• Both games share the exact same story that follows the first game´s story the same way aswell. Humanitys revenge on the race that tried to take their planet in the first game which takes them to this industrial planet. You are the space marine that needs to get it done.
• The enviroments are pretty much identic in both games. The industrial "built for war" planet feels very similar and the general graphic style and atmosphere Guerrilla is going for feels like an HD version of Stroggos from Quake 2.
• Enemies feels very alike. Strogg´s are machines mixed with human flesh and Helghast´s are genetically changed humans but when you fight them they feel, and most importantly SOUND alike.
• Leveldesign and mission structure. The way rooms are tied together and mixed with outdoor enviroments and how you go from industrial plants to warehouses. The mission structure is very straight on objective based in both steering you to a big objective that often revolves around taking out an important part of the enemy warmachine.
• The impact of weapons are totally awesome. Quake 2 was mindblowing in 96 when you could feel and see the impact of your weapons on the enemy and their deathanimations was lightyears above the competition. Killzone 2 raises this bar like Q2 did back then.
• The overall colorpalette. A brownish, grey very metallic palette of a hostile planet. Stroggos or Helghan, pretty much the same planet.
• Intros in both games are about the same. Eventually crashlanding you in the middle of enemy territory.

• Both games share the exact same story that follows the first game´s story the same way aswell. Humanitys revenge on the race that tried to take their planet in the first game which takes them to this industrial planet. You are the space marine that needs to get it done.
• The enviroments are pretty much identic in both games. The industrial "built for war" planet feels very similar and the general graphic style and atmosphere Guerrilla is going for feels like an HD version of Stroggos from Quake 2.
• Enemies feels very alike. Strogg´s are machines mixed with human flesh and Helghast´s are genetically changed humans but when you fight them they feel, and most importantly SOUND alike.
• Leveldesign and mission structure. The way rooms are tied together and mixed with outdoor enviroments and how you go from industrial plants to warehouses. The mission structure is very straight on objective based in both steering you to a big objective that often revolves around taking out an important part of the enemy warmachine.
• The impact of weapons are totally awesome. Quake 2 was mindblowing in 96 when you could feel and see the impact of your weapons on the enemy and their deathanimations was lightyears above the competition. Killzone 2 raises this bar like Q2 did back then.
• The overall colorpalette. A brownish, grey very metallic palette of a hostile planet. Stroggos or Helghan, pretty much the same planet.
• Intros in both games are about the same. Eventually crashlanding you in the middle of enemy territory.

The shitty shadows must be universal with deferred shading. :/

I thought of Quake 2 when playing it as well.  Biggest thing for me was the colored lighting, and the way they do the colored lighting.  The Quake 2 engine's big deal was colored lightmaps, Killzone 2's engine's big deal is hundreds of light sources, which they expressed with colored lights.

I agree the themes are pretty similar as well.  Level design can be very similar too.

Killzone 2 is always making you fight along side other computer players, which is very different than Quake 2, and I'm starting to wish FPS games would go back that way.  I'm so tired of being forced to endure low quality cutscenes, unlikable characters, and dumb combat AI.  The feeling of lonliness in games like Doom, Quake, and other early FPS is something I'm starting to miss.

I disagree that the shadows are bad though.  One of the advantages of the engine is the sheer number of shadows stored in the shadow buffer (most engines that use shadow mapping either only use a single cast shadow or store each shadow in a separate file in video memeory, Killzone 2 (and any other deferred rendering engine) stores all shadows in a single buffer file).  Other games that use shadow maps usually only do it for a single source of light (the sun) and often are equally artifact laden as well.  Really to me the shadows are the one thing that makes the game look good in the first place.

"The shitty shadows must be universal with deferred shading. :/

Meh, id is hardly known for their single player experiences (ok, ok, Doom was great, yeah), especially nowadays, so I wouldn't have high expectations for Rage. The worst that can happen with that is to be pleasantly surprised after all. Also, Raven rocks for SP with the right projects (think Jedi Outcast) and Splash Damage may have just surpassed id on multiplayer. So I don't know what's left for id other than technology (I love the Quake Wars engine, too bad it's the only game that used it and id are already moving to new things I probably won't be able to run on this PC despite the recent overhaul, hah).

"Meh, id is hardly known for their single player experiences (ok, ok, Doom was great, yeah), especially nowadays, so I wouldn't have high expectations for Rage. The worst that can happen with that is to be pleasantly surprised after all. Also, Raven rocks for SP with the right projects (think Jedi Outcast) and Splash Damage may have just surpassed id on multiplayer. So I don't know what's left for id other than technology (I love the Quake Wars engine, too bad it's the only game that used it and id are already moving to new things I probably won't be able to run on this PC despite the recent overhaul, hah).

Very interesting input Diamond. Great feedback. Especially for refreshing me some on the technical aspects that I´ve started to slack on over the years.
I am with you and I know exacly what you are talking about when you talk about the "loneliness" of The old school shooters and yeah, i kinda feel I want mroe of that aswell. Especially when you´re companions are often pretty stiff and often just end up screaming "medic...help me up".
Shadows looks bad on characters. I was not nearly clear enough on that. Killzone 2´s shadows looks stunning on the enviroments but i think that they start to flicker and look wierd on characters and especially in close up cutscenes.

Shadows looks bad on characters. I was not nearly clear enough on that. Killzone 2´s shadows looks stunning on the enviroments but i think that they start to flicker and look wierd on characters and especially in close up cutscenes."

Also. you pretty much nailed it with the colored lighting. There´s something about how Killzone 2 handles the lighting on these Industrial environments that really brings my mind to Quake 2. Well said.

Nice write up Jimbo, I have KZ2 but it will be a little while longer yet before I can play it which is driving me insane. There are worse things in the world then being compared to Quake 2 :). I have heard alot about the weird control scheme so hopefully you can either alter it, or it is easy to come to grips with. Also this is the first I have heard about the issue with the poor shadowing effects though and it is disapointing to hear that there is so notable defect in the look of the game.

EDIT: Also I agree with Diamond it would be nice to go back in the FPS time line and not be saddled with a computer partner in every shooter you pick up. They are all fine and good but I like the old style feeling of you against everything else game play that great game like Doom and Quake gave you. It would be nice to have that still in modern games sometimes.

Also. you pretty much nailed it with the colored lighting. There´s something about how Killzone 2 handles the lighting on these Industrial environments that really brings my mind to Quake 2. Well said.

This comparison strikes me as particularly apt since the multiplayer in both games is where it's at.  After playing through the single on both, I had no desire to play through it again (save for speed runs in Q2 and trophies in KZ2).  On the whole, thoughtful analysis.

Now that you mention it, Killzone 2 does remind me of Quake II. Quake II had better characters though.