Following a daring offensive in the UK, Nathan Hale returns in Resistance 2 to lead a new charge against spreading Chimera forces. Having totally overrun Russia, Europe, and Africa, the Chimera have set to occupy America as refugees stream out of major cities and the US military takes a beating. Only the Sentinels, soldiers infected with the Chimera virus to gain their powers yet inhibited from full conversion, are capable of mounting a counteroffensive to stop the occupation. Through the course of the single player campaign, you put on Hale's boots as he travels across the country in an intense struggle to halt their advances and protect what few people are left.

The single player campaign only serves to kick things off. A whole suite of cooperative missions, playable via split-screen or online, fleshes out the story giving you a view into the war against the Chimera parallel to Hale's Sentinel resistance. It's an extremely tight, cohesive narrative that easily defies the stereotypical shooter. Clearly a lot of thought went into the story and it shows in a compelling universe with meaningful characters and interesting locales that add flavor to it all.

Unfortunately, the depth of its storytelling doesn't fully carry the game through the course of the single player campaign. While you're compelled to move forward to learn the fate of Hale and the entire human race against a seemingly unstoppable enemy, the sterile, scripted nature of its design is hardly motivating. Most first-person shooters progress in a linear fashion, yet here it's so blatant that you feel confined. Missions must be completed in a specific manner and bosses have to be felled in a certain way. The penalty for not following the game's prescribed design is death. This has two effects: the first is that it gives you crystal clear guidance on what to do at all times and the second ushers frustration. A fantastic arsenal of weapons and wide-open environments give rise to numerous tactical opportunities that largely go wasted.

Instead of letting loose and giving you room to breathe, the game tightens around key moments to a fault. Whether it’s the one-hit kills delivered at the hands of a cloaked Chameleon or the timed sprints to escape a fiery ship or the battles against an overwhelming number of enemies, Resistance 2 tries too hard to lead you through its set pieces. What's worse is that many of these moments are slightly unbalanced, leading to quick deaths or plain frustration. You can always make it through the tough spots, but realize it may take a few aggravating attempts before you do. Those instances where you aren't constrained are nothing short of brilliant. It's a rollercoaster combat ride that varies from annoyingly linear to nothing short of satisfying and often in the same mission.

Buying the game means getting it for multiplayer, whether it is the eight-player cooperative missions or massive competitive matches. There are certainly enjoyable sections of the single player campaign and it delivers enough of its own thrills, but buck for buck it’s the multiplayer that delivers the goods. Cooperative provides more than its fair share of that enjoyment too, introducing something never before seen in gaming--full play for eight online or four split-screen. It can't be overstated how incredibly fun it is to tackle missions in each of half a dozen locales, leveling up any of three distinct classes in tense combat.