Resistance 2 Has Issues

I finally got around to popping in it tonight in an attempt to knock it out by the end of this weekend before F.E.A.R. 2 and Killzone 2 drop later this month. The game looks much better than its predecessor, and runs smoothly, but it's got some serious issues in the single player campaign from what I've played so far. 1, the bosses aren't actually bosses. They are set pieces for you to shoot at once and then move on. On the prelude mission there's a giant creature you're supposed to take down with a rocket launcher. You walk to where the weapon is, pick it up, shoot, then the creature pretty much goes about its business killing your men and you if you stop to wonder why the hell they just didn't give you 3 more rockets to finish the job then and there. And the game let's you know very well you need to do it 3 more times because it has 3 more exhaust tanks on its back. I would have preferred the challenge of having to take down 3-4 of these creatures under fire at different locations throughout the level than basically walk up, shoot and move on. It takes the satisfaction of accomplishing a difficult task right out of the game. But the game doesn't just gimp your satisfaction that way, it makes you question if you're winning or not. Case in point the first official "boss battle" I had facing a giant squid creature on a platform in the middle of a sea of water had me firing a pulse cannon at it that took about 10 seconds to reload after every shot. Then it attacked the platform directly and I shot it dead in its mouth. The cross hairs was red and everything and the screen blacked out. I thought "Oh I must have beat it." Then the game reloaded from the beginning of the battle. I did the exact same thing again, and shot it in the mouth again, and the screen blacked out again. This time I thought "what do I have to do to kill this thing?" Then a cutscene followed and I realized "I guess I won that time." The following mission left me pinned down by gunfire from a squad of enemies and running toward a ship one or two shots away from death. I still had about 5 meters to travel when the screen blacked out and I didn't know whether I survived or not.

No game should have you questioning whether or not you've done the right thing or not and I've been through 2 1/2 levels of this thing so far and I question everything. Another plague is the slew of enemies that can only be killed by certain weapons where the only way to advance is to dodge one hit kills while trying to find the rocket launcher in the room. And while I'm venting, I've never liked it when you get the good weapons you like using in a game only to have them taken away from you when you start a new level, but I understand. It makes absolutely no sense when I go from one area to the next that I have my weapons replaced with stock ones when all I've actually done is walked through a door.

I'll press on some more and try to give it a proper review when I complete it, but there are issues-a-plenty in the single player campaign. I have not tried the co-op yet. At this point all Killzone 2 has to do is not piss me off and it's guaranteed a better score that what R2 will get. Right now it's got a lot to make up for.