As a pro gamer, I’m always looking for the opportunity to find new games to compete in. This weekend during MLG Anaheim I got that very opportunity to try out the Resistance 3 multiplayer mode and though a lot of it was great, some of it was not.

I immediately went for the controller, reluctant to pick it up because I’m an Xbox player at heart. As a pro Call of Duty player, I was able to immediately pick-up the controls as they were like any typical FPS. This is good, because any advent FPS console gamer will be able to pick-up the game without much of a learning period needed. I mean, even with the PS3 controller transition, I was still able to place 1^st at my first go at it. I’ll give the company an A+ for keeping it simple, that’s for sure.

It’s a great game. I’ll admit it. It was fun, entertaining, and it attracted a lot of people at the event. But then what’s the flaw? Well, overall… It’s really nothing new. No real new features. I can’t roll, I can’t fly a tank, nor can I ride a mutant war bunny with machine guns. It’s the same as every other classic shooter out there and the story is such a cliché. Humans are trying to fight off some sort of outside species. Yup. It’s Call of Duty: Alien Warfare, except… dun dun!! Players now have more health! Which I guess is beneficial to the overall element of the game which seems to lean more towards the mayhem of Unreal Tournament’s frenetic run and gun. On the left hand corner of your screen is a health circle. It seems to regenerate over time when you’re wounded but nonetheless, it goes down fast. Not quite as fast as dying in CoD, but doesn’t last as long as the shields from Halo. It’s still enough to survive a heated gunfight if you have basic knowledge of where cover is on the map.

Now map design is one of those game elements most players take for granted.  I was only able to demo one map, but the way it was designed allowed for a “turf war” kind of combat. This is good. I like being able to check one way, and then check the other, knowing that’s where they’re going to come from versus Modern Warfare 2’s map style of getting shot from everywhere at any spot. The maps in Resistance were very linear. Aliens start at point A on the map, humans start at point C, lots of fighting at point B. I thought this would take away from the “run and gun” aspect of the game, but the game provides many pieces of cover on the map, whether be it a giant cinderblock or a small bunker hut to shield yourself during combat.

Another problem I found actually shows up in most FPS titles: Assault Rifle > All. At least when I used it, the assault class available at the kiosk was way too overpowered. The weapon had effective hip-fire, it was excellent at long ranged shooting, and this may or may not apply to anyone else but it had no recoil. The only thing that trumped it was the shotgun at extremely close quarters and the sniper at extremely long ranges. This left no room to use the submachine gun (which was my favorite looking weapon) as an effective means of killing “skilled-enough” players. All I played was deathmatch, so perhaps the speed increase from using the SMG might help in a more objective based game.

All in all, the game is good. What I tested was only a taste of what’s to come and overall, it was rather satisfying. Perhaps the extreme similarities to the other shooters is what’s attracting people.

Resistance 3 will be available in stores on September 6^th,2011.