Resistance 3 wants to be a cold and lonely game. A game shrouded by a great veil of sorrow with deeply morose imagery reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy’s ‘The Road’. A winding tale of apocalyptical survival by any means possible and by all means necessary. Resistance 3 wants to take you on a journey to discover both the strength and also the depravity of the human spirit whilst facing such insurmountable adversity. Resistance 3 wants to be a great many things, but first and foremost it wants to be an outstanding first-person shooter, and it is this mentality which brings about its greatest triumphs and its deepest pitfalls.

Deep down, in its heart of hearts, Resistance 3 knows that it is a very stupid game.

Change is the first thing that greets us on the campaign mode, and after the absurdity of Resistance 2, change could only be a good thing. Having had the majority of his brain replaced with bullets Nathan Hale will not be joining us for the entirety of this adventure. Instead we are treated to controlling the equally dour Joseph Cappelli, who, whilst having much more compassion and depth about him than Hale is still about as expressive as an Etch-a-Sketch. This is fine though, because, as we are constantly reminded, Resistance 3 is a stupid game and characterisation is not the most important thing.

Capelli has settled down in a quiet corner of occupied America and begun a family attempting to live life as well as possible under the circumstances. After a meeting with Professor Malikov, Capelli is coerced into a do-or-die mission to close a worm-hole which has opened above New York City. Along the way, he and Malikov discover the different ways the beleaguered remains of civilisation are coping with the looming threat of annihilation. This then is where Resistance 3 explores its prevailing themes and attempts to diversify its storytelling dynamics. Previously, Resistance has charged the player with one long running task to be completed played out from the start of the game until its conclusion. Resistance 3 has three distinct chapters; three tales of coping with the alien threat that are bookended by the overriding meta-plot which see’s you attempting to save the world.

Whilst this is not a unique take on creating a divergent narrative, it does help shift focus from the now tired nature of invading alien soldiers running amuck in familiar, landmark ridden environments. With this in mind, the game’s developers have not quite succeeded in creating interesting characters or situations with which to alleviate the flow of the game. The three middle fifths are the game’s weakest due mainly to poor writing, confusing environments and uneven pacing. During these sections, Resistance 3 throws every modern first-person shooter convention at you which, by now, feel tired and disappointingly intrinsic to the genre. Protection missions, on-rail defence missions and sniper battles have become so engrained in FPS-lore that it will take a brave new approach to alleviate the genre of this burden. Resistance 3 doesn’t even try.

As you wade though the depressing murk of war ravaged America you begin to notice something rather odd. A feeling of guilt will sweep over you as the depths of human suffering are displayed in all their terrifying glory. You will soon come to realise that the apocalypse is actually quite a fun place to be. Insomniac have, once again, provided a weapon set that is both well rounded and insurmountably more playful that the entirety of its competition. Does this jar with the solemn tone of the narrative? Absolutely, but once you’ve turned a gang of anarchistic human convicts into pulsing green slush, you won’t care either way.

The cartoon heritage of Insomniac’s weapon design is the defining moment in the company’s entire back catalogue and it is no different here. Resistance 3 begs you to disassemble the alien threat in the most uniquely gruesome ways possible. Brilliantly, it is possible to carry all weapons at once meaning the punishment afflicted upon your assailants can be combined, thus creating maximum blood gushing. All of the projectile weapons can be upgraded twice, not only strengthening the basic statistics of the firearm, but also unlocking new attributes and mechanisms; substantially increasing the overall functionality of you armoury. It’s a simple system but one that has been superbly implemented here, meaning your arsenal is always fresh and relevant to the campaign.

Whilst the combative elements of Resistance 3 are ludicrously silly, it is the one part of the game Insomniac’s coders have got right. Enemy AI is smart and adaptive, although for an alien race with six eyes they do lack any form of peripheral vision, so flanking manoeuvres quickly become the order of the day. Insomniac has put a large amount of thought into how best to utilise its exhaustive array of weaponry. Whilst their may only be a handful of enemy types, they are commonly accompanied by support infantry who change the pace and pitch of battle, resulting in a furious recalculation of strategy. This inherent diversity means skirmishes are often varied and frenetic leading to even the most calculated of ‘best laid plans’ being adapted into a laugh-a-minute blind-fire frenzy. Whilst it’s all great fun, it does jar horribly with the plot and tone of the game, so much so that cut scenes feel like a major killjoy in the face of so much alien decimation.

The muted tones of the post-apocalypse have been visited upon with growing recurrence recently, most notably by the Fallout franchise. In this case the two titles not only share similar themes, but similar timeframes as well. Fallout 3, however, managed to rekindle the spirit of 50s Americana, and made it relatable to the overall look of the game. Whilst being nostalgic and familiar it also managed to bring with it a sense of claustrophobic paranoia which beautifully mirrored the political landscape of the day. Resistance 3 has done none of these things. Graphically, the title produces very little which could be seen as a noteworthy addition to the franchise. The scale of the game has been drawn back from the second title and with it the sense of the wider conflict. The design of the characters and enemy models are beginning to show their age, and whilst being suitably perfunctory for the Resistance series, they do tend to pale in comparison when placed besides rival designs. Somehow, I feel the denizens of Earth would not have bothered forming a resistance at all were they facing the subterranean might and graphical superiority of the Locust Horde - it would have been game over on day one.

Whilst Resistance’s graphical capabilities and design choices do fade into the backdrop, they do at least slightly improve on its predecessor. Resistance 3 looks at its best when combat is taking place elsewhere on the map as you attempt a form of ‘full-throttle subterfuge’, praying the enemy won’t see your scurrying retreat. These sections can be quite thrilling and it’s a shame this level of adrenaline couldn’t be replicated throughout the game. Level design and colour pallet alters as the chapters progress and thankfully (for a game set in the post-apocalypse) dust-bowl brown and ash-cloud grey are not the extent of the artists colour scheme. As with its predecessor, Resistance 3 uses natural light, or lack of it, as a means to subtly alter the pitch and hue of its landscape meaning not everything looks like a muddy negative of I Am Legend.

The multiplayer elements have been refocused along with the rest of the title. Gone is the frenetic 60 player bullet-hell madness of Resistance 2, and in its place is a much more sensible 16 player affair. Without doubt Resistance 2’s multi-player was a show-piece, a power play in-fact. The volume of players on-screen made it barely useable, but this was not the fault of the gamer. Insomniac’s servers proved they could handle the requirements of this epic task, but the programmers gave players very little focus to co-ordinate and organize, meaning hap-hazard trigger-mashing was the only way forward. By removing the huge amount of users, Resistance 3 re-aligns the multi-player with the rest of the pack. Yes the games are more focussed and intimate, but they don’t stand out as anything original or ground breaking. Had Insomniac looked at the inherent problems with having 60 combatants on the go at once and adapted the play style, as opposed to removing it altogether, they could have made something unique and highly alluring.

Whilst the multi-player is good, solid fun, it only adequately displays a composite mimic of elements from popular FPS. A levelling system with perks and achievements unlocked after many hours of play is becoming another staid memento of Call of Duty 4, and an innate display of lazy deathmatch design.

Gone also is the 8-player co-operative campaign, replaced by the option to attempt the entire single player campaign with a friend, either via split-screen or online. Whilst this is enjoyable to an extent, tag-teaming the lumbering Brawler with duelling Bullseyes seemed almost cruel at one point, it is again nothing new. The creativity on display within Resistance 2’s co-operative mode showed that brave new avenues were being explored, but this has all but been forgotten, and that’s a huge loss for not only the franchise, but the genre as a whole.

It’s easy to see where Resistance 3 has picked up its influences from. Both with its narrative style, mission structure and environmental detail, Fallout 3 has obviously never been too far from the developers mind. Unlike Fallout 3, Resistance 3 has a distinct lack of scope and ultimately differs back to sedate methods of structure and design. I really wanted Resistance 3 to focus more on the plight of the common man under times of irresistible duress, and at times it does just that. Unfortunately the characters and story fall so flat, that caring for them is not really a viable option. On more than one occasion I wanted to skip the FMV sequences so I could get back to reintroducing the butt of my Rossmore to a Hybrid’s face.

So is the story all that important if Insomniac has got the important bits right? It’s long been my interpretation that a good videogame story gets its hooks into you subliminally, coaxing you towards the next nugget of narrative or character development. Resistance 3 just doesn’t manage this. It has an obvious and ugly lack of subtlety to it that treats the player like an illiterate moron unable to comprehend anything other than the most obtuse of plot twists. It paints a poor picture rather badly, and despite its original approach for the franchise, it still looks and plays at a mediocre standard when compared to the likes of Gears of War or Call of Duty.

Resistance 3 is a solid game, but not one that manages to expand beyond the realms of a limited imagination. Never once was I surprised or tested and, whilst the combat was fun, it jarred horribly with the sensibilities and themes the developers were attempting to encapsulate throughout the plot. Resistance 3 stands as a whimpering end to a franchise that never quite found its stride. With a little more risk and less reliance on the successes of its peers Resistance 3 could have become the jewel in Sony’s crown. As it stands, however, the trials and tribulations of Joseph Cappelli are set to become lost forever in the maddening crowd of winter releases.

A real, stupid shame.