The PS3 lacks a truly must-have, exclusive first person shooter - a retort to Halo 3, if you will. With dismal efforts like Haze, it's only really been the original Resistance: Fall of Man carrying the flag - and whilst it was by no means a bad game, the only thing truly extraordinary about it was the rather humorous and persistent controversy that it found itself neck-high in at release. It was certainly not as successful as Insomniac's other franchise, Ratchet & Clank, which led many to believe that the studio should stick with cutesy platform games and leave the big boys like Infinity Ward and Valve to make first person shooters.

Cue the difficult second game, Resistance 2, which furthers the story of one man super weapon Nathan Hale on his alien ass-kicking tour. Not of sunny Grimsby or Scunthorpe or anywhere silly like that, but instead back where Insomniac are clearly more comfortable: Californian trailer parks (yes, really). It's not all sunny days sipping Bud on a hammock though, with the infectious Chimera threat being just as omnipresent over the pond, thanks largely to the invasion that's kicking off just in time for our protagonist's arrival. And what an invasion it is! Not long into the game you emerge from the sewers to find yourself overlooking a broken San Francisco that's floundering under the jurisdiction of scores of brooding, monolithic Chimeran ships as they drift across the cityscape, bathed in the deep oranges of the early evening sun. It's an emotive and memorable scene for sure, one that sets the tone for the rest of the game; the Chimera are here, they mean business, and the fight is well and truly on.

This sense of scale never really ceases throughout the course of the single player campaign, with areas and enemies alike ranging from merely huge to breathtakingly colossal in both scope and detail. Thankfully it's not all grey scale urban excess, either, and - overlooking the genre-staple enemy ship level - there's plenty of diversity in the environments. Dense, marsh-ridden woodlands play host to the action early on, leading into the aforementioned trailer parks, with each locale providing an impressive and interesting backdrop to the combat. The sound too is equally as prominent, with the atmospheric groans of the robotic Chimera giants in the distance juxtaposed with twee mid-western cowboy music blaring out of a nearby car stereo. These touches really save the game in the sound department, as the musical score only really kicks in during the cut scenes and, although suitable and consistent in tone, sadly remains quite forgettable.

There are myriad graphical effects that leave a grin on your face too, including just about anything to do with water, whether it's splashing around you or realistically refracting a pattern of light on the ground below. The game certainly looks far more impressive than the previous outing, boasting a slick frame rate for the most part. However, whilst the environments may be large and detailed, they aren't as interactive as you might like, which, when coupled with the linearity of the experience, leaves us with a game that trades depth for unremitting focus - much like Call of Duty 4 or Half-Life 2 (the of which latter is particularly hard not to be reminded of at times).

The controls have been reworked for the better and although the button configuration present isn't perfect, it's leagues ahead of that of the original. The aiming is particularly worthy of mention, which, as the game is made for the PS3 exclusively, is far more fitting and responsive than most of the translated FPS games that the platform endures, ensuring smooth and accurate aiming whether you are firing from the hip or down the iron-sights. Never being one to slack in the weapons department, Resistance 2 boasts Insomniac's typically large and wacky array of firepower, with each weapon opening up a different set of tactics and unique ways to dispatch the Chimera. Favourites like the Auger have made a return, with its unique ability to shoot through walls (which is still just as humorous in multiplayer). As you might expect, there are also a couple of additional toys thrown in to flesh out the exotic selection even further, such as the mini-gun-style Wraith, which is a ridiculous amount of fun with its armour piercing bullets, a brutally rapid firing rate and a deployable 360° shield.

All of this hardware is very much needed too, as the enemies are no pushover; they want you dead - really dead - and if you give them the smallest opportunity to achieve this goal then they capitalise upon it. The campaign is best described as moderately tough on the normal setting and this will undoubtedly frustrate some. There is a difficulty slider that's accessible via the in-game options menu, though whether it's there to help you through a particularly tough area or just to taunt you as die for the umpteenth time on normal difficulty, determined to trudge stubbornly onwards, is up to you to decide! You will meet a wide range of Chimeran foes, ranging from the easily dispatched but deadly in packs zombies to the overwhelmingly large and satisfying boss fights littered throughout. All of the enemies are well drawn and animated, with differing sets of behaviour, although every one of them takes a notably aggressive, pull-no-punches approach.

One oddity is the ability of certain types of enemies to one-hit you; the aptly named Chameleons are one such source of frustration, foes that possess a stealth suit straight out of Predator and have a nasty habit of rapidly charging at you - invisible until the last second - and clawing you to the floor in one fell swoop. The only indication to their presence is a spooky kind of cooing - you know... like a pigeon. Shortly after this warning sign you hear them rushing towards you and you have about half a second to shoot them or you're back to the last checkpoint. This isn't so bad once you get used to listening out for it and preparing to fire but it does feel incredibly unforgiving and a little cheap if you turn the wrong way only to be garrotted from the side - and I for one will never be able to look a pigeon in its beady eye again.

'Cheap', however, is not a word easily employed to describe Resistance 2's multiplayer component. It features the typical array of modes such as capture the flag, free for all and team deathmatch, as well as a fourth mode called skirmish, which sees teams fighting over a series of objectives. There's nothing terribly original about the whole affair but what is here is polished, punchy, accessible, and sure to keep you coming back for more. There are plenty of nice touches like the experience system that awards you XP based on the damage done to a target, which turns out to be very worthwhile, as the huge sixty-player cap in any given match means that kill stealing is an inevitability. Another fun addition in skirmish matches sees a random player labelled the 'priority target' who, when killed, rewards higher XP. This often results in a violent game of cat and mouse, adding an extra layer of high jinks to proceedings.

Amazingly, even when the game reaches the lofty heights of sixty players battling away on a single map, the game engine refuses to wane or buckle, continuing its ultra slick presentation with little to no hiccups. Things can get a touch choppy in certain situations, such as when there are literally thirty players all in a confined area, but these moments are few and far between enough to never cause any real issue. Equally, even with so many players fighting for frags, things somehow remain balanced and fun, never degrading too far into the pattern of kill, die and respawn, which is the bane of many a console shooter. The maps themselves are varied in both theme and scope, with an early favourite being centred on a two-storey Prairie house in stereotypical North American countrified surroundings that plays host to some superb close quarters combat, as well as some obligatory room to room grenade-throwing contests.

Insomniac weren't content to stop there though as they've thrown in a full-blown online co-operative mode that is entirely separate to the single player campaign. You and between up to another seven of your buddies (with the difficulty scaling accordingly) can rally up and select from one of three classes to tackle these additional challenges. Each class has its own unique role, with Special Ops being the ranged damage dealers, Soldiers being the 'tanks' and soaking up much of the damage, and Medics who - interestingly enough - drain life from enemies and impart it to their allies, which is particularly important as the health regeneration seen in the single player campaign isn't present here. This mode revolves around six maps taken from the game and its predecessor, each with its own rotating objectives and unique boss encounters. Although it never reaches the heights of the campaign, the interplay between the classes keeps things rich and exciting, while the spectacle of the full eight-player co-op is a real riot to experience.

Whilst playing Resistance 2 I found myself wondering how on God's earth Insomniac has managed to create two games that are such polar opposites (Resistance and Ratchet & Clank) yet share many of the same qualities. Admirably though, they have and not only that but they've finally produced the PS3's answer to Halo 3. Consequently, Resistance 2 is the most fun I've had on my PS3 since Metal Gear Solid 4 - and you can't give a much better endorsement than that.

Reviewed by Martin Oddy for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).