Resistance 3 | 9.0

Multiplayer now plays really smooth, frame drops and the juttering of the release code are now gone. After I flushed Rage on eBay, I went back to R3 for some online play here and there and it is a lot of fun. After the fixes I am upgrading the review one star since it plays pretty much perfect now.

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A quick note: The game manual comes with an online pass code you redeem through PSN to play competitive multiplayer. If you want to buy this used down the line to just play through the campaign and pick up the trophies, it's no big deal. But you probably won't be able to play online unless you buy the game new.

Ok on to business...

I did not like Resistance 2. In fact, I never finished the game. The whole thing felt unfinished - big time. The guns were creative, but never felt very powerful. Graphically, it looked ok in spots, but there were so many rough edges and glitches, it was a disappointing release for insomniac. The Co-op was good in some ways, bad in others. This mode felt more like World of Warcraft than it did Resistance because every single bullet spray produced rampant amounts of XP. Also it felt like a totally different game on the gameplay side. The online MP could be fun, but the bullet damage needed to bring an enemy down was frustrating sometimes. I played the demo for the very first game waaay back when, but it didn't ever grab me. The third installment in a series can be the weakest, but this is not the case with Resistance 3. This is a really good game.

First my favorite aspect of Resistance 3, is naturally the shooting. The weapons are all excellent. Each shot feels powerful from the trigger to the sound. And you have many weapons to use. This is not like a lot of other FPS games where you carry two, Insomniac loads you up and you can carry tons. The Chimera AI isn't bad, they don't do the side step dance the Brutes in Halo Reach avoid shots with, but they can still be formidable in numbers. The levels are pretty well laid out. There isn't much in the way of exploration, but there is plenty in the way of bullet fodder to keep you moving. There are some dark levels that feel a lot like Left4Dead that keep you on the run too. Start playing the game on HARD difficulty - it feels right. I think it should have been the "Normal" setting from the get go. The visuals are a big improvement from before - there is a very gritty feel to everything. The story? Meh, but if you are going to tell me with a straight face Killzone, Gears of War or even any of the HALO games were more than a total nonsense excuse to kill aliens either - I will call shenanigans. This is not Uncharted 2 granted, but it would be hard to find this type of firepower anywhere else.

Multiplayer is pretty much what every other FPS or Third person action game has these days - I prefer the Breach mode where you have to destroy an opposing team's reactors, but in a few weeks there will DLC coming, which normally I would be agnostic to, but in this game, I feel it would be a lot of fun with the style of enemies and the wicked weapons at your disposal. Bring it on.

If you were on the fence on this one, I'd say go for it. This is such a big step from the last game you can't go wrong.