Resistance: Fall of Man - hands-on

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The PS3's alien infection may also be its salvation. We dive into this massive hit-to-be headfirst and pull out its steaming guts for you

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.

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.

Mikel Reparaz
Mikel Reparaz
After graduating from college in 2000 with a BA in journalism, I worked for five years as a copy editor, page designer and videogame-review columnist at a couple of mid-sized newspapers you've never heard of. My column eventually got me a freelancing gig with GMR magazine, which folded a few months later. I was hired on full-time by GamesRadar in late 2005, and have since been paid actual money to write silly articles about lovable blobs.