Resistance 3 Catch-all : Xanthophobia

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http://www.myresistance.net/

I can't say too much about it, I've only had time to play a half-hour or so, but I'm liking it so far. They've brought back the weapon wheel, and gotten rid of regenerating health. Fair note: there are spoilers in the trophies.
Still getting used to not being a bullet sponge though.

How is everyone else doing?

I haven't gotten it yet--R3 is one of my many, many casualties in this jam-packed season that has to wait for a price drop. I tried the MP beta, and though it looked like a ton of fun with lots of neat stuff going on, I was tear-ih-bull, way more terrible than I am at Killzone or Uncharted.

I don't know if I'll buy it, but it's been getting some glowing reviews. Good on them for coming back from R2, if nothing else.

So I tried the original Resistance when it came out and wasn't at all impressed. The trailers for the second were pretty lame as well. So I was all prepared to not care about the third one...

...that is, until I read this.

I'm just a little embarrassed to admit that my first thought upon seeing the preview disc for Resistance 3 show up on my doorstep was this: "Who can I con into playing this for me?"

It's not that I hated the previous games in the series, they're fine for what they are, but my curiosity about what's next for the franchise was frankly dwarfed by my desire to pass work off onto other people. I didn't have any luck, and what a lucky break that was for me, because Resistance 3 -- at least for the three hours I spent with it -- is spectacular.

I know, I'm still not sure I believe it myself.

I don't really find Joystiq to be the highest source of games criticism, but the sentiments in that opening was enough to get me to read the preview there, at Ars Technica and off The Escapist. Suddenly my less-than-lukewarm feelings became a deep desire to try it out.

This week I went to GameStop, feeling horrible as I wanted to try Star Fox, Warhammer AND Resistance 3 (Dead Island can wait for a price drop). I was originally planning just one, but I grabbed Resistance 3 and Star Fox together.

Hopefully I won't regret the decision.

I've been playing through it and I'm really enjoying it. It's funny how all the gaming podcasts I've listened to talk about what a sh*t game R2 was in comparison, yet you'll be hard pressed to find review scores lower than 8.5 for it and most are much higher. They definitely managed to accomplish a lot in the extra year they got. It's weird playing with non-regenerating health again, though it's good once you get used to it. I'd be interested in running the campaign through again co-op if someone's interested.

I played the first half hour at a friend's house yesterday, and loved it. I got my copy home today, and am waiting for a 670mb day 2 update to download on my miserable connection before I can play it.

From what I did see, desperation against overwhelming odds is the order of the day. I went from Ork massacres in Space Marine to a very different style of play in R3. It'a the first time in years that I have felt fragile in an FPS. I'm really looking forward to giving this a proper hammering on my plasma with surround sound and Move.

I dont get the R2 bashing either. It was a decent game, with some epic battles and set pieces. The co-op multiplayer was loads of fun, too. Suddenly, everyone seems to have hated it!

I didn't care much for the campaign and it definitely feels like it was cut back on in order to devote more time to the co-op and multiplayer aspects. I really liked the co-op too but both the campaign and competitive multiplayer were meh in my opinion. It just wish I know this before I bought it which reviews are supposed to help with. I do think it was better than most though but this definitely blows it away so far.

Made it to New York.

So far, still enjoying it a lot, the weapons are a lot more varied and fun than they were in R2, and the boss battles aren't so much boss-like as they are set pieces, which is pretty neat.

I don't think I have that much game left, although I may be wrong, I was completely fooled by the last one.

Has anyone tried the MP yet? At E3 it looked like "CoD but worse," but I'd like for something meaty to be there for MP if I'm going to add another full price title to my fall shopping list.

CptGlanton wrote:

Has anyone tried the MP yet? At E3 it looked like "CoD but worse," but I'd like for something meaty to be there for MP if I'm going to add another full price title to my fall shopping list.

You pretty much hit it on the nose. It's almost exactly like CoD except CoD does a better job of balancing gameplay. In R3 you get kill streaks but from what I could tell they were all personal abilities like shields that are impenetrable to most weapons or invisibility. Most of my time was spent getting killed by invisible snipers or guys running around with shields blasting others with shotguns. It was still fun for what it's worth but I'm definitely more interested in single player.

Edit: This is all based on the beta

I was curious about the co-op but as I have my copy from GameFly, I don't have the required online code. Unlikely I'll pick it up given the other MP titles I'll likely be playing in the next months (Gears, BF3, Assassin's Creed).

I played the first four chapters yesterday and have just set off on my journey. The gameplay reminds me of the original Halo mixed with Modern Warfare, and that's not at all a bad thing.

I had a lot of fun, far more than I ever had playing the first game. I think I'm going to play more of it tonight.

Oh crap, does campaign co-op require their online pass as well? Damn, that sucks cause I rented it as well. I just beat the campaign on Normal and was hoping to co-op a higher difficulty with someone. Crap.

So I generally liked the campaign a lot. I didn't like R2's at all but they had a much better story this time, the weapons were awesome and it actually had a decent ending. There is one problem this series has always had though which is still has...

Spoiler:

I hate how Insomniac's idea of late-game encounter design it to just throw you in a small area with minimal cover and a whole ton of high level enemies (i.e. like 10 snipers and rocket guys) and also not give you a lot of ammo to deal with it. These encounters almost always come down to luck as there's really only one way to do it and usually, you are just trying it over and over again to avoid getting cheap shots from the (usually) rocket guys.

I also really liked how they went back to using health packs but like Jeff Cannata said on Weekend Confirmed, don't obscure our view when we get low on health if it's not going to recharge. An already hairy encounter just gets harder when you've got a red halo around the screen and the colour is washing out. There's a health meter in the corner, I know how much health I've got left. The health pack distribution was also not balanced well. I'd often be in a firefight with low health, I'd kill all the enemies and would have to move on badly hurt because none of them had a health kit on them. The mechanic was still great though and added a ton of tension to the game. I really hope this continues.

I've heard the multiplayer has balance issues and I don't see myself playing it enough to actually buy the game. I'm going to give it a shot tomorrow though (assuming there's a trial for the online pass).

I'm not too certain, but I think the game uses the Half-Life design choice in making you take less damage the closer you are to death. Each hit deals less, allowing you to have that "Oh sh*t! Oh sh*t! Oh sh*t!" moment longer. It also seems to try and place a health drop when you reach that state of vulnerability, though it's infrequent enough you can't always count on it.

Thus far I've only died "twice", and once was when I was escorting a guy that I didn't realize had run ahead (later in that level I died trying to defend him). I've gotten close plenty of times, but I've never actually really died. This game is extremely well-balanced, as that is really tough to achieve when you have health-packs instead of regenerating health.

I'd like to say there are a few things I don't "like", but it's hard because, well, I'm having fun. I guess the best way to describe it is I have the most fun in the levels where I'm facing down Chimera with guns, primarily a bunch of the earlier levels. The sections in PA against the Grim? Not so fun, and even sort of irritating. It's like Ravenholm, but without the clever puzzles or use of the physics gun. And without as many annoying enemies (which is good and bad, since there's a severe lack of variety). The boss segment was awesome, though.

Now...

Spoiler:

I just finished fighting humans in a prison, which aren't as interesting as Chimera for some reason...

I feel like the portions of the game I enjoy the best have been minimized and are taking less time than I'd have liked. Even so, the game is a friggin' blast. I'm just having a good time all around.

It's been some time since I really enjoyed an FPS so much (probably not since Reach...which isn't as long a time now that I think about it).

EDIT AGAIN:

I am severely disappointed in the lack of attention this game is receiving, though with the upcoming Holiday flood of titles I'm not surprised. I just beat it, and while the ending itself blew hard, the final act was just awesome. The whole package was awesome. I love this game.

I'd love to try some online co-op, but my wireless can be iffy. Anyone know what happens when a connection is dropped on the PS3? (And if interested, my PS3 name is ccesarano. Please include a message identifying who you are if you send a friend request).

Wow, thread hasn't been used in a while.

I just finished the SP, and I really enjoyed it. It owes a lot, a whole lot in some places, to Half Life 2, but I guess if you're going to steal, steal from the best. I played through Resistance 2's campaign, and this is miles better. Nice to see Insomniac turn things around from 2 to 3 like this.

One thing I didn't like (ending spoilers):

Spoiler:

The story is about ending the teraforming that the Chimera are attempting and just allowing humanity to continue struggling on, not the old "beating the overwhelming enemy with one trick carried out by one soldier" trick, something most shooter campaigns lean heavily on. But then after you stop their plan to drop the planet's temperature, the credits reveal that humans have pushed back the Chimera all over the country, and then the last screens heavily imply that humans have won or are winning (screens of a Nathan Hale memorial cemetery, regular church attendance in suits, etc.). Since they said at the start that 90% of humanity is dead, and there are Chimera everywhere, it doesn't make any sense for humans to suddenly whip them because the temperature went up 30 degrees. I thought they really ruined a good atmosphere with a cliched turn at the end.

Quality campaign with some very nice atmospheric touches.

Spoiler:

I wonder if Insomniac either didn't want to come back or didn't expect to come back to Resistance after the third one. The change in tide seems like it could have made for a game on its own, but then again part of what makes Resistance 3 so good is the oppressive atmosphere.

This game has co-op, right? I finally got my copy back from a friend so maybe some old fashioned co-op is in order.

ccesarano wrote:
Spoiler:

I wonder if Insomniac either didn't want to come back or didn't expect to come back to Resistance after the third one. The change in tide seems like it could have made for a game on its own, but then again part of what makes Resistance 3 so good is the oppressive atmosphere.

This game has co-op, right? I finally got my copy back from a friend so maybe some old fashioned co-op is in order.

Spoiler:

I actually would have liked to have the series end with humanity just being better able to keep struggling along. Sometimes the good guys lose.

Forgot to mention above one thing that really bugged me: Parts of the game are set in Oklahoma and St. Louis, which I liked (too much stuff is set in either LA or NYC), but the characters in those places sound like they're from North Carolina. Rural America isn't one homogeneous place, West Coast.

There's something real damn sad about a major first party exclusive getting 14 posts.

Blind_Evil wrote:

There's something real damn sad about a major first party exclusive getting 14 posts.

It really is. I think that says something about the state of the Resistance series more than anything else.

This is the only one I ever wanted to play, and it is the only one I've found to be worth playing.

It really was a good campaign, almost a great one.

Close to another year of inactivity on this thread

ccesarano, I've got a copy of Resistance 3 in my hands and picked up an online pass as well so whenever you want to take on the co op campaign just let me know. Most weekends should be fine for me.

How about this...Sunday? then. I imagine due to time zone differences, it would be better for me to log on Sunday morning. Or perhaps Saturday night? I'll check my schedule.

This weekend might be a bit tough but I am free from 6pm on Sunday my time (JST).

I'll admit that this series never enticed me, but with cceserano's playtime during Extra Life showed me a game that had some sort of flair about it I never noticed. I'm not sure if it was the movement, the enemy design or Imsomniac's weapons that made it look interesting to me, but something stood out. I've tried Killzone a few times and never really liked those games, but never bothered with Resistance as it seemed so bland. Color me surprised.

I played a bit of the first Resistance and found it bland and uninteresting, and previews of Resistance 2 were equally boring. But for some reason I got caught in the hype for the third one, and yeah. There's definitely a good game in there, and it feels like it came out of nowhere.

Merkaba, I'll try and figure out what the timezone difference is and let you know.

So I just checked, Merkaba, and evidently your 6pm is my 4am. So uh... Hrm.

However, if my calculations are correct, we might be able to game in one of your morning times, like your 10am or 11am (which would be my 8pm or 9pm). Would playing on a Saturday at one of those times be possible?

Yeah that would work for me. I'll message you with the next few weekends so that we can get some times and dates sorted out!