Hands On: Resistance 3′s Single Player Mode
Anti-Capelli?
Published: 8:50, 19/07/2011 by Alex C [nofi].
15Note: this preview contains Resistance series spoilers.
If there’s one thing that this latest build of Resistance 3 demonstrates it’s that Capelli’s actually a far more likeable and rounded character than Hale ever was. Sure, you might have finished Resistance 2 with a rather bitter taste in your mouth giving the actions of the aforementioned, but here – in Earth’s last desperate attempt to stay alive – he’s a family man, he’s flawed, he’s human. And that singular trait alone means more to me than anything else.
Sure, I might be alone in this, and Hale’s definitely got his fanbase, but the legions of Resistance fans can down pitchforks – Resistance 3 is all good, Capelli included.
Melee combat's not as pronounced as this screenshot (from E3) would have you think, but weapon bashing is still present and correct.
Of course, you don’t get to stay hidden for long, and shooting, thankfully, is something Resistance 3 still excels at. Playing through the build, which spanned a good chunk of the game (and lasted just over two hours) I was constantly reminded why I enjoyed Insomniac’s FPS series so much: the gameplay’s incredibly diverse given the genre, the weapon range superbly balanced and – this time around especially – a batch of enemies that for once actually play hard, especially on either of the levels above the rather simplistic ‘casual’.
It’s this mixing up of pacing that works so well: the game literally throws you in at the deep end after a brief bout of the usual weapon training, forced to battle a hulking, lethal Stalker with nothing but a couple of buddies, an ice cream shop, a handful of EMP grenades and a Bullseye for protection before whisking you off to a sneaky two man covert sniper mission and then a desperate attempt to regroup and protect your family under the formidable shadow of a Goliath and a devasting Terraformer. And that’s just the first hour.
Naturally, nobody’s expecting the boys from Burbank to walk away with any scriptwriting awards, this isn’t particularly strong storytelling, the game preferring to keep exposition brief whilst letting the game breathe at key points (like a slightly lethargic section on board a boat on the Mississippi) when it needs to. The rest of the time you’ll be running, gunning and grinning your way across the States, heading east towards your ultimate goal of New York.
The Widowmaker, just one of a series of deadly Chimeran creatures ready to cause havoc.
The really clever thing, though, and the bit that really sets this game apart from other shooters, is that weaponry. By ensuring that there’s little overlap in purpose (and strength) even the starter guns are essential throughout the game, and the intuitive leveling up system (which promotes active use of all your arsenal and grants each item extra power-ups and abilities the more you use it) means that the weapon wheel (which pauses the game whilst you pick another gun) will see plenty of use. The Bulleye’s still a favourite (tagging the new leaping Long Legs enemies is a joy) but the Auger feels more punchy and dramatic and the Atomizer, a new close range electric weapon that’s deadly against flesh, is an absolute blast.
I had great fun with Resistance 3. It’s not the best looking game on the platform by some distance but the often simple scenery and low-res textures mean the game can shove around plenty of Chimera and lots of destruction whilst keeping the frame rate nice and smooth, and that’s much more important to me than a display so full of post processing the and fancy effects action drags to a halt constantly. The sound was a little buggy in this build: the guns sounded amazing but the lip syncing was way off – we’re assured that’ll all be fixed in due course.
I can’t wait to play more, I really can’t – and for me, that’s something I rarely leave a game thinking. I’m intrigued to know where the adventure’s going next and I’m keen to see what surprises Insomniac have up their sleeve.
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19/07/2011 at 09:01
Member since: Oct 2009
Big fan of the resistance series & can’t wait for this one :) sounds like it’ll be a blast
19/07/2011 at 09:56
Member since: Dec 2009
Agreed. Day one for me.
19/07/2011 at 09:06
Member since: Aug 2008
I’m excited for R3 as it is, but articles like this just make Sept seem even further away :( :D
20/07/2011 at 00:10
Member since: Aug 2010
So… In that case are you requesting no more articles?…
19/07/2011 at 09:15
Member since: Sep 2009
Nice read. Those screenshots look brilliant to me.
19/07/2011 at 09:16
Member since: Sep 2009
If they are actual shots…
19/07/2011 at 09:26
Member since: Forever
They are shots from E3. We were allowed to take shots from this build but didn’t have time, sorry.
19/07/2011 at 09:19
Member since: Nov 2009
To be honest I hated Nathan Hale. His lack of character really had an impact on my enjoyment of the previous two games.
19/07/2011 at 10:41
Member since: Jul 2009
So, did you like Half Life 2. Gordon Freeman wasn’t exactly a chatterbox was he?
19/07/2011 at 11:17
Member since: Aug 2008
I personally hated Halflife 1 and 2 ;)
The Left4Dead series is ok but otherwise I’m really not a valve fan
19/07/2011 at 20:29
Member since: Nov 2009
Nope, I don’t really like Half Life 2, but I’m going to give that game another shot this Summer. Unlike Resistance, HL2 has a strong cast of secondary characters who are responsible for outlining Freeman’s persona. The squad we were stuck with in R2 had no real sense of character about them at all.
19/07/2011 at 09:21
Member since: Apr 2010
Personally I hated Hale, the grumpy old mute. Nice to see a more human character for once, it is a simple fact a lot of shooting games seem to overlook.
19/07/2011 at 09:48
Member since: Jun 2009
I agree with that, I think thats why I got bored with the SP on R2, I didn’t even bother to finish it.
19/07/2011 at 10:28
Member since: May 2010
I found R2 OK but despised Hale. Thats probably why i had to force myself to complete it.
19/07/2011 at 09:44
Member since: Jul 2009
Really dont feel the love for Resistance. Ive never played one. I love FPS’s mainly war shooters, theres just something about the ones with aliens in that I cant get along with, maybe im a pussy. The aliens are the main reason I havent finished Crysis 2 yet. Kinda had the same problem with the original Uncharted and those spaniard bastards!
19/07/2011 at 09:47
Member since: Dec 2009
I’ve picked up R1 and R2 for another playthrough in anticipation!
19/07/2011 at 10:41
Member since: Aug 2008
I did the same on Saturday. Wasn’t planning to but at 5quid a copy you realy cannot go wrong :D
19/07/2011 at 10:38
Member since: Forever
Can’t wait, there’s so many extremely positive previews around for this.
19/07/2011 at 10:48
Member since: Feb 2009
Any indication on how the sharpshooter integration is coming along?
19/07/2011 at 10:50
Member since: Forever
Widowmakers <3