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Resistance 3 Review

A prominent shooter that helps elevate the PlayStation exclusive lineup, but doesn't quite come out on top

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Resistance 3 marks the release of the second title this year alone that is both a PlayStation 3 exclusive and a first person shooter with a number three on the end. But, to be fair, Sony has done its best to avoid direct competition between Killzone and Resistance franchises, as that would have been plain bad for business. You can’t help but compare the two, however, and so far the Resistance IP has been falling behind its platform competition through the years. With Killzone 3 already in the books, is Resistance 3 able to match it? Read on to find out.

Resistance 3 game

Though it’s difficult to avoid plot spoilers for a third title in a franchise, we’ll do our best. Resistance 3 sees the arrival of a new protagonist, Joe Capelli. It is told that Capelli carries the antidote to the Chimera virus, an alien entity that has swept the globe and completely overwhelmed humanity. The antidote was given to him by none other than Nathan Hale, the protagonist from the previous two games. Now in the 1950s, Joe is living in Oklahoma with his wife and daughter, hiding out underground and doing their best to survive from the lack of proper nutrition and continuous Chimera patrols. However, Doctor Fyodor Malikov arrives in search of Capelli, and unknowingly brings with him a Chimera Death Squad. Malikov tells the settlement of a great tower in New York which has opened a portal to another world and has began covering the world in an ice age. Their only hope, it seems, is for Capelli to travel there and attempt to destroy it. His wife encourages him to do so, and he departs alongside Malikov.

What follows is a detailed account of events as the pair travels across the country, coming across different people and areas, each with their own challenges. Some rather significant events and scenarios are visited by the plot, with deep topics such as what it means to be human, but it falls a bit flat. The developers clearly attempted to create a desperate, emotional story of one man’s journey to save humanity, but it doesn’t exactly fit when you’re single-handedly mowing down hundreds of enemies. Save for an emotional and well made scene in New York near the end, many of the locations aren’t very memorable and are even close to what’s been already covered in previous Resistance games. Likewise, the ending falls short of Resistance 2, in both presentation and emotional impact. It feels anticlimactic, but hey, at least it wasn’t a cliffhanger. The campaign is of similar length to previous titles, that is to say it’s a bit short at around 5 hours on normal difficulty. Players can go back and try to collect all letters and audio diaries, but beyond that there isn’t much replay value.

As a first person shooter, Resistance 3 is as solid as ever. Based on fan feedback from Resistance 2, the weapon wheel is back, and so is the ability to carry all the weapons you wish at once. This is a welcome change, because the weaponry remains one of the highlights of the experience. From the creative Auger to the classic Marksman, weapons feel great with plenty of weight and power. New for Resistance 3 are the weapon upgrades – depending on how much you use a weapon, it has up to two additional benefits that can be unlocked. For example, using the shotgun will unlock its ability to use fire bullets, while the Auger can gain the ability to fire three shots at once. Perhaps the only downside to the system is that there is no way to readily check what level of upgrades you’ve unlocked for a gun without digging through menus, or waiting for a contextual progress bar to pop up.

Much of the game is linear, as before, with some sections being on rails. There is often isn’t even much space to manoeuvre, while other levels allow of extensive flanking and close quarters combat. The on-rails sections still allow the player to fully move but within a limited environment, such as in a train car or on a boat. These sections are hit or miss, depending on what the enemy AI decides to do and how well you’ve learned the physical limitations of your environment. The boat level, for example, often felt very confined and you’d often find yourself shooting what seems to be an endless hoard of enemies as they board the ship. On the train, meanwhile, with a much wider arrangement of weapons and better enemy organization, makes for a fun defend mission.

Resistance 3 game

As one could expect, the AI is very important in any shooter, and Resistance 3’s enemies are capable for the most part. Ranged enemies will constantly harass you from their perched positions; foot soldiers will lay down cover fire as they advance towards you, while airborne targets will constantly move to new locations and prove difficult enemies. The friendly NPCs, on the other hand, are quite useless. They rarely engage in battle, even if the situation calls for them to do so, and the enemies always seem to focus on the player anyway, thus rendering friendly AI useless even as a distraction. They’re also likely to get stuck in scenery, making you restart the checkpoint, and can’t even follow scripted events properly as they get lost and wait for the player to do everything instead.

There aren’t many complains about enemy AI, as they are formidable opponents and will often give you a run for your money – perhaps more often due to their sheer number than brilliant flanking tactics. There are a few problems with the overall game design because it seems in conflict with what was carried over from Resistance 2, and the fan demands of more Resistance 1 influence. As a result, the health system has been made to be based on health packs rather then automatically regenerating – which is a suitable decision in theory, but often proves more problematic than it should be. Health packs seem unevenly scattered, with high density in some areas before a large scale fight, but very few to be found during the after the fight itself. The zombie-like Chimera that were introduced and were already difficult in R2 make a return, but their numbers have been greatly increased, and with no health regeneration, many battles prove very frustrating.

Other gameplay annoyances that creep in over the course of the game. Doors in the game have a nasty habit of blending in with the similar-looking wall textures around a room, so much so that you could often be wondering if you’ve come to a dead end. This is also partly because the game lacks any visual indicators of where you’re supposed to go or do, leaving you wandering around the level for what seems like forever, until suddenly the game decides it’s time to create an object marker that points to your next task/way forward. Because of the game’s sometimes poor level design and friendly NPCs simply standing there, waiting for you to do something, the only option is to wait for the objective marker to appear. Then can you finally realize the game wanted you to activate a now-interactive terminal that, until now and having passed many of others like it, was simply an object in the environment.

Alongside the campaign, there is a fully featured coop mode which can be played offline or over the PSN. Taking on the enemy with a friend is always a fun and challenging affair, as human companions prove to be much more useful than playing with NPCs. Even here though, a baffling design choose limits the coop audience. The only way to play is to either invite a friend or be invited into a game –thus, it’s impossible to join and play with a stranger, and make new friends in the process. This is severely limiting the potential of the mode, as you may not have friends to play with so jumping into a game with an unknown player would have been a nice option.

Resistance 3 game

A full fledged competitive multiplayer is also included with Resistance 3. It’s worth noting that this is the first title for Sony to use the Online Pass system, thus those who buy the game used will have to shell out an extra payment in order to access any of the online components. Modes included are Team Deathmatch, Chain Reaction, Deathmatch, Breach, and Capture the Flag. While this may not seem like a lot, quality beats quantity with Resistance 3. The standard modes act as expected, while Breach and Chain Reaction introduce some new gameplay elements to the playing field. Gone are the huge 60 player battles from Resistance 2, in their place a modest but functional 16 player competitions. As players level up, a variety of perks and buffs can be unlocked and used at will, based on loadouts that are completely customizable. The weapons and maps feel balanced; however there doesn’t seem to be any kind of player number balancing, as plenty of games actually begin with heavily lopsided teams such as 3 versus 7. Overall though, the competitive online play is well designed and joining games in progress is quick.

Perhaps the title’s most problematic area is the overall lack of polish, which comes most notable in the presentation. Unlike Killzone 3, Resistance has never been known for its visuals and this trend is evident. There are many low resolution textures, awkward animations and poor human facial models on minor characters. The lighting has some nice effects to it, but otherwise the game is just barely up to par with the modern shooters. In contrast, the cutscenes are well done and present a very nice art style. Though sound design is well done for the most part, there is noticeable lag between the on-screen action and the following audio, particularly during scripted sequences in-engine. The voice acting is serviceable, but save for that New York monologue scene mentioned earlier, there’s not much for the actors to work with. Resistance 3 does include support for 3D visuals and Move-enabled controls, but these features were not included in the scope of this review.

Resistance 3 features many gameplay tweaks and changes, a lot based on fan feedback, but it feels like the game could have used more polishing time. It’s easy to see that the developers were ambitious to meet fan demand and propel the franchise forward, but the result feels like treading the waters. The action and weapon selection remain a reliable staple of the franchise, but everything surrounding those core gameplay elements just doesn’t seem to be on par. Though never known for its presentation, the franchise continues to look rather sub par for the current visual standards. In the end, Killzone 3 remains the top exclusive shooter on the PlayStation 3. Though much of the fan feedback was taken to heart, the end result leaves Resistance 3 feeling unsure of itself; though inspiration arrived from plenty of sources, it never quite comes together to produce something that feels wholly enjoyable.

Our ratings for Resistance 3 on PlayStation 3 out of 100 (Ratings FAQ)
Presentation
75
A fairly simplistic plot and uninspired visuals don't create the desired atmosphere of hopelessness, or offer anything noteworthy during the experience.
Gameplay
77
Weapons and gunplay remain a highlight, but many small yet notable issues hinder the overall experience. Some incorporated fan feedback, such as lack of regenerating health, doesn't fit well with the game's difficulty curve.
Single Player
76
A decently long campaign that's worth experiencing, but the ending is a bit anticlimactic and replay value is lacking.
Multiplayer
85
All of the modes offered are solid, and with a tightly balanced character progression system and a variety of maps, online multiplayer provides a solid experience. Coop, offline and via PSN, is also available but inability to play with strangers severely limits its audience.
Performance
78
Some issues exist, such as friendly AI getting stuck in objects and unable to progress, thus requiring a checkpoint reload. Some of the AI path finding is awkward and glitchy.
Overall
79
Perhaps a step in the wrong direction, Resistance 3 doesn't do well enough to surpass its predecessor in any meaningful way, and now looks even more in search of an identity than ever before. It's still a solid shooter though, that does well to further strengthen the PlayStation 3 library.
Comments
Resistance 3
Resistance 3 box art Platform:
PlayStation 3
Our Review of Resistance 3
79%
Good
The Verdict:
Game Ranking
Resistance 3 is ranked #557 out of 1957 total reviewed games. It is ranked #56 out of 103 games reviewed in 2011.
556. HAWX 2
Xbox 360
557. Resistance 3
558. Dead Island
Xbox 360
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Screenshots

Resistance 3
18 images added Jun 12, 2011 17:41
Videos
Resistance 3 - Reveal trailer
Posted: Aug 18, 2010 10:51
Resistance 3 - Gameplay trailer
Posted: Dec 12, 2010 02:16
Resistance 3 - Sizzle Gameplay video
Posted: Feb 8, 2011 20:48
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