Somewhat  souring my experience with Killzone 2 was the admittedly weak narrative running throughout the entire single-player campaign. If you’ve played the game, like myself, you probably harbour an underground loathing for Rico that occasionally forces you bolt upright covered in a cold sweat during deep sleeps. The only redeeming factors Killzone 2 has as a story come from the “antagonists”, the Helghast, a mysterious race whom we’re assumed to hate but never quite told why. It’s no wonder; my research concludes that they’re the bloody good guys!

A friend of mine recently put me on the trail of the Killzone 2 backstory. Not only was I blown away that Sony’s biggest shooter actually had a deep history, I was actually dumbfounded as to why Guerilla opted not to use any of it. The plot is good and it’s a shame Guerilla didn’t put more into it. The glorious technical feats achieved in Killzone 2 could have been seriously underlined if they’d been given more context. Like the war itself; I just assumed the Helghast were rotten aliens trying to take over the world. I never once questioned the motives behind my foul-mouthed team. I guess that’s for the best given that the ISA are rotten, raging hypocrites.

According to Guerilla’s story, the Helghast aren’t bad guys at all. To put it all into simple terms, the Helghast are a corporation formed on Earth; an offshoot of the United Colonial Nations whose objective is to inhabit new planets due to the breakdown of Earth. When six UCN colony ships go missing, financial crisis takes place and the government are forced to auction off two newly discovered planets: Vekta and Helghan. The Helghast buy both of the planets and settle on Vekta. As time progresses, the Helghast find industry by using Vekta as a hub for passing ships - charging for the privilege. Jealous of the Helghans profits, the UCN send the ISA to cope with the problem via force. The Helghans are forced to surrender and are banished from Vekta, leaving their other acquisition - the planet Helghan - the only other habitat for them to live on.

Learning of this had a real unexpected effect on me. Throughout the entirety of the two Killzone games we are made to feel like the American stereotype action-hero douches are the good guys. When in fact they are the fucking bad guys. And it got me thinking you know - Guerilla could really make a hook by allowing us to play as the Helghast. It’s very rare that you get to play a war game from the “other point of view”.

In the case of Killzone though, the “other point of view” would not only be interesting, it would actually be better. There’s no denying that the Helghast’s brief appearances throughout Killzone 2 are the highlights. Imagine where Guerilla could take that - a video game not only technically pleasing but also narratively convincing too.

Here we have a race of people who have been extradited from there own homeland through the jealousy of a bigger corporation. The potential for amazing narrative is high, and it’s something I hope Guerilla will have in mind for the inevitable follow-up of Killzone 2.

Please let me play as the Helghast, Guerilla. They’re the people I care about, not fucking Rico.

Ya I don't care about the game's story. I'm just here to shoot fools.

You're not the first person to bring this up, by far.  I agree, maybe they should make Killzone 3 entirely from the perspective of the Helghast, or release a DLC expansion with a new SP campaign.  Not only does the backstory describe the Helghast as the good guys, but they're the most destincitve design of KZ2 (even if it's completely ripped off Jin-Roh).

I always find it weird when they go to great lengths to create a fleshed-out story, and then don't actually make use of it. What a waste.

Have you ever played TIE Fighter?

This is kind of the same reason why I wish someone would have the cojones to release a game where I got to play as a Nazi soldier. Not only would that be the only World War 2 game worth playing since Call of Duty 2 but it'd actually have some kind of underlaying moral current instead of just 'FUCK YEAR WAR!' which is what we normally get.

Yeah, it was hard to care about the game's story, but you kinda felt that there was something wrong with your motivations after that last speech.
It would be very interesting to play as the Helghast, but I think we'd first need another Killzone with a more fleshed out story in the ISA point of view. Right now it's not possible to care about any of the sides, because they are way too bland.
Then again, it's possible that we'll see a "third side", because Sev might now be conscious that both sides are wrong.

"Then again, it's possible that we'll see a "third side", because Sev might now be conscious that both sides are wrong."

well, they had to leave something for Killzone 3 :P

They started it.

"Ya I don't care about the game's story. I'm just here to shoot fools."

"They started it."

Not that I care about the story of Killzone but its almost more interesting to play as the ISA if there the bad guys, in concept at least, since we always play the good guys. Someone let me play as the "Nazi's" in WW2, let me see the german soldiers and why they are fighting and watch them cry when there buddy's are shot.

good points

"This is kind of the same reason why I wish someone would have the cojones to release a game where I got to play as a Nazi soldier. Not only would that be the only World War 2 game worth playing since Call of Duty 2 but it'd actually have some kind of underlaying moral current instead of just 'FUCK YEAR WAR!' which is what we normally get."

Starship Troopers, sir.  Starship Troopers.  Every time someone roots for the humans, I just sit back and giggle at their inate stupidity.

cos there noobs its ur duty

Because it is of other FPSes such as Halo.  Halo being a mediocre game, has been cloned more than any fighting clone has been invented.   As a result, the story would be inherently screwed up.

"Starship Troopers, sir.  Starship Troopers.  Every time someone roots for the humans, I just sit back and giggle at their inate stupidity."

It seems that the first Killzone had a lot more story, but people didn't seem to care. So this time they just did a regular shooter.

I'm sympathetic for the Helghast because they're the badass gasmasked Brits against the gung-ho American gimps.

Actually, the humans are the Third Reich, and the bugs are the Jews.  Give it to the Americans to fuck up a great book."

"Diamond said:

"jakob187 said:

"Starship Troopers, sir.  Starship Troopers.  Every time someone roots for the humans, I just sit back and giggle at their inate stupidity."

I only ever saw the movie.  Didn't the bugs attack completely unprovoked?  Helghast are former humans living a jilted existence.  Kicked out of their homes and forced to live on an incredibly shitty planet for the profit of the ISA.  They have an excuse.  Even if the humans were beating the shit out of the bugs and had all that war propaganda, it was justified."

Actually, the humans are the Third Reich, and the bugs are the Jews.  Give it to the Americans to fuck up a great book."

"HandsomeDead said:

"jakob187 said:

"Diamond said:

"jakob187 said:

"Starship Troopers, sir.  Starship Troopers.  Every time someone roots for the humans, I just sit back and giggle at their inate stupidity."

I only ever saw the movie.  Didn't the bugs attack completely unprovoked?  Helghast are former humans living a jilted existence.  Kicked out of their homes and forced to live on an incredibly shitty planet for the profit of the ISA.  They have an excuse.  Even if the humans were beating the shit out of the bugs and had all that war propaganda, it was justified."

Actually, the humans are the Third Reich, and the bugs are the Jews.  Give it to the Americans to fuck up a great book."

Paul Verhoeven is Dutch."

Right, and Columbia Tristar is not...and neither is the main audience that this movie was geared to bring into the theatre.  =  /"

"Diamond said:

"jakob187 said:

"Starship Troopers, sir.  Starship Troopers.  Every time someone roots for the humans, I just sit back and giggle at their inate stupidity."

I only ever saw the movie.  Didn't the bugs attack completely unprovoked?  Helghast are former humans living a jilted existence.  Kicked out of their homes and forced to live on an incredibly shitty planet for the profit of the ISA.  They have an excuse.  Even if the humans were beating the shit out of the bugs and had all that war propaganda, it was justified."

Actually, the humans are the Third Reich, and the bugs are the Jews.  Give it to the Americans to fuck up a great book."

If you want a game that lets you see both sides of the story go play Halo 2.

because they dress like darth vader. we all know deep down inside vader was a good guy, but we needed luke to kick his ass first. 

Thanks for the spoiler in your title. Now the game is ruined for me when I manage to get it.

"HandsomeDead said:

"Well, no, but he is the director and so had the creative control on the project. That being said, he never even read the book."

Never FINISHED reading the book.  Research, sir.

bluestudy said:

"How'd you come up with that theory? doesn't the fact that the bugs fight at all completly destroy that as a possiblility? and in all the essays or reviews i've read of this book your the first person i've ever heard comment on the bugs representing jews."

Robert Heinlein has always been vocal about this fact, and even said so on the 2-disc special edition of Starship Troopers on DVD.  Otherwise, the information is out there.  They are more representative of the victims of fascism than anything else, but he has personally compared them to the Jews in the fact that the humans are slaughtering them for no reason other than the bugs defending themselves against the fascist human race.

"

@ PureRok.... There's no spoiler here, this is all based on common knowledge (you know the objective is to kill Helghast right?) and stuff that can be read on Killzone.com.

i thought it was the other way round. Heinlen originally wrote this book as a defence of his political standpoint, the book being militaristic and more positive towards military power while veerhouven and the scriptwriter adapted the script towards a more subtle ironisation & critisism of american imperialism, although the movie is portrayed as almost part of the "worlds" propaganda,  the pointers to who are the real bad guys are quite obvious in the movie.  Especially if you view it with a post 9/11 viewpoint.

lol, Purerok... Killzone 2 isn't ruined for you if you know the storyline...
even if somebody told you the ending... the real meat of the game is the shooting, the graphics, and the multiplayer...

"PureRok said:

"Thanks for the spoiler in your title. Now the game is ruined for me when I manage to get it."

that is absolutely not a spoiler, really. there is never a point at which you go, omg they are the good guys, just the whole time you think, okay it feels wierd that we're the ones invading their planet. "

You hate them because they tried to invade your planet in the first one.

"TwoOneFive said:

"PureRok said:

"Thanks for the spoiler in your title. Now the game is ruined for me when I manage to get it."

that is absolutely not a spoiler, really. there is never a point at which you go, omg they are the good guys, just the whole time you think, okay it feels wierd that we're the ones invading their planet. "

It is too a spoiler. I believe I decide what is a spoiler for myself. If you played the first game you would also think the Helghast are the bad guys. I mean, they were invading the planet of the protagonist. Why does it feel weird that now you're invading theirs after fighting them off? Obviously, you never played the first game."

"You hate them because they tried to invade your planet in the first one."

It's not spoiling anything. You will never learn this by playing through the game.

Dude, the Helghast in the game are totally fascists.  They are bad dudes.  The ISA wants to kill them for money, and they have serious human rights issues.  They are both jerks.  That's what I got out of it at least, that neither side was really the good guys, that they are both just doing it for personal gain.

Killzone 3: Helghan Insurgency

Last game I heard of that tried to give you that level of perspective was Haze. And who really wants another Haze?

"Coltonio7 said:

"They started it."

Yup."

...Glorious technical feats?

"...Glorious technical feats?"

I agree. I've been trying to hunt down the plot for this game and was somewhat impressed. The narrative failings of Killzone 2 are quite phenomenal, and it's only going to get worse over time. Don't get me wrong, Killzone 2's graphical fidelity is second to none right now. Shooting people is a ton of fun. But like Doom 3, once other games start catching up even the most hardcore of fans will have to acknowledge the giant cracks in this single player campaign.

Killzone 2 is not going to age nicely.

My annoyance of Killzone 2 was the lack of any characterization regarding...everyone...
It took a loading screen to tell me that Garza was a known for his jokes, I didn't think a couple lines about someones mother qualified as an actual joke. There was also another guy on the team with a bandanna, his defining character quality was that he swore.

And then there was Rico....The Jar Jar Binks of angry Space Marines.

Wow that makes so much more sense, the opening speech by Visari and the ending gave me kind of lost as to what was going on. Especially the intro vid, Visari says about the war they (as in the ISA) started. I was like didn't they invade those guys in the last game? The last 5 minutes really made me want the game to have a better story because it just seemed out of place, now I know Killzone could have had an epic story but they didn't use it. The biggest complaint any critic had about the game was the weak single player campaign story and looking at the stuff on the web they could have blown people away with it.