Resistance 3 continues the PS3 exclusive franchise that began with Resistance: Fall of Man and Resistance 2. It’s now 4 years after the events of Resistance 2 and things seem more grim than ever. The game instantly draws you in to a desperate, almost hopeless battle for survival. Like Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road” with giant, murderous aliens bent on the total annihilation of the human race. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? Well, it is.

The developer, Insomniac Games, is also responsible for the Spyro The Dragon and Ratchet and Clank franchises. That’s quite the pedigree!

If there’s one genre of game I’ve always had trouble with, it’s the first person shooter. I have never been able to get the hang of aiming and am constantly in a state of confusion and disorientation. With the advent of the Move, however, I hope to overcome my gaming shortcomings.

I found using the PlayStation Move with the Sharp Shooter accessory to be a joy. Although I have heard other shooter enthusiasts dismissing the Move, I had a much easier time aiming and the feel of the gun helped to center my focus making movement less confusing. It makes for a far more immersive experience than sitting with a controller.

Sure, it takes some getting used to, but after the first hour of making mistakes (like throwing a grenade when I was trying to zoom in on a target) it becomes a fairly fluid experience. The game path is linear (that is the nature of shooters) so, even though I wish there was a larger goal indicator on the screen to help my orientation, it’s not that hard to figure out. The rest of the game does get quite difficult at times and, like all shooters, a bit repetitive.

There are some excellent story elements to give the game some substance (beyond more shallow fair like Killzone). The story centers on former SPRA soldier Joseph Capelli, his wife Susan and Doctor Fyodor Malikov. After hiding for 2 years, a giant alien Terraformer is moving toward their refuge and Doctor Malikov has discovered that a wormhole generator in New York is going to result in freezing the Earth to make it more habitable for the alien Chimera. Capelli refuses to help shut it down at first, but soon realizes that it must be done and the game is off and running.

The voice acting in the animated cut scenes is quite good and, along with the fantastic atmosphere, the game draws you in and makes you care about these characters. That’s very important to me because it makes the experience so much more than mindlessly pulling a trigger. The weight of the world truly seems to be on your shoulders at times, and both the landscape and prospects for the survival of humanity are very bleak. Add to that the screams of both dying men and Chimera, the brooding music, jarring sound effects and limb ripping gore and you have a dark and violent gaming experience on your hands!

Any good shooter should also have a hearty arsenal of weapons, and Resistance 3 is no exception. Right from the start you have the ability to tag an opponent and shoot tracer bullets. Better yet, there’s a Magnum handgun that fires remote detonating bullets. Fire the weapon with the trigger, and then use a secondary trigger to detonate bullets lodged in bodies already hit, or even the ground. There’s the Auger that allows you to see and shoot through wall, multiple types of grenades, etc. The list goes on! There are also multiple upgrades that can be unlocked as the game progresses, as well as character abilities that can be unlocked in multi-player mode.

Everything about the game is on a smaller scale that the previous installments, even the multi-player mode which has been reduced from 60 players allowed to 16. It makes sense, though. Resistance 3 is all about intensity. While the graphics may not be the best I’ve seen, the feeling of encroaching terror mounts as you fight what seems to be a never ending and hopeless battle.

While shooters are still not my preferred genre of game, I found Resistance 3 very enjoyable and would recommend it to pro shooters as well as novices like myself looking to get in on the action. The integration of the PlayStation Move Sharp Shooter is, again, a bonus that should not be missed!

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