Killzone 2

The day I bought Killzone 2 I wondered if it was worth getting over the Fallout 3 collectors edition, well the game had blown my mind right out of the gate. Unfortunatryl I never got that collectors edition. It may have been the best FPS released at that time, I was glad to own a PS3.

The Game: Lets start with the presentation. Back when this was released it had the best graphics possible, I was stunned at the dark and gritty environments, it looked incredible. The sound design was better than any other fps I could think, both this and Killzone 3 have the best sound for any shooter, period. The soundtrack is easily in the top ten best original scores for video games, it is still incredible to listen to till this day. I personally think this game looks and sounds better than Uncharted 2 which came out the same year.

Game play: People like to complain about the sluggish controls, I personally like it, it gives the game it's own unique feel. I think there is around ten guns to use throughout the single player campaign, the electricity gun you get in the refinery was pretty fun to use. I like the Helghast weapons more than the ISA ones. My biggest complaint is that L1 is mêlée, I would have preferred it to be R3, but instead aiming down the sights is R3.

The campaign: I've played between 25 and 30 hours on the single player story, yeah I enjoyed it that much. I personally hated the mission on the ISA ship, the rest was great. The urban combat was about as good as it could get in a video game, take note other developers this is how you do it. It definitely still holds it's own, it felt more realistic than Killzone 3. Killzone 3 had too many goofy action scenes, it just felt weird, like how Dead Space three just feels weird. I didn't play the multi-player enough to review it. The skirmish game mode was really fun, I played a lot of that.

Killzone 2 is definitely a must play shooter, it's a cut above most of the kid friendly garbage we get for shooters today.

The single-player experience is a truly enjoyable campaign across the Helghast home world that will test your skills, particularly on the higher difficulty levels, and the game simply looks phenomenal for a console shooter. But perhaps the strongest segment of the game is the extremely deep multiplayer, which gives seven basic classes with which you can create your own customized super-soldier after performing your class-specific duties. Not only did Guerrilla achieve a milestone of delivering a great exclusive title for Sony's PS3, it delivered one of the better shooters to come along in a long time. Get your hands on this game.

PRESENTATION - 10/10 Everything from the first entrance onto the battlefield to the last cut scene creates a hectic, fun and fast-paced thrill ride through a warzone where each step you take could be your last.

GRAPHICS - 10/10 Phenomenal visuals prove that Guerrilla either met or surpassed that infamous E3 trailer. Some technical issues hold it back from being a completely flawless masterpiece.

SOUND - 9/10 7.1 channel sound captures every nuance of the battlefield from gunshots to screams along with a great soundtrack. Weakly delivered, curse-filled dialog (sans Brian Cox) could have been done better.

GAMEPLAY - 9/10 You'll have to get used to the firearms as well as the AI on both sides. More turret and vehicle sections would've been great, but outside of that, the single-player campaign is fun to play through.

LASTING APPEAL - 10/10 Multiplayer is extremely deep and has the added bonus of an offline skirmish mode. This is where you'll spend the majority of your time once the credits roll.

OVERALL - 10/10

This is, by far, one of THE BEST fps I have EVER played full stop. The campaign is fantastic with a wide range of weapons to use and interesting maps and characters, and online is just nuts! There are a range of multiplayer modes and classes to choose from. There are also many maps to have a go at and are designed for every class. Even if you are not such a hardcore gamer, you will love this game. And considering you can get it as cheap as fifty dollars on eBay, it's just criminal if you don't go on and buy it. Honestly, this game is the Halo 3 of PS3, it gives COD:4 a good run for it's money also. Just do yourself a favour and maximize your PS3 experience of buying it. Now.

I have to say that this is a really fun and enjoyable game. I'm not a huge fan of the fps games, but I've been waiting for this one ever since I saw the very first trailer back in 2005 I think it was. This game has just about everything that an fps game should have, I think, because once again, I'm not that familiar with the genre. I've only played Halo 1 & 2 (not mine, just my buddies and I didn't like them at all), 007: Goldeneye (Best FPS EVER!!!!), Resistance 1 & 2 (only own no. 2 which is amazing, but I've played 1 which is good), Call of Duty 3 & 4 (own both; 3 for PS2, and 4 for PS3; Modern Warfare is great, but I'm to slow at it LOL), Battlefield 2 & Bad Company (loved Bad Company more and it's amazing to blow stuff up), Black (amazing), etc. You get my point that I'm trying to make. I'm not that great at them, but that doesn't mean that I can't have fun with them. And Killzone 2 is that kind of game where I can just jump in at anytime and blow up whatever I want. The best part about it are the vehicles, though short, but fun as all HELL, especially when you get to be in that robot thing and just go crazy on the Higs. The story is lacking, as they pull things from other war/action films and use clichéd lines such as "Don't die on me yet," "it's cold..." (mind you I'm paraphrasing there, but you get the idea). The music is catchy as I often hum it when there's nobody around of course LOL. I think that they could have done a bit more work on the menu design, not that there's anything wrong with it, because it is cool, it's just that the colours remind me of MGS 2 with the grays and red. I don't know, maybe it's just me. Oh yeah, I forgot to talk about the sound, which is pretty F UCKING AMAZING!!!! I have my PS3 hooked up to my surround sound and my big screen TV and oh my God. The visuals are pretty breathtaking, which is weird because it's about an apocalyptic war where a lot of people die... duh... obviously... but it's still visually stunning and almost life like in a way. Now I haven't played that much of online because well... I suck at it, but from what I've seen it's just as great as the campaign, if not better. You can pretty much read about the online play on any other game review website such as ign, or just watch it on youtube. Anyways my overall score for this kick-ass game is a solid 10/10 stars as it's not only for the hardcore fans out there of the fps genre, but for everyone too. You just pick up and go basically.

Killzone 2. Where to start? in terms of technical achievement, it's unbeatable. The setup is revealed in a pretty impressive cinematic that has you pumped up and ready to take the fight to the "Helghast" - essentially intergalactic British Nazis led by fascist dictator Brian Cox and his lapdog, a smarmy git of a general who, upon speaking for the first time, will have you thinking "ooh that's thingy, what's he from again?"!

You start the game by waking up, bleary-eyed in your bunk aboard a fairly impressive spaceship at the start of yet another D-day recreation (only THIS TIME your in a spaceship and THIS time the landing craft are hovering impractical transport craft things and THIS TIME the Nazi's aren't actually Nazis, they just LOOK like future-Nazis) where the game does it's level best to impress you. As you follow your squad-mate through it's corridors, the graphics and atmosphere dazzle you immediately -the planet below looks natural and the sight of space cruisers bearing down on the hostile world below is almost breathtaking. Every detailed surface is polished and well-designed, and put through filters that make you feel like you're looking through a genuine pair of human eyeballs. This, combined with the controls and movement - which do take some getting used to - gives you an unparallelled feeling of immersion that shooters nowadays sorely lack. Your average COD fan is going to have a few problems adjusting here, as the somewhat sluggish, weighty movements of the player character and the incredibly tough, bullet-resistant Helghast mix with other game play elements to create a challenge that requires a bit more thought and skill than simple fast reflexes and an itchy trigger finger. The fights are fantastic and tactics come into play far more than in most modern-day cinematic shooters. The player can expect to be surrounded by hostile forces. Once again, a COD fan will have difficulties here, as the foes in this game will not simply run out and shoot like moving targets with guns attached, but will take cover often, distract, flank, and suppress you and your allies, making for a unique challenge. When I played through this, I was impressed as I moved through the game and eagerly did battle with any Helghast that stood in my way. But as much fun as I had with this,there is a crippling problem with this game.

As soon as you meet your squad mates (specifically Shaun Natco, voiced by Noah lee Margotts) you instantly feel like killing every last one of them for being a million times more unlikeable than any of your enemies. it doesn't stop there, either: he story has literally zero bite, giving you no reason to care. Luckily, a game can still be driven along by the atmosphere and game play itself, and this is where Killzone exceeds, so a shooter fan can have a good deal of fun with it. But how did the people behind this game end up putting so much effort into the graphics, controls and atmosphere without a single one of them thinking "oh, hang on, we forgot the coherent plot and the likable characters and the motivations behind their actions and any reason for the player to give a damn about what's going on"?

So that's Killzone 2, then. The story continues being barely a faint glimmer of motivation and reason behind the characters and events, the characters themselves, with the exception of perhaps Pertwee's Radec and Marshall's Templar, are unlikeable and 1-dimensional. I honestly became more attached to the faceless legions of generic cannon-fodder allies that were destined to die in various detailed and realistic ways, at least THOSE guys were helpful, kept their heads down and acted like real people. They, unlike the characters I was supposed to give a damn about, were mercifully freed from the idiocy of whoever wrote the story for this. Killzone 2's ambition is marred by it's failure to nail a fundamental aspect of a good game - good writing. I've heard people defend this by saying that it's "just a game" but you can look at plenty of other titles, many of them much older than this, if you want an example of a great game with great writing driving it along. Killzone 2 could have been so much more, it's intriguing premise of humanity fighting a mutated version of itself and the story of how this came to be are explained in a few brief sentences during loading screens, as well as character back stories. God, if they had this material, why didn't they actually USE it? Sure, the game play is a lot of fun, the graphics are impressive and the atmosphere immerses you, but when there's no REASON for it all, then how can the developers expect us to really get involved?

Oh, and, um, the multilayer is kinda fun. Yeah. not much to say on that.

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