"Doesn't do anything new but does what it has right."

Killzone is the first FPS game in a long time to be exclusive to the PS2, so how does it measure up?

First thing you will notice is its graphics engine is probably the best you will see on the Ps2. Everything from the guns to the environments look and feel like all out war is taking place. There is a down side to this though, Killzone's graphics engine employs a kind of texture mapping, which goes from low to high res the closer you get to an object, that is relatively new and with the slower processing speeds of the PS2 it doesn't always load the high-res faces on your team members or enemies.

The Cinematics are top notch and scream high production values as well. They didn't just throw like one or two in there either. There's about 20 cinematics ranging form 1-4minutes in length all with depth in them that moves the story along(more on that later).

Framerate is solid at a locked speed of 30fps, while this may sound a little low by today's standards (60fps is almost the norm) it has almost no slow down, except during offline multiplayer when you have more then 5 bots per team.

Sound is nicely done as well with orchestral music during cutscenes and in the menus, but in game you nothing hear but the sounds of war. "What is the sounds of war?" you ask, well its no music in game with nothing but bullets, explosions, and screams from enemies and allies alike. This is like the graphics a big part of the game and makes Killzone an assault on you senses.

Gameplay is the heart of games and Killzone realizes that pretty graphics and a good musical score won't make it one of the best. Missions (There are 11 with about 5parts to each) consist of the basic get from point A to point B without dying, but they do this in a pretty good way. Most missions will have you mounting machine guns to repel an onslaught of Helghast during some point in it and there is some stealth and other objectives that happen on your way.

Also at about the 3rd mission you meet up with 3 squad mates that you can choose between at the start of each level. Each one of these squad mates has a different style to them and you will want to try out each of them to see which suits you the best. This adds an extra layer of replay value to the game.

Now some of you might say "oh but it doesn't have a jump button or it doesn't have vehicles." Really after you play through and finish the single player game you will realize that they aren't needed.

One of the most and I mean the most impressive things about Killzone is the vast amount of weapons there are in this game (21 weapons and 6 different stationary turrets). Most weapons have a secondary fire and reload animations are the best I have ever seen in a FPS. Also each weapon has a specific melee kill that will kill an enemy in one shot if you can get close enough to them to initiate it (Good Luck).

One other thing that is great about Killzone is that it employs a realistic ragdoll physics engine so you can have fun making Helghast fly around alot.

Finally AI is amazing(on normal and hard) it really acts like you are fighting real soldiers, sure sometimes they will make a stupid move but they are smart for the most part and a good aim at that. Be careful what your next move is because if it isn't a good one you will be owned.

One thing that sets Killzone apart from the pack of other FPS is that it actually has a story and its a good one at that. Once again this is to engulf you in Killzone's universe and show you that this just isn't game (well it is a game but thats besides the point) but an experience.

Now with all this goodness the Multiplayer must have been shirked right? Wrong, killzone's multiplayer was taken to almost the same high level as the single player. Killzone features offline as well as online (with voice chat) multiplayer.

In the offline modes you can have 2 human players (the engine can't split the screen 4 ways and still do what it does) and up to 14 bots (I recommend 10 total or else you will experience some lag). Also it would have been nice to include co-op but thats ok.

In the online section you can tell that a lot of work was put into this. The rooms are really well set up and you can have buddy lists. Unfortunately the game does support Clans directly so your gonna have to go by the Socom way by just putting a clan tag in front of your name.

There are 8 huge maps(called battlefields) to cause destruction in and 6 modes of play. Most of these modes are pretty standard with Deathmatch, Team Death Match, Assualt, Defend and Destroy, and Domination. The sixth mode is a different take on the Capture the Flag formula that requires you to acquire six packs of supplies throughout the battlefields while also being able to steal supplies from your enemies.

While all weapons are included in Multiplayer (with the exception of turrets) you can't use the cool one hit melee kills. This is to prevent cheap and unfair deaths I guess, but it would have been neat to include them and have the option to toggle them on or off.

In closing while Killzone doesn't revolutionize the FPS genre it does do what the genre has given us right. It does suffer from some slow texture loading, slight framerate drops in multiplayer, no clan support, and no co-op, but Killzone's pros far out weigh it's cons. 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/08/04