Roughly around the middle of Resistance 3, I paused to find myself sitting precariously on the edge of my couch. I’d just passed a particularly harrowing chapter (along with my bedtime) and my clammy hands and bleary eyes were further indicators that this game wasn’t the dud the naysayers predicted it to be.

Maybe it was the late hour or the caffeine overdose talking, but I started to think that Resistance 3 just may be the sleeper (or perhaps “sleepless”) hit of the year.

It’s difficult to define exactly what made my playthrough so compelling that I found myself sitting at the pub staring into my pint and wondering how many more Chimeran aliens I’d have to slay to level up my Deadeye sniper rifle to fire through walls, or for my Rossmore shotgun to fire combustion rounds. Oh, and let’s not forget about those incendiary rounds for my Magnum, those sound good ‘n painful.

Speaking of rounds, another tray of beers arrives. I’m surprisingly bleak; surely saving the world is more important?

It’s uncanny how much the small child bouncing around the back of the Jetta that’s crawling along beside me in traffic looks like protagonist Joe Capelli’s son.

My mind wanders back to the emotional scene where Joe bids his family farewell to accompany Dr. Malikov across the war-ravaged country to close the alien wormhole.

You’d think it would come across as a nauseating cliché, but it’s bizarrely emotional: the kid drops his mitten and Joe snatches it up, careful to flash it now and on future occasions to remind you of the heartfelt story you’re slowly and almost hesitantly unravelling.

Man, I really feel for Joe; and the grimy camera we’re watching these throat-lumping scenes through sure as hell ain’t helping.

Seriously, I have this much work on my desk? It’s practically as much as the amount of intel, diary entries and letters scattered around Resistance 3, though doubtless written with less sentiment.

The doodles I’ve scrawled over a cover page with “URGENT” on it are far more engaging, though if my crude scribblings were ever presented at a concept art meeting for a Chimeran dropship, a crumbling train bridge or an infested mine shaft, I’d likely be reassigned to the “equally important” coffee runs.

And how much coffee must Insomniac Games have glugged to create those gloriously dreary landscapes that seem to be distracting me from my daunting workload?

It’s almost a travesty that I have to whip through the beautiful scenery considering how lovingly each chapter, despite depicting a barren and near-lifeless world, has been so painstakingly made to feel alive.

Where are you, 16:50?

 

Pesky fork. I pause to consider learning how to wield you in tandem with my Dualshock controller.

Surely the exceptionally tight controls and responsive gameplay of Resistance 3 would cooperate with your nagging dinnertime glare? Well, I suppose if I’m pulling another late one I best refuel.

The idea of drawing comparison between my food menu and the veritable weapon buffet flashes for a moment. I shrug it off. Now dinner versus Chimeran enemies, there’s a comparison.

I doubt the variety of alien foes would poke at their chow the way I am now; the 8-foot Steelhead would likely lop off my head for an appetiser, and the enormous Brawler might fry me up to “well done” with his air fuel grenade launchers.

As for the brand new Long Legs that flitters around the sky, raining gunfire down on my head… hmmm, I’m not sure, but I’ll bet he’ll be picking his teeth with my bones once the big guys have had their first course.

What the hell is wrong with cinema these days? If I have to watch another blockbuster crammed with green screen and talking cleavage I think I’ll hurl. I mean, how hard would it be to create characters and narrative with a sprinkling of soul?

Come on, Hollywood! If Resistance 3 can look at a global invasion and see the small, intimate moments that truly capture what it might feel like to be right at the brink of extinction, what’s your excuse?

Fantastic eye candy and hand-trembling set pieces do not always equate to Megan Fox. Ah, c’mon, c’mon, this celluloid disaster needs to end already.

Finally I’m home and back to the action, though I’ve been whisked out of a hardcore gun battle with my trusty Magnum and I now find myself floating down a deserted Mississippi on some sort of tugboat. With a shotgun.

Damn, I hate shotguns, especially when there’s nothing to unload them into.

The radio on the boat crackles to life, picking up distress signals from scattered pockets of resistance fighters. A desperate mother is still searching for her lost daughter; a more desperate man tries to calmly offer a trade of excess medicine for food supplies for his hungry group.

And there’s me, on the edge of my couch again, and just when Resistance 3 has filled me with pathos and despair it punches me right in the face with something big. We’re talking “suck that, Resistance 2” kinda big.

Oh, so that’s what you gave me the shotgun for.

After an eventful couple of days it became clear to me, and by now hopefully to you too, that Resistance 3 is nothing short of a spectacular first-person shooter.

With slews of generic rubbish cluttering our game store shelves, especially in the sci-fi genre, it’s refreshing to find a title that understands that you need both solid gameplay and emotive narrative to really shine above just one (Killzone 3?) or the other (Homefront?).

It’s really not about the varied combat thanks to the great selection of now-upgradeable weapons, or the missions that flit so appropriately between the jarring centre of the battlefield to a quiet moonlit stalking.

It’s not even about considered art direction, or hand-sketched notes tucked away in derelict buildings, or the feeling of a darker and more mature chapter compared to the first two Resistance titles.

It’s about a game that takes every little element and almost serendipitously weds them together to truly make the player feel like they’re really staring death in the face; fighting a struggle but giving you just enough hope that you don’t ever completely feel like you’re struggling.

Simply put, Resistance 3 is one of the most enjoyable shooters I’ve played in recent years on my PS3, the kind of game that might cross your mind while you’re at the pub, sitting in traffic, slaving at work, eating dinner or trying to concentrate on a movie.

Sure, it’s just a game, and it certainly won’t change your life, but goodness knows it’s an exceptionally pleasant distraction.

Resistance 3 review (PS3 exclusive) << Comments and views