Bringing Back Classes in the Resistance 3 Beta

If you were a fan of the delightful class-based co-op in Resistance 2, then you were likely a little heartbroken to learn that Insomniac wouldn't be bringing that mode over to Resistance 3. Well, don't get too carried away with all that sorrow. If there's one thing we've learned from the Resistance 3 beta, it's that there's still plenty of room to carve out your own personalized role on the battlefield. Between a wildly varied selection of weaponry and four different ability slots--all of which can be upgraded to achieve new functions--there's a lot of room for customization and finely tuned character builds in Resistance 3. To give you an idea, here are a few of the "classes" we've been toying around with in the beta:

The Parasitic Medic

In contrast to the story campaign, Resistance 3's competitive multiplayer uses regenerating health. So you can't really be a medic in the traditional sense, but you can try! Here's how: Slot in the bubble shield ability, which pops up a yellow half-sphere that prevents any bullets from entering, giving you a temporary safe zone to regenerate some lost health. But it doesn't only work on you--any teammates inside can use it as well. So feel free to run around the map looking for teammates in danger, throw down a bubble shield at their feet, and shout, "You're safe now, little buddy!" Then, go ahead and make sure you've got the leaper corpse ability equipped, which makes it so that when you die, friendly parasites burst from your dead body to further defend your teammates. Because at the end of the day, isn't being a medic all about sacrifice? Yes. Yes, it is.

The All-Seeing Eye

Resistance 3's collection of active and passive abilities isn't all about increasing your firepower. If you want, you can focus purely on intel gathering. Start by using the spotter ability, which flashes the screen with Terminator-esque red scan lines that automatically highlight every enemy you encounter in a bright red outline. Specifically, a bright red outline that your entire team can see. Then, combine this with the tracker ability, which allows you to see glowing footprints on the ground from any enemy who's recently passed through there. With these two in effect, you can put a serious damper on the other team's ability to hide out and camp. Plus you can pretend you have cyborg vision, so that's pretty cool too. (Note: these two abilities are paired up in one of the stock loadouts, but try mixing and matching them with different weapons for added entertainment once you've unlocked custom loadouts.)

The Zombie Trapper

If there's one thing better than setting traps in a multiplayer shooter, it's setting traps that turn your enemies into zombies that run off and do your evil bidding. Which you can do in Resistance 3! Start with the decoy ability, which essentially pops up a hologram version of yourself to lure in unsuspecting enemies. Then, run off into a hiding spot and wait for enemies to approach this decoy. With any luck, you'll have fooled them into going for a melee attack, granting you the opportunity to fire off enough rounds from your mutator gun. When upgraded, this thing basically turns enemies into exploding zombies that run off and detonate themselves in a group of their teammates. Yes, please!

The Guy Who Just Likes Fire

Our favorite weapon in the beta might just be the upgraded Rossmore shotgun. You start out with a plain shotgun that has a concussion grenade for its alternate fire, but when you spend upgrade points to level up your weapon, you'll be able to fire incendiary buckshot and an incendiary grenade by the third and final upgrade tier. It takes a while to get there, but once you do, it's an absolute blast. We can't express in words how entertaining it is to turn a corner, stumble into a group of enemies, and use the alt-fire to set them all ablaze in a moment of twitch-reflex glory. To really go on a pyromaniac rampage, combine this gun with an upgraded ammo beacon ability so that any time you use up the single alt-fire ammo you start with, you can easily refill it on the fly.

Want to see more on the Resistance 3 beta? Check out nearly 30 minutes of video in our Now Playing!