Four years have passed since we first saw the Killzone 2 trailer that gave us chills at E3 2005. Now it is finally here! Killzone 2 (KZ2) could probably be one of the most anticipated games for 2009 on the Playstation 3. Following a prequel that receive a bad response from most people, one can only hope that this new Killzone installment will outshine its Playstation 2 and PSP brothers and live up to the hype that has been built up over the years. Will Sony and Guerilla Games deliver the good that they promised? Let’s find out.
For those who have never played the series before, Killzone in a nutshell is a story revolving around two groups which are locked in a binary opposition to each other: The Helghast and the ISA. KZ2 picks up where the first one left off. It begins two years after the Helghast invaded the ISA’s planet of Vekta. In KZ2 the ISA are taking the fight back to the Helghast on their planet of Helghan. Their goal is to invade the planet, kill their leader: Emporer Scholar Visari, wipe out the Helghasts and put an end to this war once and for all. You play as ‘Sev’, a military soldier from the ISA who is part of the Alpha Sqaud. Your mission: eliminate all hostiles and kill Emporer Visari.
The story in KZ2 to some extent is not that original. It involves the same concepts as the previous installments, minus the fact that the assault is now on the planet Helghan. However this does not make the story necessarily bad, it’s just now new. The plot develops at a good pace with some interesting turning points and occurrences, just enough to keep you engrossed in the story. The voice acting in the game is not Hollywood material but it remains fairly good. The story does not have much depth and could have been developed a little more seeing as the actual idea behind the story carries massive potential. To some, the story may come across as mildly uninteresting but KZ2 is not a game for the story. It is a game for the action and the experience. The function of the story is merely to make this experience possible.
Graphically, KZ2 could be said to be one of the best looking games to date. In terms of in game graphics, KZ2 has much to offer to the player. Firstly the environments offer intense detail and texturing. Things such as smoke, sand and the backgrounds look phenomenal. They manage to capture the dark world of Helghan and make you feel as if you are part of this dystopia yourself. There is a minor issue in terms of graphics which from time to time in regard to certain things such as fire and electricity may seem a bit lacking. The character models of the ISA are done fairly well but are not completely on par with the models of the Helghast and the rest of the visuals. From the first person perspective, again you witness excellent detailing on the gun as well as the characters hands. In short, when you are actually playing it, KZ2 is a real stunner for most parts.
At this point, most people are thinking “it looks good but is gameplay on par with graphics?” This is a touchy subject because the gameplay has its good points and some bad points. KZ2 runs fairly smoothly during gameplay but when entering a new area, the game has to load that area, which ends up leaving you and the rest of the game static and frozen for a few seconds. This does tend to kill the intense battlefield-like atmosphere that KZ2 manages to create. The character movements may appear slow to those who are familiar with the Call of Duty series but there is a reason for this. Guerilla Games is supposedly trying to make the gameplay feel more realistic and so it carries this feeling that you are ‘heavy’ (for want of a better word). After you adjust to this KZ2 becomes a dream to play, making you feel as if you are truly part of the action.
The standard controller setup is very unorthodox to those who are fans of the FPS genre, so changing to them to ‘Alternate 2’ is recommended. There is also a nice cover system which allows you to pop your head over crates and around corners to shoot at the enemy. This is a great feature, but it can be a bit awkward at times.
The single player campaign should take the average game around eleven hours to complete. There are also some great and challenging trophies to collect in the game which encourages you to replay it. If you need a break from the single player you can jump into a multiplayer games with some bots or join an online game. The problem with the online multiplayer is that it works on servers and is not peer to peer and so for us South Africans who don’t have a KZ2 server, results in a hint of lag while playing. In order to get as little lag as possible try and play on the EU servers as these tend to work better for the South African users. Overall the multiplayer is very good and carries a number of different game modes that can be incorporated into a single online game. There is also a leveling up system which unlocks different guns and abilities.
Overall KZ2 is a great first person shooter. It offers insane graphics, great gameplay and with its multiplayer it has tons of replay value. There are a few minor issues but these can be overlooked as they don’t necessarily spoil the experience. KZ2’s biggest downfall is the hype that was built up around it which left some players disappointed. However, when playing it, put your hype to the side and give the game the chance that it deserves. This is a must buy for all PS3 owning, first person shooter buffs.
[starreviewmulti id=1 tpl=20]
