So in preparation for Shadow Fall is it worth playing Killzone 2 and 3?

I can pick up these two titles for dirt cheap but are they worth going through for the story? Killzone 1 was a travesty so i decided not to follow the series after that but looking at Shadow Fall i am thinking of giving the series a second chance.

l would say you wouldn't need to play Killzone 2 and 3 in preparation for Shadow Fall since the Killzone series is popular for its multiplayer. There is still a small community who both 2 and 3 online if you want to play multiplayer. The campaigns of both titles are good but obviously they are a little generic and the story events which takes place in both games will be irrelevant to Shadow Fall as it is a separate story.

But if you have time to kill l would recommend playing Killzone 2 and 3 since they are beautifully polished shooters.

Definitely !

Yup. I enjoyed 2&3. I thought the 3rd was the best in the series.

Well, while quantity wise, telling from the Killzone site, it's pretty good on that front, but the way the stories are told qualitatively in the games is pretty dull with somewhat dumb dialogue, and the characters aren't great, but they're OK. I'd say they're likable enough, at least some of them. Gameplay wise, you should definitely play them. Three was great, but it was one of those games that you play, and by the end of the year, when it comes to game of the year, you would have totally forgot about it to even consider it, even if it was worth a nomination or two.

The point isn't about awards, I'm just saying as great as the game was, it was kind of forgettable in a sense. I'd say yes, you should definitely play them before Shadow Fall if you're interested, but just remember you're not going to get something amazing from a story perspective. Killzone 2's a superb game, and Killzone 3's great. The overall story of Killzone is actually interesting, I just wish they did a better job at telling it in the games. Shadow Fall won't have cutscenes, it'll be one of those that has you in first person the entire time; I hope that helps it.

Something cool I think for those that haven't played two and three is that Killzone 3 starts directly after the ending of two (though there's a small training section before), and so it'll kind of feel as if it's just one large game. Awkwardly though, some characters aren't in three that were in two, and the voice actors are changed other than Rico, while new characters are brought in that aren't developed all that well. Killzone 3 lacks some stuff that a sequel should, though I can't quite pinpoint all the the little details.

If story is all that really matters to you, you should probably just read up on it instead of playing the games, but I would recommend playing them.

No. I barely made my way through KZ2 because the aiming controls felt really awful.

I got about half way through KZ3, which if I recall felt like an improvement over KZ2, but I ended up becoming too bored with the game to continue.

Those two games are also painfully generic as well.

I guess it comes down to whether or not you enjoy Call of Duty campaigns. The campaign in this very similar to them except it has a sci fi setting but gameplay wise there isn't much of the sci-fi added in like say Gears of War or Halo has.

@juzie: Yeah, that's kind of true, though I think Killzone feels different than Call of Duty, at least certainly when compared to most other shooters that are pretty much like-for-like control wise. It has a certain weight to it that many shooters don't, and it has it's own little unique things, like a cover mechanic that works fine (though you may not use it too often, or you might, it depends), and in three there's a slide. It's not entirely unique now, but it does enough different things to make it feel different than Call of Duty. The controls are also different. Sorry for the bold letters, I don't know what's up with the site when I sometimes do that; it wasn't intentional.

@ntm said:

This is quite accurate, except I wouldn't even say the characters are OK. They're just boring and barely fleshed out whatsoever, and seriously, fuck Rico.

2 has a fantastic campaign, but the movement is something that takes a little getting used to. 3 is a fun game with a pretty poor story but the core gameplay is great and it's still easily one of the PS3's best looking games. The campaign in 3 has a really poor ending and it's super short even by modern shooter standards. I took my time and beat it in just over five hours.

Killzone 2 was very underwhelming for me. I just kind of trudged through it so I could declare victory. It was miles better than the original game, but lagged quite a ways behind contemporary shooters. I never played 3, but I suspect it's a similar game.

@bisonhero: To say the least, I thought the development of the characters in two were slightly better than what was seen in three, and I somewhat liked Evelyn; Garza, and Natko.

I keep trying to play Killzone 2 and it's super buggy and completely busted, at least in the campaign. I've had scenarios straight-up not load, horrible hitch-ups and awful framerate issues...it's a mess. There seem to be cool things there but I don't know if I'll ever finish it. Also the load times are AWWWWWFULLLLL

KZ2 was fun in the time it was released and I didn't enjoy KZ3 all that much. In retrospect, I think the single player campaigns in both games are mediocre. The plot is generic, Rico is the fucking worst video game character, the guns are of your every day variant, and the combat scenarios are run of the mill.

Killzone 2 is excellent and one of the hardest FPS's of the generation, the last boss is superb. I guess the storyline leaves something to be desired but they do really well with art design in a blandish color palette.

I would probably be more excited for Shadow Fall if I didn't play 2 and 3, more-so 3

No don't. Or else you will meet a guy named Rico. And those games just didn't do it for me. The weird feel to the gun movement. It just felt bad, didn't help gameplay wise when you had enemies who were bullet sponges.

Ummmm maybe. I rather liked Killzone 2 and appreciated what it was trying to do with the weighty feel. My favourite shooters are the super twitchy ones like Quake and UT, but Killzone did something different enough to be appealing on its own merits. I love the way the handle the sniper rifle! Never played 3 because my PS3 was busted when it came out, although I did try the MP beta with a move controller, I think :P

I would just perhaps be concerned about getting burned out on the series by the time you get to Shadow Fall. Shadow Fall does have a different aesthetic, but the look of Killzone 2 and 3 (which I love) is just so damn oppressive.

Killzone 2 was pretty good, but Killzone 3 was just a bore.

I think Shadowfall is a spin off, so I doubt you would really be missing much without playing the other games.

@jimmyfenix: Depends on your preferences in shooters. I went back to KZ2 recently as I was considering a shadowfall pre-order. My issues with 2 were:

1. Bad controls (unresponsive and slow once moving - See Space Marine for good "heavy" controls)

2. Really narrow field of view (it made me very motion sick, it feels like you are looking at the world through binoculars).

3. Dark (difficult to see what is going on in the scene, ended up running around areas pressed against the wall to find hallways you are supposed to go down).

4. Boring encounter design (Enemies mostly stay behind cover, wave based fighting, lacks any exciting action or stealth element).

It was probably seemed better in 2008/09. Kind of like Uncharted 1 in 2007.

I really liked 2 in its day, and 3 is just fantastic.

They are enjoyable games but not for the story. I think half the people here have mentioned Rico and for a reason. He is maybe the worst character in shooter history yet he is the only character to be in every Killzone game up to this point, even the PSP one. I just don't understand what the developers see in him. Overall, though, the stories have so much potential but it is just all terribly wasted. It's a brilliant concept that could really flourish under a talented writer, but up until now the whole thing has just been awful from a story perspective. The gameplay is decent but nothing special. As others have said, 2 had issues with controller latency that made aiming a bit of a chore. Plus the game follows more of a Halo route on the control front. Unless you are sniping iron sights aren't required, and as such they are put onto the R3 button not a trigger. The encounters can feel very Call of Duty, but the actual shooting mechanics are much closer to Halo. This series started out as "the Halo killer" and in a lot of ways it never really overcame that. It is a unique game in that sense. It mixes a lot of different styles into its own thing and while it is a very dark and grungy world I think it has a very interesting and well realized artistic direction. So if you want to know the story, just skip them. If you want to see an interesting take on the FPS from a gameplay and setting perspective then give it a whirl.