For almost ten years I’ve had an itch that I just couldn’t scratch. It was in an impossible, unreachable place that, no matter how hard I tried or close I came, I just couldn’t relieve. I’ve learned to live with it, for the most part, and as such was able to get through without noticing it was still there.

Then Resistance 3 came out of nowhere, a soothing creamer that just lathered up that itch and made it go away. All of a sudden I felt relief, and I wondered how I could live all that time with that annoying rash constantly urging me to scratch.

I became such a fan of the original Halo: Combat Evolved because of the feeling of desperation and overwhelming odds, particularly on the Legendary difficulty. It didn’t matter if the levels were repetitive, as each set piece made for an interesting battle. By Halo 3, however, the franchise went from barely surviving each encounter to becoming a one-man-army bad ass. That feeling, seeing your health at critical levels, your ammo counter flashing red, and the desperation as you sprint from cover to cover to grab a plasma pistol because it’s the only weapon within reach, that is something that has been missing from video games for a long time.

Then Resistance 3 comes along, and like an old friend I find myself sinking into old habits. I didn’t realize it at first. I was too stunned to be having a great time playing. I found the first Resistance game to control horribly and just be no fun. I viewed the trailers for Resistance 2, garnering nothing more than a yawn as a response. Maybe it was bias, despite being wowed by Uncharted 2 and interested in Killzone 2, two other Sony exclusive sequels whose predecessors bored me at best and made me gag at worst.

Somehow, Resistance 3 managed to transcend the mediocrity of its earlier releases and become something special. Insomniac Studios stopped focusing on making a competitive game and instead focused on an experience (or at least, that’s my assumption judging from the quality).

Battlefields tend to be large, expansive and full of tactical possibilities. Each map is designed to take advantage of single player and co-op play, offering paths for guerilla tactics or flanking strategy. These paths will also be used by the enemy, however, and if a player keeps still too long then they may easily find themselves being surrounded by quick-witted A.I. The Chimeran forces occupy that sweet spot between hanging back and taking cover and continuously moving forward to apply pressure. They don’t rush the player, but they certainly give a sense of urgency.

Regenerating health is a thing of the past as Resistance 3 brings back health kits. Players that aren’t careful are sure to meet their demise. The game doesn’t take it easy, either, as foes feel just as accurate as in any other shooter. Pop your head out from cover and their sights will be locked right on.

This change wasn’t made carelessly, though. Insomniac took out a couple pages from Valve’s philosophy of design, taking measures to ensure the player remains in action as long as possible. I cannot say for certain, but it feels as if the amount of damage a player takes as they near death is less than that of when they are full health, a strategy Valve used in Half-Life’s design. I know for sure that a foe will occasionally drop some extra health if you reach a critical state. You can even see the cannisters on the Chimeran’s body as they fight, informing the player of who to kill if they are getting near death.

The result is a large number of moments where the player feels the adrenaline of near-death, struggling to survive the oncoming hoards, only to breath a sigh of relief as they grab a cannister off a corpse. Even after observing and recognizing this little trick, those suspenseful moments became more tense as I had begun seeking out health on the ground and on the enemies, hoping for that one cannister to show up, sometimes afraid that the odds would be against me.

Despite coming so close to death so many times throughout the campaign, I only managed to die twice. The conditions were also during an escort mission of sorts, adjusting the circumstances in the computer’s favor.

In truth, Resistance 3 feels like a game that was designed to trust the player will be resourceful all on their own. Insomniac provided the weapons and tools to succeed, and then built a series of challenges that they knew the player could complete. There’s plenty of high ground for the sniper rifle. There are proximity mines that allow you to set up a perimeter that warns of nearby foes. There are small corners to use the Auger, a gun that can see and shoot through walls and obstacles, allowing a player to eliminate whole squads of foes without being discovered.

More than that, the game isn’t afraid to throw more enemies than they seem capable of handling. After introducing a large brutish foe capable of putting up a shield and using a devastating lightning gun, they then throw two at the player while fending off an onslaught of other Chimeran foes. A most memorable moment towards the end, one I’m still shocked to have survived, had me cornered off fighting two or three large mechs, a group of Chimera and a giant mobile fortress volleying missiles my direction. The game gave me no turret, no tank, nothing that a normal game would to even out the odds. They just threw the foes at me and said “survive”.

The game trusts me to be resourceful, and in return I’m provided a most thrilling, exhilirating experience that I shall not soon forget. It will live in my memory just as long as having to face a Wraith tank in Halo without (and if I was unlucky, without a rocket launcher).

It is a shame, then, that the middle of the game gets a bit bogged down with less interesting foes. I don’t know if I should blame Half-Life and their crab-head zombies, or if I should blame Halo and The Flood. Every first-person shooter since seems to require the primitive, savage foes that run at the player in swarms and stick to powerful melee strikes. They go a step further and even include the volatile foes that sprint at you and explode when they get too close. The slight difference here is these foes can be used as explosive traps if you manage to gun them down at a distance.

Even so, Insomniac felt it necessary to include an over-long homage to Ravenholm, only without the variety of enemies or the physics gun to make interesting traps and kills with. It’s one long slog through run-down shanty houses where enemies can come from anywhere. The only pay-off is the excellent boss fight toward the end of it, where you are spending more time desperately fleeing the creature instead of shooting at it.

Despite being a bit of a slog in comparison, the middle of the game is still fun and still loaded with memorable moments. In fact, it’s not often that I find an entire game so clear in my mind after beating it. Memories tend to be tied to emotions, though, and this game allowed me to feel a lot of them.

The only real problem is that it makes for a terrible conclusion to a trilogy. Technically it’s left open for a sequel, but it feels like they sort of rushed the ending cinematic, dusted their hands off and called it a day. I can only imagine how it must feel for players of the first two games who actually have an emotional investment in the franchise. Supposedly, at least.

It wasn’t until past the halfway point that the game provides a sudden twist that got me invested in the gameplay, and actually had me expecting a rather sad and depressing conclusion. After finally becoming interested in everyone’s fate and surviving an incredibly thrilling final encounter, I expected something a little more… well, let’s just say the end of the game is sort of “blink and you’ll miss it”.

I still cannot fathom just how much fun I had with this game. I’m not done with it, either. I want to replay it on a higher difficulty, preferably in co-op. I want to go through and play it again, trying out new tactics and strategies. I want to collect more points so I can unlock cheats to apply to the campaign. I just want to play the game more and more, much like I obsessively replayed Halo: Combat Evolved all those years ago.

It’s a shame. Sony finally has their “Halo-killer”, and it comes ten years too late for anyone to care.