"I've lost a little faith in you GameSpot"

It is quite a traveshamockery, but almost all of the major sites have given Killzone bad reviews. Apparently any FPS that doesn't measure up to Halo 2 is immediately a below average game and doesn't deserve better than a 7. Not only is this a rather large injustice since Killzone is a great game in it's own right but it also has very little in common with Halo when it comes to FPSs. Ah well, short rant over and onto the review.

The first thing you will notice when you start playing Killzone is that this game is beautiful. I'm by no means a graphics whore but I have to give credit where it is due. This isn't just some pretty eye candy, your environments are all grim and realistic and along with the sound effects they really pull you into the game and makes you feel like you are fighting a war. You start in some trenches repelling invading Helghast forces. You then move on to explore a mostly destroyed city, travel to the coast to fight off more invading troops, and then a jungle, all of them with their own realistic touches that will likely make you want to go back and play them all over again. When you reload your view looks down at your weapon as you hastily put in another clip of ammo and when you sprint behind some cover the screen gets a little blurry and when you hurdle over an object, well... it really seems like you are hurdling over it! You get the occasional graphical glitch but they aren't that common and don't detract too much from the experience.

As I mentioned before the sound also helps pull you into the game. There isn't any music during the levels, only the sounds of a war going on around you. You will hear the crashing of waves and booming of thunder when battling along the coast. And when you are fighting through a warzone there is distant gunfire and explosions going off. When fighting the enemy they will be yelling out information, saying they need support or warning of incoming grenades. Their voices get repetitive after a while but its not much of a problem. I particularly liked the sound effects of bullets though. When one narrowly missed me I would hear it whiz by it would give me a sort of "Holy crap I need to take cover!" feeling.

I've heard complaints of crappy AI but I'm honestly not seeing it. On a few rare occasions my partners or my enemies would become braindead and just sort of stand there but usually everyone's AI is functioning great. The enemy knows when to take cover and they love to attack in groups. I really appreciate how intelligent the bots are in multiplayer, they work as a team and are about as close to the real thing as you can get if you can't go online (which is quite awesome, or so I've heard).

The story here isn't bad for a FPS, it is set in a distant future where a colony of humans get mutated from their planet's atmosphere and then grow to hate other humans who have turned away from them. It is in the future so the game is required by law to have some cool yet unrealistic hover tanks and speedy low flying plane... thingies. But that is about as far as the sci-finess goes during battle, all of your ammo is bullets and explosives. Sorry, no giant green death lasers or anything like that.

I think it is also worth mentioning your group of four consists of some truly great characters. Luger, Rico and Hahka, these three delight me with their shenanigans as they move along their journey. Rico and Hahka start off hating eachother, which leads to some entertaining arguments during the story. Luger is also pure badass. I don't care much for Templar though, he is a little too much like your generic hero character for my tastes.

Killzone also has high replayability for a FPS. Online multiplayer rules according to what I have heard, although I can't play it myself. Offline is still pretty awesome though, with up to 16 people fighting at once in intense battles with all of the usual modes of combat. The number of maps seems kind of small though, otherwise multiplayer is great. And what about Campaign you ask? You have four different characters to choose from at the start of each level. There is a noticeably large difference between each of them, they start with different weapons, move at different speeds, some are more accurate or hold more ammo for certain weapons, but most importantly who you use often affects where you go in a level. This is sometimes small things like Luger climbing up a wire to an elevated area to snipe enemies but other times you might find yourself in a totally new place with different battles to be won. That is a pretty awesome feature, and makes a lot of levels in Campaign well worth replaying once or twice. I just wish we had a two player co-op Campaign...

Anyways, if you are thinking about not getting Killzone because of its crappy reviews at most major sites I suggest you reconsider. It isn't without its flaws but it does an amazing job at making you feel like you are in a real war. The atmosphere is just amazing, if you don't buy it you will be missing out on one of the best shooters on PS2.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/20/04