Killzone 2

 There are games that I buy when they first come out, games that I can afford or dont have time to buy when they first comes out, and games that I just dont want when they first come out. Killzone is the latter of those three. I decided to pick it up now just to give it a go and I am pleasantly surprised. It's actually a bloody good game. It's a lot of fun to play, the shooting is immensely satisfying, the graphics are at times breathtaking and the campaign condensed and excellently paced. It's not perfect; the dialogue is mostly atrocious, there are one or two annoying sections, and it falls prey to something I hate in all first person shooters - boss fights.

I say the dialogue is "mostly" atrocious because the main protagonist (Scolar Visari) played perfectly by Brian Cox actually has very good dialogue and it's delivered flawlessly. Then there's Colonel Radec, also played brilliantly by Sean Pertwee. The ISA (good guys) characters pale in comparison to these two and it makes it hard to really care about their invasion when your teamates are a bunch of contemptible Gears rejects (yes rejects, not good enough even for Gears) and on the opposite side you have Brian Cox giving rousing speeches about blotting out the sky with ash and other such merriment.

Where Killzone really works is making you feel like you are in this soldiers body. The level of immersion is very impressive. Everything has a weight to it, even something as simple as climbing up a ladder. You grip every rung and pull yourself up one at a time. You dont magically float up it. The sound design is excellent at putting you right there as well. With surround sound it was easy to pinpoint every sound around me. In the oudoor levels the ambient noise from the storm never intrudes but it's always there and it sounds right, as if that's how loud it should be. There's are little things and to some they might seem trivial but I think this is the kind of polish that seperates good games these days.

A quick word about the graphics. Most of the time, I didn't really notice them. They weren't so good that I ever stopped to look around. I think the game is so dark that it's hard to be really impressed with all the physical models in the game. The lighting and depth of field however was always exceptional and this was exemplified on the train level. All the different rapid changes in lighting was spot on and the physics engine also had it's best showing during this section with all the tarpaulin flapping in the wind. These things combined I felt justified the visual hype. Apart from Uncharted 2, I haven't seen anything as good as that short section of Killzone 2. It's a shame the rest of the game didn't get to show off what the engine is clearly capable of.

So, very much enjoyed. Anyone who likes first person shooters and has a PS3 should play this.