Resistance 3
DEVELOPER: Insomniac Games
FORMAT: PS3
AGE RESTRICTION: 16
RATING: HHHHI
If this was a boxing match, the referee would have waved it off ages ago. The moment the invading alien Chimera stepped into the ring with Earth, the blue planet may as well have added “black” to its moniker.
Once the dust settles, there really is no place like home. Earth is but a soulless shell – its once proud buildings scarred and razed, pockmarked by bullet holes, given the third degree by incendiary fire.
From the first bell, its military might has taken a terrible shellacking, caught with its pants down and battered into a corner as wave after wave of alien swarms rain down on a hapless population.
So far, so grim. And then, the Rocky moment. Because just when it seems as if Earth is ready to throw in the towel, one band of fighters refuses to admit they are beaten. Cut me, Mick!
With grit and steely nerve, they beat the count and fight back and then, dramatically, the tide turns and the enemy stumbles. Apollo Creed isn’t so much launched into orbit as he is disintegrated.
Leading the charge is one Joseph Capelli, a former military man with an unfortunate past. He has the skills to take the fight to the Chimera, and what better motivation can there be than to save his friends and family from complete annihilation.
As he steps over the breach into close combat with the aliens, he’ll look back at the suffering of his sick little boy and hope things can only get better. At first, they don’t.
Earth’s inhabitants are in hiding. Desperate for some sort of foothold on their home turf, they launch daring guerrilla raids on the Chimera, scuttling about in underground tunnels to avoid detection. No one should have to exist like this, but the underground seems like heaven compared to what awaits under the clear blue sky.
Above ground, the Chimera are looking to mop up the pesky human resistance and they’ve come suitably armed, ready to fight.
They make for impressive enemies – aggressive, but with the wherewithal to seek out cover, or charge when the odds are advantageous.
Their weapons make for delightful trophies – along with the health packs scattered sparsely across the environment, the Chimeran arsenal is high on the shopping list. Joseph is going to need everything he can lay his hands on. The battles in Resistance 3 are tooth-and-nail stuff, jarring, tense and with little room for respite.
More so than the ominous cut-scenes, it’s Resistance 3’s magnificent setpieces that really set the tone of this game, giving each battle the atmosphere it needs to elevate the combat above a mere shoot-out.
You’ve never had this much fun, albeit scary fun, with your back to the wall. Well, maybe you have, but that’s for a different publication. - Tonight