Resistance 3

After the grim forboding of the first game and the exciting forshadowing of the second game. We are given a second rate zombie game. How people can say this is the best of the three is beyond me. The FPS elements of the game just about hold up. There is at least a story to follow, even though it doesn't make a lot of sense when compared with the first 2 games.

When I awoke my PS3 from it's slumber, Resistance was the game I started my trip down memory lane with. Resistance 3 was my cheif reason for doing so. I had such fond memories of an incredible game from my younger years, and I was itching to revisit it. Normally I'd be worried about having rose-tinted glasses, but my revisit of games 1 and 2 (I have reviewed these) went so well, I figured I had nothing to worry about.

My revisit confirmed for me that Resistance 3 was absolutely the best FPS of the PS3 era.

Gameplay-wise, Insomniac listened to the fan bases displeasure with 2s changes and so brought us back to health packs and weapon wheels. What they did keep from 2, which game 1 did lack in areas, was the sense of scale. When a giant spider monster turns up, it isn't just another thing to shoot, it's a house sized monster that you need to outwit to survive. Survival being the word, as this whole game feels like you are fighting just to see the next level. It's incredible how immersive this game is, even compared to the already incredibly engaging past 2 games.

The story helps out a lot. At times it can get distractingly like Half Life 2 (namely the mouthain town chapter), but it works great as an apocalyptic road trip. It's a suicide mission, and the story does a great job at bringing hope in a hopeless situation. It's much more character focused, and Cappelli is a much better protagonist than Hale in that regard. There's a lot of humanity to this fallen soldier, and you do feel what he feels. The prison character in particular makes his character shine through.

If I had a complaint though, it would be that the game just kinda stops. It feels like we played through another general chapter and then we've suddenly beaten the game. It kinda feels like Insomniac didn't really know how to end it. Narratively it works well enough, but as a game it is a little weak to end on. But the rest of it is so good that it doesn't really bother me. This isn't a Mass Effect 3 situation.

While FPS games may have had better released after, or before, or possibly on the 360, Resistance 3 is an absolute cut above the rest of the FPS games released for the PS3. And considering that includes Resistance 1 and 2, Killzone, COD4, Far Cry 3, Doom BFG and Crisis, among others, that is a huge bar to reach. If you need just 1 game to convince you to fire up the old console, Resistance 3 is definitely it.

I jumped into Resistance 3 without playing the first two games in the series. Being late to the PS3 party meant I had to carefully pick my games, starting with heavy hitters like Killzone 2. But when Resistance 3 was announced, some trailers caught my attention, so I decided to dive in on launch day. It turned out to be a surprisingly enjoyable experience.

The plot picks up several years after Resistance 2. You play as Joseph Capelli, a former soldier trying to keep his family safe in a small town in Oklahoma. As the Chimera push humanity to the brink, Joseph finds out about a group of survivors seeking refuge in New York City, the last hope against the alien menace. Without giving too much away, I liked how personal and grounded the story felt, especially for a first-person shooter.

The game follows a mostly linear path, where you move from level to level. There are secrets to discover, but for the most part, you're guided through the game. That's not a bad thing, though; the journey is quite enjoyable.

You'll mainly be battling the Chimera aliens, which come in all shapes and sizes. They often overwhelm you with numbers, leading to some frantic combat. The game features boss-like enemies that are a mix of machine and alien, making for some of the most intense and visually impressive moments. They often act as bullet sponges, and you'll need to keep moving around to take them down effectively. It all adds up to a pretty entertaining experience.

One of the best parts of Resistance 3 is the weaponry. Insomniac is known for their creative weapon design, and they definitely deliver here. My favorite was the magnum revolver with a detonator button that made every shot explode. It was incredibly satisfying. The game adopts a bit of old-school gameplay, too, featuring a weapon wheel and health packs instead of automatic regeneration.

The sound design and music are on point, enhancing the immersive experience. The voice acting is professional, and it really helps drive the story along.

Now, let's talk graphics. Honestly, they're a mixed bag. I never thought the Resistance series looked all that great, especially when compared to other titles like Killzone. There are some impressive moments, particularly with boss battles, but a lot of the environments felt a bit dull-too many brown levels and inconsistent frame rates. There's one level where you're swinging a huge mallet, and it felt particularly uninspired. It's not that the game is ugly, but for a PS3 exclusive, I expected more.

The entire experience lasts about 10 hours, and I had a great time with it. It's a shame the game didn't meet sales expectations. While the first two games sold well-likely helped by being bundled with PS3 consoles-Resistance 3 deserved more recognition.

I truly hope we see the series revived one day. It has so much potential!

Best chapter of the whole trilogy. If you add to this game 1080p, better textures and smoothing, it will be similar to the game from PS4. The design of everything in the game is very good, nice picture at all. I liked shooting mechanics, you can finally carry more than 2 weapons. A more interesting plot, real adventure, although the ending is too obvious, just a happy ending. In general, the developers have improved everything that was in the previous chapter. I enjoyed this walkthrough, maybe this is the best PS3 shooter game.

The one thing I find strange about the Resistance series is it's decline of sales, even though it gets better with each new game. The first one sold over 4 million, the second one sold over 2 million, and the the third one is barely over a million. It's sad really, quality shooters like this and Killzone get over looked for crap like Call of Duty. This game was pretty much the last in the series revolving around the story, it can't go any where from here, so it may be the end to a great series.

The Game: One thing this series consistently gets right is the graphics and atmosphere, each game has their own style, and I would say this one is the most successful. The graphics look great, especially the opening missions in the town. Sure it's no Killzone but I still think it looks great. You are now able to carry the full arsenal of weapons you find throughout the game, and you definitely need it. The difficulty is much greater here, I managed to play through most of the game on hard, but on the last mission in New York I had to lower it. It offers a good challenge if thats something you are interested in. The game play is easily the best and most refined in the series. The story line is also packs a bigger punch that previous entry's, it gets disturbing at times, like when you encounter the wardens. The grand scales has been toned down from Resistance 2, but there are still some great moments, like when your on the train and the widow-maker swarm is stampeding by the train. Overall this games campaign is very good and has some great replay value.

The multi-player: I didn't like it, it had a good presentation, but had no staying power. I didn't play enough of it to give a better opinion.

I highly recommend getting this if you are even remotely interested, it is well worth the price tag.