Resistance revisited

Basically, yes, things do pick up after the first several levels.

Once you get into the alien conversion facility, where humans are mutated into enemy soldiers, the graphics improve substantially and the level design gets a lot better. Later on, you venture back into the English countryside, but new enemies and weapons, as well as more interesting visuals, maintain the epic scope of the conversion facility level.

I haven't finished the game, nor am I able to test out the multiplayer stuff, since you can only register as a Japanese user for now (so I don't know how the reviewers quoted on Joystiq managed to test out the multiplayer), but it is better than I first thought.

That being said, there's no way this game deserves to be scoring in the 90 percent-plus range. The action drags in spots, the visuals are far behind the state of the art standard just set by Gears of War, and it feels like some corners were cut. For example, when you click on the analog stick to zoom in, there's no animation that shows you lifting your sight or scope to your eye. Your gun just jumps right in front of your face, and the image on the screen jumps with it. It's a small detail, but it is jarring.

Anyway, I'll keep plugging away. Look for my full review in the paper next Tuesday.

Marc Note: You have to invest some time in the game. As Victor mentioned, it does truly get better after a few hours. Give it some time and dont write it off too quickly.