BATMAN: ARKHAM ORIGINS

Batman: Arkham Origins could not have released under worse circumstances, in retrospect. Not only was it developed as a stopgap and sandwiched between two of the series’ biggest games in Arkham City and Arkham Knight, it also came out exclusively for 7th-gen consoles right on the cusp of the beginning of the next console generation. The fact that it was developed by WB Games Montreal while the series’ main devs Rocksteady focused on Arkham Knight did its pre-release hype no favours either, while Warner Bros. themselves have, bafflingly enough, continued to roundly ignore the game in the years that followed. That’s a real shame, too, because with a great story, some of the best boss fights in the series, and the typical strengths in combat and open world traversal that the Arkham games are know for, Arkham Origins did everything series fans wanted it to.

Adventure games, platformers, experimental games, and even several first person shooters like Killzone and Resistance really found their footing on the Playstation 3. The latter ended up turning into a very well-received trilogy all on the PS3 with two hand-held spin-offs, one on the PSP and one on the Vita. The developer, Insomniac Games, who was very well known for their work on Ratchet and Clank series from the PS2 era was in full-swing as a developer churning out Ratchet games and Resistance games all throughout the PS3’s life, both carrying the common denominator of being extremely fun and featuring some of gaming’s most interesting and entertaining weapons.

Resistance to this day might be Insomniac’s most mature series though, with lots of darker themes and tones ringing throughout the main trilogy’s alternate history timeline, creating an interesting contrast with the studios’ other work. All three of the mainline Resistance games reviewed and sold quite well and cultivated a healthy online audience, especially with Resistance 2, so what happened? Why haven’t we seen any word of a fourth game in the series in so many years? What the hell happened to Resistance?

Resistance certainly started out with a bang! The first game featured many great weapons and an very interesting plot of Allied forces fighting against an insect-like extraterrestrial species, who would be called the Chimera, from taking over Europe in the 1950’s. The marketing was a snap as the skull of said Chimera was quickly turned into an unmistakable image synonymous with the series. The game-play featured a unique mix of traditional World War 2 styled weapons and alien tech  that had more in common with guns that you would see in a Halo game than any other game based in the 1950’s, and this kept things infinitely interesting throughout the campaign.

Another excellent addition that Resistance had to offer was its massive multiplayer that could house up to 40 players at once, offering sheer chaos that few other shooters offered at the time. The online mode was supported well after launch with multiple map packs and other DLC content being rolled out for a long time after launch. These basic tenants continued into the second game that had a comparable story but an even better online mode that had one of the PS3’s best co-op experiences.

Most of the weapons from the first game’s multiplayer were back as well as a few additions and servers for this mode were active well into the current decade, and made it all the way to 2014 before they were shut down. Resistance 3 was perhaps the best game in the series with more focus on narrative and story and had what was easily the best campaign in the series. The multiplayer was a little more on the generic side this time around but still rounded out the game, and the series, quite nicely. So it’s no surprise that the Resistance series did quite well and, to this day, has a pretty dedicated fanbase.

Like I touched on before, Insomniac really lived up to their name by being straight up workaholics for the last 15 years. Countless quality games have been produced out of that studio and one can’t really blame them for wanting to move on from any given franchise. The first game was a launch window game for the PS3 and really sold quite well, so a sequel or even a trilogy weren’t too out of the ordinary for something that was successful, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the studio behind it is going to want to continue with it forever. We see this all the time with developers. Once three or four great games are out in a franchise, its only natural for the developers to want to stretch their legs creatively as Guerrilla Games did with Horizon Zero Dawn and Naughty Dog did with The Last of Us.

Insomniac Games’ CEO Ted Price did tell GamesRadar in an interview a few years back “We decided to bring Resistance to a conclusion when we looked ahead and realized that Resistance 4, while possible and something we seriously considered, wasn’t going to be the right game for us at that time.” Which does make sense as Resistance 3 was certainly the pinnacle to what the first two games were ultimately getting at thematically and stylistically. Insomniac’s success as a studio was probably what happened to Resistance. The team has been working on excellent projects like Sunset Overdrive, a Ratchet and Clank reboot, and now what appears to be their best work with Marvel’s Spider-man. With a team this busy expanding their reach, it makes sense that they wouldn’t want to go backwards.

Will the series carry on without Insomniac though? I think it’s entirely possible. With fans of the previous games still not even close to giving up hope for a new one, and still expressing interest on a regular basis, and Sony already showing that they’re willing to move on without the original team at the helm with the Playstation Vita’s Burning Skies, I think its safe to say that the series will make a return one day.

So, the question really is when it will make its return? Perhaps Insomniac isn’t out of the picture though. While they are currently busy wrapping up Spider-man now, Resistance 4 could very well be on the agenda for their next project. But like all matters of this sort, only time will tell.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

The excellent Resistance Retribution, the third person game set in the Resistance universe that was released by Sony Bend (of Uncharted: Golden Abyss and Syphon Filter fame) for the PSP in 2009, will be going offline this May. What this means is that you can still play the game, as long as you play it single player, and even buy copies of it that will continue to work- you just can’t play it online.

With Resistance 2 and 3 on PS3 already having gone offline last year, Resistance Retribution’s end of online support means that the only game in the series that can still be played online is the absolutely craptastic Resistance: Burning Skies on the PS Vita, the awful game that was released for the system back in 2011, and the awfulness of which is only muted because the developer went on and released the even crappier Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified later that year… also for the Vita. Man, they must have it out for that system.

One of the most overlooked and underrated members of Sony’s first party lineup for PlayStation is the Resistance series, and it makes sense as to why- not only did the series really not hit its stride until Resistance 3, which was incidentally the conclusion of the franchise.

But it also has had a number of highly mediocre entries (Resistance 2, Resistance Burning Skies), was subpar compared to Insomniac’s other efforts such as the famed Ratchet and Clank or Spyro series, and always felt out of place, considering Sony already had a major shooter franchise it was billing as PlayStation’s flagship with Killzone.

That said, it had its fans, and those fans will undoubtedly be delighted to know that Sony has just filed a brand new trademark for Resistance in Europe. It’s a standard trademark, and it says nothing new- and before you get your hopes up too high, it’s probably just been filed to further extend and protect the original trademark on the series. The likelihood that this suggests is not of a brand new Resistance game in development (3 bombed, and Burning Skies poisoned the well), but rather, the possibility of a remaster/repackaging of the PS3 games, probably for the PS4.

Which would still be fine as long as more players get to play the great Resistance 3.

The Resistance series is- to say the least- unremarkable. While it does provide us with games that are always a blast to play through, Resistance games have never been met with universal acclaim or mind-boggling reception. With each next installment, though, the Resistance franchise just seems to get better and better. Resistance 2 improved vastly upon the best-selling Resistance: Fall of Man, while Resistance: Retribution, in spite of being the game that was on the least powerful system, provided everything a PSP shooter needed to have to be respectfully good.
But in spite of the consistent rise in quality, the Resistance franchise isn’t half as successful or iconic as some of the other franchises that were incepted this generation- Gears of War, Bioshock, Mass Effect and the like. Even Sony’s own first-person shooter, released back in 09, Killzone 2, was much more polished and refined than any of the Resistance titles released till yet.
But just wait- stop. A franchise that has been so good consistently has to have a good day at the office, doesn’t it? Especially considering the fact that it comes from the developers of the superb Ratchet and Clank games, the next installment in this under appreciated franchise, Resistance 3, has to be the one that will engrave the name of Resistance into the hearts of all contemporary gamers- and others as well.
But what can Resistance 3 do that other shooters haven’t? There is practically nothing left in the genre that hasn’t already been done before. Well, here is what we expect the third installment in the canon franchise of Resistance series to be. We hope you like our article.

The Characters

Resistance has always had a great caste of characters, and some stand out amongst all, and quite surprisingly, prove to be some of the best characters one can ever come across in a game. Resistance 3 being the final chapter in this epic trilogy, the character caste will have to be gigantic, memorable, and will have to satisfy the needs and the demands of the gamer. Our first demand?

James Grayson

“James Grayson- one. Whatever the hell you are- nil,” says Grayson after blowing up a gigantic mech unit. Grayson is cool. He’s badass, he’s a gun for hire, he’s a killing machine. He wants revenge. He kills every alien he sees, and he blows up entire buildings. He is the modern form of Kratos. A quest for revenge made him do stuff and tread paths no one would dare step on. Yet Grayson had the ability, the attitude, the sheer brute power and the wits to fight his way through hordes upon hordes of strange looking aliens (well, they always look strange, but never this strange).
However, the ending of Resistance: Retribution, the brilliant third person shooter on the PSP, left it quite unclear as to what had finally happened with Grayson. After having been declared “Missing In Action” during a mission to Russia, the last scene of R:R showed James Grayson standing in front of a cathedral, with his eyes glowing yellow, hinting that he too, like Nathan Hale, the main protagonist of the Resistance series, had been infected by the Chimera virus.
The question: will Grayson return in Resistance 3? We say he will, and he will play a negative role, but he will not be with the Chimeran forces. He will be in the no man’s land, interrupting in the Resistance’s missions, for his own selfish purposes- i.e blowing up conversion centers, killing Chimera etc. And we think he will be playable, not just an NPC. Of course, he will have improved, boosted powers, what with him having been infected, which means- no health packs (yay!/no!)!

Fyodor Malikov

I know, the great Russian mind is dead, but just think a second- we don’t know that. It was found in Malikov’s journal that he will kill himself, we were never shown his death. This could still mean we are yet to see the last of him. What could his role be? Well, for one, he can create a proper anti-Chimera serum which actually works and doesn’t completely backfire. Other than that? Maybe he can help bring Hale back, so that we don’t have to bear with Capelli, who was recently announced to be the new protagonist of Resistance 3,  for the entire length of the game (he was kind of a prick in R2). We just hope he returns, we want more of Dr. Malikov.

And of course, Nathan Hale

The ending of Resistance 2 left our jaws dropped open (shuts mouth), and it was all because of Hale- Nathan Hale. You know like Bond- James Bond. Yes, Capelli killed Hale at the end of Res2 (that bastard!), but come on, Nathan Hale- we haven’t seen the last of him. Yet. Being the guy that he is, I’m pretty sure he’ll be one of the leading characters in Resistance 3, though I’m not entirely sure he’ll be one of the good guys. If- if– Dr Malikov is still alive, he may create a serum that cures the virus that has infected Hale, which means, he’ll be a good guy again. Either way, I want Nathan Hale as a playable charatcer, and yes, I want him to retain his yellow eyes, no matter where his loyalties lie.

Daedalus

Daedalus, probably one of the best antagonists one can ever come across in any shooter. We want him to return, but you know what would be a twist? If he returns as Private Jordan Adam Sheppard, in human form, and as one of our own kind, fighting against the Chimeran invasion. Of course, Sheppard would have his own personal errands, like avenging his horrible transformation, i.e finding Malikov and killing him (assuming he is still alive, of course). But even if he doesn’t return as a human, he could still just return, even if for a few minutes- because that would be a huge treat to all Resistance fans.