I felt Resistance 2 was a more appealing package to me. I spent so much time on the separate campaign Co-op, which I thought was an excellent addition to the series. The lack of it in Resistance 3 was actually a major disappointment for me.
Single player-wise, Resistance 3 has some good set pieces, a good atmosphere in many parts of the game (some bits are like a Survival Horror which I appreciated, despite these parts dragging for so long), and it feels more intimate with this sense of dread, given your odds. However that's all the game has to offer to me. Even then, I wouldn't rate these parts together as some godly package for the game when it lacks in many other areas.
I feel like Joseph was pussified. I liked his asshole nature in Resistance 2. Despite understanding his new personality, I feel as though he's a completely different character. Apart from being sad all the fucking time, there is zero character development on his part with the exception of knocking up Hale's sister. He's very boring. Malikov is the only interesting character and even then, there's very little personality from him unless you read his reports. Not one single other character offers anything.
Story-wise, I was offended when they gave you a very fast recap of the previous game/s and then fast forward 4 years, completely ignoring America's fall and the aftermath of Resistance 2's events. I wanted to see what happened through an experience of my own, not through some cutscene. The fall of America in some shitty cutscene felt to me the exact same as the fall of Umbrella's cutscene in Resident Evil 4. An offence to the people who care for continuity and the relevant franchise's universe. I know, vidya game stories and all but still. I actually give a damn about the universe of Resistance. Resistance 2 offered a lot more of a progressive story and had a lot of background info and reports to help flesh everything out in a coherent way. You got your information on Cloven and Pure Chimera as well, the hierarchy of the Chimera and how their inner circles work, you got an ending that could be interpreted as setting up something more galactic, etc. These are all interesting aspects that could have tied in together and potentially set something up in a very appealing way for the future of the series.
Maybe my expectations for a follow-up to Resistance 2 were sky high. Either way, Resistance 3 brought any expectations crashing right down. I enjoyed the military nature of Resistance 2. This sense of comradery and togetherness in the plot as you fight to prevent the Chimera. You also think there's some higher power at work, especially by the end with Hale and Daedalus. I wanted to see the aftermath and how America eventually succumbed nonetheless, despite Hale's great efforts.
I probably didn't explain myself to the best of my ability but while Resistance 2 had its problems, I thought it was brilliant nonetheless and had a very good plot by this franchise's standards. I get the feeling Insomniac are just bored of Resistance now and couldn't wait to throw Resistance 3 out there.
