Roughly around the middle of Resistance 3, I paused to find myself sitting precariously on the edge of my couch. I\u2019d just passed a particularly harrowing chapter (along with my bedtime) and my clammy hands and bleary eyes were further indicators that this game wasn\u2019t the dud the naysayers predicted it to be.<\/p>\n
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 \u201csleepless\u201d) hit of the year.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s 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\u2019d 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\u2019s not forget about those incendiary rounds for my Magnum, those sound good \u2018n painful.<\/p>\n
Speaking of rounds, another tray of beers arrives. I\u2019m surprisingly bleak; surely saving the world is more important?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s uncanny how much the small child bouncing around the back of the Jetta that\u2019s crawling along beside me in traffic looks like protagonist Joe Capelli\u2019s son.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
You\u2019d think it would come across as a nauseating clich\u00e9, but it\u2019s 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\u2019re slowly and almost hesitantly unravelling.<\/p>\n
Man, I really feel for Joe; and the grimy camera we\u2019re watching these throat-lumping scenes through sure as hell ain\u2019t helping.<\/p>\n
Seriously, I have this much work on my desk? It\u2019s practically as much as the amount of intel, diary entries and letters scattered around Resistance 3, though doubtless written with less sentiment.<\/p>\n
The doodles I\u2019ve scrawled over a cover page with \u201cURGENT\u201d 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\u2019d likely be reassigned to the \u201cequally important\u201d coffee runs.<\/p>\n
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?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Where are you, 16:50?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Pesky fork. I pause to consider learning how to wield you in tandem with my Dualshock controller.<\/p>\n
Surely the exceptionally tight controls and responsive gameplay of Resistance 3 would cooperate with your nagging dinnertime glare? Well, I suppose if I\u2019m pulling another late one I best refuel.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s a comparison.<\/p>\n
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 \u201cwell done\u201d with his air fuel grenade launchers.<\/p>\n
As for the brand new Long Legs that flitters around the sky, raining gunfire down on my head… hmmm, I\u2019m not sure, but I\u2019ll bet he\u2019ll be picking his teeth with my bones once the big guys have had their first course.<\/p>\n
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\u2019ll hurl. I mean, how hard would it be to create characters and narrative with a sprinkling of soul?<\/p>\n
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\u2019s your excuse?<\/p>\n
Fantastic eye candy and hand-trembling set pieces do not always equate to Megan Fox. Ah, c\u2019mon, c\u2019mon, this celluloid disaster needs to end already.<\/p>\n
Finally I\u2019m home and back to the action, though I\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n
Damn, I hate shotguns, especially when there\u2019s nothing to unload them into.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
And there\u2019s 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\u2019re talking \u201csuck that, Resistance 2\u201d kinda big.<\/p>\n
Oh, so that\u2019s what you gave me the shotgun for.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
With slews of generic rubbish cluttering our game store shelves, especially in the sci-fi genre, it\u2019s 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?).<\/p>\n
It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s about a game that takes every little element and almost serendipitously weds them together to truly make the player feel like they\u2019re really staring death in the face; fighting a struggle but giving you just enough hope that you don\u2019t ever completely feel like you\u2019re struggling.<\/p>\n
Simply put, Resistance 3 is one of the most enjoyable shooters I\u2019ve played in recent years on my PS3, the kind of game that might cross your mind while you\u2019re at the pub, sitting in traffic, slaving at work, eating dinner or trying to concentrate on a movie.<\/p>\n
Sure, it\u2019s just a game, and it certainly won\u2019t change your life, but goodness knows it\u2019s an exceptionally pleasant distraction.<\/p>\n