Resistance 2

Publisher: Sony

Price: £44.99

Format: PlayStation 3

Age rating: 18+

HAVING laid waste to Britain and Europe in the previous game, Resistance 2 ratchets up the action as the invading Chimera set their sights on blasting America to kingdom come. To help stop the alien onslaught, Nathan Hale is once again thrown into the thick of things with his generic square-jawed band of brothers on hand to watch his back and provide covering fire.

After Iceland is crushed under foot (literally) by the alien equivalent of gigantic walking buildings, Nathan and company escape to San Francisco only to witness a vast flotilla of Chimeran spaceships launch a full-scale invasion. It's a bewildering spectacle as gigantic warships roar overhead - but it's only the first of many magnificent set-pieces.

While the first game was an accomplished first person shooter in its own right, Resistance 2 features an epic single-player campaign with tons of new weapons, a dizzying array of enemy grunts to neutralize and some harrowing end-of-level boss encounters. During the course of the action, you'll witness the destruction of Chicago, a terrifying alien spawning ground in a pitch-black railway tunnel and a forty-stories-high Leviathan that dwarves any other end-of-level boss we've ever had to engage in a firefight.

The game really comes to life in the eight-player co-op missions that run parallel to the single-player campaign. You can choose to play as a soldier, special ops or medic, with each class dependent on the other two. For instance, if you opt to play as a soldier you'll need the medic to heal your wounds and the special ops guy to supply you with ammo. There's also a robust competitive multiplayer mode that can accommodate up to 60 players online at the same time. It sounds chaotic, but players are split into a number of competing squads to keep things from getting too unruly and it's a welcome antidote to the linear design of the single-player game.

While Resistance 2 is no Gears of War 2 or Halo 3 beater, it's still a terrific blast and definitely one of the best games of the year.