Its amazing to think that a trailer shown in a video montage
at Sony's E3 2005 Press Conference would be the biggest subject of controversy
before the current generation would even begin. But despite the mass amounts of
pressure put on the development team, Killzone 2 would be destined to be that
game everyone got excited about when that first trailer hit. In short, Killzone
2 is quite possibly the most intense, and thrilling shooter you will find on
the market today. Is it the best? Probably not, but the best is usually
described on what you perceive it to be.
Killzone 2 offers an intense single player campaign that will probably last you
around eight or so hours. While there is definitely some action to be seen
here, the campaign falls short in a lack of memorable characters and an
interesting story. I wouldn't say that the story non-existent, because there
are certainly some decent story elements to be found here. It's disappointing
because the Killzone universe is one of the most interesting seen in a first
person shooter and it would have been great to really dig deep in the struggle
between the ISA and the Helghast.
You will play as Sergeant Tomas Sevchenko, who will go simply by the name of
"Sev." Accompanied Sev are three other members of the Alpha Squad,
one of which a returning character from the first Killzone, Rico. The game
starts out with you and your squad simply landing on the Helghan surface ready
to do business. From there the story is told through a few cinematic’s, but its
mostly just getting orders on the fly to head out to certain locations to get
stuff done. Because of the short comings in the story, about half way through
the story trys to get all "touchy" with you. And because of the lack
of memorable characters, or really a good enough reason to justify why this war
is going on, it’s kind of hard to really care what’s happening.
But not to dwell on the story to much, the action is the real show here.
Killzone 2 offers a unique cover system that with a click of a button will
attach you to a wall to protect you from incoming fire. From here you can
simply pop out, take some shots, and go right back into cover. The cover is
crucial to your success. The enemy A.I. is phenomenal. You will notice that the
helghast will take cover as well. The fact that they take cover is not what’s
amazing though, if the cover their using starts to deteriorate, they'll take
note of it and find new nearby cover. With that said, if the helgast notice
your behind the same piece of cover over an extended period of time, they'll
attempt to flank you out with grenades. A tactic mind you, that you will come
to find works. The A.I. at times will also try to rush you and your squad.
Making for some on the fly decision making on what action to take. It's also
great to see that the enemy will not just attack you, but your whole squad as
well. This is something that we don’t get to see very often in shooters.
Throughout the campaign you'll also have opportunities to jump into tanks,
drive a fully armed mech, and man a flank gun hundreds of feet in the sky as
you try to defend the ISA fleet in an all out Ariel war. These moments make for
some thrilling and incredible gameplay you soon will not forget.
One thing too also note about Killzone 2 is yes, the visuals. Killzone 2 offers
probably the most impressive display of lighting ever seen in a video game.
From the sun light peeking through the clouds, to the flare your assault rifle
lets off as you unload a magazine on some helghast. But it’s not just the
lighting, the game simply looks incredible. The character models are top notch,
the environments vary and are a sight to see. What’s even more amazing is how
these visuals don't hinder at all during the full scale, 32 player multiplayer
action.
Killzone 2 offers probably one the most addicting and rewarding competitive
multiplayer experiences we have seen in a long time. It's not that it does
anything different from what we have already seen. Its how its presented that
makes it worth spending time on. Instead of just playing one game type per
round, Killzone 2 will through several different game types in ONE round. You
may start the match off with bodycount, your standard team deathmatch. From
there it can go to assassination. Were a player gets selected and the opposing
team has to "assassinate" as the name implies. There’s capture and
hold, which is your standard territories type mode. Search and destroy, were
you plant C4 on a particular location and make it go boom. All of this while
simply never leaving the match.
The multiplayer will offer player classes to try out. These classes are a
medic, who carries a gun that will bring people back up were they have already
fallen, an engineer, who can set up turrets but is limited to a shotgun, assault,
your heavy type class that carries a missile launcher, The tactician,
which can create spawn points for other players to spawn at, rather than all
the way back at the team base. There's the Scout, which uses a cloaking ability that
renders the player nearly invisible. Saboteur, who can take the identity of a
player on the opposing team. But the interesting part about all this is that
everyone starts off as a basic rifleman. Who carries a standard assault rifle
and few grenades. From here you must earn points to unlock the different
classes. This isn’t a bad thing at all as it gives the player a basic
understanding on how everything works before giving them all these unique
ability's. The longevity on the multiplayer comes in being able to upgrade the
classes to newer abilities.
The multiplayer also features a rank system, and awards
players with ribbons and medals for accomplishing certain goals. All this while
playing on 8 different maps that alternate per round. Again, most elements
we've seen before, but its presented in a damn good way. It's fun, its
addictive, you'll simply love it. Hopefully all the crazy killzone 2 talk can
be put to rest . If you have a PS3, then you owe it to yourself to try it out.
Killzone 2, after such a long development cycle is out. Go get it.
