Resistance 3

Resistance 3 puts you into a position I don’t recall ever being in before. Rather than starting the third part of the trilogy as the shining hero of the first two games, Sergeant Nathan Hale, you start the game as… the man who killed Sergeant Nathan Hale, Joseph Capelli.

This doesn’t make you a bad guy, as during the storyline of the first two Resistance games Hale was slowly succumbing to the virus that has caused the majority of the planet to convert into hideous alien beasts, the Chimera. During the massive down-ending of Resistance 2, the Earth was pretty much doomed, and to top if off the character you’d fought tooth and nail with for two games took a bullet to the brain, rather than turn Chimera.

Resistance 3 starts off with this same gloomy premise. 90% of the planet’s population has either turned, or been killed. There is, however, finally some hope. Hale’s blood has been used to create a vaccine to the Chimera virus, and the remaining survivors have all been inoculated. It’s up to you, as Capelli, to lead a final desperate attempt to save the world.

And what a world you are trying to save; it looks simply stunning. As I was playing this game I was frequently stunned by the graphics. It just looks fantastic in all the environments. Creeping around a darkened section of forest trying to avoid snipers and a circling alien dropship was a particularly beautiful moment. I took cover in a rickety shed, and found myself transfixed by the way the dropship’s moving spotlight shone between the shed’s rickety planks, casting stark shadows. In fact, the lighting engine seemed so good I found myself wondering if some of the levels were designed especially to show it off!

The core gameplay is just as solid and well done as in the first two Resistance games, and the meat of the shooting is all done off to a tee. Weapons feel like they have some real poke, and blasting Chimera never gets old. New to this instalment is the way that weapons upgrade as you use them. I was pleased to see that upgrading the shotgun caused it to then fire incendiary shells. The weapons are actually very good and innovative in Resistance 3, with a particular favourite of mine being the sadistic “Mutator”. The Mutator fires a heavily concentrated burst of the Chimera virus, causing humans and Chimera alike to bubble up into huge pus filled blisters, whereupon they either collapse to the ground and burst, or run into other enemies and pass it on. It’s gross, but incredibly effective and imaginative. Most of the weapons offer something interesting, even if only as secondary fire, and these fascinating weapons are one of the main things that Resistance 3 can really call its own.

The levels are all beautiful and well designed, but, like Resistance 2, I had the feeling they were all thought of separately, and then jammed into the story. Train section? Check. Creepy village with zombie type aliens? Check. Spaceship? Check. Boat section? Check. Section in a mine? Check. Snow level? Check. Don’t get me wrong, though, each level really stands on its own two feet, and the set pieces are great, but the game just lacks a really cohesive feel.

I enjoyed the whole eight hours it took me to complete the campaign, and I really can’t fault the game. It’s solid, engaging and very well made. I just wish that, apart from the brilliant weapons, the game had a bit more to offer that was new and different.