It’s those very class distinctions that go toward making co-op work, as they force you to work with your buddies in order to accomplish objectives--you simply can't do it alone because it's been designed that way. Dual switches are placed in certain sections, but that's not so much what demands cooperation. It's the relationship among the classes--soldier, medic, and special ops--that require coordination to ensure the medic is keeping everyone alive, the soldier is chewing up Chimera with his heavy weaponry, and the special ops is taking foes out from afar. Since you earn more experience for completing actions that fit within your class, you're encouraged to behave accordingly. Even better is the fact each class is fun to play--all three can fight and contribute a fair share.

The same phenomenal balancing and design finds its way into competitive play. Groundbreaking matches allow a maximum of sixty players to duke it out, although most game types feature less. Even within these huge bouts, you're broken down into manageable squads and given various objectives to carry out during the course of a lengthy battle. Much of the pleasure derived is gathered in survival; just making it through a match without dying too much feels like an accomplishment given the chaos of most battles. It's both a strength and a weakness, really--something Resistance 2 inherits from the original. Despite efforts to curtail that frenzy, it returns but in a slightly more organized fashion. In other words, it's improved yet still crazy.

Enhancements to the multiplayer haven't come without some bumps along the road, however. You're likely to encounter some instability in these first two weeks following release, particularly with regard to online cooperative play. Sony and Insomniac have acknowledged a bug involving split-screen online coop that currently is being fixed. Note that it'll get worked out, but right now you're unable to connect online if you have more than one controller plugged in/wirelessly communicating with your console.

The inventive cooperative play is the reason you should pick up Resistance 2. Running through the single player campaign will net you a good story, even if you have to waddle through some lackluster sections. Competitive multiplayer delivers some good gaming, although the high player counts can be overwhelming. It's a colorful game, though, and for everything it offers it’s a great value even with its faults.

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