"All of the hype almost made my PS2 explode"

Killzone is a first person shooter in the vein of Medal of Honor. It is not the PS2's answer to Halo because it is not at all like Halo. Killzone is a methodic, tactical shooter with stages broken up into more traditional levels. It does stand very well on its own for what it is though.

Killzone is a historical war reenactment with a light Sci-fi setting. Think of it as World War II set in space. You are part of a small team of ISA(allied) soldiers fighting against the tyranny of the invading Helghast (Axis) as they invade the planet of Vecta (Europe.) The developers at Guerilla try to reenact bits and pieces of several 20th century wars and they are mostly successful at doing just that. The story is simple, but compelling because you do fell as though you are at war. The narrative is driven by cut scenes that look similar to the in-game engine if it was capable of showing every character at maximum LOD all of the time. It creates a nice effect of aesthetic consistency.

Speaking of aesthetics, the game looks fantastic for what it is, a PS2 game with multiple highly detailed texture layers and huge, detailed environments. The environments are realistic and well designed and as I said before, much bigger than what you would usually find in a PS2 game like this. There is a dreary fog that pervades these landscapes, but the draw distance is still impressive for most areas. The environment lack any sort of detailed lighting, which is kind of disappointing, but I appreciate the environmental detail that comes with the trade off. Character detail is another story.

The technology that Killzone was famous for a year before it was even released was its character LOD technology. I believe that the developers said that they had found a way to do over 20 stages of texture LOD without a big hit in processing power. When these characters get up close they do look sumptuously textured on a Silent Hill 3 in game cinema level, but only when the right texture set is in place. Since the right texture set is only in place about sixty percent of the time, what you are often looking at is an enemy who got lost on the way to fight in the Dreamcast version of Unreal Tournament (low poly, subpar texture detail.) Another problem is that the texture and model LOD is very noticeable as you approach the characters. In some games models “fill out” like a balloon expanding. In Killzone they just “pop” into the next level of detail. In all fairness Halo 2 has the same LOD problems. There is also quite a bit of “seam shimmering” and some odd character/ background interaction issues for dead enemies. Even with these complaints I think that overall the game is the best looking FPS on the PS2 yet.

It is also a fine sounding game. The voice acting is B+ to A- voice work. The characters are mostly convincing, although I could do without the ethnic character being so stereotypically ethnic in battle, “Yo' mamma!” The music is good solid orchestral stuff, but since it doesn't back up the action it isn't really that important in my eyes. The sounds of gunfire are well done, with each gun having a unique sound. The sample quality all around is kind of low though. I guess when you are allocating most of your resources to graphics you have to make concessions somewhere.

An area where they didn't make concessions was gameplay. Once you get into the pacing of Killzone and the nature of the combat, Killzone becomes good stuff. Imagine the controls for any other FPS, take away the jump and add an exhaustible dash and you have the Killzone controls. You have over twenty, gritty, realistic weapons to choose from. Most weapons have two firing functions. Every weapon has its place and is fun to use…except the sniper rifle. The scope doesn't magnify enough and it is difficult to see out of. The sniper rifle itself is way too hard to aim.

Eventually you can play as one of four characters and not every character can use every weapon. You can also attack with grenades and a melee button. The one player game is squad based, but you do not have any control over your squad. They are there mostly to give the game a certain feel and although sometimes they may help you take out enemies, mostly they just get shot…a lot! It's okay because they can't die, and for me it does make the action more interesting to be going on the “adventure” with this set of comrades. It is also a nice touch that different characters may have different paths through a given level.

One thing that your squad is good for is drawing some of the enemy fire. I've heard some people doubt the effectivity of the A.I routines in Killzone. The enemies react defensively and spread out and regroup tactically. The enemy behavior is more complex than the enemy behavior in Halo. Don't doubt it.

Killzone also has an extensive multiplayer mode that is playable online and off. You can play online against up to sixteen people, or you can play offline against another person and up to fourteen ‘bots. There are several different ways to play multiplayer and although I am sure that they are loads of fun I'm a single player kind of guy. I can tell you that the deathmatch reminds me less of Unreal Tournament and more of Goldeneye(the original.)

When it is all said and done Killzone is not a “Halo killer,” and doesn't seem to be trying to be. What we have in Killzone is a very competent, fun, conventional war FPS in an interesting unconventional setting.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/22/04, Updated 03/14/05