Resistance 3

If you finished the Resistance 2 campaign, then you’re bound to remember a guy named Joseph Capelli. After getting dishonorably discharged from the military, Joe gets married, has a kid, and settles down in a lengthy network of tunnels underneath a bombed-out suburban neighborhood. Our protagonist’s home is one of a few hidden communities that you encounter throughout the campaign, and they are all thoughtful and evocative glimpses of how humans might cling together in the midst of a catastrophe. Joe isn’t what you’d call a strong leading man, but throughout the campaign, you meet some interesting characters who add some welcome flavor to Joe’s bland personality. Supporting characters also comment on your battlefield prowess in a way that enhances the context (Joe was an actual soldier, they are civilians) and makes you feel like a force to be reckoned with. The environments add a lot of character as well. From Joe’s dusty Oklahoma outpost and the foggy Mississippi River to an infested mountain village, each location is richly detailed and artfully rendered, creating an engrossing sense of place and mood.

Though everywhere you go is visually interesting, there are some abrupt leaps and odd detours that can make the campaign feel disjointed at times. Still, it moves along at a good clip. Small skirmishes build up to large firefights, which lead to some big boss encounters that draw on the franchise’s knack for using a large sense of scale to create dramatic encounters. Enemies often explode in bloody chunks or lose limbs when killed, and taking down towering foes is very satisfying, though Resistance 3 doesn’t go as big as its predecessor. You can complete the campaign in as few as six hours, and unfortunately, the pace falters toward the end, leaving you with a conclusion that is less climactic than you might expect. Though the ending isn’t very satisfying, playing the entire campaign is, thanks largely to Resistance 3’s tightly tuned action.

Your enemies are aggressive, numerous, and varied, so you must read the battlefield and maneuver smartly. Popping out from cover and shooting might be effective in a small-scale battle, but enemies that leap behind you, rapidly swarm you, or shoot right through your cover force you to adapt your tactics or die. You face a lot of foes, and ammunition isn’t exactly plentiful, so you need to leverage your entire arsenal to survive. Fortunately, the guns of Resistance 3 are some of the best in the business. Tried-and-true favorites like the bullseye, auger, and magnum return early on, but as you progress, you get some new treats that can freeze, electrocute, and even mutate your enemies. Each weapon has a secondary fire that can be as simple as a grenade launcher or as sinister as a swirling electric vortex of death. Furthermore, every gun levels up as you use it, making it deadlier and sometimes granting auxiliary bonuses, like incendiary ammunition or a better scope. There is no limit to how many weapons you can carry with you, and Resistance 3 forces you to put them all to work. It’s not uncommon to exhaust your ammunition for multiple weapons during an intense firefight, so you either have to make do with a less-than-optimal firearm or scavenge the battlefield under enemy fire in hopes of finding an ammo cache.

Shoot faster! SHOOT FASTER!!
To deal with these diverse enemies, you must stretch your arsenal to the limits, and this creates an engaging sense of improvisation. This feeling is augmented by the fact that your health does not regenerate automatically. Health pickups are fairly plentiful, but there are still many times when the Chimera are bearing down on you and you are low on health, ammo, or both. The tension this creates makes blasting your way through the campaign all the more thrilling, though if you’re taking a friend along for the ride, you should consider upping the difficulty level. Whether online or split-screen, having another gun by your side makes things a bit easier and creates some slack in the otherwise taut action. There is no cooperative matchmaking, however, so you have to find your own companion, and alas, the addictive eight-player cooperative mode from Resistance 2 is nowhere to be found. Campaign co-op is a welcome addition, however, especially when the campaign is as thrilling as it is here.

Leedmees

Besides the obvious “your body is the controller” twist, Leedmees throws in a number of other challenges that make this more than just another Lemmings-style puzzle game. Every level has a time limit, usually no more than a couple of minutes, so the pace is much faster than what the methodical march of the Leedmees implies. Each level is sprinkled with bonus stars that you can have the Leedmees collect to earn you a higher performance ranking. There are environmental dangers too, like spikes, ghosts, button-activated platforms, and more. New challenges and gameplay twists are introduced every couple of levels; a late-game twist that switches your gestures to mirrored movement is especially devilish. After 40 or more levels with regular movement, something as simple as a mirrored switch can completely melt your mind.

The time limit, plus the never-ending march of the Leedmees, adds a sense of urgency to each level that works both for and against the game. On the plus side, you blow through levels quickly, and you’re constantly scooping, hopping, and leaning to transport Leedmees–you rarely hold a pose longer than a few seconds. Because challenges come at you fast and frequently, you don’t get the “this is starting to get old” feeling that you get with many motion-based games. On the downside, some levels have you moving too fast, and the Leedmees are exceptionally fragile. A quick arm swing can send them flying to their deaths, and a misplaced foot could result in LeedMee homicide. The threshold for level completion is generous–you need to save only half of the Leedmees to pass–but hitting that threshold on some of the later levels can be a pain, literally.

The relentless pace is fun for a while, but things start to break down when you need to make precise moves. Broad gestures, like spreading your arms to make a lazy bridge, or holding your hands up to create an impromptu transport cage, work great. But some challenges, particularly the levels that require you to hold down buttons, create more frustration than fun. Watching your Leedmees march to their deaths because the game failed to pick up your subtle movement can be infuriating, especially when your muscles are attempting to revolt against the unnatural contortion you’re forcing them into. The further you get, the more you feel like you and the game are just barely keeping up with each other. The sense of accomplishment you feel when beating the early levels is replaced with a feeling of relief by the end.

In this level you need to press accordion buttons, wave away ghosts, and transport Leedmees. The real challenge is to do all that without falling or cursing.
Getting past the completion threshold for the 50 single-player levels can be done in two or three hours. The extremely flexible and overly patient can stretch this out longer, since most of the achievements are locked behind “S” Rank requirements. The co-op multiplayer is fun for a few levels but is ultimately too sloppy to play for long. You’re often forced to stand very close to, or touch, your co-op partner. The Kinect isn’t so hot at determining whose limb is whose when all it can see is one amorphous blob. The dreamy art style and generic music are bland, but at least the characters, obstacles, and enemies are all easily identifiable, which is helpful later in the game when you’re keeping mental tabs on way too many things at once.

Leedmees is a game that’s good for casual play; attempting 100 percent completion in this game is a great way to make you hate it. Using your body to solve puzzles can be fun, but pulling a muscle because you’re trying to get that last impossible star is not. Leedmees sports the same $10 price tag as other Kinect games available on Xbox Live, while offering a decent amount of content and replay value. It’s worth a look if you want unique Kinect content that doesn’t involve minigames.