Resistance 3

Resistance 3

Here’s the deal. World War 2 never happened. The catch? Humanity was subject to an alien invasion a few years later instead. Which would you choose? Lose-lose question aside, this alternate history provides the premise of the Resistance trilogy. This intriguing mix of realism and fantasy helped Resistance stand out while the series was ongoing, and the trend continued in Resistance 3, the grand finale of the series.

The story of Resistance 3 is set in 1957, four years after the end of Resistance 2, and in that time, there have been some significant changes. The first two games were set during the war with the Chimera, but by the beginning of Resistance 3, the war is over. The Chimera have won, and are in the process of terraforming Earth, as well as bringing down the world’s climate to freezing levels so that they can survive without their cooling packs. As such, humanity is on the brink of extinction and the last survivors have been driven into hiding in an attempt to hole up and survive both the Chimera and the eternal Winter. Against this grim backdrop, Joseph Capelli, a side character from Resistance 2 who replaces veteran Nathan Hale as the protagonist is persuaded to accompany Dr Malikov, a scientist who has been studying the Chimera, to New York, as Malikov thinks he may have found a way to reverse the Chimera’s climate change.

Once again, developer Insomniac gets to show off their love of creative weaponry, fostered by years of Ratchet and Clank games. In the game, you will get access to both human and Chimeran weaponry, with the former being more standard fare such as a shotgun and semi-automatic rifle, while the Chimera get access to more organic guns. Old favourites like the Bullseye, which has homing bullets that can shoot an enemy from behind cover or around corners after they’ve been tagged, and the Auger, whose bullets can penetrate objects and get stronger from doing this, return, alongside new toys like the Cryogun, which freezes enemies then shatters them with a burst of compressed air, and the Mutator, which causes enemies to flare up in bulbous green pustules, effectively transforming them into moving bombs. Smartly, the human weapons are not overshadowed despite being more basic in comparison. This is because the human weapons are more all-purpose in their use, with the Chimeran weapons being specialised for a particular purpose. The game also makes the wise decision to go back to the system used in the first game of the player keeping any weapons they find permanently, after Resistance 2 experimented with only allowing the player to carry one small gun and one large one at a time, similar to most other modern shooters. The old-school setup Resistance goes with helps it stand out from the FPS mechanically, and this is further augmented by the upgrade system. In a lift from Ratchet and Clank, weapons upgrade with use, becoming more powerful or gaining new properties. Usually, the Level 2 upgrade is for the weapon’s primary fire, while the Level 3 upgrade is for the secondary fire. Using the Auger as an example, at Level 2 it can shoot three bullets at a time, useful for damaging more enemies with less ammo, or targeting one larger enemy with triple the firepower. At Level 3, the weapon’s energy shield secondary fire damages enemies who come near, in addition to blocking enemy fire. These upgrades encourage players to experiment with each of their weapons and not to rely too much on one weapon at the expense of the rest of their arsenal.

Resistance 3 manages to fit in a surprising amount of variety in terms of both the level design and objectives, an impressive achievement for a First Person Shooter, since they’re not known for innovating in these areas. Levels include the abandoned cities you’d expect, but also mines, forests, sewers, a prison, a Chimeran stronghold or two and more. There’s also a nice mix of colours present as opposed to varying shades of brown, including the greens of the forest, night-time blues and icy colours when things go a bit The Day After Tomorrow towards the end, which makes each level visually distinct and memorable, and prevents them from bleeding into one another. Since the war is over, the shooting takes the form of smaller skirmishes against groups of Chimera in close quarters, rather than the armies of enemies that were fought in the pitched battles of the first two games. To even the odds in their favour, the Chimera have gotten tougher and smarter, and are adept at attacking you from numerous angles, getting you in your blind spot when your attention is drawn elsewhere. There are times when things are mixed up a bit to keep you on your toes, like when you’re tasked with defending your vehicle from marauders, exploring a town overrun with feral Chimera that hatch as you approach and immediately lash out, capturing an enemy base then defending it from reinforcements, or traverse an underground cave network to hunt an enormous cave-dwelling Chimera. While this does tend to involve shooting things for the most part, there’s enough variety that the action never becomes mindless or makes you feel that you’re playing on auto-pilot.

The story takes an interesting approach in that, although there is a main plot thread driving your quest, the majority of the game doesn’t focus on it. Instead, each locale has its own plot for that area as you go on your cross-country trip, with each stop dictated by the need to find a new method of transportation or some more supplies. This allows you to see how that area has been affected by the invasion, such as the religious town tormented by a giant underground Chimera the locals have dubbed Satan, or the prison run by its inmates, who used the chaos of the Chimeran invasion to stage a riot and formed a bandit gang. This episodic approach feels more personal and intimate than the sweeping narratives of wartime, and is more fitting for a smaller scale adventure where the stakes aren’t as high because humanity has already lost from the start. The one thing that does jar slightly about the plot is the abrupt nature of the ending. After the Chimera had been ruthlessly adaptive to any setbacks prior, their defeat here leads to humanity pulling off an upset, and the Chimera eventually being defeated for good. It seems uncharacteristically reckless of them to have no backup plan for the most important part of their invasion when they have for everything else, and their inability to mount a full-scale invasion despite the means to do this being made available to them at the end of Resistance 2, which was four years ago in-universe, and there being no discernible hold-up does raise some questions. Maybe victory made the Chimera complacent and more ready to rest on their laurels? Anyway, it does feel a bit like Insomniac lost interest in the series and just wanted to wrap it up. Despite this, it is undeniably satisfying to see humanity pull off the comeback against such insurmountable odds in its darkest hour. In this respect, an unambiguously happy ending, when Resistance 1 was bittersweet and Resistance 2 a straight-up downer ending, is certainly welcome and mostly earned.

Despite these niggles, Resistance 3 is the best of the Resistance trilogy, sticking more closely to the mechanics of the first game, but also blending in ideas from Resistance 2 where appropriate and adding some new ones of its own to create the purest representation of the series identity. Not to mention, all three games are quite easy to find for pennies, so they come recommended if only for the low price making them worth a go if you’re even slightly curious.

Graphics: 8      Creative use of colour and level design helps bring in more variety than expected.

Sound: 7          Lots of alien roars and grunts to help you pinpoint and get the drop on them. In-game radio bulletins are cleverly used to convey worldbuilding your character isn’t involved with.

Gameplay: 8    Weighty, methodical gunplay that encourages experimentation to find the best tool for the job.

Lifespan: 7       The single-player game is decently long, with the convenient ability to replay levels from almost anywhere making playing your favourite sections again a breeze. There was an online multiplayer mode, but the servers have been shut down, so I wasn’t able to try it out.

Overall: 8/10    Resistance 3 saves the best for last, concluding a fine trilogy that didn’t really get the attention it deserved.