When I was much younger, I played Resistance: Fall of Man while at my dads friends house. I remember thinking it was really good. I was also terrible at it and never managed to get all that far. But even though memories of that game were lost to time, it was one I remembered fondly. Years later, during my current binge of my Playstation Now backlog in a mad dash to complete everything before it possibly gets taken off when they make their new (terrible sounding) service, I finally decided to play Resistance 3. It was a weird time, having recently finished one of Insomniac's Ratchet and Clank games a few days ago only to notice similarities between that and this before learning they are indeed made by the same developer was really neat. Its a bit obvious now, a weapon wheel full of fun and creative guns that get new abilities as you use them and they level up is really a big strength of both Ratchet and Resistance. Its the highlight of them really. A funny cartoon third person platformer and a gritty first person shooter about an alien apocalypse both have the same similar core gameplay and its the best thing about both of them. Especially with Spiderman out, its pretty obvious that if nothing else Insomniac knows how to make some fun ass games.
The story in this is pretty weak, however. Obviously despite playing the first I practically went into this blind. But Resistance 3 does a good job filling in the pieces, and since you're in the shoes of a new protagonist its not a big deal. But the actual content of it is kinda lacking. Thats not to say it a negative, at times its really charming, and oddly had a hint of nostalgia. It reminded me of the kind of story id come up and act out with nerf guns as a kid, and while its nothing special its still a fun ride for the most part. The only truly bad thing about the story is that your character is talktative in cutscenes but completely silent in gameplay. It creates a bit of a disconnect and doesnt do well to help with immersion or investment in the story. It reminded me a bit of the Metro games and its a similar issue in those. Other than that, there is a section where you have to fight some human enemies, which is pretty enjoyable and a nice change of pace but their leader Mick is a completely forgettable and boring antagonist, about as cardboard cutout as they can be. It feels like they thought of a cool way to kill a villain before actually making the villain, and forgetting to add in all the interesting stuff. This oddly enough also gave me a bit of nostalgia as it felt like exactly what would of happened if 8 year old me was writing a story about an alien invasions.
Anyways, I'm getting off track here. While the gameplay is really great and the weapons are all fun and unique, the biggest issue is just how terrible the AI is. Its not that noticeable when fighting aliens because there is a variety of them and always lots at a time which makes it tense, but when you're fighting the humans its very apparent how poor it is, you can just walk up and shoot them and they'll line up for you. The only other negative I can think of thats worth mentioning is that Chapter 18 featured an egregious difficult spike where no point in the game comes anywhere close to as frustrating. I dont know who deciding sniper long-legs was a good enemy idea but I hope their socks get wet.
Now the review is over, and the rest of this is basically just describing my experience getting the platinum.
My first playthrough was really good, played on normal going for all collectibles and farming checkpoints for miscellaneous trophies was really enjoyable. The game felt the right amount of tense and fun, and outside of Chapter 18 It was a good time all around. After beating the game I already had most of the trophies, so I went and cleaned up the few I had left as well as two co-op ones that I did by myself with two controllers, felt pretty cool when I got those. Only one or two miscellaneous trophies were any trouble but beating the game once allows you to unlock cheats and anything is trivial when you have an infinite ammo rocket launcher. I decided to leave it there for the night, 91% with only the trophy for beating the game on Superhuman difficulty left. And thats what I decided to do today, spend my sunday replaying the entire thing on the hardest difficulty. 8 hours in total, but now its finally over. I highly reccomend upgrading all weapon before attempting this, as upgrades carry over and you need all the help you can get. This wasnt terribly challenging, but the game is not balanced well at all for this difficulty. There are many sections where you fight dozens of enemies at once with minimal cover and it can get pretty frustrating especially with no regenerating health and the rareness of healthpacks. As long as you take it slow, it can all be done with a little bit of patience. Theres even some sections you can just run past all the enemies to the door and make it to the next section without firing a single shot. All in all it wasnt as hard as i as anticipating, but I really just cant say it was fun either. The high density of enemies with sniper rifles and rocket launchers really just turns the game into an annoying pain in the ass, and by the time the platinum trophy popped i was more than ready to be done with it
All in all, Resistance 3 is a really fun time if you know what to expect and I enjoyed most of my time with it. I dont think i'll ever come back to it, but im more than satisfied with what I got from it
Trophy Completion - 100% (59/59 Platinum #196)
Time Played - 24 hours 23 minutes
Nancymeter - 78/100
Game Completion #57 of 2022
May Completion #7
The story in this is pretty weak, however. Obviously despite playing the first I practically went into this blind. But Resistance 3 does a good job filling in the pieces, and since you're in the shoes of a new protagonist its not a big deal. But the actual content of it is kinda lacking. Thats not to say it a negative, at times its really charming, and oddly had a hint of nostalgia. It reminded me of the kind of story id come up and act out with nerf guns as a kid, and while its nothing special its still a fun ride for the most part. The only truly bad thing about the story is that your character is talktative in cutscenes but completely silent in gameplay. It creates a bit of a disconnect and doesnt do well to help with immersion or investment in the story. It reminded me a bit of the Metro games and its a similar issue in those. Other than that, there is a section where you have to fight some human enemies, which is pretty enjoyable and a nice change of pace but their leader Mick is a completely forgettable and boring antagonist, about as cardboard cutout as they can be. It feels like they thought of a cool way to kill a villain before actually making the villain, and forgetting to add in all the interesting stuff. This oddly enough also gave me a bit of nostalgia as it felt like exactly what would of happened if 8 year old me was writing a story about an alien invasions.
Anyways, I'm getting off track here. While the gameplay is really great and the weapons are all fun and unique, the biggest issue is just how terrible the AI is. Its not that noticeable when fighting aliens because there is a variety of them and always lots at a time which makes it tense, but when you're fighting the humans its very apparent how poor it is, you can just walk up and shoot them and they'll line up for you. The only other negative I can think of thats worth mentioning is that Chapter 18 featured an egregious difficult spike where no point in the game comes anywhere close to as frustrating. I dont know who deciding sniper long-legs was a good enemy idea but I hope their socks get wet.
Now the review is over, and the rest of this is basically just describing my experience getting the platinum.
My first playthrough was really good, played on normal going for all collectibles and farming checkpoints for miscellaneous trophies was really enjoyable. The game felt the right amount of tense and fun, and outside of Chapter 18 It was a good time all around. After beating the game I already had most of the trophies, so I went and cleaned up the few I had left as well as two co-op ones that I did by myself with two controllers, felt pretty cool when I got those. Only one or two miscellaneous trophies were any trouble but beating the game once allows you to unlock cheats and anything is trivial when you have an infinite ammo rocket launcher. I decided to leave it there for the night, 91% with only the trophy for beating the game on Superhuman difficulty left. And thats what I decided to do today, spend my sunday replaying the entire thing on the hardest difficulty. 8 hours in total, but now its finally over. I highly reccomend upgrading all weapon before attempting this, as upgrades carry over and you need all the help you can get. This wasnt terribly challenging, but the game is not balanced well at all for this difficulty. There are many sections where you fight dozens of enemies at once with minimal cover and it can get pretty frustrating especially with no regenerating health and the rareness of healthpacks. As long as you take it slow, it can all be done with a little bit of patience. Theres even some sections you can just run past all the enemies to the door and make it to the next section without firing a single shot. All in all it wasnt as hard as i as anticipating, but I really just cant say it was fun either. The high density of enemies with sniper rifles and rocket launchers really just turns the game into an annoying pain in the ass, and by the time the platinum trophy popped i was more than ready to be done with it
All in all, Resistance 3 is a really fun time if you know what to expect and I enjoyed most of my time with it. I dont think i'll ever come back to it, but im more than satisfied with what I got from it
Trophy Completion - 100% (59/59 Platinum #196)
Time Played - 24 hours 23 minutes
Nancymeter - 78/100
Game Completion #57 of 2022
May Completion #7
Assenemy
1 year ago