Killzone

I disagree to quite some extent with the commentary above. Killzone is a burner. It is a awesomely presented and executed game, has a cool story and a believable setting. The game mechanics are not the best there ever were, but they are more than serviceable. As is correctly stated the guns really rock! And more so the soundtrack! What a stunningly great piece of music. In terms of plot, background and vehicle/weapons design Killzone beats the crap out of Halo which in my humble opinion is a totally over-hyped game to begin with. Okay, the Halo graphics are smoother and have a higher resolution but Killzone environments are somehow more realistic, more gritty, and overall somewhat more stylish. They just drag you into the Killzone world and give you a feeling of being really in the middle of a planetary assault. Whereas Halo has a more comic-book like appeal, Killzone offers you a grim and desperate vision of a dark future. Having said all that I would like to point out that I do not think that Killzone is a Halo killer. I think this comparison is stupid and was just media-hype. Both games have a totally different "feel" and should be played for their own merit.

I wonder who started that "Halo Killer" phrase and just what they were thinking. I imagine that person has gained the disgust of Halo and Killzone fans alike. I also imagine that this person has gotten over it now since this is 2008 after all.

Anywho, the game. Killzone for whatever reason was hailed the aforementioned nickname. And it really didn't deliver. I believe part of it was caused by the hardware itself. This game is arguably one of the better looking games on the PS2. And that's just it. This game looked great and I don't think the PS2's hardware could take it. Now if it was released for the Gamecube or Xbox. Things probably would have been different. Obviously, Killzone 2 shouldn't suffer from this problem.

Through a few hours worth of play I noticed that there is some frame rate issues and the artificial intelligence seems to not be intelligent at all a lot of the time. The multi-player I wouldn't even bother with. It felt kinda slow at times and is of no comparison to what the first Halo had to offer, let alone Halo 2. The bugs people talked about are clearly evident too. Environment and even enemy pop-ups do occur. I even seen one guy fall through a flight of stairs as I was about to hit him. And so far, i've ran into a couple of types of enemies. And by couple I mean about 2 maybe even 3. If your going to live to the that stupid nickname "Halo Killer", you damn sure better have a good variety of enemies.

What this game does have is a pretty decent story. Yes, its another one of those "humanity is at war with a fairly superior opponent" games. But what they do with that concept, they do reasonably well. I also like the guns for each side. The point of view is cool. I even liked when the guy climbed up a ladder. Seriously, I don't believe I have ever seen that in a FPS. I mean I seen them go up ladders. But that's just it, they go up. They don't climb up. Reloading was kinda neat too. Took a little while but that's how you would probably reload in real life under those conditions. The only problem I found with that is when you shoot someone with like say the shotgun underneath the helghast primary machine gun. If you have an extra shotgun round it reloads automatically. Which can sometimes screw you over. I hate that, its not needed and for a game that puts quite a bit of emphasis on realism it should not be that way at all. The sound was exceptional. Only some of the characters voices bugged me. But the music and the sounds of guns blazing were awesome.

Killzone doesn't have the AI, multi-player, and frame rate that Halo had. Not to mention all the bugs. That's why it's no "Halo Killer". What Killzone did though is get a bunch of little things right and that was enough to get by. With Killzone 2, Guerrilla will be able to live up to the hype.

very good but i don't think it warrants an "as good as halo 2" comment. i mean i haven't played halo 2 but i have played the first one and i enjoyed that a lot more than killzone. I'm not by any way degrading killzone in the slightest .... .... .... i just think that maybe it could have done with a little more to the characters movement and capability with guns. I do agree that the enemies were quite dull in the fact that they only said a few lines but I'm sure Sean pertwee made up for that...and the way your woman teammate always and in such a VERY English/new Zealand accent says....."Hellghast!" about 5 seconds after u have killed the hellghast enemy. its not really much use is it to be honest, so i thought this game deserved an 8/10 rating. definitely worth buying if you find it cheap anywhere. . . . despite all the little technical hitches along the way. i saw a demo of killzone on the ps3 that they were showing at the E3 show and it looks amazing. although it turned out just to be some fmv of what the designers wanted the game to look like. but nonetheless. if it did look like it did on the video then I'm sure that we will be in for one hell of a good ride with killzone on the ps3. Happy Gaming Guys 'n' Gals

Killzone (and Black) were the best FPS for PS2!!! ((Change my mind))

After I finished Killzone I was really surprised by low rating the game got in most gaming literature. But lets start from beginning.

Story sets in future where human race is in war with Helghasts - human descendants who colonized the planet Helghan many generations ago.The player takes control of Captain Jan Templar, fighting off the Helghast invasion - OK, nothing special but decent story for one FPS told in good directed animations with shaky camera - nice.

Controls are very natural and easy to learn but what is special is game's physique. When you begin to play you'll notice (or maybe even complain) that your character is too slow, shooting not accurate and when you sprint there is gauge that allows you 10 sec sprint - exactly how it is supposed to happen when you carry 60 lbs of military gear and not a superman or heavily doped when shooting. Perhaps it takes s little time to get used to it but it's definitely worth it - very unique gaming experience.

Other fabulous element of Killzone is game play and key word is cover. Forget mindless assaults - only way to breakthrough is taking cover and destroying enemies one by one.

AI is also on high level. Enemy takes cover, alerts and avoids your grenades and attacks in groups. Your comrades are actually helping you, nice refreshing after few games where they were more obstacle than help. Also, as story develops you can choose between more characters you can take control of (balanced Templar, sniper "elegance" Luger,heavy armored Rico and spy Hakha) - although it does not have big influence it's nice refreshment.

Graphic is very good, among best on PS2, but even more important game engine doesn't twitch and textures do not burst in distance. Level design is excellent - leading you from open battlefields where it's important to save your head to urban confrontations where you can break your way with sniper riffles. Dark-gray color dominates through game and creates good atmosphere.

Also, huge plus is duration of the game - it will take you about 35 hours to finish it. These days when average FPS single player lasts about 10 hours this means a lot.

There are few things that could be better, of course (e.g. more types of enemies)but are not significant. I also red that many didn't like online mode but since I didn't played it I can't be judge of that.

Killzone is, by my opinion, the best FPS for PS2, even would dare to say that it's one of the best ever. It's shame that Guerrilla Games didn't get deserved credit for their work. Hopefully, that will be changed with Killzone 2, everyone who played beta knows what I'm talking about. In meantime, if you'd like to know how it all started you know what to do.

Killzone is definitely must-play title.