Killzone

"A Generic, but Enjoyable FPS Title"

I own all three consoles, I love all three consoles, and I am a huge FPS fan. This review is by a non-biased, hardcore gamer who loves video games. So I come here to give my review on Killzone. Is this game really a Halo killer? Lets find out.

First off, lets get to the good. The art direction is fantastic. Everything looks very post apocalyptic and very gritty. I was very impressed with the first level. The graphics in Killzone are pretty good for the PS2, but there are some problems here as well (I will get to this later). Gun models look good, player models look good, and textures are decent enough not to complain about.

The game plays like your typical war FPS game. Though this is a good and a bad thing (will come back to this also). It reminds me of the older Medal of Honor games but with companions this time. The controls so far seem pretty fluid and easy to get into. I didn't have to mess with the advanced setting much at all, except for turning on the crouch toggle and invert aiming. Everything is good control wise too.

There are little things in this game I thought were very cool. For instance, the way you enter your name is pretty unique. The menus are well done, and the game has tons of features within the options to give you full control over the game. Good stuff here.

Unfortunately, that's pretty much all of the good. So here comes the bad. First off, the framerate can get very sketchy and chunky at times, especially on the multiplayer maps. I noticed TONS of popup on both single player and multiplayer (more so on multiplayer). I also see parts of wall and ground textures that seem to not want to load until the last minute. Nobody can say it's my PS2 also because I have the 50001 model that's only a few months old.

Fire fights get pretty tedious at times because I will be mowing down an enemy with my machine guns and it takes forever for an enemy to die, even when I am aiming near the head and chest (and yes I am tapping the button for bursts, not holding it). Headshots seem to be pointless with any gun other than the pistol or sniper rifle. I hate now you zoom and aim with the sniper rifle too.

The level design can also be boring at times. I don't feel any excitement, rush, or panic while I am playing through these levels like I do in games like Men of Valor, Call of Duty, Halo, or the Medal of Honor series (minus rising sun). The game doesn't really give you a huge feeling of being in a war, because the game only throws maybe 5 enemies at you at once. I am not impressed with the scripted events also, like things blowing up around you and stuff like that.

The sound effects are good... until you hear the voice acting and enemy commands. They all sound horrible and laughable. Explosions, gun shots, and stuff like that are all good though.

The main problem with this game is that it feels way to generic to me, just like Shellshock and the Conflict series. It does nothing new or tries to impress you with anything. It just does everything that every other FPS game does. It has nothing to make you go "wow". Bad story, generic physics and level design, generic gameplay, everything just seems so generic.

The multiplayer from what I have played is pretty boring to me. This also feels generic. It wouldn't be so bad if the level design on the multi maps were better, and the framerate wasn't chugging so much. I was not impressed by this feature either, but I gotta give it props for having bots for the broadbandless folks.

Though it seems like I am completely ripping the game to shreds, this is not the case. If you are a BIG FPS fan like myself, then there is some enjoyment to be found in this game. If you don't mind typical FPS gameplay with some cool looking environments, then you will probably dig it. I can't really say I hate the game and don't have fun playing it, cause I have enjoyed it to an extent, it just didn't wow me. I think the title "Halo Killer" really ruined a lot of the appeal this game had, cause my expectations were way too high. Halo killer this is not. I know people will tell me Halo is just typical also, but Halo is FAR from typical. People will also be telling me that I am probably a fanboy for comparing it to Halo, but that's what you get when you dub a game as a "Halo Killer".

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 11/05/04