➤ Resist! 🎮

Four years have passed since the tragic entry on the scene as the protagonist of Joseph Capelli, the Chimera have definitively conquered our planet by killing 90% of the human population and reducing the small pockets of resistance scattered on Earth to despair. These few survivors live underground, in emergency shelters fueled by the illusion of still being able to live a normal life, escaping alien patrols and recovering food through small raids outside. Resistance 3 opens in this way, making us breathe the acrid smell of drama, of a war practically lost, showing us with all the strength of pain, the lonely situation of a desperate man who is not enough to have found a wife and feel worried about a child three-year-old sick.

Because Capelli is a dishonored soldier who will never be able to forgive himself for murdering Nathan Hale in cold blood, the worn-out hero of the series created by Insomniac exclusively for PlayStation 3 and will find himself so involved, as one might expect from a final chapter of a saga, in a battle fueled only by desperation in an extreme attempt to block the advance of the Chimera. And rest assured if for some reason you haven't played the first two chapters because Resistance 3 introduces the player to the universe with an extremely accurate synthesis especially from an artistic point of view and the inevitable references to previous titles, starting with a couple of supporting actors who return for the occasion, can easily be overcome without risking not to understand some parts of weft.

All this wasted history

If anything, the problem lurks in a narrative plot that despite having exceptional premises and while immediately involving the player in an intense story and initially narrated with great cinematographic and artistic skills, soon begins to fall apart becoming more and more rarefied and less stimulating going to lose. thick, indeed disappearing completely, in some parts of the game and then return with the inevitable fireworks at the end of the game. In this sense, even the taciturn and decidedly not very expressive protagonist does not help, that Capelli that the player will command and that it was really very difficult to impersonate. On the other hand, it is a bit better with the secondary characters who sometimes flank Joseph, in particular Dr. Malikov who in this third chapter returns, even if they all soon prove to be barely hinted at, small specks that enter and leave the scene without leaving footprints in the plot. And we would also like to praise the good duration of the campaign: in a period in which first-person shooters suffer from a hasty and always very rough single player, Resistance 3 stands out for at least 8 hours of uninterrupted gameplay on the second difficulty level, the normal one (with a fourth level that is unlocked once the game is finished).

A story that will see us cross America on an almost coast to coast journey from Oklhahoma to New York where Capelli will have to attack and destroy a Chimera tower responsible for the slow but constant cooling of the Earth and able to also act as a space gateway- storm towards the home world of the alien attackers. A decidedly long journey, consisting of 20 chapters and extremely varied from the point of view of the scenarios. We will see everything: from urban areas to forests, from alien bases to human prisons, from disgusting sewers to claustrophobic mining tunnels. All the classic first-person shooter settings are here and from this point of view the game certainly proves to be very derivative and full of clichés by not introducing anything really new but taking full hands from the tradition of the FPS of this generation. If you think of any environmental situation or typical level of a shooter, you can rest assured because in Resistance 3 there is. Except only for a classic level aboard a player-controlled vehicle. Among other things, to return to the story of the plot, a large part of the game will see our protagonist completely alone at the mercy of the aliens, without any possibility of chatting with someone and consequently without any interesting progress in the plot. In these long situations, the title takes a strong derivation from survival horror and in some cases it will be able with great skill to keep you in suspense thanks to very dark and tense atmospheres.

Back to the past

Where instead Resistance 3 works perfectly is in its first person shooter gameplay. After the digression operated by Insomniac with the second chapter, this third title represents in all respects a leap into the past of the saga thanks to the recovery of mechanics much more in line with those of Fall of Man, the progenitor of the series. First of all, the automatic regeneration of life is gone, the usual thread of all the shooters of this generation in favor of a circular energy indicator that must necessarily be restored by hand by collecting the various green ampoules scattered around the scenario or left on the ground from some enemies.

Combat in this way, while not losing in frenzy and chaos of the action, gains a lot in terms of tactics and management of the cover scattered on the ground. In many situations the pathos evoked by having two or three bars of energy and having to burst into a room with the risk of being killed with a couple of shots is felt and becomes practically mandatory for the player to study at a glance the elements scattered on the ground in search of that bright green that allows you to identify the medikit on the fly. At the same time we have a return to the past also for what concerns the management of weapons. Resistance 3 offers twelve throughout the entire campaign that the protagonist can take with him without space limits. Their management takes place via the triangle button that allows you to alternate between the last two used if pressed quickly or, by increasing the pressure time, it makes a radial menu appear overlay to allow the selection of all the paraphernalia by pausing the gameplay . Every weapon, with the exception of a hammer that is taken in the middle of the game and more suited to hand-to-hand combat, has a particularly inspired and original alternative fire mode. It goes from the explosion of the Magnum shells or the Bullseye tracer bullet already seen in the past, to the carbine grenade or the cryogun's pressurized air jet capable of shattering enemies previously frozen with normal fire. The variety is enormous, thanks to the partly human and partly alien weaponry and the fighting styles change in an all-encompassing way passing from one weapon to another. What's more, each weapon is enhanced with use through two additional levels that passively modify the strength of the bullets rather than the style of the sight, sometimes adding features to the muzzle such as the bayonet on the rifle.

The result is absolutely unprecedented for those accustomed to the FPS of the last three or four years and stimulates a great tactical management of the clashes. The ammunition is in fact rather limited and especially at the higher difficulty levels it becomes a fundamental requirement to study the type of enemy and its positioning in order to use the best weapon during the battle. A couple of Auger rounds to flush out the more sheltered enemies, a few rifle bursts for enemies starting to approach and then a handful of Rossmore, the shotgun, to track down the Chimera hiding around the corner. The involvement is enormous and the sense of satisfaction once the area is cleared is remarkable despite the enemy's artificial intelligence not exactly of the highest level. Aliens embalmed in the middle of the rooms are seen and often the tactics they use to surround us are approximate and too easy to deal with. From this point of view we would certainly have expected a greater challenge and there is also a certain stinginess in the use of grenades (there are four different types) on their part. Last note for the bosses: very few, decidedly uninspired and subjected to truly dated encounter mechanics because they are still based on the usual weak points to hit and adequately highlighted by special bright points on the screen. Really not very credible for huge enemies capable of wiping out entire villages in an instant.

PlayStation 3 Trophies

The game offers 59 trophies including the inevitable platinum. Then we find only a golden one that is unlocked by completing the campaign with the superhuman unlockable difficulty level. There are also four silver trophies that are earned by completing the game, collecting all the newspapers scattered around the world, upgrading all weapons and playing in cooperatives. Then there are 54 bronze trophies that range from classic collectibles linked to various numbers of enemies killed to the overcoming of some key points of the plot, to the particular use of the paraphernalia.

All together passionately?

Resistance 3 obviously also offers a competitive and cooperative multiplayer component. In both cases with great differences compared to the past of the series. Let's start with the cooperative that this time allows you to play the entire single player campaign in two players both in split screen and online. In the latter case, however, it is not clear why it is only possible to invite friends and not play with the first one that happens. Complete change also for the competitive one that is now dangerously close to the standards of the genre. There remains a system of classes (only four this time) each with specific abilities that can be recalled during the game respecting the classic cooldown. The automatic regeneration of energy returns and in addition there are the killstreaks that can be activated when killing increasing series of opponents without losing life. Compared to the past, however, there is a leveled experience system that allows you to earn points that can be spent to unlock the paraphernalia and additional skills. The result is, as usual in these cases, an initially rather unbalanced multiplayer when with your character with limited weapons you are faced with people who spend whole days unlocking game elements. In the long run, however, the situation tends to normalize, leaving great room for an excellent configurability of your avatar and offering a good variety of game styles. In terms of game modes we have the classic free-for-all and team deathmatches, capture the flag and two more complex modes: Breach where you have to destroy or defend a certain objective and Chain Reaction which offers gameplay focused on capturing and maintaining certain points. of the territory.

In all cases there is a limit to sixteen players at the same time and it is possible to choose between a dozen maps, mostly revised and modified versions of those seen in the single player. In short, the gameplay change is enormous compared to the second Resistance and it is certainly something that must be taken into account: if you have appreciated the massive numbers of the prequel and the style of play that was determined, here you will find yourself in front of a very multiplayer more standardized and probably less original but in the opinion of the writer, more tested and stimulating both in the short and long term. It is important to point out that at the time of our test we have already had to download two different patches, both over 600 MB in weight and to this day there are not sporadic phenomena of lag while the engine seems to show too much side to some slowdowns, even showy ones. in the presence of many opponents on screen. Furthermore Resistance 3 it is the first Sony title to request an online pass, in this case called PSN Pass: a code included in the game package that must be redeemed in the PSN Store to allow access to the multiplayer component.

Mmmmh ...

If from an artistic and design point of view the work done by Insomniac is absolutely exceptional and is very evident in the cut of the intermission scenes, breaking in a clear way with the past style of the series, in purely technical terms the product fails to do that. leap forward which in our opinion is fundamental for a first party title. Resistance 3 it is rather dirty and generally not very detailed with the excellent variety of scenarios that clashes with their rather approximate realization. There are a lot of textures with rather low details as well as character models that also appear rather static and animated in a woody way.

However, the weapons and various special effects on the screen are saved that contribute to making the most substantial clashes come alive. The frame rate is certainly good, but only in single player where, despite the abundant number of enemies on the screen, it always manages to be very stable. The management of the lights is just good with a barely perceptible ambient HDR and definitely far from the sacred monster of PlayStation 3, Killzone 3. There are not few occasions, among other things, in which we noticed the lack of shadows on the characters, probably to maintain high fluidity of what is shown on the screen. Resistance 3 supports 3D and can also be played entirely with Move. In the first case we cannot perform in a judgment by not having tried it on compatible televisions, while for what concerns the additional peripheral, we have noticed a very reduced sensitivity even by acting massively on the settings which results in a rather low reactivity. Element that weighs enough in the most excited situations and that forces us to advise against this control mode to better experience the gameplay of Resistance 3.

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Resistance 3 is presented as a rewarding single player title, rather long-lived and with an excellent artistic vein enhanced by a plot that initially manages to involve the player for the goodness of the narrative style. Too bad that starting from mid-game this thrust runs out and there remains "only" a very varied and well-structured gameplay in the game mechanics thanks to the manual regeneration of energy and a vast and rather original paraphernalia. The multiplayer offer with the campaign cooperatives and a competitive one that is strongly detached from the previous chapter is also very good, resulting more immediate and fun both in the short and in the long term while sinning problems of balance and fluidity of the action. A worthy final chapter (at least for now) of the Insomniac saga that we feel we can recommend not only to fans but also to those who have not appreciated the previous chapters for various reasons as long as they overlook a decidedly not avant-garde technical aspect.