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COMPETITIVE MULTIPLAYER

Resistance 2 - 60 player online competitive multiplayer. That's right. 60 players. This sounds absolutely mental, of course. Mental to the point of chaos. But Insomniac has come up with an ingenious solution which should ensure things don't descend into madness.

At Sony's PlayStation Day in London we caught a first hand glimpse of this ourselves. A Skirmish battle in the Californian Redwoods map showed that the massive 60 player battle will be focused into a number of smaller, squad-based battles. Here, your squad will have constantly evolving objectives, including helping out other squads that need reinforcing, taking and holding control points, defending control points and taking out rival squads that have the exact opposite goal as you.

Players will be automatically placed into a squad at the start of a match and immediately given an objective. From what we saw at PlayStation Day it results in a fast, frantic FPS experience that changes quicker than a chameleon walking along a rainbow.

And of course, as is the in thing for online shooters these days, you'll be able to accumulate battle points for everything positive you do. These will boost your stats temporarily, perhaps granting quicker movement, a health boost or increased accuracy, but they'll also grant a multiplier to those who kill you, making you more desirable for a kill. Once you die, bang!, they're gone.

Of most interest, however, is the mobile shield you can earn, making you invulnerable to enemy fire for about half a minute. Expect even more cool bonuses when the game's finally released.

Gears of War 2 - We hardly know anything about Gears of War 2's online competitive multiplayer component. Epic is keeping its cards very close to its chest. While the four versus four multiplayer from the first game proved, and still proves extremely popular on Xbox LIVE, some fans have complained that it gets repetitive after a while. Expect some radical knew game types, hopefully some larger, more expansive maps and, if we're lucky, an increase on the number of players and squads a match can hold.

We do know that Epic is planning on re-jigging the way the achievement system works so players don't "rock the system" as Cliffy B says. Take, for example, players playing online multiplayer with the express desire to get headshots and headshots only in order to gain the headshot achievement. In GoW2 only the first headshot will count when in multiplayer mode. You'll be able to get all achievements across the single-player, multiplayer and co-op modes.

VERDICT

It would be unfair of us to say which game is shaping up better six months before release. Both games will be at various stages of development across their various features, so just because we know less about one part of the game doesn't mean it's any worse or any better. Suffice it to say we're incredibly excited by the improvements we've seen in both sequels. With Resistance 2 we're most hyped about the competitive 60-player multiplayer. From what we've seen at Sony's PlayStation Day it could turn the heads of PS3-owning Call of Duty 4 enthusiasts this November.

Equally, we're pumped for how Gears of War 2's campaign is shaping up. With the promise of bigger levels, something that addresses one of our major gripes about the superb original, and a better story, the game should at the very least improve on something we've already given a 10 out of 10 review score too. All we need to seal the deal now is a confirmation on four player co-op. Come on Cliffy B. Make our dreams come true.

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