Resistance: Fall of Man review

Resistance feels like a mix of Call of Duty and Halo, with lots of sighting down rifles, running for cover and tossing grenades. While not as amazingly realistic as the special-ops guys in F.E.A.R., the Chimeran enemies are reasonably sharp and do a good job of putting up a fun fight. The difficulty curve is excellent; on medium, we were pleasantly challenged throughout and really had to fight hard toward the end of the 13-hour campaign. There are also two additional difficulty modes, so those looking for a challenge akin to Call of Duty 2's infamous "Veteran" campaign should be more than satisfied.

The gorgeous levels are decidedly linear, which is a bit of a drag, but they're so well-designed that a lot of times we didn't really care. That said, the handful of wide-open maps were our favorites, as they gave us a chance to improvise a bit and really test our monstrous opponents' considerable mettle.

As the creators of Ratchet & Clank, Insomniac is known for creating very fun weapons and though you won't find a sheepinator this time out, Resistance's arsenal lives up to expectations. About a third of the firearms are standard human guns, such as a World War II-style carbine, a scoped sniper rifle and a double barrel shotgun. They're all extremely useful, even to the end of the game.

However, the really cool stuff comes from the Chimera. Their guns let you shoot through walls, setup energy shields, deploy AI turrets, drop goopy mines... Few of these ideas are new, but seldom has one shooter so skillfully contained them all. And in a nice touch, you can find even wackier weapons on your second playthrough.