Killzone 2 Game Review - Playstation 3

OUR RATING:

8.9

GREAT

TANGIBLES:

Gameplay:		8
Visuals:		10
Audio:		10
Value:		9
Quality:		9

Why you should buy it: Visually beautiful; multiplayer some of the best the PS3 has to offer; 32- player matches complete with clan support.

Why you should rent it: Single player campaign lacks originality; controls will constantly give you trouble; no co-op.

UNIQUE RATING:

8.9

SUGGESTION:

Buy It

Killzone 2

Written by: Joshua Schwartzman | Tags: Killzone 2, Playstation 3

March 10,2009 - *Editor's Note: Due to a recent patch issued by Guerilla, the score of Killzone 2 has been raised to further implement the newly improved controls and balancing issues. Although the controls make playing the game a lot more enjoyable, the repetitive nature of the single player campaign still remains which did not hinder the gameplay aspects of the score. Only the overall quality score was raised, which puts into account the newly released patch*

Guerilla is never one to shy away from harsh criticism, and although the first Killzone game was bashed mercilessly by critics and fans alike, Sony gave the developer even more money to create the definitive PS3 title and the game that will surely sell systems and knock the Xbox 360’s Master Chief down a peg. While Killzone truly shows the years it spent in development, what with amazing visuals and a spectacular multiplayer component, the single player mode, although equipped with some intense moments, is nothing new and chances are you have seen many of the elements in shooters of recent years.

Don’t expect to come into Killzone 2 expecting some sort of Hollywood-esque script, and even though you might understand the main gist of what is happening around you, the story jumps around so sporadically that you will never care about your teammates or just why you are always killing endless waves of Helghast soldiers. Similar to how the first game pitted you on Earth fighting off an invading Helghast army, Killzone 2 just reverses that component, making your squad of Earth soldiers the invaders on the Helghan planet set to take out their dictator-like leader Scolar Visari and try to stop the war that has ravaged both sides for years. Throughout the game you will control Tomas “Sev” Sevchenko as you fight through enemy lines and wipe out the massive Helghast army.

The levels in Killzone 2 are incredible well-designed, offering detailed environments with branching paths that allow numerous ways of reaching an objective. From a Helghast Academy to the lower slums of Helghan, each level is brilliantly brimming with gushing waters, sparkling surfaces, and powerful lightning strikes that fill the skyline. But all of these levels, despite their different designs, all feature the same basic gameplay styles that run apparent throughout the majority of the game. Although the objectives are varied and the way with which you bring down the enemies might be somewhat distinct to each level, there is nothing here that should surprise you if you have played any other shooter in the past ten years.

Killzone 2 brings absolutely nothing new to the table in terms of single player mechanics. Every level requires you to perform a specific objective, rather it be infiltrating an enemy base or blowing up artillery guns that are limiting reinforcements from landing, and even so all of the scenarios from which you must undertake are drone and repetitive. You will mount turrets to take out enemies, blow up energy fields blocking your path, and even ride on mounted vehicles to blow something up. Sometimes you are even tasked to run around and kill all of the enemies before you can even venture on through the level. Even the enemy tactics are similar to past shooters where certain enemies can only be attacked from behind or have more health, and it is often hard to handle these enemies with so much going on around you at the same time. While this scenario might be fun for those who enjoy wiping out anything in sight, the controls hinder any possible inclination of you remotely enjoying it.

Controls in Killzone 2 are a constant pain, and throughout the entire campaign you will be fighting not only against the enemies but the controller as well. Moving is ironically the worst deterrent of them all, making you feel like you are carrying a bag of bricks whenever you look around. Adjusting the Axis sensitivity does nothing to get rid of this problem either, as enhancing the sensitivity to a higher setting only makes the controls so incredibly loose it is nearly impossible to even target anything. Making matters worse, the controls for hiding behind cover, melee fighting and zooming in with weapons are never as fluid as they were in previous games either. For some strange reason there always seems to be some slight second of lag whenever you try to melee an enemy as well, which makes using that scenario to take out the Helghast not well liked at all. You can always try to use the other various configurations available to you, but the default settings seem to be the best fitting in terms of structure and layout, and even those don't work quite right.

Much of the game is spent behind cover, so trying to utilize the mechanics of leaning to the side, aiming down your sights and gunning down enemies takes a lot of time to practice, and you probably will never get the hang of it until probably halfway through the campaign. You don’t have to stick to this tactic if you so choose, and running and gunning your way through all the various enemies is all well and good, but the bulky controls make it even impossible to try and fight through hordes of enemies by yourself without running for cover to refill your health after a few seconds. Much of the campaign is spent trying to kill enemies from behind enemy fire, and for many parts of the game is feels like nothing more than a glorified version of whack-a-mole in which case you just wait for the enemies to pop up from their hiding spots and simply shoot them down. There are some exciting moments in the campaign which really give you a sense of excitement and admiration when completed, but these moments are rarely seen and are surrounding by the repetitive gunfights explained above.

Killzone 2 does have its fair share of weapons and many of them are incredibly fun to use. While you have your standard assault rifles, shotguns, SMG, etc, the beauty of the weapons comes with the heavy-hitters such as the rocket launchers, grenade launchers and flamethrowers, all of which look spectacular, sometimes almost realistic, and perform their effective duties with stunning accuracy. The flamethrower is always entertaining to use as you can easily run through rows of enemies in seconds and watch as they scream and writhe in pain in the moments that follow. Probably the favorite weapon in the game, the Bolquan, fires darts which stick enemies to walls only to follow with an explosion a few seconds later. Some of the weapons in the game are truly imaginative and it is often disheartening to try and pick only one to carry. The only downside to using these weapons is the fact that you can only use one at a time, aside from your secondary magnum which is required. Trying to choose a certain weapon is always hard to manage based on the circumstances surrounding you, and a little more leeway in letting players hold more weapons might have given some levels a little more edge and diversity.

Once you have gotten your fill of the single player mode (which should only take about eight hours), you can hop online into the multiplayer mode which is hands down one of the best online components in recent years. The multiplayer mode succeeds mainly because of its Call of Duty style rewards system, which gives players the incentive to do well in every match they undertake in order to earn points. These points can then be used to upgrade your character, whether it is unlocking new weapons, skills, or attributes (such as the ability to sprint faster). There are five primary modes in
Killzone 2, that although similar to typical shooter fare, are quite different in terms of how they are executed.

Bodycount, Search & Retrieve, and the Capture & Hold modes are the same as Deathmatch, Capture the Flag and Conquest modes just with slight alterations fitted with the Killzone 2 universe. Assassination and Search & Destroy modes round out the various ways in which you can play multiplayer modes in Killzone 2. Alone these various modes sound similar to other shooters, but coupled together and they provide an intense showdown between opposing sides in a fight to become the ultimate victor. Instead of pitting you in these modes one by one, Killzone 2 throws them all together at once, letting players seamlessly go from one to the next. So from one minute you might be holding off a certain section of the level from invading enemy forces, while the next you are tasked with taking out the enemy leader who is guarding your exit.

These gunfights are made even better thanks to the massive size of every battle. Online mode can fit up to 32 players at once, and if you are short of human players, you can add as much as 15 AI-controlled bots at a given time. The bots aren’t as smart as human players, but they typically get the job done in terms of shooting at the enemy. Teams are usually grouped into teams of four which can than be grouped into a squad of eight. These squads are essential to tactically engaging the enemy and laying down suppressive fire and flanking maneuvers. The wide layout of the eight multiplayer maps gives each team immense freedom from attacking the other side. Whether it is manning a turret or lobbing grenades from high above, the maps offer a complete and wide view of an epic battle. Clans can also be formed with up to 64 players, and Killzone 2 even offers clan match support and matchmaking on its official site, making finding matches that much more accessible to handle.

From a technical standpoint, Killzone 2 rivals even the best this gen has to offer, and the visuals are stunning in almost every respect. From the gritty level designs to the realistically styles weapons, every object, person, and thing in Killzone 2 sparkles with beauty. Explosions and lightning strikes show off the game’s impressive particle effects while splashing water and blood encases the game’s incredible detail. There never were any problems with slowdowns outside of a full 32-player room during multiplayer matches and even those lasted for only a few seconds. The sound is as equally as impressive as the visuals, most notably in the tone of the characters’ voices. The Helghast are chillingly exciting to listen to as their cringed, Darth-Vader like voices always let you know of their appearance, and listening to Visari on the radio urge his troops on is all the more engaging with the sounds of bullets whizzing by you every second.

Killzone 2 seems to consider itself too realistic for its own good, and although the weapons have an impressive amount of realism to them, the shaky controls never quite feel right in the barren single player campaign. The multiplayer mode is perhaps the game’s highest strength, as the various modes offer an endless seam of both thrilling gameplay and innovative ranking mechanics. If you can look past the lackluster single player campaign and spotty controls and set your sights on the obviously superior multiplayer component you will have yourself one of the best looking, and playing, games on the PS3.

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