I feel that beyond the first game, both Resistance 2 & 3 felt like experiments. They nailed some areas of game-play and level design really well but some design decisions were just baffling. Each game was also a departure from the last, with the developers trying out new things, but they never really got all the right ingredients into one game.

Resistance 2 had great online, but the single player dragged on and was too linear and on-rails. It felt uninspired and tried to do everything on too big a scale. It also had a downright ugly graphics engine.

Resistance 3 fixed most of this and had much better pacing and structure to the campaign. In fact some areas of the campaign are the best I've played in a single player FPS this generation. It was however, interspersed with some sections (like the mining boss section and the train section) that just felt completely out of place, interrupted the flow of the game and were just not as polished as the rest of the campaign. In fact the very end of the campaign looks like it was rushed. Odd lighting effects, slightly glitchy looking character models and a weird gunplay sequence with the handgun. A truly bizarre end to a solid campaign in my opinion. It also had some very strange audio glitches throughout.

It's like every time they almost nailed something really well, they were busy shooting themselves in the foot with something else. The whole series just felt like it was on the verge of something really great, but never quite managed to get there. Mostly through lack of polish, poor design choices and again lack of polish!

I don't think I've played any other Sony first party game this gen that had the same lack of polish as the Resistance series. Some areas look like they were given lots of attention, others not at all. The blame has to be put squarely on the management of time and resources.

Even though the series has it's faults, I feel they should try and breath new life into it next generation. Or even give another studio a shot at it. With a new engine, and a more focused, but more sandbox style (less linear boss battles) campaign I think they could make something truly great. The enemy design, weapon design and story are all great, the project just needs to be steered in a clear direction.

Really? The Spyro games were a great platformer in the PS1 era. With the PS2 era, they introduced Ratchet & Clank (since they didn't have the license to make Spyro anymore), which has become a staple of the Playstation name, although there was maybe one PS2 game and one PS3 game that might not have been up to par (All 4 One on PS3 was made by a different branch of Insomniac's studios, if I remember right). They had four PS2 Ratchet & Clanks (first one, Going Commando, Up Your Arsenal and Deadlocked) and 4 PS3 ones (Tools of Destruction, Quest For Booty, A Crack in Time and All 4 One). It seems, to me at least, that the fourth iteration in each gen has been lacking the charm that each other entry had.

I do think that there was something amiss with the Resistance series. The first one had a great campaign, but the MP was lacking. The second one had a great MP (co-op was one of the best experiences I have had), while the campaign was lacking. With number 3, they went back to the same problems with the first game. Overall, though, the Resistance series was a good one, despite its problems.

Thank goodness. Im tired of being disappointed by this series. R1 was the second game I got for my ps3. Loved the campaign, but knew they could do even better.

R2 came and I was really excited for it. But it seemed like a completely different game series, and not in a good way. The only redeeming thing about R2 in my and many others eyes was the fantastic 8 player coop mode. This had so much potential, especially if supported with DLC missions and new levels. It wasn't. So then I just knew it would appear in R3, refined and perfected and supported. But it didn't. So I at least had hope for the R3 campaign, but it bored me to tears, and was just sloppy all around IMHO. Took it back after 3/4 of the way through bc I had no desire to finish it, which is atypical for me.

Okay that's my rant. Idk what happened to the R1 insomniac, but I'm personally glad they're moving on from the series. It has a lot of potential, just has to be done right.

I thought the same thing.

Such a shame R3 underperformed.It's a cool game.

I Disagree. 

Yeah, a key issue with the franchise is they kept adjusting it too much and always seemed to get caught rushing it either (there are some very good, and surprisingly frank making of videos where they come completely clean about how rushed R2 was for example).

While the first had the traditional issues of a launch title in that it was a bit rough and didn't fully exploit the hardware, it garnered a large install base as an early game and as a bundled game and probably boasted the first large online for PS3.

I think Insomniac then tried to push too hard for more, looked to copy apparently popular elements in other games (such as 2 weapon limit) and overstretched themselves with R2.  The result was a game that was both rough and bound to alienate many who actually liked the first.

After that R3 was more or less doomed.  Ironically, R3 seems to be much better regarded and I suspect if Insomniac were to build from that they could see better sales - but after a fan mauling with R2 and weak R3 sales I guess I can understand why they want to walk away.

Pity.  I think if they'd stuck to the RFOM template, improved graphics and online and delivered a really solid R2 they could have seen the growth they were after.

not a big deal to me. I thought the series was just okay.

....well after Killzone 3, they uhhh.....kinda can't. :(

Obviously I haven't played either series outside demos :D

Besides, it could be between Killzone 1-2 or 2-3 so...

I'd be willing to be that Insomniac is moving away from doing exclusives. They probably don't want to lose money making franchises that are limited to only one console. By making multiplatform games like Overstrick they are restricted and can take in revenue from sales on as many platforms as they want.