Resistance 3

Review from Matt - Friday, 30 September 2011 @ 11:34pm

Resistance 3 is the latest PS3 exclusive FPS from Insomniac, who basically make all of the best games for the PS3. In particular they have made the surprisingly good Ratchet and Clank games, and Resistance, which was probably the best PS3 launch title.

There have always been two parallel PS3 first person shooter series, KillZone, and Resistance. Or as I prefer to say, KillZone, and the good one.

It's funny, really. Everything I dislike about KillZone is contrastingly what I like about Resistance, they're opposites in many ways. KillZone has more in common with Gears of War than anything else, it's basically the same game but with different characters. Depending on how you define “different”. And “characters”.

In both of these games the title and player characters are brutish macho men who pummel their opponents to death with their enormous spiked cocks. Character development is at a level that's normally reserved for tinned foods, and story wise there's so little depth that the plot could be explained with grunting and scratching at the groin. Which is just as well, because that's how it IS told. If these people are the last remnants of humanity, I hope we die.

These are not the good guys. No not at all.

Moving on, the point is Resistance is not like this. The main character is Joseph Capelli, a family man living with a group of survivors in the American Midwest. The group's relative peace is interrupted by the coming of a huge terraformer. Why it's called that I don't know... Terra is Earth, and Earth is already quite earth-like. In any case, this thing tears apart their lives, driving them from home. Joseph's family rush to safety, and Joseph himself grudgingly goes with crazy old scientist man Malikov on what could well be a suicide mission to New York. You see, in New York the Chimera have opened up a wormhole, and it is turning the world colder. I'm not sure why. This is good for the cold-loving Chimera, bad for humanity, who won't survive the next winter.

Capelli is a likeable character, and given his motivations and look actually has more in common with Red Dead Redemption's John Marston than the shaved gorillas of Killzone or Gears.

Despite being brand new Resistance 3 actually feels quite old. And there are very specific things that make it feel that way. One is that it's not a cover shooter. We've gotten so used to cover systems now that it feels weird not having them. Cover in R3 is limited to hiding behind something and wishing bullets weren't hitting you. Another thing that feels old is health. There's no regenerating health here, no "shield". You have what basically equates to a health bar. You pick up what basically equate to health packs. They might as well be white boxes with a cross on them, slowly spinning as they hover. At the very least, "retro", might be a kind way to describe that. I actually like it, as it adds a sense of urgency and malice to the game when you can't just hide behind a rock and wait until you're full. There's a tension there. It really does matter. It also means you spend a fair bit of time with a tiny bit of health, knowing that you could be killed by anything out there that even has bad manners.

The other thing that makes it feel like an old game is that it feels exactly like Half Life 2.

Also not a good guy.

Elements of the story and settings, enemies, characters and interactions, so many things feel lifted from HL2 that it almost feels like… maybe not a port but a remake. Maybe it's not such a bad thing… it's a very good remake.

There are specific things, such as wandering through an old town while zombie-like monsters attack at every corner, or the small, fast moving things that jump at you. But more than that it's just... the general vibe of it. I know this is vague, but there's something about the colour palette, the style, the atmosphere, that's incredibly reminiscent of HL2.

There's one element that hasn't been lifted from anywhere and is one place Resistance has always stood above Killzone - weapons. Resistance 3 has a solid array of weapons, and unlike Killzone's idiotic machine-gun, shotgun, rocket launcher setup R3 has interesting and varied stuff to offer. Resistance series is set in the 50s, so earth tech is nothing much, but there are cool alien weapons on offer. Each weapon has a secondary fire, which can be very powerful. The most fun weapon, the Auger, even allows you to see through and shoot through walls.

Unlike Resistance 2, this title can be played co-op as well, either split screen or online. Not that I did that, but some losers can only play a game if they can play it with other people. There are also the usual deathmatchy, flaggy kind of options one expects of an FPS.

A good guy, finally. There seems to be more bad guys than good... weird!

The atmosphere of Resistance 3 deserves specific mention. This is a post-apocalyptic world, a planet half destroyed and dying, and a humanity barely gripping to survival. And that does carry. Of particular note is a slow trip on a boat through a flooded city. Surrounded by fog and with distantly visible enemies, the radio softly plays messages from survivors looking for lost friends and family. It's well played, and adds to a feeling that there are people all around the world, trapped as desperate pockets of humanity.

There are a few minor downsides. In particular the last levels have some strange issues, suggesting maybe they didn't get the QA they needed. One particularly difficult section sees you creeping up to a sniper infested building while snow whirls around you. It SHOULD be quite impactful, but was marred by three main things. First, it's really hard. Maybe that's just me. Secondly, there is snow falling, whipped by the wind it goes essentially sideways constantly. BUT it's still there when you're inside buildings. At one point I was hunkered in the bottom of an elevator shaft, watching the snow float past me out of the walls. Sloppy. Finally, I had a massive bug here. While inside some of the buildings the walls disappeared, giving me horrible glitches and making movement very difficult. This was the only place it happened, but it shouldn't happen at all.

Pretty sure this is also a good guy. PRETTY sure.

There's not that much more to say than that. Resistance 3 is a very good game, and the series probably deserves a bit more respect than it gets. For example, it's significantly better than Halo, but doesn't enjoy the same profile. The now underground human world is well realised and there are some great cinematic moments. R3 succeeds in its goals. It's a good exclusive for the PS3, a good FPS, and a very solid game.

Pros

• Solid storyline for an FPS
• Good characters with reasonable motivations
• Exceptional weapons with variety and fun
• Great moments of pathos and cinema

Cons

• Some strange bugs.
• Too derivative of Half Life 2
• Goals are often a bit unclear