Killzone

"A game plagued by many glitches, but it's pros are often overlooked."

Killzone... Killzone, Killzone, Killzone, That name will mean different things to different people, to a lot of people, it will remind them of the 2004 first person shooter which did not live up to the hype, others with think of a very atmospheric game, with a lot of potential.

Killzone is a Sci-Fi first person shooter, having the game be based on World War II, though not germans versus the world, instead we up against a race of humans known as 'Helgast.' Years ago, a large group of humans decided to pull an exodus, and colonize a new planet. The atmosphere of the plant they colonized, turned out to be damaging to the new inhabitants, and now they must wear masks. Fast forward the clock to "now" and the Helgast are striking back at the rest of the humans.

After putting the game inside your system, and starting it up, you will be greeted with an amazing pre-rendered cut scene, giving you some of the back history, along with the Helgast's intentions, via a speech by the Helgast leader. The intro cut scene is amazing, and you'll find yourself watching over again futures times you start up the game, even if you've seen it many times before.

Surprisingly, the game's normal cut scenes, are no where near the quality of the intro video, with everything having a blurry washed out sort of feel, and the character models looking better in game sometimes. On the other hand, the textures in these cut scenes are incredible, with some people's faces looking almost real when close up.

The voice acting is decently good all the way through, with it sometimes sounding very cheesy, to other times, where it's undeniably cool. A problem that crops up, more so after the first few levels, is that you are bound to hear the same lines shouted again and again, within minutes even, yet occasionally you hear something you've never heard before. A lot of the lines in the game end up sounding rather silly after you have heard them for the tenth, or more time.

When you first get control of the character, you will notice how the game looks, and that is, Dirty. This game has a number of filters on the graphics all the time, which end up giving this game a dirty, and realistic look, as opposed to some of the unrealistic clearness of a lot of other first person shooters. The game also looks from pretty good to very good most of the time, with very good detail on most of the game world. Where the graphics really shine though, is in enemy design, and guns; the enemies are quite possibly the coolest looking video characters I have ever seen. The guns, well, words don't do justice to how cool some of the weapons look, be it watching the muzzle flash, or pushing a new clip in, these guns look amazing.

Sadly, with all the good things I can say about the graphics, there are some downsides. First off, when moving around quickly, you can see things that are not fully rendered for a second, similar to the cut scenes in Halo 2. Additionally there is quite a bit of pop up in some levels, as when walking forwards, you can see grass appear a short distance ahead of you. Also, in some areas, there are a lot of jagged lines, more so then should be showing up, even for a PS2 game.

When shooting your way through the first few levels, you will learn how to shoot your way through the war, though in game tutorials, which can be skipped if the player knows what he is doing.

But, how does it play? Well, this is a hard one to answer, because a lot of the time, it feels wonderful, where everything works exactly how you want it to, then you'll turn around and have things happen that felt like a few more months of development time might have ironed out, such as the clunky melee system, absence of a jump button, and getting on and off ladders. Additionally this game has horrible rag doll physics, sometimes you have to wonder why they even bothered to put rag doll physics in. And for all of these cons, there are pros, with really solid gunplay, lots of guns to choose from, which a lot of have an alternate fire, 4 playable characters with their own level paths, and a lot of really cool moments.

The level design in this game ranges from average to great, with some levels feeling very "filler" with others having the feeling of wanting to play it over again right away. One problem that arises in level design, is that the levels are fairly liner, not to say any worse then most first person shooters, but there are not going to be a lot of ways to tackle a situation with one character, luckily, there are multiple characters to play as, it's just a shame that each person's level paths aren't more open ended.

Another thing about this game, is that it has really good sound. The sound is presented in surround sound, with very good sounds, ranging from a drop ship flying overhead, to firing you rifle, but again, this is not without con, with sounds often cutting out, or not playing at all. Which is unfortunate as some of the sounds really really amazing to hear, especially on a good sound system.

This game has incredible orchestrated music, though it is a shame that it only is used in cut scenes, menus, and credits.

The story of this game is pretty simple with only small twists here and there, but a lot of dialog helps the main characters seem all that more human most of the time, and all the more cliche the rest of the time. Though the story is simple, it still is gripping, and will most likely hold your attention all the way through. The story's depth is helped by the universe that Killzone takes place in, which I look forward to seeing more of.

This game has a very fun multiplayer, that depending how much fun you find with Killzone's gameplay, could keep you playing for years. The online lobbies and game options cold use some major work, but if you enjoyed the gameplay enough, that wont matter all that much to you. It supports up to 16 players online, but oddly lacks any type of LAN play, it does however support 2 player split screen, though it is a shame, and a mystery why it does not support 4 players. Another depressing omission, is that killzone does not contain co-op, which with the 4 playable characters, would help lengthen the experience quite a bit. One thing that partially makes up for it, is it's support of up to 14 bots offline.

Overall, Killzone is a fun experience, which you will probably want to revisit a few times, and it's multiplayer modes, both offline, and on, can keep you attention for a while longer after that. At this time the game only costs $20, which I would say is a steel, so if you are looking for some first person shooter fun on the PS2, or want an older first person shooter to play on your PS3, or even just want to know the story, then go pick it up.

Presentation: 9.0
Though this game has glitches all over the place, but even they can't cloud how undeniably cool the enemies look. The game itself looks atmospherically dirty, and that's a compliment.

Graphics: 8.9
The graphics are generally amazing, looking incredible compared to most PS2 games. Which is not to say that the graphics don't have their own share of problems.

Sound; 8.5
The voice acting can be cheesy at time, but never stoops below decent, with all the actors doing a good job, additionally, the music is great, it's a shame that the sound glitches quite a bit.

Gameplay: 7.9
The gameplay most of the time is outstanding, the problem is, the other times, it can be horrible with glitches, a clunky melee system, and many other problems to speak of.

Lasting Appeal: 9.5
This game's single player is a nice enough length, and it's multiple playable characters, multiplayer, bots, and online, there's a nice amount of substance to keep you coming back for more.

Overall: 8.0

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/24/08

Game Release: Killzone (US, 11/02/04)