So I was bored lately, and wanting something to tie me over till Christmas.  I decided to rent Resistance 2 since a few of my friends had it and I knew I could play with them.  Now for my impressions:

So far I have only done online multiplayer, but from what I had seen, the coop is quite fun with a group of people you know.  It is rather fast paced, and without a good group of soldiers it would be impossible, but I guess that's why they let you use up to 8 players :D  I was a Spec Ops most of the time, and a Soldier once or twice, and I gotta say it was interesting.  Those weird zombie things that just rush you are nuts!

Next we tried some online competitive play.  Now, I'd only played 2 coop matches so I was only a level 1 and had no major upgrades.  So obviously I was the easiest to kill and had a harder time killing others, but I still fared well and was never dead last or anything.  The controls are ok, but I don't like how L2 is both crouch AND if held down is sprint.  There were too many times where it made me crouch at the end of a sprint and left me a sitting duck :(

For the most part, online was fun, although trying to play 40+ players and NOT team deathmatch usually led to stalemates because even with squads, you really aren't forced or even guided to work in just that unit.  My squad mates all just ran off on their own or in groups of 2-3.  I usually got left by myself to try sniping or using the carbine.  So I'd say the squad system could use a bit of work.

My only major gripe with the game so far is that at least in multiplayer, I found the graphics lacking quite a bit.  There were way too many jaggy edges and just seemed like it was a really dulled down graphical experience.  My friend told me that the campaign graphics are MUCH better, which I hope is true.  Don't get me wrong, I perfectly understand dulling down the graphics for the coop and multi-player to save resources for all the different players, explosions, etc.  So once I get a chance to try the campaign, I hope I am happily surprised =)

All in all, it was a decent game, and I look forward to a few more days of it before I get swamped by Fallout 3, Call of Duty WaW, and Prince of Persia.  R2 does have smaller competitive modes, right? Like 4v4 or 8v8?  Those are more my style and I'd love to give those a try, but I was never a party leader, so I didn't investigate much.

You really should play the single player.. the visuals are "dropped in quality" in the multiplayer

Online multiplayer is the only part ive tried, and while the graphics suffer a tad, the gaming itself is immense

Thats what I hear.  I'll have to give it a look.  Any answer regarding the smaller competitive modes?

Dont just give it a look, play through it, its some free trophies, and its an amazingly fun experience.

*1st half an hour or so isnt too good though*

the least amount you can play with in Reistance 2 is 10 players. there are certain maps design perfectly for 10 players so don't worry having to walk for 5 minutes to find someone in a map that was design for 60 players

A few things ^_^

1.) Awesome that you enjoyed the co-op :) It get's 203742047023489237347 times more fun when you level up >: )

2.) In the skirmish mode, the squad system really shines ^_^ You can get a ton of exp by doing the mission objectives, and if your confused, follow the star on screen :3 It will guide your whole squad to that objective, and you can REALLY rake in exp. For example, just sitting by a beacon that you need to capture, will net you exp in increments of 50 up to like 600 in about 10 seconds :P Just for standing there. Then once you finish the objective, you get an additional 800 xD Exp fills your berserk's, which I'm not sure you've played around with much, but you'll come to know they're insane!!!!!

3.) The graphics on the title are good, not great :P Insomniac decided to drop the graphics down a few pegs in order to make an experience which you won't find in many titles, epic scale and massive battles :P When you have 8 people in co-op, and you literally get flooded with waves of 50+ mobs at a time, most of which shooting, it really makes you realize the scale of the war going on :P There will be many an impressive moments if you think about what they're aiming for ^_^

4.) At first, I hated sprint being on that button (you can change that in the controls by the way), but after playing though the campaign, it's one of the greatest setups I've ever seen @_@ Once you get used to it, it's completely natural in it's execution ^^

Campaign graphics are awesome especially if you have a HD tv.

Any match over 20 players I find are too cluttered and killing people is more of a fluke than anything else.
I only play 5 on 5 and 10 on 10.

BTW I thought the controls were amazing, I'm really having trouble playing other games since I find these controls so good. My only complaint is when you are zoomed in you have to zoom in closer with the d-pad.

Haha, I does need some trophies :)

I stil haven't gotten any since they released the trophie system.

@ChrnotriggerJM
I hope you are right.  I will defenitely try leveling up.  My only problem is that I have all these games I'm getting for Christmas, and then Killzone 2 which I am definitely getting.  Right now I just have R2 rented, but I can't really see myself buying it unless it goes on uber sale.  I'll have to play through the campaign mode soon, but with my limited time, I doubt I'll be getting much higher in level on multiplayer. =(

EDIT:  Oh and I like the controls, just not the sprint, which I will see about changing now :D  The rest is very similar to CoD4 and is what I am used to anyways.

@Night, I had told myself the same thing about sprint :P But was like, hmmm well Insomniac is usually good about these things, so why not... I took the plunge, and found it to be quite rewarding :D You come to love that button :3 But if your used to it with the other setup, then by all means ^_^

If you enjoy the co-op or competitive AT ALL, then you will love the game almost 100% more by gaining some exp ^_^

In the co-op, you unlock upgrades for your primary weapons, you unlock bullshit overpowered berserks, and you get a pretty awesome selection of secondary weapons :P, that and stuff like the soldier's shield getting MASSIVE, the ability to throw up to 5 packs of ammo at a time as spec ops and proximity mines ;), and the ability to chain up to 4 mobs with your phoenix rifle as medic, netting you TON's of absorption, making you almost indestructible >: ) I kid you not, I've sunk 74 hours in this mode alone @_@ I have 2 level 30's, and a level 21 medic :P

This game rewards you 10 fold for playing ^_^ It's awesomely fun on it's own merits, but if you give it the attention, it definitely gives it back :3