I like the sound in Resistance more than in BF2142 and I don't think that OpenAL is the cause. How many of the games support EAX5 and how many of them support EAX higher than EAX 2.0?
Most support EAX 3 and then 4. EAX 3 is old news IMHO, EAX 2.0 is ancient. There are very few EAX5.0 games like BF2142, Prey and etc... That was the point I tried to make about EAX 6 or whatever taking awhile to get support. I've not heard Resistance but one of the Games I'm looking at getting.
http://soundblaster.com/eax/gaming/gamelist.asp