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    Killzone 2

    Game » consists of 8 releases. Released Feb 27, 2009

    Take the fight to the Helghast in this first person shooter from Guerrilla Games.

    mcbonjon's Killzone 2 (PlayStation 3) review

    Avatar image for mcbonjon

    Killzone 2 Review - Fight the good fight.

    I think it’s hard to imagine anyone not hearing of Killzone 2.  For the few of you that haven’t been following the game, here’s a quick rundown. Killzone 2 was first shown to the public back at E3 2005 to show what was coming out and what the Playstation 3 could do.  When that was shown, there were a lot of talks whether the footage that was shown was in game or pre-rendered. After that, the game went silent until E3 2007 and 2008, where more trailers were shown, was actually in game. Still, the debate went on and some people thought that the game wasn’t as impressive because it was still being compared to the original trailer or that the footage wasn’t in game. However, the popularity grew and was now being anticipated by gamers and the public. All right, now you’re caught up. Now it’s 2009 and Killzone 2 is now upon us and I can safely say that Guerilla has been redeemed from the first Killzone by providing us with a phenomenal FPS.

    Killzone 2 follows after the first Killzone from the PS2 and Killzone Liberation for the PSP. Players take control of Tomas Sevchenko, or Sev, who is the second in command of Alpha Team along with Dante Garza (Garza), Shawn Natko (Natko), and Rico Velasquez (Rico). The ISA believe that the Helgast spirit is broken and launch a full assault on the Helgast’s home planet, Helgan. Alpha Team’s objective is to secure the Visari. Players don’t have to have played the previous games to understand the story, but for those that have, they’ll see the connections and recurring characters from those games. The story feels like a campy action movie, but it works well for the game. To me, the story falters a bit around the end of the game and seems to try and make you care about the characters. Since the characters aren’t very well developed, it’s hard to care.

    The story isn’t the focus of the game; that belongs to the shooting. The gunplay is excellent and is non-stop. There is the standard assortment of weapons (shotgun, assault rifle, sniper, etc.) along with a few unique ones. One of which is the Bolt Rifle, which nails enemies to the wall and then the bolt explodes. However, my favourite weapon is the Lightning Gun, which just sprays lightning around and shocks enemies. Even though it’s only used for a short period of time, it’s a great weapon and is one of the most powerful weapons out of any FPS. You can only carry one primary weapon at a time, and since there isn’t a fresh supply of ammo to be found for some weapons, there’s a lot of weapon swapping during the game.

    One addition to Killzone 2 is a cover system. How this is done is by holding the crouch button (L2 by default), Sev will snap to cover, and will let go if the button is let go. When in cover, the game stays in first person. When in cover, Sev can move side to side to shoot or above. Fine shots can still be pulled off, but it may seem weird on what has to be done. It’s almost like playing musical chairs with your fingers. However, after a few attempts, this becomes easy to pull off. This system works well and is a necessity to stay alive on the higher difficulties.

    I know there’s been a lot of talk about how the game controls, and I have to say it works well. The controls have a bit of weight to them, so it feels realistic. That means there’s no quick turning like Resistance 2 or Unreal Tournament III. There’s also Sixaxis control in the game, but it’s only put to minimal use like turning a valve or keeping the controller steady when using the sniper rifle. They do take a bit of getting used to, but if they’re not to your liking, you can adjust the sensitivity in the options. I personally found the controls to work well, but the Sixaxis feels tacked on unnecessary [UPDATE: There’s a new patch released, Patch 1.20, which tweaks the controls to make then more responsive].

    The game has three difficulties available at the start: Recruit, Trooper, and Veteran. On the veteran difficulty, the game took me 8 hours to complete. Your mileage may vary, but I’d say the campaign would last 8 – 12 hours. After finishing the game, a fourth difficulty is unlocked called Elite. No matter what difficulty is picked, the AI is no slouch and will put up a fight. The Helgast will make your life difficult with their numbers and by flanking, finding cover, and flushing you out with grenades. This may not be very advanced, but it get the job done and will keep players on their toes. Fighting the Helgast is never a dull moment in either the single player or playing skirmish.

    Since the single player is short, but entertaining rollercoaster ride, the thing that will keep players coming back is the multiplayer. This is, by the way, the best multiplayer I’ve experienced since Call of Duty 4. There are two modes available: Skirmish and Online. The multiplayer supports up to 32 players online and 16 players for skirmish. There are the standard multiplayer modes: search and destroy, body count (basically team deathmatch), assassination, capture and hold, and search and retrieve (which is one flag CTF).

    While this may not sound exciting, and the modes can be played on their own, the real fun is when they’re all combined together in a mode called Warfare. How this works is, there’s five minutes for each mode (by default, this can be customized) and when one mode is done, there’s a short interval and then flows right into the next mode. The match is over when either team (Helgast or ISA) has the most points. The modes are picked at random, so it keeps players guessing. This is great because it prevents players from camping at a spot and keeps them on the move.

    While players are fighting online, experience points are being earned and their rank is being raised. Starting out, players are at the Private ranking and can work their way up to General. As players rank up, they’ll unlock new weapons and classes such as medic, saboteur, and more. Also, if the player fulfills certain requirements during the match, heal five players as the medic for instance, they’ll earn ribbons and if 8 are earned, a badge will be earned and a new ability will be available. Some abilities could be more ammo and grenades, drop health packs as a medic, and more, There’s a lot of depth to this experience system and will keep players busy to unlock everything there is.  Experience points are only earned online, not in skirmish mode. Skirmish is great for learning the maps and seeing what has been unlocked.

    With all that said, the thing that has caught everyone’s attention is the presentation. Visually, this is one of the most striking games out on the PS3. The thing that sells the visuals is the atmosphere. Helgan feels like a dark world filled with despair and hatred. There’s dust flying all over the place with some powerful winds and depravation all over, plus lightning in the sky makes one wonder, how could anyone live on this planet? The models look great in the game, even though the Helgast don’t have much variety to them, but they’re easy to identify though thanks to their red glowing eyes. The texture work is well done, with a few spots that look a little low resolution and there’s some minor frame rate drops. The most disappointing thing is since there’s no install on the PS3 hard drive; there are some pauses in order for the game to load. This is annoying when in battle, but thankfully this mostly happens in the quiet sections.

    The sound is another amazing piece of work. Explosions and gunfire sound loud and have a great oomph to them, especially with a subwoofer set to max. The game has support for surround sound and is used in great effect at a specific point in the game. Voice work is cheesy, it goes for some of the dialogue as well, but it suits the tone of a campy, B-Rated action movie. The music, which is in stark contrast to the voices, has this grand epic feel. If you need proof, just listen to the main menu theme. This makes me hope Sony releases a soundtrack CD is stores.

    Overall Killzone 2 is a great FPS in its own right. This may not be the end all be all shooter (is there even such a thing?) and some will still be comparing this to the initial trailer, but who cares? Seriously, if you’re still comparing this to the trailer, there’s something wrong with you. The positives greatly outweigh the negatives here and there's more than enough content here to keep players busy for a long time. Go out and play this game.

    Other reviews for Killzone 2 (PlayStation 3)

      Dazzling technical display that should have been so much more 0

      Killzone 2 reviewed on PlayStation 3 It is generally considered that to criticise something for what it does not do is fallacious. After all, it deserves to be judged on its own merits in isolation from what it may or may not have been, and to do so could prove a disservice to its creators. Killzone 2 is ostensibly a shooting game and what it does, it does pretty well. The control scheme is adeptly tailored to the two stick set-up, its visuals are gloriously bombastic and the action itself is m...

      15 out of 18 found this review helpful.

      Guerrilla Delivers 0

      Killzone 2 probably has one of the most storied histories of any game in the past decade. In its now legendary E3 2005 premiere trailer it became the poster boy for the potential power of the Playstation 3. For the next four years speculation, and hype, or whether or not it could live up to this promise ran wild. Well, the game has finally arrived and I can honestly say that Killzone 2 has set the bar far above for any shooters to follow it on the PS3.You can't start any serious discussion witho...

      4 out of 4 found this review helpful.

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