Resistance 3 was released this week and although I had mixed emotions about the game during the teaser phase, I was eager to finish off the 3rd installment of this epic franchise. As a standard gamer, not as a reviewer, I can honestly say that this is the most amazing Resistance game yet. I think it is obvious to everyone that Insomniac has devoted a lot of time into improving the franchise by listening and learning from the critiques of the 1st and 2nd game. This is something that I admire the Insomniac Games for – Making room for improvement has finally paid off for these guys and this game is easily one of the best if not the best first-person shooter this year.
We’ll start off with what everyone wants to know, the story. The story involves Joseph Capelli fighting alongside the militia of this little town called Haven. Capelli is forced to fight even harder once the chimera start to invade the town but why are they doing this? They’re trying to find Dr. Malikov, who Cappelli spots between the fight for their civilization. Capelli isn’t happy to see him, but after a chat with his wife, Capelli agrees to help the Doctor so that he can give his family a better life.
This is all you need to know if you haven’t bought the game yet, and already you can see that it works as a simple, but structured storyline. There are a few tie-ins with the 2nd game which players need to understand in-order to get more out of the game, but everything is well explained as it is. Players will receive a great sense of the hectic environment and I commend Insomniac for making character-to-player bonds a lot stronger in this game. The game has feeling which is hope, which is a great sentimental approach. A lot of shooters try and make the storyline really rough and straight to the point because it’s easier and harder to mess up, but Insomniac really executed character emotions and relationships amazingly well.
Gameplay-wise I’d say it’s the most original FPS we’ve seen in a while and let’s face it, there has been a hell of a lot of shooters in this generation a lot of them being generic. What makes this game different is the fact characters actually have reactions, or at least, it seems like they do. For example if you jump down a ledge, Capelli (your character)will always break his fall, even the different types of chimera classes all have different AI schemes to match their perks and arsenals – It is features like these, the smaller things; which makes the gameplay somewhat more believable.
Another interesting and unique thing about this game is the health system. The health system is a classic-styled health bar, which depletes if you get hit. Although this doesn’t sound like anything special, it adds depth to Resistance’s combat. The health system makes combat more tactical because health packs are usually found right in the middle of the action. I’ve genuinely got bored to death of health regeneration in shooting games, for me it’s slowly just becoming a tacky feature. Insomniac Games has really refreshed the first-person shooter gameplay wise – That’s for sure.
The artwork for this game has significantly improved. The game’s intro as well as many other parts has an interesting comic book effect which allows key parts of the story to be understood by the players with ease. The artwork in this game also allows the game to look the best it possibly can and it does.
The graphics are stunning. It is obvious that the presentation was a key feature in the game’s development. The graphics allow the storyline to come to life in a series of marvelous cutscenes and the gameplay itself looks just as amazing. The lighting effects as well as sound are absolutely perfect and flaunt a dark gloomy, almost depressing contrast to this shooters action-packed vibe. With these effects the players feel sympathetic of the people in the situation and generally want to play more. This game has something which its predecessors lacked and that’s playability.
This game has a lot of playability. I myself haven’t put it down yet – Hell, it’s even on pause now. The game is clever in the way that the trophy system is challenging – To the point where people want to try and achieve the tasks required which is surprisingly fun. I appreciate the fact that Insomniac hasn’t included any online trophies, if the company had done, it probably would have made the online seem more like a dull, boosting session. This game’s online is great and equally, if not better looking than the main game.
The online is pretty smooth, the servers are great and it’s generally refreshing to see beautiful new textures that aren’t incorporated in the main game. Just kind of makes multiplayer seem like a bonus rather than a cheap add-on. In my honest opinion, the game is definitely worth it, this is one off the shooters on the PS3 that owners of the platform should be proud of.
This is an extra feature and has no relevance to the game itself but, I think Insomniac did a great job on the box art. It really shows how much time everything took to plan out and create, the box art symbolises this without giving away too much of the game’s plot. It’s a definitely interesting cover, to say the least and is a great addition to add to your PS3 games collection.
It’s been a very long-time coming but between this and Killzone 3 – I think the PlayStation 3 has finally received its greatest shooters this year- I’ll even go as far as to say that Resistance 3 may be one of the best shooters of all time.
We enjoyed playing this game, so we definitely recommend it.
