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 features 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 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 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 implying
that humanity has finally won the war against the Chimera and are now
rebuilding the world and their civilization.
Development In 2009, a promotional billboard for
Resistance 3 was spotted on a location set for Battle: Los Angeles, a film by
Columbia Pictures 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. 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 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. References
External links Developer Insomniac Games official
website