Geekscape Games Reviews: Resistance 3
I’ve always been a huge fan of Insomniac Games, developers of the Spyro, Ratchet and Clank, and of course, Resistance franchises. They always bing a level of charm and creativity to their projects that helped make what would otherwise be an unremarkable title into a memorable classic. Sadly, I always felt they lost that with the Resistance series. While this World War II era FPS did have some unique alien weapons, the focus was more on standard shooting mechanics, a dull protagonist and a barely there story. Resistance 2 improved this by adding secondary functions to the human weapons and having more of a focus on alien technology, but it still didn’t feel like it was the Insomniac I know and love. So I went into Resistance 3 with the reluctance of a soldier heading into a Chimera horde, not expecting much, but wanting to give the game a chance all the same.
Resistance 3 starts off with the humans in a desperate state. Since the last game, the invading Chimera enemies have all but won, with Earth mostly under their control while humans have taken shelter in small resistance groups. One of these men is Joe Capelli, one of the soldiers from the second game who is looking to live as normal of a life as possible with his wife and son in a post Chimera world. After their position is compromised based on a series of events, Joe decides to take up arms one last time against the Chimera forces and try to put a stop to their invasion once and for all, but without an army this time around, how much can one man really do?
Now after setting up that sense of optimism, it seems like there’s a lot that can be done, thanks to that Insomniac charm that I said the previous games were missing. First, Joe is a much more interesting protagonist than that testosterone oozing, personality-less meathead in Nathan Hale. Joe has a reason to fight and a reason to come home, helping players relate to him more. The graphics have been touched up and don’t look as cartoony either. I have nothing against cartoony, but I can’t take the desperation of war seriously when everyone looked like Stretch Armstrong. Even though it’s not explained in the story, Resistance 3’s weapons suddenly have the Ratchet and Clank trademark of leveling up the more they’re used, further advancing their already unique traits. Classic weapons like the Auger that can shoot through walls, the Bullseye which can help bullets home in on tagged enemies and the magnum with triggered explosives in the bullets gain attributes like bullet spread and fire damage.
But the real fun lies in the new weapons. My favorites are the Atomizer, an electric gun who’s secondary function creates a sphere with a gravitational pull, dragging all enemies nearby into it and frying them to death. Unleash it in a crowd and let the good times roll! My other new toy was a weapon that mutates enemies that are hit with its fire, turning them into a giant ball of green crap that was last seen in Troll 2. This turns them into living bombs that can be shot to infect nearby enemies. Yes, it sounds evil, but that’s what makes it so fun!
Oh My Gawwwwwwwd!
Another big change is the removal of regenerating health. I don’t know about the other Geekscapists out there, but I’m tired of games holding my hand and letting me take 50 bullets to the chest, just to be healed in 5 seconds behind cover. While it’s also not explained, certain enemies are suddenly carrying items that can be used to recover your health. These bottles of goop can also be found in the environment, giving you more reason to explore aside from the hidden documents that will snag you a few trophies.
Most importantly, nothing dulls a shooter like repetitive enemies and uninspired levels. Resistance 3 avoids this for the most part, with a story that takes Joe across the country. This gives him an excuse to explore different environments, locals and terrains without ever feeling forced. Enemies are surprisingly varied in this game compared to the previous ones, with giant bosses that are spaced out between Chimera foot soldiers, flying enemies, giant robots and even a set of enemies never before seen in the franchise towards the end. Oh, and what game would be complete nowadays without zombies?
Towards the second half of the game however, Resistance has shown you most of what its capable of. When you get all of the cool stuff and fight off most of the new enemies, it does take a dip in quality and starts hitting that dreaded repetitive feeling. The game isn’t that difficult either, which can be helped by raising the difficulty, but even then, it’s not hard to watch the credits roll within 6-8 hours. It gets to the point where if you’ve seen one Chimera, you’ve seen them all, and the game isn’t as fun until it gets a huge shot in the arm towards the end.
Lastly, what would a shooter be without multiplayer? Unlike Resistance 2, the co-op campaign in the third game is identical to the single player, except player 2 is barely acknowledged in the story and magically disappears during most cutscenes, but it’s fun to run through with a friend. Online multiplayer however, is where I have a huge bone to pick. First, the game needs an online pass to play online, a first with Sony first party titles, and will be continued in the future. There was no trial to make sure I would even like it, so why would I pay extra for something that might not even be fun, especially with the hit or miss reputation PSN has with online gaming? When I finally did get the chance to try it out elsewhere, it was nothing special and some of my games had significant lag. So tell me why I should pay extra if I to play online? The least you can do is make it work properly!
Overall, Resistance 3 is a huge improvement that makes the game finally feel like an Insomniac game rather than Insomniac trying to be something it is not. It blends the world created by the previous installments with interesting characters, the best weapons in the series and more realistic graphics to fit the tone of the story better. Leveling up weapons has an addictive quality to it, and while short, the game is paced well, making nothing that happens feel forced. The variety in enemies and weapons could have been spread out a little more, because I do feel they used up most of their good ideas about half way through, but having a small chunk of the game feeling dull is better than most of it feeling that way. The online multiplayer leaves something to be desired, and I’m frankly tired of being charged for online access when the online doesn’t even work properly, but it seems like the attitude is as long as a shooter has online, it’ll be praised regardless of its quality. Outside of these issues, Resistance 3 is a huge step in the right direction and I’m excited to see if Insomniac can infuse more of its personality into the inevitable next installment to make it stand out even more. War has never had so much potential.
