Killzone 2

 This is definitely Sony's answer to Halo. This doesn't mean Halo is a horrible game or anything, but Microsoft has Halo and now Sony can brag with it's Killzone.

Before going into the technical aspects of the game, I think it's key to discuss the controls and story. The controls, regardless of the endless complaints, are just fine. Anyone complaining about 'stiff controls' should know they could just go into their settings and up their sensitivity for the Y and X axis of their analog sticks. I increased it a tad and it's just fine to me. The turning is a little slower than games such as Call of Duty or Unreal Tournament, but it really adds a bit to the game. You're walking around in armor, you're not going to be able to turn around in a flash. I really hope they don't 'fix' what isn't broken.

The story is just like any other shooter game. It's not that good, but it gets the job done. In other words: it's story is that of a typical shooter. Without ruining anything, there's rescue/extract missions, protect an area missions, and the usual 'kill everything in this area' missions. But really, expecting some ground-breaking story from a shooter is saying that you've never played a shooter. Most of these stories are the same. It's just how they handle the gameplay.

The game really shines in a few key areas: graphics, audio, and gameplay. Starting with the graphics aspect, one of the first things you'll notice is how amazing this game looks and how smooth it runs. The only slow downs you'll encounter is from the loading times in between sections of a level (similar to that of Gears of War or any Halo game). These are only for a split second and have nothing really to do with graphics. This game not only looks good in it's textures and character models, but it has some of the best animations. For instance, shooting an enemy may drop him in what seems like an unscripted death sequence, but sometimes these guys will lay there "dead" and rise back up and start beating you from behind. This is a bit of the gameplay, I know, but the way they fall down and even get back up just looks really good. Another thing you'll notice is the extreme detail to wind, smoke, fog, dust, and lighting. A good example is watching fans shutter lights through them in some of the levels. Probably the only thing ugly about this game is the flamethrower's flame. It's fun to use, but a little bit dull as a flame in a gorgeous game like this.

The audio is really top notch. The developers must have worked a good amount of time perfecting 7.1 audio. Even on a 5.1 system, this game will sound like no-other. Twirling around while enemies flank your backside is seamless. This is one of the few games that my receiver picks up as DTS supported audio. The music is good an doesn't really drown out the action. Excuse me for using Halo as an example again, but the music plays out like the Halo series. You don't really even notice it's there until a huge even is showing up or when you begin fighting a boss. I personally hate music in some games, especially a shooter. But the music in this game is placed perfectly.

As for gameplay, it uses something familiar to us all: the cover system. Games without a cover system today seem a little left behind, unless there's a clean or something to make up for it. This game's cover system is a little unique, as it's similar to Gears of War or Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas, yet it manages to keep you in first person while diving into a wall. There's no camera moving into third person while leaning. I really liked this, as popping up to shoot really felt like I was in the action. Everything else is pretty similar to most of other games. There's a few new things, but mostly it's all similar to the popular shooters today. One thing to note is this game isn't limited to just a few guns. There's plenty of weapons to shoot foes with, such as shotguns, sniper rifles (which has a motion sensor function that actually works), rifles, and electric guns.

Multi player is currently up and down. While the gameplay itself is an amazing experience with 32 players per match, and plenty of players playing the game, the stat system is currently lacking a bit. Hopefully this will be padded out as it's annoying that bot killers have good stats, but again, this wil probably be fixed according to the developers of Killzone 2. There's a good amount of maps to keep you coming back for more, and enough good game modes to keep you here. Hopefully, more DLC (free) will head our way and pave the way for more shooters to keep their content free for their fans.

If you're planning on getting any game this spring, Killzone 2 should be it. This should help sell plenty of PS3's before the end of the year.  
 
Verdict: Buy