Resistance 3

Resistance 3
File:Resistance 3 box artwork.png Box art by Olly Moss
Developer(s)	Insomniac Games
Publisher(s)	Sony Computer Entertainment
Director(s)	Marcus Smith
Designer(s)	Drew Murray
Writer(s)	Jon Paquette
Composer(s)	Boris Salchow
Series	Resistance
Engine	Insomniac Engine 3.0
Platforms	PlayStation 3
Release date(s)	NA September 6, 2011 JP 20110908September 8, 2011 AUS 20110908September 8, 2011 EU 20110909September 9, 2011
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Resistance 3 is a 2011 science fiction post-apocalyptic first-person shooter developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3. Resistance 3 is the third and final installment in the Resistance trilogy. Resistance 3 is the first in the series to support 3D and PlayStation Move and the first to introduce the PSN Pass program. The game shifts away from the military aspect of Resistance: Fall of Man and Resistance 2 and takes on a post-apocalyptic survival-horror feel.

On April 8, 2014, online Resistance 3 servers, along with those for Resistance: Fall of Man and Resistance 2, were shut down by Sony.

Gameplay

The game retains mostly the same gameplay mechanics as its predecessor albeit with several changes. The weapon wheel and health bar from the first Resistance game return. There are also new environmental objects such as chimeran plants which explode when shot. The game sees a mixture of new and old weapons; returning weapons include the Bullseye, Magnum, Rossmore, Auger, Marksman and Carbine. New weapons include the Mutator, which shoots biological mist that causes enemies to eventually explode causing splash damage, the Deadeye sniper rifle, and a new food-can based explosive, the shrapnel grenade, which releases a shower of nails when it explodes. Weapons are upgradeable, and become more powerful the more they are used. Humans are forced to assemble their weapons from whatever scrap they can gather. The game features PlayStation Move support and Stereoscopic 3D. Additionally, players can utilize the PlayStation Sharp Shooter peripheral attachment.

Multiplayer

Resistance 3 featured an online 16-player competitive multiplayer component. It offers five modes: Team Deathmatch, Chain Reaction, Deathmatch, Breach, and Capture the Flag. It also includes a customizable progression system where players spend points earned by playing online to unlock customized loadouts that include various attributes. There is also a co-operative mode where players can team up to play through the story mode either online or split-screen. Gameinformer's podcast revealed that there would be no eight-player co-op as in Resistance 2. The multiplayer maps are set in locations around the world, such as the Fort Lamy prison in Chad; the Seaside of Glamorgan, Wales, UK; Alice Springs in Australia; New York City in the United States; the Trainyard in Bogota, Colombia. Some of the locations these maps take place in are not included in the story mode.

Sony turned off the servers along with other Resistance trilogy on April 8, 2014

Plot

The story starts in 1957, four years after Operation: Black Eden, where the United States is the last nation standing against the Chimera, but leaving most of the states into barren wastelands along with the rest of the world. Joseph Capelli has been dishonorably discharged from SRPA for executing Nathan Hale, while Malikov has discovered a cure for the Chimera virus from Hale's blood as the Chimera begin to exterminate 90% of the human race, leaving 10% in hiding. In an underground outpost in Haven, Oklahoma, Capelli, his wife Susan Farley, son Jack and other survivors have been living in hiding from the Chimera patrols for over 2 years. Their hope to stay hidden from the Chimera is quickly crushed as Capelli notices a Terraformer (a massive, satellite-like weapon that destroys everything on the ground by firing an energy wave from the sky) moving towards Haven.

They decide to evacuate the outpost when Capelli realizes that the Chimera were following Doctor Fyodor Malikov to the outpost. Malikov says that he finally found a way to stop the Chimera and begs Capelli to accompany him to New York City. Malikov states that a wormhole, which opened over New York City after Hale destroyed the Chimeran fleet with the nuclear warhead 4 years ago is slowly freezing the planet (Chimera thrive in cold climates) and that humanity will not survive the next winter unless the portal is closed. Capelli refuses to help him, but he is convinced by his wife Susan who urges him to go with Malikov. Capelli leaves just as the Terraformer obliterates Haven. Capelli and Malikov start their journey on a boat and travel the Mississippi River. They are attacked by Grims, Longlegs, shock drones, and Goliaths and their boat is destroyed and Malikov is wounded, forcing them to seek shelter in St. Louis, Missouri.

Capelli meets with a local resistance group called "The Remnants" after helping them fight off an attack by Chimeran forces. Their leader, Charlie Tent, agrees to help them in return of acquiring a power core from a Chimeran dropship to power their VTOL aircraft. Although their ambush goes awry, they still manage to capture the power core. Charlie and his pilot Ellis give Capelli and Malikov a ride to New York City. On the flight however, Capelli has a nightmare of his family in danger which prompts him to return to Oklahoma but they are attacked by a group of Chimeran fighters near Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania. Capelli falls from the VTOL but survives. Charlie drops Malikov off nearby and promises that he will find Capelli's family. Capelli and Malikov find a train station and meet with Jean Rose, a member of a religious community near a coal mine. Jean tells them her husband, "Father" Jonathan can repair the train but he went to the mines to kill a large Chimeran creature they call "Satan".

Capelli enters the mine and meets with Jonathan. Together they kill the creature and Jonathan repairs the train for them, allowing Malikov and Capelli to continue to New York City. Their journey to New York City is interrupted by "Wardens", a vicious group of human survivalists and cannibals which is made up of former inmates from the nearby Graterford Prison. Although Capelli fights back against the Wardens who try to board the train with their vehicles, their train collides with a pack of Widowmakers and derails. While trying to help Capelli, Malikov is brutally murdered by Mick Cutler, leader of the Wardens. After being taken prisoner and forced to fight in a gladiator-like game in the courtyard of the prison against the Grims, Leeches and Wardens, Capelli is helped by Herbert, a friendly Warden. Herbert devises a plan to escape the prison but they first have to disable the security system consisting of four captured drones sending an "all clear" signal to the Chimera that prevents the prison from being targeted.

They start a riot in the prison and disable the security system allowing the Chimera to investigate and attack the prison. Capelli is attacked by Cutler during the confusion, but after a brutal fistfight, Capelli kills him with an HE.44 Magnum, avenging Malikov's murder and he, Herbert, and the Wardens' prisoners escape the prison as the Chimera overwhelm and destroy it. Continuing on his own, Capelli finally reaches New York City. He finds a working radio in an abandoned building and makes a farewell broadcast to his wife and son. After fighting through the ruins of New York City, he is cornered by a massive Chimeran force near the tower but he is saved by Charlie and Ellis in their VTOL at the last moment. Capelli convinces Charlie to help him disable the Terraformer near the New York City tower from within, hoping that this will destroy the tower and close the wormhole.

Capelli and Charlie raid the Terraformer and Capelli finds the power core room. After a catastrophic fire-fight against the Chimera, Capelli destroys the power core and the Terraformer falls to the ground, destroying the tower and closing the wormhole forever, which systematically destroys the other Chimeran towers across America. Capelli is again saved by Charlie and Ellis in their VTOL as the Terraformer falls. At the ending, Capelli is seen reunited with Susan and Jack. During the closing credits, numerous resistance groups report from all over the Earth, the resistance believe that the attack on the terraformer in New York City proves to be their own turning point as temperatures change rapidly on the Eastern Coast of the United States, reporting their successes against the Chimeran forces. They are followed by several optimistic pictures (such as the rebuilding of Statue of Liberty and New York City) implying that humanity has finally won the war against the Chimera and are now rebuilding the world and their civilization.

Development

File:Resistance3billboard.jpg

Billboard advertising Resistance 3 spotted in Shreveport, Louisiana.

In 2009, a promotional billboard for Resistance 3 was spotted on a location set for Battle: Los Angeles, a film by Columbia Pictures (a subsidiary of Sony) released in early 2011.(as the film is set in nearly one month prior to the game's release), Though neither Sony nor Insomniac Games commented on the appearance, Insomniac announced on May 25, 2010 that, in addition to creating a new multiplatform franchise, they would be developing multiple games exclusively for the PlayStation 3. The game was officially announced at Sony's Gamescom 2010 press conference in Cologne, Germany on August 17, 2010 alongside a live-action trailer for the game. On September 28, 2010, leaked concept art and screenshots were released onto a Flickr account which depict a number of different Chimera and two unidentified human characters (later confirmed in Game Informer's November 2010 cover story as Joseph Capelli and Susan Farley). When asked about the authenticity of the images, Insomniac replied with "no comment". The first gameplay was revealed at the Spike Video Game Awards, showing new weapons and enemies. Insomniac worked with Olly Moss to create the logo and box art.

Downloadable content

The downloadable content for Resistance 3 includes the "Survival" game pack along with the "Brutality" game pack. The Survival pack includes: a Haven static theme, four new character skins for use in multiplayer, and a new multiplayer mode known as "Invasion". The Invasion mode forces Human and Chimeran teams to divide their resources with the goal of holding multiple control nodes on the map simultaneously. The more nodes a team holds, the faster they score points to achieve victory. The Brutality game pack is a survival-based wave mode which consists of the player roaming around a version of the Seaside multiplayer map, searching for new weapons along with ammunition and health to defend against the hordes of enemies. All weapons from the campaign can be found around the map and upgrade the more they are used. The game pack also includes seven tracks from the acclaimed heavy metal band Mastodon along with a prison theme and Mick Cutler skin for use in multiplayer.

Both packs were removed on March 2014 from Playstation Store, although only in Europe, around the same time of the multiplayer servers closure. However, the Brutality pack returned shortly after, possibly due to being also playable in singleplayer.

Owners of specially marked copies of SOCOM 4 were able to download and play the beta on August 4 using the codes provided with that game, while PlayStation Plus subscribers in Region 2 territories gained access on August 10. On August 23, the beta opened to worldwide subscribers of PlayStation Plus. Insomniac announced that they would give away codes via Facebook and Twitter to join the beta. The public beta began on August 30. The beta offered two multiplayer modes: Team Deathmatch and Chain Reaction. These modes were playable on two maps. People that played the beta between August 30 and September 4 received a SRPA Nathan Hale skin for Resistance 3. The beta ended on September 4. Resistance 3 has two demos, one for purchasing Battle: Los Angeles on Blu-ray and the other is downloadable from the PlayStation Store.

Global Resistance

Global Resistance was a social media strategy game designed to promote the release of Resistance 3, where players could choose to play as Human or Chimera. Global Resistance had exclusive unlockable content for Resistance 3, like skins, artworks and videos. The game was disabled when the multiplayer servers for the Resistance trilogy closed on April 8th 2014.

Special editions

Resistance 3 came in two special editions. The Doomsday edition of Resistance 3 includes a copy of the game and a Move Controller bundle which includes the PlayStation Move controller, the PlayStation Move Sharp Shooter Attachment, the PlayStation Move navigation controller and the PlayStation Eye camera. The bundle was available in North America and Latin America.

In Europe, the Survivor edition is available which includes Joseph Capelli's journal, Chimera firing range target, SRPA playing cards, a canvas satchel, SRPA hip flask and Fight for Freedom toy soldiers. Also released in Europe is the special edition which includes steelbook packaging, vinyl effect Blu-ray disc, SRPA Black Ops skin, infected Nathan Hale skin, air fuel grenade, special multiplayer title "Sentinel" and a multiplayer booster.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 84.30% Metacritic 83/100 Review scores Publication Score Destructoid 8/10 Edge 7/10 Game Informer 7/10 GameSpot 8.5/10 GameTrailers 8.8/10 IGN 9/10 X-Play 5/5

Resistance 3 received positive reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the game an aggregate score of 84.30% and 83/100. IGN gave the game a 9/10, saying, "In terms of tone, Insomniac has really amped up the gut-wrenching terror for Resistance 3. This is the darkest and most violent game in the series, and almost the entire second act of the game will have you on the edge of your seat." X-Play gave it a perfect 5/5. Thierry Nguyen of 1UP.com gave the game a B+ score, saying that "While Resistance 3 clearly steps forward as a improvement to the series, it's still not quite a great game overall."

GameSpot gave the game an 8.5/10, praising the game for its exciting, deep campaign and fun multiplayer. Saying, "No matter what your gaming setup, you're in for a treat. Resistance 3 offers a brand of excitement you won't find in any other shooter franchise." Game Informer gave the game a 7/10, criticizing the "bland environments", "predictable" level design, and "numerous glitches" that "halt the flow of the game entirely." Resistance 3 sold 180,000 copies in September and was seventh best selling game in the United States. In the UK it topped the PS3 software chart in the first week of launch.

External links

• Developer Insomniac Games official website