Be Excellent To Each Other

I've played the first hour of this and it's very, very good.

It looks absolutely fantastic (in a grimey gritty way - as the bright cartoon colours of 2 has all but gone) and it's cracked along at a fair rate of nots from when it FINALLY FUCKING INSTALLED AFTER THAT 600MB UPDATE THAT LASTED TWO HOURS.

*ahem*

The opening section is just lovely as you make your way through this base where the fugatives are hiding and each just turns there head when you get close and says hello or mumbles something at you. No need to push your button and you can't re-engage them to keep talking to you or saying the same shit over and over. It's great! You wake a dog from its slumber on a chair and it wakes its tail sleepily and its head follows you about the room. A really nice touch.

And I'll say this about Resistance 3: It's opening section is far far better than anything Halo has had to offer in its three (or five) incarnations. It's nothing we haven't seen before but for a linear shooter it's gone all out to make you sit up and take notice. Big explosions, big robots, some excellent weapons (well, there's seen three that I've picked up and they were in R2 but now beefed up with this new found sexy-visual fidelity its somehow managed to find) and nice set pieces. This big robot thingy that mashed up a house I was trying to get through - demolishing it to the ground in a flash - was just brill.

I only turned it off because my missus wants to watch TV. Selfish bugger.

Anyway, it probably won't win awards for originality but this looks like everything you could want from a shooter. Mind you, I've only played an hour and everyone gets a little excited about having a new toy to play with.

Yeah, I'm really enjoying this so far. They've kept what I loved about the first two games but the graphical overhaul is huge and the weapons themselves are massively improved. So far it's just one enjoyable set piece after another. Basically it's exactly what I'd hoped for.

Everything just seems turned up to ten. It's a huge improvement over R2 and not a dull moment so far. The Bulleye is meaty and the magnum is meatier.

Shit blows up in huge plumes of dust and alien matter.

I'm enjoying this loads more than, say, Halo: Reach.

I haven't tried the multiplayer yet but I see they've toned it down from an unmanagable 64 to just 16.

Just noticed the blue-ray has 5 demos to install too. Infamous 2, the new Moto thing etc. Nice.

Played a bit more of this last night and it continues to really impress. The sniper section and the creepy town full of the zombie* things were ace.

*not zombies but the things that just run at you and try to twat you.

Nearing the end of this now, no complaints at all, favourite shooter in years. It'll still be getting traded in for F1 2011 this weekend, though.

Have you played Killzone 3 yet. If so, how does it compare? I'd rate the second installments of both as being roughly similar in quality so I'd be interested to see how the third compares. KZ3 is a definite step up from KZ2

I've not yet, played the demo, though.

I played a bit of this last night but not much cause my bloody missus thinks she rules the TV...where was I, oh yeah, I played the boat level (on-rails but suitably eerie with the brain dead monsters jumping in and twating me and the destruction of a couple of bridges) then the industrial town (nice quiet walk through the train yard with those bugs around) before moving through the buildings (accidentally shooting a pod and getting murdered by those little bleeders! Forgot "not" to do that like I was told) past the non-zombies (how many? That was a fun brawl) to the crash sight (disappointing Halo 4-cloned bit) and holding down the pub (COD 2 cloned-bit, and probably loads more games too...but fun! I don't think I've played a game where I've been swapping through the weapons so much - guy over there: sniper - guy at the door: explosive magnum'ed his face off - pinned down: use the see through wall gun. Loads of weapons = more fun) then into the sewer to fight some giant who bashing down the walls in bombastic fashion.

My only complaint is that the set pieces are nothing we haven't seen but the mixed weapon set makes it worthwhile. It has this sorta feel of Half Life about it, with some thick atmosphere but it's occassionally interrupted by the company you run into. The best bits so far have been where no one telling you what to do; you're alone and the atmosphere seeps back in and you're fully getting into the game. Then some can't comes along and says 'in here' 'nice shot' 'wow headshot!' 'Quick' 'argh'. It's totally unnecessary. Leave me alone and I'll look around because I'm enjoying it so much; the developers have done such a good job and it's as if they didn't have confidence in this brilliantly detailed world they've made.

Gamers often play single player games alone with no one around. We want to be involved in this world making our own way not being told what to do or virtually pat on head for every time I squeeze the trigger.

HF & HF2 are still classics and this just shows that with more confidence in themselves Insomniac could create something as exciting and interesting. I'm liking this game that much!

Killzone 3 is the worse game I've played this year. If you liked that you do some runny goo in your pants playing this!

This has turned out to be a bloody good if somewhat disposable shooter. That bit in the town with the not-zombies should have been Shadows of the Damned. The prison bit when they just flood into the sewers actually made me say 'oh shit' out loud. Completely involuntarily. The train ride was aces too.

Anyone* played the nultiplayer yet?

*anyone meaning Mark. Natch. You 360 lot are missing out.

I'd be more tempted if I had played Resistance 2 more, but that never grabbed me. No idea why, On paper it looked like a good bet.
And if I hadn't got Deus Ex on a rather slow playthrough.

This is on my list, though probably not until it drops in price a little.

I will playing the Resistance games in order once my £150 PS3 with Move arrives.

I've had Move for a year and never bothered with it.

I've traded this in.

Something was nagging me as I was handing it over the counter. A twinge of guilt. Something was aching inside me like I'd done wrong.

I finished it on the weekend and it was brilliant. There wasn't a poor moment throughout the journey. There set pieces alright that were good but most of all there were 'moments'. Not artificial ones like climbing a rock face and pressing the triggers to punch the ice with an ice pick, no jumping off a cliff because of an exploding building behind you. There actually very few of those bits, but there was plenty of time when I rocked up behind a chimera and punch his head off with explosive tipped shotgun shells. Times when I was pinned down and was shooting back using the 'see through walls' auger.

I think you could safely compare the single player to Half Life 2 (for the beginning levels), Call of Duty MW (in the middle) and Halo (at the end). It mimics the three big hitters in its own style and pulls it off with gusto. It shows you that holding two weapons is dull as fuck when you can hold an entire armament of interesting weapons on your back. And there's never a point when you rely on one more than another; each is fun, has a good kick and does something wildly different. It's not like, say, carrying ten different types of assault rifle. It's like a swiss army knife of death bringers.

It's challenging, it's varied (for a FPS at least) and I couldn't put it down till I'd finished it. It was a bit short though and it doesn't do anything out the ordinary but it does it well. 8/10

Just to mention a few things though:

1) Weapons 'level-up' through 3 level's as you use them more. A brilliant idea that someone needs to copy.
2) Whoever thought that guy who sounds a bit like Elvis and looks a little like him too was a good idea needs maiming.
3) The Bug-reel and Outtake extras were funny.
4) The multiplayer was decent but I only ranked up to level 5. Tch.
5) The prison level's end was great.
6) Why do all alien spaceship levels look like Half Life's? Halo made an entire game out of structurally boring angular levels with fuck all in them. At least R3's have some character but still. Glad it didn't last that long.

And after playing it I was thinking what it lacked and that was much more down time between levels. More wondering through the carefully detailed levels. If they'd added, say, 5 minutes between bits this could have been propelled into classic status. Anyway, I'm disappointed I didn't hang onto it...

I'd agree with all that but especially this last bit. All the fighting is fun but it barely lets up for a moment. Everything else is perfectly pitched though, even the spacing of the checkpoints which is something that often feels like the designers paid only brief attention too.

I've traded it in too but I fully intend to pick it up again for cheap some day and do another play through on a harder difficulty.

So...You're saying I should get this, then?

The only thing I've been looking forward to for the PS3 is the next incarnation of Drakes Fortune.

If you like shooty games that are fun then yes, very much so.

It's good (if you like FPS').

Uncharted 3 has the single worst release date in the history of good games getting massively overlooked by bigger games: one week after Battlefield and one week before MW3.

And why aren't you excited about Dark Souls? It's bound to be best on the developers native PS3.

I quite liked the first game, multiplayer was a bag of shite, however. Never played the 2nd. I think we own it though.....

If it's even on time....but yeah, rubbish time to release. I'll still buy it, perhaps not at release but it'll definitely get purchased in time for Christmas so I've go something to do for 2 weeks. I imagine MW3 and Battlefield will be getting played on the xboxes so at least I'll get the PS3 to myself!

And Disgaea 4, clearly.

Brilliant this, even on Superhuman difficulty.

One minute I'm dodging snipers, then I'm dodging a dropship, then I'm shooting snipers, then I'm on a bridge, then there's an exploding bridge, then I'm blowing up a dropship, then I'm hunting guys in a cave, then I'm in a town, then tens of monsters are pounding my face, then I'm exploding monsters with every bit of ammo in every different gun I've got, then I'm hunting for exploding shotgun cartridges, then I'm being chased by monsters again, then I'm dead.

Terrific.