You had me at "Halo." But then you said "Gears-bye." You KillzOWNED me.
Written: Mar 13 '09 (Updated Mar 13 '09)
Product Rating:
Pros: A great sequel...
Cons: ...which is marred by the fact that the game isn't entirely an original entity.
The Bottom Line: Killzone 2 provides an excellent experience, but does so by borrowing materials. This isn't bad, but it doesn't help matters when the game feels like something you might've already played.
ChromeKiller's Full Review: Killzone 2 for PlayStation 3
Murder is sometimes a necessary evil in the world. People do it to each other all of the time out of vengeance, out of mind, and possibly even out of sheer boredom. As cruel as the act of fatally wounding someone else may be, you just have to know that there's a reason behind it most times. Whether that reason is good or not is to be waged by whoever's involved, and by an arresting officer, and by a judge, and by the jury, the media and all of those people who play the part of spectators on a case by trial basis. Today, Sony and Guerilla Games have reason to kill their own "Halo killer" franchise: Killzone. Back in 2004, this game went on to be hailed as Sony's King of the First-Person Shooter Ring. It was not to be. Yesterday, and for some time now, Guerilla Games have done away with the initial design that made Killzone what it was. Now players are offered something different, and something that we're going to just have to play right now to determine whether this hype-driven sequel stands to go freely, or shall forever rot in a cell next to its sibling and all of the genre's other sinners.
The time is now that Earth's loyal militaristic faction, the ISA, returns the favor that the Helghast spurned on them: by starting a war on Vekta, their home world. Last time the Helghast led an invasion for the crimes committed by humanity. Once human, these Helghast were driven out by war onto the planet of Helghan and have since adapted and evolved into the black-suited, red-eyed glowing masked soldiers that you see before you. A different breed of planet, ISA troops storm this unfriendly environment from the skies. Seeking to capture Emperor Visari, the Helghast leader, and put an end to this miserable war once and for all, it is now in the role of Sergeant Sevchenko, or Sev, you will find yourself dug into a war not on your terms... but on theirs.
Dead and loving it, Guerilla has reconstructed its model of what Killzone once was. And that was? Well, before Killzone was that of a more strategic take on the first-person shooter franchise. You were given a team of four different personalities to help you along the way. Switching between either one these distinctive personalities, who along with them brought their own way of handling the battlefield, it was up to you on how to decide to proceed past every firefight. Killzone 2 dismantles that sort of notion all together. You're Sev. You play as Sev and only Sev. Being yet another game to find inspiration in Gears of War, Killzone 2 adds to its arsenal a shaky cam cover system. You'll be able to run from point to point using vehicles, walls, pillars, barricades, and anything else that would seem viable as a protection point device to cover you from incoming enemy fire. With regenerative health (recovers while you stay out of harm's path) and the possibility to peek around corners shooting from sideways angles and popping up and down to blast bullets in a more traditional pop-n-drop way, perhaps it's not Halo that Killzone 2 is trying to destroy anymore, but rather Gears of War?
While bullets are flying around you and literally cut the wooden board that you're hiding behind in half, there are some objectives for you to follow in the midst of all of this war. While much of the game is filled with killing, killing, and more killing, what else would you expect from a game entitled Killzone 2? But really, Death hasn't signed an exclusive contract with Killzone 2, despite the rumors. You'll also have to travel from placement to placement, defeating airborne attackers through an enemy raid, defending against separate waves of Helghast while stuck in the center of a blockaded position, and driving bullets/explosives down their throats too from the seat of a tank and a robotic mech at certain points in the game. Yes, these segments involve bloodshed, but pairing in the occasional variation in enemy (including hovering robots, giant insects, and fearsomely enormous armored bosses, referred to as the 'Heavy') and utilizing quick and easy SIXAXIS motioning (tilting the controller sideways to either setup a bomb or to rotate a wheel), and you have yourself some distractions outside of Death's single-layered doorstep. Open that door wide open, however, and you'll find quite a collection of weaponry sitting right behind it. Shotguns, machineguns, flamethrowers, grenade and rocket launchers are some of the typical arsenal that you'd expect to appear in such a game - and they do, but then so does a lightning gun. When you're faced with having to blast regenerative voltaic bolts upward to knock down a container and stunning a Heavy from further causing your demise, it's electric.
Multiplayer gaming is a huge fashion trend in the first-person shooter genre. Who has the best outfits and who has the tackiest is what gamers gab about on and on. Killzone 2 offers something the same as what you know, but also something fairly unique to its identity that may just be able to keep you continuously entranced. Up to 32 players can hop on board to become either an agent of the ISA or one for the Helghast team. Grinded into a game type known as "Warzone," other players and you will be on opposite sides of the team whilst playing through and switching between various modes of gameplay. Across five separate gameplay formats, at first you may find yourself in Search and Destroy, which has a portion of the team effort covering a marker-led point so that the enemy doesn't blow it up, while the other half is trying to do the same to your guarded goal line. Next up down the line you could end up in Search and Retrieve, a Capture the Flag-like game of taking items on the map to their proper destination. Initiating in Body Count afterward, you'd be in a Team Deathmatch frame of mind, while Assassination coming right after would lock down both of your teams for vying to kill a randomly generated player on the map. Whether your entire team can defend that person or eliminate the one on the other team is important for victory. Capture and Hold may be your last stop, where it's up to the team to run around the map to where the marker shows. Holding down and defending three different locations is the whole point, and a hard one as it's difficult to do so while everyone on the team is split up and frantically overcrowding one spot while another one may not be quite as balanced. Along with an experience system-based ranked settings that you'll achieve by completing certain actions (planting bombs, healing allies, etc.) and winning the greater combinations of games in this multiplayer shuffle, you'll be rewarded with special abilities (like that of disguising yourself in the skin of your enemy) in a certain fashion of multiplayer gaming that's quite fun, and a bit different. Yet, there are still sharper multiplayer suits and dresses out there that fit more comfortably.
Even without your PlayStation 3 connected to the Internet, it's possible to have the same exact experience as you would networking, except with and against teams of bots. Known as Skirmish, you're able to pepper the game as you'd like, from choosing the difficulty level of the bots to maximizing the player count for up to fifteen players. But, through here you could also use this template as a practice round for the online play, where the real people act more natural as you'd expect. Speaking of practice though, the control configuration in Killzone 2 is one that's not too difficult to get the hang of. For those playing the single-player campaign, you'll learn the operation in an on-screen tutorial as progression happens You'll be taught to sprint (L3), to duck into cover (L2), to fire a weapon (R1), to throw a grenade at the enemy (R2), to reload your gun (square), to leap over terrain (X), and even to revive your allies (circle). It's all pretty basic stuff for a first-person shooter, and the game should come natural in about fifteen minutes, tops.
A developer can get a lot of things wrong. They can make the controls functional, but the enemies stupid. They can make the single-player work, but the online could be a mess. For Killzone 2, the gameplay feels borrowed, but it's the visuals that stand out in such a way that you'll be absolutely captivated throughout it course. Not many games this generation truly file under the classification for what a high-definition game should look like. Killzone 2 is one such game that does this, and it does it well. Character models are encompassed in fine textures, details, and the works. You'll find your allies as well as your enemies dressed in richened war fatigues; the Helghast, for instance, are cloaked in dark coverings and reddish eyes, and the dripping flames of a flamethrower light them up in spectacular blaze as they roast like a marshmallow, flailing their arms around. On that note, the animations are top notch. Guerilla Games has made it so that death animations are unique, rather than having every character on screen die in the same manner. Seriously, if you were to take a shot at a Helghast helmet, it falls off, revealing the whites of their bald head. But, take another shot at their arm and their side trembles. They'll react in whatever way is appropriate, be it the aforementioned fire-roasting to the dropping down forwards, backwards, and off of stuff as you blast them with a shotgun (or something different). Environments are indeed also divine, in visiting the dreary and desolate war front on all sides past roughed up vehicles, ruined buildings, flights of stairs to climb, elevators to board, objects to cower behind in between hallways, and sandy outskirts in the outsides of the city. Although Killzone 2 does a great job at bringing to life its visual accomplishments, one thing to know is that it's not the prettiest PlayStation 3 game out there. It's very beautiful, but it's just not the best. It's not.
Returning and reintroducing you to the cast of characters from beforehand in the first Killzone (and probably if you've also played the PSP edition), the cast of characters that were around in previous stories are back and once more know how to drive forward a believable and enjoyable cinematic performance. Such notable acting is led by the likes of the villainous and dream-crushing Brian Cox as Emperor Visari, and his go-to guy Colonel Radec, carrying a uniquely disturbing tone (portrayed by Sean Pertwee, who you might remember voicing Hakha in the original Killzone) make for the perfect kinds of iconic enemy personalities. If it's not done in story form, however, the voice-acting on the battlefield itself is passable but somewhat irrelevant. There's tons of swearing and some story intertwined here. But, paying attention to what anyone is saying is hard to concentrate on when there's so much gunfire going off. The audio itself does its job, though. All guns ring like they should ring; from the bell of a pistol popping single-formed shots to a rapid release amplified as you machinegun each unfriendly encounter. Music comes along good, too. While not containing the most memorable melody, it's a suitably strong orchestral rhythm that ties into the Killzone 2 universe for what is needed during those few slow build up moments that lead into a constant stream of intense firefights.
Comparing and contrasting is much of what is done in today's gaming industry. There are artists at work who make the wheel their own. Then there are other artists who modify others' wheels so to make a similarly impacting experience. Gears of War had done it when its developers borrowed some ideas from the book of Resident Evil 4. Even though Killzone was named a "Halo killer," that was mainly just hyperbole. Aside from the fact that both games are a part of the same genre, Killzone was really nothing like Halo. But now, something different is born in Killzone 2. In standing on its own ground, Killzone was a decent effort. It wasn't radiating brilliance by any means; however, that's where Sony and Guerilla wanted to take the series for the kind of game that people actually want to love playing, not just liking. So now Killzone 2 can officially be referred to as a Gears of War killer, or a copycat in a certain light. Gears of War was great. It's the best damn game on the Xbox 360, if I do say so myself. Killzone 2 is also great. The game equips a run-and-gun cover system as you battle a foreign enemy. While this is not the same exact game as Gears of War is, and even though Killzone 2 (in my personal perspective) doesn't smash off Gears of War's face, it's easy to find comparisons. It's also hard not to have those comparisons running through the back of your mind while you're playing through its campaign. Killzone 2 finally has made its franchise an industry benchmark, but partly does so by riding off the coattail of another.
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