Game Review: Resistance 3

Resistance: Fall of Man launched on the PS3 to generally favorable reviews. Resistance 2, in my personal opinion, was not a good game. Many agreed citing the two weapon limit as a major downfall. Resistance 3 could very well be the last in the series, so does it live up enough to the original or has this been a slowly sinking franchise?

The general premise of the Resistance games, being 50's Earth invaded by aliens, is pretty damn cool. The rest of the story however, I could do without. It's not that it's actively bad, it's just there and that's it. Resistance 3 doesn't do much to improve this. They do give the main character a wife and kid so I guess you should care about him?

The gimmick of the Resistance games has been the variety of creative weapons. That's what made the first game so likable. The weapon wheel is back in Resistance 3 so unlike R2, I actually took advantage of the entire arsenal given to me.

This feels like a game that should have a cover mechanic but sadly does not. I often felt myself wishing for at least a KillZone 3 style of cover. Many of the encounters also could have used some work. For instance, who ever designed the part where I climbed a ladder and then was attacked by leapers with no way out other than down or to crouch, which there was no way to know while being attacked, should be shot.

The game feels like it could use a few more months of polish. You can almost see the design doc at some points. The game is pretty formulaic up until just about the end. Then you are taken on a extreme detour that takes away a lot of the momentum of the story. The lack of polish also means you will also be jumping around NPCs, trying to trigger their A.I. to open the door for the next room so you can continue.

Resistance 3 isn't necessarily a 'bad' game but like its story, it's just sort of 'there'. Fans of the Resistance lore (are there any?) will find some decent closure but folks looking for a good shooter should look elsewhere. Again, while it's not bad, and much better than Resistance 2 I can't find anything redeeming to say about it. Skip it.