Killzone 2

Story: You play Sev - a special forces grunt who's at the frontlines of an operation to take down the dictator for the Helgast planet, who's violent and extreme ways have made him an unacceptable risk to the univers..

To put it short the Helgast is pretty much a mix of evil commies and Nazis with British accent and low IQ's.. and the game's story follow you trough the war and the fall of the dictator..

Gameplay: Killzone 2 is a fairly liniar first person shooter - you aim, you shoot, you reload and take on the next dude..

There is a cover mechanic that you will need to use at times that sadly doesn't work very well..

Anyway you'll mostly find yourself along with fellow soldiers trying to capture enemy points on foot, but there are also brief segments of other gameplay ( vehicle/mech/starship gunner )

It features plenty of weapons and ammo, but you are limited to carry only one at a time other than your near worthless sidearm..

Pros: The game looks good and the sound is great - and many of the scenes have a certain largeness to them that makes you smile..

The story, while not too deep, keeps you interested and weapons are generally nice to use and do their job well.. and the mech scene while brief is awesome 

The mood is also great and you'll see your share of nasty sewers filled with bugs and spiders to narrow industrial sidestreets and slum filled with enemies.. 

Cons: the game have been hyped eversince the first trailer hit many years ago - and it does NOT live up to that hype..

Further more it's copying too much from Gears of War and Call of Duty than it should - it never really feels new and when you get virtually the same train mission as in Gears of War 1 and with roughly the same team then it becomes a bit iffy

Another downside is that the gamepace and combat is very simular to the Call of Duty games, but the control is not - overall the control is slugish andslow and the button layout is downright dumb with very little options for editing..

The AI isn't bad, but the hole game is really scripted and it's the typical you aim they duck into cover - you stop aiming and they magicly know and pop up shooting - in the long run it start feeling a little fake

The game also trows a lot of suff at you from angles you aren't covering - so you often miss out of story parts or find you attacked from behind despite you just cleared that area.

The levels while moody also leaves some to be desired, the game isn't that long and the areas you see are nice but it really begs for more interesting areas that just never show - that is a shame

And finally the ending is not an ending at all - and while I won't post any spoilers I will say that it's in dire need of somekind of conclusion.. and based on how long it took them to make this game I fear we have to wait long to see how it all turns out..

Overall: Killzone 2 is a good game - there's no denying that - but it's not perfect and the liniar gameplay and predictable AI does drag the experience down from what it could have been..

It is NOT a Gears of War or Halo killer, but it is a very nice addition to the genre..

The control system had me pissed at times and even though I eventually got used to it after some editting, it never felt really natural and the aiming and covering I would have used ended up exchanged with going forward guns blazing because that's the only way that really works..

I had a good time with the game and most of my frustration comes from what could have been used rather than what was used..

If you like a good sci fi shooter, then try the demo and if you can live with the controls then it's not a bad purchase at all.. just don't expect too much from it - it does not deliver more than the very basic in a very polished way

Overall a good game that while a tad short is worth a purchase for fans of the genre - 4 stars from me