I've decided that since I have been a daily member of this community since launch, it's about time I actually made time to pump something into this fantastic machine that isn't some manifestation of my neurotic response to grammatical errors and typos; a habit which I am slowly relaxing and will hopefully kill as nobody likes a pedant, least of all myself. So to the best of my ability I am going to compose a little daily response to just a few of the updates to the site, be it news, reviews or the goings on in the community in general.

However I would like to backtrack a second if I may to give a shout out to the guys at Bomb Should Have A Face. Thoroughly enjoying the amount of commitment those guys have, and in seeing that enthusiasm, I really wish I'd been more active a lot sooner than now. My compliments obviously extend to the entire team Giantbomb which should go without question, but I'll move on to something a little more contemporary before I start delving into the XL Quad Bacon Cheese Burger Whopper McSandwich that is giantbomb.com.

Today I'd like to write a little response to the Killzone video - the culprit which demanded most of my attention today on the website, and not just for the hilarious animations.

Killzone on the PS2 was a game that very much confused me. As much as I wanted to love it, the (Jeff nailed it) controls felt pretty floaty. Having gone from nearly 4-figure hours into TimeSplitters 2 with my friends over the years, I was gasping for something more realistic and gritty (and don't get me wrong, I was young enough for the hype by the name of 'Halo Killer' to excite me). However the controls never did feel tight enough to be meaningful, cross-hairs would smoothly recalibrate over gritty, edgy aesthetic which blanketed the experience - a particular feature which for whatever reason, really pissed me off - and it seemed to take forever and a day for the enemy to just die already. Despite this, I stuck with the game, hoping for an improvement before giving in. My last memories of the game were fighting up a hill in what appeared to be a tundra or arctic landscape. This might not actually be the last point I got to but I think the difficulty of that sequence made it a memorable nuisance.

So yes, I caved. I gave up. I raised a white flag, and I pussied out. I don't know if it was the technical prowess of Killzone on my PS2 but I desperately wanted to love the game. Perhaps in some aspects I did, and there were just enough technical faults to the game that pushed me away, I don't know. Part of me thinks had it been an Xbox game (please don't hurt me 'til you've read to the end) it would have been more successful? In the state it was in the game would have benefited immensely from the ability to patch. Perhaps not to eliminate that terrible cross hair, but to fix the glitches and smooth some, if not all of the rough edges.

And then there was that trailer. Killzone 2, with promise of that quality of product in the final game. That day, I lost my virginity and it was not to my girlfriend at the time but to a streaming, low res chain of data output to a 15in 4:3 monitor that was more gorgeous than anything these eyes had laid on. And then I waited...

Waited...

...waited some more...

And then climactic disappointment; Christmas 2006, where I was insanely let down by Papa Sony in that the "Worldwide Launch" would skip the land where the haggis roam free. In my rage, I was gifted an Xbox 360 - best Christmas present ever by the way - as I gleefully bared witness to the dwindling numbers of Sony exclusive titles. I felt it justified, serves the bastards right for ruining a kid's Christmas. Then I paused for a moment, contemplated how much I loved my PS2 and haven't really felt the resentment since, simply pity.

And now that I've seen the game in motion, has it rekindled my lust? I really don't know what to think in all honesty. There is so much there to get me excited: the music seems great, the action seems packed, it looks breathtaking... But I get the feeling that Guerilla have paid quite the homage to Call of Duty this time round? Gone is the slow paced, almost tactical feel of the original and in with some smooth, fast-paced action. With a cover mechanic I believe? Not that that is meant to be some snide remark, they're the best thing since sliced bread. But is it original? Is it even the Killzone any more? And more importantly, if it is not the same Killzone... Well, isn't that a good thing?

I'm on the fence about this one, and I'm gonna say something I'll probably get a lot of shit for. But Killzone 2, if it fulfills the promise of being as good as the 3 (5? ;]) mins of gameplay shown, is going to be Sony's this (..can we ditch the 'next'?) gen "Halo:CE".

Please take this time to note I am not for one second saying it will play like Halo, but that I believe it will take all the mechanics that we've seen before, throw them all together and pull it off.  At the end of the day, that's pretty much what Halo did. It took: first person shooters, great level design (pretty much, at least), reasonably well developed characters, a good plot, weapon balance,  vehicles, good graphics, combat, and threw it all together and the end result was something which pulled it off.

I don't think Killzone 2 will bring anything new to the table and I think we will have seen it all before. Perhaps I am being too judgmental from that gameplay video alone, but I don't think this will have any new tricks up its sleeve.

Part of me hopes I'm wrong and there is something new. Part of me just wants to play a game and have no complaints whatsoever (CoD4 came so damn close). A big part of me feels like dancing because we have eliminated the need for ridiculous cross-hairs.

Killzone 2: "Lee, is that a PSP with Killzone 2's first E3 video playing on repeat in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me?

...a bit of both, honey. A bit of both.


~ Lee

I've decided that since I have been a daily member of this community since launch, it's about time I actually made time to pump something into this fantastic machine that isn't some manifestation of my neurotic response to grammatical errors and typos; a habit which I am slowly relaxing and will hopefully kill as nobody likes a pedant, least of all myself. So to the best of my ability I am going to compose a little daily response to just a few of the updates to the site, be it news, reviews or the goings on in the community in general.

However I would like to backtrack a second if I may to give a shout out to the guys at Bomb Should Have A Face. Thoroughly enjoying the amount of commitment those guys have, and in seeing that enthusiasm, I really wish I'd been more active a lot sooner than now. My compliments obviously extend to the entire team Giantbomb which should go without question, but I'll move on to something a little more contemporary before I start delving into the XL Quad Bacon Cheese Burger Whopper McSandwich that is giantbomb.com.

Today I'd like to write a little response to the Killzone video - the culprit which demanded most of my attention today on the website, and not just for the hilarious animations.

Killzone on the PS2 was a game that very much confused me. As much as I wanted to love it, the (Jeff nailed it) controls felt pretty floaty. Having gone from nearly 4-figure hours into TimeSplitters 2 with my friends over the years, I was gasping for something more realistic and gritty (and don't get me wrong, I was young enough for the hype by the name of 'Halo Killer' to excite me). However the controls never did feel tight enough to be meaningful, cross-hairs would smoothly recalibrate over gritty, edgy aesthetic which blanketed the experience - a particular feature which for whatever reason, really pissed me off - and it seemed to take forever and a day for the enemy to just die already. Despite this, I stuck with the game, hoping for an improvement before giving in. My last memories of the game were fighting up a hill in what appeared to be a tundra or arctic landscape. This might not actually be the last point I got to but I think the difficulty of that sequence made it a memorable nuisance.

So yes, I caved. I gave up. I raised a white flag, and I pussied out. I don't know if it was the technical prowess of Killzone on my PS2 but I desperately wanted to love the game. Perhaps in some aspects I did, and there were just enough technical faults to the game that pushed me away, I don't know. Part of me thinks had it been an Xbox game (please don't hurt me 'til you've read to the end) it would have been more successful? In the state it was in the game would have benefited immensely from the ability to patch. Perhaps not to eliminate that terrible cross hair, but to fix the glitches and smooth some, if not all of the rough edges.

And then there was that trailer. Killzone 2, with promise of that quality of product in the final game. That day, I lost my virginity and it was not to my girlfriend at the time but to a streaming, low res chain of data output to a 15in 4:3 monitor that was more gorgeous than anything these eyes had laid on. And then I waited...

Waited...

...waited some more...

And then climactic disappointment; Christmas 2006, where I was insanely let down by Papa Sony in that the "Worldwide Launch" would skip the land where the haggis roam free. In my rage, I was gifted an Xbox 360 - best Christmas present ever by the way - as I gleefully bared witness to the dwindling numbers of Sony exclusive titles. I felt it justified, serves the bastards right for ruining a kid's Christmas. Then I paused for a moment, contemplated how much I loved my PS2 and haven't really felt the resentment since, simply pity.

And now that I've seen the game in motion, has it rekindled my lust? I really don't know what to think in all honesty. There is so much there to get me excited: the music seems great, the action seems packed, it looks breathtaking... But I get the feeling that Guerilla have paid quite the homage to Call of Duty this time round? Gone is the slow paced, almost tactical feel of the original and in with some smooth, fast-paced action. With a cover mechanic I believe? Not that that is meant to be some snide remark, they're the best thing since sliced bread. But is it original? Is it even the Killzone any more? And more importantly, if it is not the same Killzone... Well, isn't that a good thing?

I'm on the fence about this one, and I'm gonna say something I'll probably get a lot of shit for. But Killzone 2, if it fulfills the promise of being as good as the 3 (5? ;]) mins of gameplay shown, is going to be Sony's this (..can we ditch the 'next'?) gen "Halo:CE".

Please take this time to note I am not for one second saying it will play like Halo, but that I believe it will take all the mechanics that we've seen before, throw them all together and pull it off.  At the end of the day, that's pretty much what Halo did. It took: first person shooters, great level design (pretty much, at least), reasonably well developed characters, a good plot, weapon balance,  vehicles, good graphics, combat, and threw it all together and the end result was something which pulled it off.

I don't think Killzone 2 will bring anything new to the table and I think we will have seen it all before. Perhaps I am being too judgmental from that gameplay video alone, but I don't think this will have any new tricks up its sleeve.

Part of me hopes I'm wrong and there is something new. Part of me just wants to play a game and have no complaints whatsoever (CoD4 came so damn close). A big part of me feels like dancing because we have eliminated the need for ridiculous cross-hairs.

Killzone 2: "Lee, is that a PSP with Killzone 2's first E3 video playing on repeat in your pocket, or are you just pleased to see me?

...a bit of both, honey. A bit of both.


~ Lee

*HOLY WALL OF TEXT* *glances over a couple of points*: well about bringing new things to the table...considering Dead Space was one of my top five games of 08, i don't think new unique stuff is really all that important...it really isn't. The general consensus seems to be that although K2 doesn't bring anything new to the table, its highly polished and gets the things it does right. 

No game now a days thats a first person shooter will 'bring something new to the table' because its all been seen before. All they can hope to do is do what they do well.

I think Killzone 2 will be a very good game but you can't even compare it to Halo.  Halo was the first FPS game on consoles where I wasn't thinking "I'd rather be playing this on my PC" the whole time.  It standardized a lot of control schemes and multiplayer stuff.  It sold Xboxes.  It was a big deal.

From what I'm seeing review wise I think KZ2 will be a very good game but I don't see how it could possibly have the impact that Halo had.  It doesn't seem like it is too far ahead of Call of Duty, Gears, or even Halo 3 for that matter to cause as much of a stir.

While I do agree that quite a number of games recently haven't brought anything new, I would point out that it's only been very recently (in terms of the history of gaming) that the cover mechanic has been implemented in FPS games. To say that there will be absolutely nothing new to add to the genre would be quite a premature thing to say at this point, with all the powers devs have these days there is room for loads of new ideas or approaches to FPS.

In recent memory, Battlefield: Bad Company stands out due to how much stuff you can actually, rather dynamically, blow up/destroy. You could argue that Red Faction started that whole scene but in that case it was very much scripted. Whereas in Bad Company if you see something, chances are it is possible to level it.