Review: Resistance 3

Set in the United States in the 1950s, Resistance 1 and 2 saw the Chimera aliens fighting against a worthy opponent – Nathan Hale, a military specialist who was infected with the Chimeran virus and is slowly mutating into one of them.

But Hale is killed by Joe Capelli at the end of the second game, as the alien invasion surges and Hale begins to completely mutate.

Joe and his family flee and Resistance 3 begins with them huddled in an underground bunker in Oklahoma with a group of survivors, hoping to avoid the Chimera for as long as possible. But an orbiting Terraformer intrudes on their relative safety and the group must leave.

But the war comes to them, as a wormhole into another dimension created by the Chimera slowly freezes the earth and Joe, an ordinary man hardened by war, is reluctantly called back to action. In reasoning as old as video games, he’s doing it for his family.

He and Dr. Fyodor Malikov begin the journey to New York, fighting Chimera and renegade humans along the way.

Resistance 3 does a good job of making the journey not just seem like a series of battles strung together. The action jumps from sniper action to hand-to-hand combat to stealth.

The gritty depiction of the dusty plains of Oklahoma, the destroyed remnants of St. Louis and the frozen New York skyscrapers  is top notch, as developer Insomniac Games has always had a knack for visual flair. A side trip to a renegade prison run by brutal criminals is also engagingly done.

The game returns many of the favorite weapons of past iterations – chief among them is the Bullseye, an automatic rifle with a secondary targeting that can “tag” an enemy, redirecting all subsequent rounds to that enemy until he is dead or your ammo runs out. The bullseye is especially helpful on  Longlegs, Chimerans with leaping ability who don’t hold still for very long. A new weapon – the Mutator – forces humans and Chimera to mutate and then explode.

Playing through the game earns credits, which can be redeemed for game cheats, players skins, artwork and other items. Included are behind-the-scenes videos, such a bug reels and outtakes from voiceover recordings. A second player can also join the action  in co-op mode.

One gripe about the game is the weapon wheel – a quick way to access a circular representation of weapons available, with the idea that a differen t weapon can be chosenwhen needed a different one could be quickly selected. It is done by clicking on the Y button and using the left thumbstick to point at the desired weapon.

But in practice, it’s imprecise and often selects a weapon near the one you want. It’s frustrating when you want the shotgun and end up with the mutator and have to reselect.

The game does include have a quick-change between the two most recent weapons, which helps in many situations.

The multiplayer is rudimentary at best. It includes Deathmatch, Team deathmatch, Chain Reaction, Capture the flag and Breach gametypes. Breach involves two teams defending their bases, while Chain Reaction tasks each team to progressively capture areas on a map, leading to victory by overwhelming the final station.

Resistance 3 shines as a single-player story, offering a plethora of combat scenarios and giving purpose to the conflict. The multiplayer, on the other hand, is passable as a diversion.

Platform: PlayStation3

Manufacturer: Sony Interactive

Rating: Mature

Score: 9 “good old Joe” chilies