Resistance 3 Review
Developer Insomniac Games
Publisher Sony
Platform PS3 Exclusive
Release Date 9th September 2011
Resistance 3 is the third and final part in the epic trilogy from Insomniac Games. Barring a few spin off games set for release on the Handheld PS Vita next year this is where it all ends. Taking a welcome deviation from the earlier two all-out action games, Resistance 3 takes the player on a real road of personal discovery, bringing a new character into the frame in a very welcome turn of events focussing much more on the story while still managing to pack in tons of incredible action too.
Since it first emerged in 1951 the Chrimeran Virus has swept its way across mainland Europe in to England and on to the USA wiping out the majority of the human population.
With Earth’s population now almost completely wiped out, with 90% of the humans either dead or converted into Chrimeran Hybrids. The remaining few stragglers are left hiding out underground banding together to form what is left of the resistance in the vain hope of keeping humanity alive.
The Chrimeran metabolise at a rate twelve times that of a human, as such they require a special cooling apparatus which is built into the bodies to ensure they can remain cool, and without this apparatus they are unlikely to survive for longer than a few days. The worm hole opened above New York at the end of Resistance 2 is slowly cooling the planet, the Chrimeran’s thrive in the cold weather but the last remaining humans if they avoid the Chrimera are unlikely to survive the next winter. In a last ditched attempt to put a stop to the Chrimeran threat our new hero Jo Capelli leaves his wife and young son to sets off from Oklahoman to New York in an attempt to stop the Chrimera once and for all. Along the way he must battle not only the Chrimeran army but also the newly evolved feral beasts and even some unscrupulous humans.
Resistance 3 is a true journey of discovery, as Jo travels to New York it soon becomes apparent the extent of the destruction envisaged upon the civilised world. Making his way through the crumbling remains of the once great cities he teams up with other small pockets of humans still fighting back, these pockets form what’s left of the resistance. These are not trained soldiers but rather a slap dash group of normal citizens anything from housewives to Parish Priests trying desperately to keep what remains of their families together, as such the whole story becomes far more emotive than the previous outings. For once a developer has created a game where you actually care about saving the characters not just yourself.
Insomniac games have created a visual master piece, the locations although now little more than smouldering war zones or underground caves are still beautiful. The use of lighting plays a big role, either when you are under ground where the mutated plant life gives off an orange glow, passing through buildings where the light streams through the collapsing ceilings or the night stages where you are being tracked by the drop ships. As you approach the frozen waste land of New York you are met with a brilliant white frozen landscape at a similar level to what was produced in Killzone or Uncharted.
The controls are very solid and have been tightened up a lot since Res 2. You don’t feel like a super soldier like Hale was but at the same time you can still pack quite a punch even when facing quite considerable odds. The whole game has a really nice flow to it as the developers have gone back to what made the first Resistance title so good.
The weapons for the most part are stolen Chrimeran guns, fans favourites such as the Bullseye or the Auger make a reappearance, but as you are now a member of the underground resistance and not a military force your human made weapons reflect this. Grenades are now cobbled together with nails, Molotov cocktails and old revolvers still play a major role. Ammo is not overly abundant either and many missions will have you pilfering whatever you can from dropped enemy guns. All this does add to the tension and setting of the game.
Of course as with all of Sony’s shooters these days it is fully playable with the sharp shooter and in 3D. The sharp shooter gives this game a whole new lease of life, nothing is as satisfying as aiming down the barrel of your gun and blasting some Chrimera in the face.
Multiplayer has been scaled back slightly to 60 players, it is still quite a lot and the maps have been redesigned so you don’t get the mindlessness that ruined Resistance 2. It still has its problems though, simply killing an enemy takes far too many shots and there are some teething issues but overall it is a vast improvement over the last outing.
Overall : What insomniac games have created is a stunning piece of work and a worthy finale to one of the best shooter franchises around. It is a brave move to close out the series but the correct one. It is much better to go out on a high than to continue to milk a franchise to death like Halo or Call of Duty. Let’s hope the team take everything they learn from making this and put it into a brand new IP.
Visually stunning, solid gameplay and a great story to top out a great franchise.
Score 9/10
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