“Can you hear them? It’s so beautiful.”
Those were the last words spoken by Nathan Hale in Resistance 2 before he was killed by Joseph Capelli. Resistance is a sci-fi shooter series, but Resistance 2 was more sci-fi than shooter. Insomniac Games brings the series back to its roots with the $59.99 Resistance 3. It isn’t a mere rehash or continuation of the original, but rather a fusion of both. Bringing back elements from Resistance such as the weapon wheel and health packs, and combining them with the intense nonstop action of Resistance 2, Insomniac games has created one of the best games in the franchise so far.
Resistance 3 picks up roughly a few years after the events of Resistance 2. You play as ex-military personnel Joseph Capelli who, after being convinced by his wife and Doctor Malikov, heads to New York City to end the Chimera invasion—in North America at least. Aided by Doctor Malikov, Joseph travels across the United States from Oklahoma to Philadelphia to New York City. Along the way the Chimeran forces come out in full effect and do their best to stop Joe from completing his goal and getting back to his family.
The weapon wheel returns with a slot for every weapon in the game from the Bullseye to the Carbine, as well as new weapons including the Mutator, the Cryogun, the Atomizer and the Wildfire. The new weapons are a big plus for the game’s new direction. The Mutator is a biological weapon that can cause some serious health issues to both humans and Chimeras; Cryogun is a weapon that freezes enemies over time; the Atomizer is the equivalent of a giant electric cannon; and the Wildfire replaces the LAARK as the standard RPG-esque weapon. You can level up your guns, too. Leveling up weapons is simple enough; keep using a gun, reach a certain kill quota and your gun will go up by one level. Note: The highest level a gun can reach is 3.
Resistance 3 doesn’t have a huge learning curve with its look-aim-shoot mechanic that most FPS games follow, but it does see the return of the series notoriously difficult “Superhuman” mode. This is how it works: As the game’s difficulty increases, the artificial intelligence also increases on both sides. Enemies become more aware of player presence and for the few moments in which you have teammates they can definitely hold their own on the higher difficulties. Superhuman difficulty is definitely much easier with a partner using the co-op mode.
Co-op can be used both online and off, but online is, in my opinion, the better option because you are free to have your own screen rather than dealing with the horizontal split screen. The game includes a bit of exploration with 42 pieces of intel spread throughout the single player levels.
Not only does the game come with co-operative multiplayer. but it also has competitive multiplayer. The online multiplayer has several different modes including Deathmatch (a huge free-for-all), Small Deathmatch (a smaller free-for-all), Team Deathmatch, Capture The Flag, Chain Reaction (teams have to capture and hold points in order to succeed), and Breach (teams are set as either Attackers or Defenders and they must successfully fulfill their roles). All modes require you to play as a squad, except for Deathmatch. Unlike some other FPS games, going out on your own and trying to be the “team hero” is highly advised against.
Depending on which side you play for, human or Chimera, you will receive a killstreak bonus at 3, 6 ,and 9 kills. However, killstreaks do not stack. This means that if you go on a 3 killstreak and do not use the ability before you die, when you respawn and go on another 3 killstreak you will not receive another ability unless you get 6 kills. My only gripe about the multiplayer is that players can use the Atomizer which is an EXTREMELY overpowered weapon and it appears to be a normal load-out weapon rather than a killstreak reward.
Resistance 3‘s control scheme is just like that of any game in this genre; the weapon wheel is perhaps the only unique control feature. You can have two weapons set to your quick select at one time, and can switch between them at any time by pressing triangle. The weapon wheel, however, allows you to choose between all weapons in your arsenal and set them to you quick select for ease of access.
The games artistic style is also unique to the Resistance name with, almost, comic book style drawings with gritty backgrounds. CG scenes are really well polished to the point where they look like an animated movie. The in-game graphics are a bit less stunning, though. They are well made, but character faces are stiff at times and, if you look for them, you can sometimes see the same character model for human NPC’s throughout the game. Vibrant colors are something you will never see in Resistance 3 as most color schemes share the same brownish or grayscale tones. It’s not a bad thing, though, as the colors add to the apocalyptic feel that the game conveys.
The games sound mechanics are amazing. Explosions are loud and sound deadly, bullets whiz and whistle through the air as they make their way to enemies, and Chimera growl and roar with ferocity as they make their way to kill Joe. All weapons make different noises depending on the ammo they fire, and enemies let loose distinct dying sounds to let players know they have fallen. With the Chimera invasion having hit the USA there isn’t a lot of music playing in the game, but the soundtrack that is there seems to be a genre of its own–if post-apocalyptic classical music was a genre.
At the end of the day Resistance 3 is a great game and a definite must-play if not a must-buy. I’ve had it for a week and have played through the single player at least 5 times already. The game doesn’t seem to get stale at all even though you’ll probably know what is going to happen after your first play through.
Staff Editor Avion Foster-Jarvis is a native Brooklynite with a passion for video games. He owns a PS3, an Xbox 360 and a Nintendo DS–he also considers himself a multi-genre gamer. When not working on his Computer Graphics major or playing his PS3, he enjoys sleeping as much as he can.
