Reviews// Resistance 2

From fairly early in the game you're introduced to some pant-filling scares, and the timings of their delivery and abate is a testament to superb gameplay tuning. After newborn Chimera burst forth from their cocoons, running and throwing themselves at you like the rabid zombies in the movie 28 Days Later, things quieten down.

You're left to push on through buildings and streets littered with cocoons, always anticipating further attacks. When they don't come, you fall back into complacency, continuing your mission in normal FPS mindset - just long enough to get your heart hammering in your chest when the next surprise attack comes.

At times I would lob in grenades to clear a path, even though it was always possible the pods wouldn't hatch. I'm such a sissy. This ebb and flow of anxiety continues with other creature attacks; you should not underestimate the dimension this adds to the game.

Alongside the new gameplay angle is a host of weapons not previously available. In addition to the Carbines, Bullseyes and Augers are Magnums with exploding rounds, and a bizarre weapon that fires ricocheting circular saws. There is also new firepower based on enemy technology, this includes the Wraith minigun and a built-in force shield, and the mighty Pulse Cannon. If there's one downside to all these new toys it's their availability.

Fall of Man offered access to all collected weapons; now, however, you're only able to carry two - plus any grenade options. This could be the making of a tactical element: assessing which weapon would be best suited to the coming situation. Disappointingly it falls on its face because the developer opted to provide alternative hardware that may be more suited to the battle around the corner - right on that corner:

LAARK rocket launcher? You're about to meet something big. Think Stalkers or Titans. Shotgun? Sudden Cameleon or Newborn Hybrids attack. Fareye or Marksman? An open area best tackled from a modest distance. Wraith minigun? Again, something big, or swathes of Hybrids. While it's understandable you can't have every weapon from this extended arsenal available simultaneously, the solution is disappointing in contrast to the rest of the game.

How does this affect the play? On a couple of occasions I thought I'd have to go back to an earlier save point because I wasn't making progress due to running out of ammo. I'd either gone into the battle without the ideal weapon or the ones I did have were missing a full set of ammo. If there were one or two more "slots" for weapons, I'd have felt the problem was one of my ineptitude rather than clumsy design.

How does it play generally? Fabulously. As mentioned above, the tuning is bang-on target. The balancing of enemy offensive, weapons and ammo notwithstanding, the game is near as dammit perfect. I played it on "Normal", which is bracketed by "Difficult" and "Casual". I found it rare that I came out of a battle unscathed but without a feeling of accomplishment.

Similarly, there are few points where I felt like it was impossible and I must have missed something crucial. If there were one niggle I'd level, it would be the Boss battles. I'm not going to give anything away, I only need say that this is the one aspect of the campaign combat where I felt let down and unsatisfied by the prescriptive nature of the set-pieces.