(continued from previous page) ...opposing base), Capture The Flag, Conversion (kind of like a "king of the hill"), Team Deathmatch and Meltdown (think Battlefield 2 base control). And if you've run out of fun fooling around with the game types you can always play with more (up to 40) or less (as few as 16) players, change up the weapon choice, or even join a clan with support of up to 200 players.

The game is challenging to be sure, but not unbreakable for new gamers. I myself admire the XBox 360 controller for First Person Shooters, however, the PS3 controller genuinely surprised me with its ease of use in the game. The L and R buttons are dramatically more helpful and useful, and this game shows that in a commanding way. With ease you can do things such as shake of Chimera who have grabbed a hold of you by intuitively shaking the controller, or bring up the multiplayer rankings menu by tilting your controller to the right.

The game has a fairly gentle learning curve if you utilize the difficulty settings properly. Anyone should be able to complete easy without too much trouble, and hard will challenge you to make every bullet and side-step count. Don't expect constant action though. This game thrives on setting an eerie mood fit for the story line, and part of that is that there will be times where there are no enemies anywhere nearby. The first time I played through this kept me very tense -- I was expecting to by ambushed by gigantic aliens around every blind corner, and there were several times I just plain didn't want to venture inside a building because it felt creepy. The single player mode could have been slightly longer, however if you attempt to "complete" the game by picking up all of the hidden pieces of intelligence (which will reveal aspects of the story you otherwise couldn't gather) you will easily spend over 20 hours on this game in single player mode alone. The vehicles in the game are fun to use, but nearly invulnerable. The only time I ever died inside a vehicle was when I was using one of the enemies vehicles. Fortunately, the vehicles in this game are not freely available, and very little of the game is spent commanding anything motorized.

Overall, the game is excellent for a first generation game, and stellar for a launch title. This is not a game I would go out and buy a PS3 just to play, however, anyone who does have a PS3 should seriously consider this as a future purchase. The game is rated M for Mature, and due to the excellent job that Insomniac did on the ambiance and animations, they aren't kidding. No one prone to nightmares should pick up this game unless you are with others and the lights are turned on. Additionally, the British soldiers have somewhat dirty mouths. Go figure. All in all, this is one of the only games available at launch that I can look at and say, "Alright, I'll buy that while it's still $60 USD."