipers and a dropship armed to the exhaust ports. The objectives are usually very simple but can get frustrating if you don’t pay attention to every vent and power conduit you pass. Other annoyances include the exception of a mini map and objective markers, half the time I played I spent walking around looking for a marker on my screen telling me which giant robot I had to kill to progress the storyline. 

     The multiplayer is a step up from the first’s death match and on par with the campaign style of the second. But its split screen where the game loses some points, the second player is dubbed “John” Joe’s brother that has no dialogue and isn’t mentioned in the story at all. Both players have the same weapons being as how as soon as one picks it up the other magically finds it in his hands, also if you are the lone wolf type good luck finding your own path as you will be teleported to your wandering companions location as soon as the game decides it wants to shit on you.

     Long time followers of the franchise will be happy with the inclusion of classic enemies and guns, but may also feel let down by the dumbing down of the gameplay and exclusion of what seemed like franchise defining weapons, mechanics, and characters. Overall this game was good, with split screen capabilities and a multiplayer to rival that of the second game. Those just picking up a Resistance game for the first time will quickly be brought up to scratch and have no trouble, as the game plays like many other FPS’ of today. That being said the game is nothing special, simply another squeeze on the udders of Insomniac’s cash cow. But damn that milk is tasty.