Publisher: SCEA
Developer: Insomniac Games
Release Date: 9/6/2011
Available Exclusively On
I still remember when Resistance: Fall of Man (known as I-8 back then) was shown at E3 2005 and was amazed at how good it looked. When I picked it up about 4 years later it looked like crap, was ridiculously hard, and had ho-hum multiplayer. I never finished it and skipped the second game. The third game has a new protagonist, Joe Capelli, and has a more organic fluid campaign reminiscent of Half-Life 2 than Resistance. You go from the east coast to New York to destroy the tower that the Chimera have built to freeze the Earth over. This is the last shot to save humanity, but in the meantime, you get to meet some new and old (Chimera) faces.
The game is still too familiar to me and will be for Resistance vets. No matter how many times you re-create Chimera they are still the same and it’s pretty old by now. The same tactics work, most of the same guns are still here (Bullseye, Rossmore Shotgun, Auger, Deadeye, etc.) plus a few new ones. The Cryo gun is fun, but most of the weapons are the same, and the same problems are still present in the game. There isn’t enough ammo that you can hold for each gun so you have to constantly swap weapons even if the situation doesn’t call for it. There is no regenerating shield (there’s a reason why Bungie invented it for Halo) and health packs are scarce even on normal difficulty. The game is extremely tough because it feels built for co-op because dozens of Chimera will come after you and you will die with just a few hits. This means taking 20 steps forward only to find a horde and get pushed back 50 steps. Thankfully you can level up your weapons just by using them and useful things happen like your shotgun spits out incendiary shells, your Deadeye will highlight heads, and your revolver will cause more damage.
Despite the ridiculously difficult campaign, there are some great cinematic moments but they are far and few between. The first third of the game is nicely paced with varied environments ranging from a forest to a train ride, to the snowy streets of New York, but after you get near the tower it’s the same Chimera bases and architecture that we’ve seen three times already (if you count the PSP’s Resistance: Retribution which was equally as difficult). The game gets even more difficult, and the story becomes less interesting. The characters are pretty shallow and there’s not too much delivery in the story despite a few odd twists, plus a disappointing ending that makes you feel like the developers gave you the middle finger for sticking with the series for 6 years.
There’s multiplayer here if you really need to keep playing, but one playthrough was enough for me. Resistance 3 has some amazing visuals, despite some ugly textures here and there, and will satisfy fans with a difficult and challenging campaign. FPS players used to Call of Duty and Halo will probably hate this game (and the series), so only hardcore FPS fans should take the path of Resistance.
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