Resistance 3 (Essentials) /PS3

In Resistance 3 there's a distinct sense of a developer playing to its own strengths and having fun with it, aware of its own capability and keen not to stretch itself too far.

Sidefire is clearly one of Insomniac's passions, and this opportunity to unleash the sci-fi madness that has come to define the developer's work, whether it's Magnum's detonation rounds or Bullseye's triple lock, provides a new, more elaborate way to play.



Playing to the studio's strengths also means that Joseph Capelli's story has little narrative depth. In the midst of a brutal confrontation, it's heartening to see a developer thinking about how their civilization has crumbled around you.

Although initially a strange atmospheric tangent to the rest of the campaign, it still manages to add to the overall feeling of fallen man inhabiting the world of Resistance 3.



Characteristics:

- The bleakest and loneliest entry in the franchise, a simple man-on-a-mission story steeped in a sense of despair and futility.
- When you finally arrive in New York to find it frozen, decrepit, and infested with Chimera warriors and technology, the sense is that you're at the cusp of the story Insomniac has wanted to tell since the series began in 2006.
- Dialogue is minimal and sparse, mostly reserved for character monologues, as Insomniac tells its story visually, with rich environments and detailed, evocative sets.
- In an attempt to avoid monotony, Insomniac introduces a human opponent until the final third of the game with a trip to a Mad Max-esque rebel world set in an overrun prison that drastically changes the tone of the campaign.