Resistance 3 has one of the best campaigns this generation, it just lacks overall replayability to be a true masterpiece
This is the basis of Resistance 3, and while it never really goes off into anything more complicated than that, it works. Here, humanity is dying. They've lost the war against the Chimera and are struggling to stay alive. For hard core Resistance fans this might be something of a disappointment. The second game added a lot of questions and changed a lot of the storyline in the last few minutes of the game. Practically none of those things are addressed here. The worm hole above New York City remains an ominous threat to humanity but it's never explained exactly what it is. The Chimera themselves remain largely mysterious.
However, despite these concerns Resistance 3 offers one of the best single player campaigns of this generation, as far as first person shooters go. The Chimera remain a mysterious force and this works in the game's favor by adding to the overall depressing atmosphere. These creatures are dangerous, and seeing the trail of destruction in the path of their various death machines gives them a true alien feeling. It's a nice touch as your progress from area to area and see how things are changing now that the Chimera are in charge, and there are some surprises along the way that change the game play up nicely.
Resistance 3 ends up being a huge throwback to older first person shooters. The first game, Resistance: Fall of Man was the same way, but Resistance 2 abandoned that for a more modern approach. The story, of how Joseph was cured of his Chimeran strain that gave him super human abilities, almost feels like a metaphor for the way Insomniac Games approached this project. The first, instantly noticeable thing is that there is no regenerating health in this game. If you soak a lot of damage, you can't simply crouch behind cover and recover. You have to go out of your way for health packs scattered through the maps and occasionally dropped by enemies. It makes the game a bit more difficult, and it makes Joseph feels more human. If he's injured, you have to heal those wounds. He isn't like Wolverine where they'll fix themselves.
Another change up is that there is no weapon limit either. You have the option to use any weapon you want whenever you feel like it. This mechanic hasn't been seen in quite some time, but it's a welcome addition. Simply being able to use whatever weapon you see fit without having to go around and search for the one you want just adds to the fun. It also adds a bit of tactics to the game on harder difficulties. Each weapon has their various strength, but you might be pressed to use one for the right situation. This also has the opposite effect on lower difficulties. Perhaps you should use that shotgun to take care of the close range enemies, but you'd rather use the rocket launcher.
However, it isn't the old style mechanics that make Resistance 3 great. The reason Resistance 3 is so great is because of the atmosphere, enemy variety, and most importantly: the guns.
Firstly, the atmosphere here is great. It's always grim and the scenery is usually painted in beautiful destruction. It isn't about to win any technical awards, but as far as creating Earth destroyed by yet another alien race Insomniac managed to squeeze some originality out of the idea. It feels more personal here. The attention to detail is great, and there isn't an ounce of it that feels honed in or lazy. Each level is fun to play, and seeing a drowned town, to a crumbling St Louis, to a frightful prison, and ultimately snowy New York is always different, yet somehow familiar.
It also helps that each area is inhabited by the appropriate creature. At the beginning, a death squad of Chimera attack your home and they're appropriately outfitted with a strike force of infantry and vehicle assault units. As you move on to desolate towns you come across feral Chimera that evolved on their own. They lack the technology and equipment of the normal units and attack with a melee focused mind. You also run across a Chimera scouting unit, unique bosses, and other enemies that would spoil the plot. It eventually culminates to an end game where you attack their base (so-to-speak) and tackle everything they have to offer. The Chimera have all sorts of forces, including normal infantry, robotic drones, tower mechs, agile units that jump from rooftop to rooftop, giant brutes, snipers, and other creatures that use their odd weaponry. This attitude makes the Chimera feel like a true alien force, instead of the typical "fight alien A, then fight alien B who is alien A just green instead of blue". If Resistance was an real time strategy game, the Chimera would have no shortage of units to strategize with.
However despite the progression, enemy roster, atmosphere, and the colorful characters you interact with, none of it would matter if the guns weren't fun to use. That's where Resistance shines. If you never played a Resistance game before, you begin with a generic assault rifle. You point, aim down the sights, and fire. Then, the game tells you about the secondary fire: a dart you can shoot and if you hit enemies with it, the bullets you fire won't miss. The gun is called the Bullseye, and you can use the tag strategy to kill a particularly bothersome enemy from around a corner, or attach it to a bosses' weak spot and focus on dodging his attacks instead of accuracy. Then, the gun upgrades, and it becomes more powerful and the sends off several at a time. As you target more enemies and bullets split up to hit them, it just becomes clear the game is all about fun to use weaponry.
Plus the game has no shortage of weapons, and all of them can upgrade. You get your typical weaponry, such as a shotgun, three round burst rifle, sniper rifle, rocket launcher: but even they upgrade to bizarre things. The upgraded shotgun, for example, lights enemies on fire. Plus, they each have an alternative fire mode. The three round burst rifle shoots deploy-able turrets for sections where you have to defend. If that wasn't enough, you also get not-so-ordinary weapons to play around with as well. There's a freeze ray, a lightning gun, a poison cloud shooting thing, and of course the Auger returns. The Auger, of course, allowing the player to shoot through walls and deploy impenetrable cover for those times where you might be out in the open. There's just a lot of imagination in the weapon, and since all the weapons upgrade, have a secondary fire mode, and carry over into new games, they're just a lot of fun to use.
However, for as great as the campaign is, Resistance 3 is ultimately at fault for just not having that much replayability. The campaign is a lot of fun, and playing it through multiple times is excellent and you do have the option to co op with it a friend, but that's about where it stops.
The game does come with a multiplayer mode that requires an online pass. So if you buy it used, prepare to pay to get the mode. Now, the online isn't bad, it just isn't new. Considering Insomniac borrowed from older titles for the campaign, it's just weird that the online component feels so much like every other modern shooter out there. The battles are small, you create a load out, and gain killstreaks to boost your performance. The game was a mess at launch, but after a patch it runs fine now (so expect to download that as wall as the online pass). Again, the multiplayer isn't bad, it just isn't really memorable. The small player battles just feel odd after the 60 player battles of Resistance 2, and since 3 lacks to the 8 player co op missions as well it's just a bit disappointing.
Resistance 3 could have greatly benefited as an overall package if it featured a more pick up and play mode. If Insomniac borrowed anything from modern shooters, it should have been a survival mode in which you fend off from increasingly difficult waves of Chimeran forces with a few friends. The Chimera have the perfect roster for such a mode, and weapon load outs could have added a lot of strategy to defending against them. Especially since you get weapons with defensive properties in mind. You could have one person with a Marksman rifle arm turrets, throw Hedgehog minds, have another person with an Auger as another person with a Bullseye tried to protect him.
It is what it is though, and Resistance 3 does have one of the more memorable campaigns in recent years. The multiplayer, again, isn't bad it just isn't really that inviting considering there are so many other multiplayer focused games coming out this time of year. Still, for any shooter fan Resistance 3 is definitely worth a look.