Why Resistance Was So Incredible

Insomniac Games has built itself as one of the best developers of all time, creating groundbreaking IPs that ranging from platforming to shooters. While the studio is best known for Spyro the Dragon, Ratchet, and Clank, and Spider-Man back on the PS3 the studio broke from creating platformers and made one of the highest regarded science-fiction first-person shooters of all time. This was Resistance and it remains one of Sony's most acclaimed and dormant franchises.

Until Resistance's development, Insomniac mostly created platformers but the studio did have experience in first-person shooters. Insomniac's first game was Disruptor for the PS1 and it played like any other FPS games of its time but had a creative selection of weapons, something that would become a staple for the developer. It wouldn't be until 2006 when the PS3 debut that Insomniac would take a chance at a gritty and dark science-fiction adventure where humanity was invaded by an alien plague.

Set in 1949 Resistance saw humanity fighting against the Chimera, an alien race that would use advanced technology to kill and convert humans into more of them. Instead of WW2 humanity would unite against this threat but due to the Chimera's hidden agenda, origin, and advanced tech humanity was at a loss fighting against an enemy they had little chance against or even knew. Unlike Ratchet and Clank and Sypro the Dragon which would occasionally touch on mature themes, Resistance was darker and heavier in every way. From the gory combat to the bleak story players constantly felt that death or something far worse was on the horizon.

The first-person combat was tight and the weapon variety healthy given Insomniac incredible talent for making creative weapons. The enemy variety was always fresh and often frightening. With alien humans attacking the player, often with descriptive summaries being provided before missions conveying how terrifying they were to the soldiers fighting them. The Halo franchise, which would become Microsoft's staple series, was fantastic and served as one of the crowning achievements for FPS games on consoles at the time but Insomniac's Resistance was on par with Bungie's IP in terms of with story, lore, and gameplay.

The first game was an excellent foundation for the upcoming games to build on. Players were tossed into the shoes of Sgt. Nathan Hale, a random soldier fighting on the front lines that eventually gets infected with the Chimera virus. Being the only survivor Hale is able to escape before fully being converted, granted him increased increase stamina, strength, reflexes, and healing similar to the Chimera but without being linked to their biological network. Using this advantage Hale would lead the assault against the Chimera, eventually becoming the leader of a group of similarly infected soldiers called Sentinels. 

Insomniac didn't pull punches with this series, the game always felt like a fight for survival in a losing war. As the Chimera continuously gained more ground more secrets were exposed to the creature's origins. Such as them being the original inhabitants of Earth and that the original Chimera is seeking to retake the planet. With the tech being used by the Human-Chimera hybrids being items left behind by the original Chimera. The developers even went as far as to kill Nathan Hale in the second game, having players take control of newcomer Joseph Capelli.

Unlike Naughty Dog's The Last of Us Part II Insomniac ensured that players would grow comfortable with this newcomer before the grand cliffhanger of Resistance 2 but never eluded to this to ensure that the ending would come as a shock. With Nathan Hale given charge of Sentinels, special forces soldiers infected by the Chimera virus who take on suicidal missions, players were teamed up with not only Capelli but other Sentinels in these deadly missions to create that bond. The virus was kept under check by an inhibitor created by Dr. Fyordor Malikov, a brilliant scientist, an essential character to the series, and a war criminal. Capelli would be the final Sentinel to survive the events of Resistance 2 and despite his irritable and unlikeable ways, often clashing with everyone around him, he was willing to do whatever it took to save humanity. In his final interaction with Hale, he would pay respect to Hale before executing him after Hale was fully infected.

This transition was profound and effective as Capelli served as a great protagonist for the final game developed by Insomniac and in the game's timeline. Resistance 3 would be humanity's last chance at survival as the Chimera has won the war despite finding a cure to the virus. With nothing left the only chance humanity had was to ensure that they didn't terraform the planet to prepare it for the pure Chimera. Even with the third game, Insomanic kept pushing with incredible new characters and information such as feral Chimera who attacked everyone regardless.

The narrative did end on whimper after such an amazing adventure. The final battle was nothing less but incredible as Capelli charges a heavily fortified Chimera stronghold by himself to stop the aliens. This was a spectacular sendoff gameplay-wise but left behind lots of questions about the Chimera and how humanity planned to take back the planet. And that was it.

The series did have multiplayer but most of it was an afterthought compared to the main game. Yes, it was fun and Resistance 2 included a cooperative play that highlighted normal soldiers facing against the Chimera instead of supersoldiers. It was fun, basic, and effective but more remember the series for the single-player.

The series did have a few spinoffs such as the incredible Resistance Retribution. Here players took control of James Grayson who is forced to kill his brother Johnny after he was infected and goes rogue. In a rage against the Chimera, he would go on destroying Chimera conversion centers rapidly to commands vexation showing despite Grayson helping more people than the military the chain of command was still more important to these leaders. The game relied on autotargeting since it was released on the PSP but Bend Studio, yes the people behind Days Gone, were able to make it work. It genuinely shocked me when playing the game on the PSP how the developers were able to not only create an effective control scheme despite not having a second thumbstick but maintain the challenge. The writers cared for this series and maintained the dark but hopeful atmosphere of the Resistance franchise here. Showcasing that this world had more people fighting in it and had just as much of an impact against the Chimera outside from Hale and Capelli.

Unfortunately, the last game in the series Resistance Burning Skies left the game on a low note. Released on the Vita it was a prequel that didn't match the quality of the previous games in terms of narrative, lore, or gameplay.

Despite me and a lot of players yearning for another game in the series Insomniac has left the series behind them. The studio is notorious for leaving franchises once they're done to ensure they can work on fresh projects and not milk franchises dry like Activision with Call of Duty. This has led to the incredible Marvel's Spider-Man and Sunset Overdrive. While not all of them have been winners, such as Fuse the studio is already hard at work finishing Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart and likely is working on the next unannounced Spider-Man. Many are hoping that since Insomniac is officially owned by Sony we'll see another Resistance but it's unlikely. Instead, perhaps instead a remaster should be in the works. The last game in the timeline launched in 2013 and with the PS5 now out and Sony doubling down on exclusives why not Resistance. It's still a beloved franchise and is still considered one of the best trilogies ever released. Bring it back and allow a new set of gamers to see why Resistance was so incredible. 
 

Adam Siddiqui,
Managing Editor, NoobFeed
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