Resistance 3 Multiplayer Changes the Formula

If you didn’t play Resistance 2′s multiplayer, you missed out on the insanity that was 60-player team deathmatch. For better or for worse, the high player count really changed the way multiplayer flowed. A single or couple good players could no longer carry the team as is possible in Call of Duty or Bad Company. Squad-based objectives were vital to the overall strategy of each map. It was somewhat like Mag, in which tactics and good overall communication could make a much weaker team prevail over superior forces.

Insomniac, not content with simply keeping the same system, has decided to switch up the way multiplayer will work in Resistance 2. Find out how after the jump.

From PlayStation.Blog:

Resistance 3 will feature 16-player Human vs. Chimera deathmatch and objective-based modes set in locations across the globe. That may seem somewhat jarring after the 40 and 60-player mayhem in RFOM and R2. Rest assured though, our biggest motivation in determining our new player count was the fun times that we and the community had on maps like RFOM’s Busyard and Rooftops, as well as the Bayou House and San Francisco maps in Resistance 2.

Resistance 3 will offer a very deep and customizable progression system. Players can create their own progression paths through multiplayer, spending their hard-earned points to customize loadouts that fit their unique playstyle. We learned a lot from Resistance 2 co-op in terms of giving players the ability to create specific roles in a team and level up different abilities – which you will see with the various active tactical and support abilities, as well as the new personal and combat attributes.

For instance – each player can choose and level different support abilities – such as a Bubble Shield, Ammo Beacon (give ammo to teammates) or Radar Beacon (enhance your team’s radar). There are also tactical abilities you can use against your enemies, such as the Doppelganger (projects an image of you nearby to distract enemies) or Dash (an explosive burst of speed to evade enemy attacks).

Furthermore, each player can select and level a personal attribute and a combat attribute. These range from the ability to have leapers bust out from your corpse, to start with more weapons in your arsenal, to reloading or firing at a faster rate. You will be able to truly customize your character loadout to fit your own unique playstyle in Resistance 3.

16-player matches could be terrible or fantastic, depending on your own personal perspective. Bringing the persistent unlocks and abilities from Resistance 2′s co-op mode into general multiplayer, though? That’s pretty cool no matter which way you cut it. Seems like Resistance 3 is looking to make competitive multiplayer into a more intimate experience. The upgrades they’ve mentioned sound fairly unique compared to the standard UAV, turrets and supply drops we’ve all come to expect, and that’s great considering Resistance’s more unique setting and story. No word yet for sure on whether Resistance 2′s co-op mode will return.

A multiplayer beta for Resistance 3 will launch on PSN later this year.