Resistance: Fall of Man - hands-on

No matter how cool its level design, no shooter is truly worth a damn without multiplayer, and Resistance 's developers aim to deliver. First, you'll be able to tackle each of the single-player missions with a two-player, split-screen mode (but not online). We got to try this for ourselves by storming Manchester Cathedral and its environs, and it worked surprisingly well. Since the levels are large and fairly open, you're free to watch each others' back or wander off in different directions as you see fit - though you might want to stick close so you can revive each other.

But what really impressed us was that the game was able to cram all the detail and movement from the single-player version - including crowds of dog-sized spidery creatures that swarmed down from the ceilings - on two half-screens at once. That level of performance will be essential during the online multiplayer matches, which will allow a full 40 players to shoot it out across colossal battlefields. We're told these will allow for a huge amount of customizability, with players able to jump into ranked and non-ranked matches and edit everything from their size and type to what sorts of weapons and firing modes to allow.

We only played one match type, the team-based, humans-vs-hybrids Breach, but it was incredibly addictive. It's a standard fight-for-control-points setup, except that the main goal is to destroy the reactor inside the other team's base. Over several rounds, we were able to try out both the human and hybrid sides, which played differently.

Humans start out with standard-issue carbines and get a useful enemy-tracking radar, while the Chimera hybrids have no radar whatsoever. They make up for it with Rage mode, which makes them faster, stronger and gives them the ability to see through walls. The problem is, their health - which regenerates automatically for both sides - won't improve while in Rage, and if they build up too much heat running around, they'll start taking damage. Chimera do get one other distinct advantage: they're automatically equipped with the Bullseye assault rifle, one of the coolest weapons the game has to offer.