Insomniac Community Day: Never before seen Resistance 3 demo impressions

Tonight, CtrlAltKill was lucky to attend Insomniac’s 3rd annual Community Day, and we got to get our hands on some unreleased games. In addition to playing, we were able to get in on some theater screenings as well. However, I will only be talking about the theater screening for Resistance 3–and a tad about the gameplay.

Resistance 3 puts you in control of Joseph Capelli who, well, if you don’t know, then play Resistance 2–I’m not spoiling anything. Insomniac put an emphasis that players will be interacting with characters that represent the concept of the “everyman” and that you will not be a part of a formal military squad. The journey spans from Oklahoma to New York, and it was also mentioned that there will be an increased focus on the individual characters (let’s hope for some meaningful character development). Additionally, Insomniac stressed the importance of less run and gun and more tension-building travel sequences. I will get to that in a second.

The gunplay in Resistance 3 includes a system to level up your weapons as you progress through the game. For instance, when you rank up the pistol, its rounds turn explosive, and that leads to some creative ways to take our groups of Chimera. Also, these ranked up weapons will stay with you when you move on to additional playthroughs. The Bullseye also has a new and improved version of its secondary fire which looks like an orange-ish whip connecting to the enemy. Insomniac made it clear that they were not showing off all the weapons, so expect some new guns and old favorites.

An emphasis on “super sized enemies” is back

The theater screening showed a sequence that takes place on a boat as Capelli is traveling down river. However, this serene boat trip turns hellish quickly as Chimeran Long Legs and shock droids start an all-out assault, and they are accompanied by a Goliath. As the sequence continues, the Goliath decimates a bridge in the distance. It then moves onward almost crushing the boat; however, it lands down on the bridge right above head, and it crumbles into oblivion, causing cement and other debris to rain down all around the boat.

The encounter only gets crazier with more Long Legs jumping island to island, raining fire from all directions. Also, they are jumping on deck creating a very claustrophobic feeling. If that wasn’t bad enough, at the end of the sequence, another Goliath rears its ugly metallic head. The sequence ends with both Goliaths bombarding the vessel with rockets. As the boat sinks, it is left unsure what the fate of your team is. Lastly, the date September 6, 2011 showed up on the screen.

After the screening and a quick fan Q & A, Insomniac announced that Resistance 3 will not only have Sharpshooter support (for those of you who raved about its performance with Killzone 3), but it will also have stereoscopic 3D support. They also addressed a question about a collector’s edition of Resistance 3 with high enthusiasm, but nothing concrete was discussed.

I’m on a boat… get off my boat…

One thing that may irk gamers is that Resistance 3 will go back to its roots and feature a health gauge instead of the health recovery system that is popular in most current shooters. Personally, I think this will add difficulty to the game, and it will prompt most players to play through multiple times so that they have powered up guns when they decide to challenge the hardest setting.

Keep an eye out for the full gameplay footage when it is ready to be released by Insomniac Games.

About the Author

Evan Velez Evan is a Los Angeles native who is one of the founders of CtrlAltKill. In his free time he loves to play games, write short stories, read, and play guitar. His gamertag is tomarcus, make sure you add him if you want to game.