Killzone 2

"War... War never changes...."

...until now, that is. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, war has changed.

"War. Perfected." is the marketing slogan for KZ 2, and it's the perfect summation of Killzone 2.

DISCLAIMER:

I will avoid any big plot spoilers in this review, but I may discuss a few level designs or mission objectives merely to illustrate how the game is played. As a further disclaimer, at the time of this review, I have only finished 7 levels on veteran difficulty (the second hardest difficulty behind only elite, which must be unlocked).

Story: 8.8/10

I admit I have never played a Killzone game before, and all I know about this franchise's story is what I've seen in Killzone 2. The basic story as I can understand it (no big spoilers, don't worry) is that in some video game long ago in a galaxy farfar away, the Helghast attacked the ISA somewhere. Killzone 2 picks up from where the last major skirmish occurred in the Killzone universe, and this time the ISA is determined the end the war that was allegedly started by the Helghast. And what better place to end that war than the Helghast's home planet?

Yes, indeed, this time the "good guys" are the ones doing the invading here. The ISA has launched a full scale attack on the Helghan, a planet that the Helghast call home. As you might expect any time the inhabitants of a planet are faced with invasion, the Helghast dig in their heels for a ruthless and unrelenting fight to the death to repel the invaders.

The story has been criticized by some as being poor or inexistent in the game, but honestly the story is pretty adequate. It won't win any Oscars or Nobel Prizes for literature, but I play games to have fun. When I want a story, I read Dostoyevsky, Pushkin, Chekhov, Ibsen, and so forth.

While this game's story doesn't even compare to authors such as those, the story is still adequate. The cinematics are gorgeous as is the in-game graphics. There are many moments when you complete a mission objective in the game, and you're rewarded with a cinematic portrayal of delivering a huge blow to the Helghast. You may not know what an "arc tower" is or care why you're being sent to destroy one at first, for example, but you'll feel a huge sense of accomplishment and pride when you do finally take it down and be rewarded to some amazing cinematic explosions when you do.

Graphics: 10/10

The amount of detail and visual mastery in this game continues to amaze me. When a drop ship rips through a smoke-filled sky just above your head, you can see the circular trails of smoke that the drop ship's turbine engines leave as they cut through the haze. The water looks amazing in the game. The sky and lightning are top notch.

Your guns' bullets will leave different marks depending on the type of surface they hit, and they will also emit clouds of dust and sparks from the holes in the wall upon impact. When your bullets rip through enemy flesh, the bodies explode with rich, lush goblets of dark, watery blood, and the bodies bounce around as you imagine a body would when being riddled with bullets.

The levels and atmospherics in the game are truly immersive and really drive home the point that you're fighting the Helghast on their home turf. Although many of the levels are in urban settings, there are times when you will find yourself in other environments such as a desert.

Sound: 10/10

So much detail has been paid to the littlest sound effect in this game, and it has paid off. The sound of guns being reloaded and bullets striking different materials will often make you jump if you play this game at loud volumes. When you hear a beeping sound nearby that increases in pitch, you know you need to get the hell out of there, because a grenade is about to go off nearby. When you're getting careless as you mow down enemies, you may hear a "Whooooooooooooooooosh" sound as a Helghast soldier in some hidden balcony or corner launches an RPG right at you, giving you mere seconds to react. Buildings and pillars crumble from heavy mounted machine gun fire. This is the sound of war.

Music: 10/10

The music is another excellent feature of this game. I think I read somewhere that the Prague orchestra performed the music for the game, and you can definitely notice the epic nature of the game from the orchestral score that is thumping in the background throughout the game.

Gameplay: 10/10

The enemy AI is where this game truly shines. Unlike the dumb as rocks enemies in most FPS games, the Helghast will try to outsmart you and adapt their play style to how you play the game. If you try to play it safe and stay crouched behind cover, they will lob grenades at you, run the long way around to flank you, or straight up zerg rush you and try to gun you down at close range, stab you, or knock you down with the butt of their rifle. These enemies are no joke. If you try to back up into the previous room for some relief, they will chase your ass in there, follow you up stairs, chase you around corners, etc.

If you try to run and gun your way through this game, you'll often be taken down quick from heavy enemy suppressing fire. If you spot an enemy peaking over a wall and try to get a headshot, the enemy will duck and will rarely, if ever, stick his head up again at that same spot. Instead, the enemy may simply not stick his head up at all or run along the wall and stick his head up elsewhere to get a better shot at you.

If you throw a grenade at a crowd of enemies, they will shout, "Grenade!" and scatter from that area. I think I've seen them even throw my own grenade back at me, but it may have been their own grenade that they tossed. And they do love to toss grenades, believe me.

If you come across Helghast snipers, you better watch out for those long range laser sights. If you see one pointed at you, you have maybe 2 seconds to move before you're dead. Similarly, a good killing spree in campaign mode can often end by a lone Helghast soldier who fires an RPG at you from range and kills you, because you got careless and stood out in the open too long.

If you happen to walk by a boarded up window with enemies on the inside, they will spray you with bullets, breaking down the window boards in the process. If you're trying to get a clear shot on enemy on the other side of a doorway, they will drop to the ground and roll across the floor to the other side of the doorway to give you less of a shot as they run by.

This game has some of the smartest enemies I have ever seen in a game. Playing the game on veteran is a must. I can't wait to play the game on elite after I unlock that difficulty. I've heard that elite mode takes away your crosshairs from your guns.

You will often also find yourself having to man machine gun turrets, tanks, and other vehicles and weapons to mow down a lot of enemies who would otherwise overwhelm you.

At other times, you may have to use the sixaxis motion controls to simulate turning a valve, setting explosives, etc. Another worthy thing to note about this game is that the campaign mode has some deliciously fun boss fights.

Controls: 9.5/10

Lots of people have criticized the game's controls, and yet I find them quite intuitive and smooth. I haven't had to adjust the controls at all, and I've finished 7 levels on veteran difficulty. As Guerrilla Games points out, this is a tactical shooter, not a twitch-shooter FPS. Guns in this game feel as if they have real weight. For example, it takes longer to turn when you're holding a heavy machine gun than when you're holding an assault rifle. Running and gunning with a heavy machine gun usually means you end up spraying your bullets wildly without hitting the enemy much, if at all. This also isn't one of those games where you can jump 20 feet into the air. You can jump in this game, but mostly it's just to jump over hurdles and to jump up on low ledges.

Personally, I really love the controls. The cover system is great. You can hug up against just about any wall or surface for cover, and pop out to the side or over the top of the wall if it's low enough to take a few shots at the enemy. As in most games, you push in the right analog button to take better aim with your gun or to use the scope if your weapon has one.

Multiplayer: 10/10

This is where the game excels as well. Killzone 2's multiplayer is hands down one of the best and most in depth ever seen on a console game. There are different classes and weapons to be unlocked as you rank up in multiplayer games. Guerilla Games heavily supports gaming clans, game rankings, and more.

The game has some of the typical FPS multiplayer games under different names such as Assassination, Search & Retrieve, Search & Destroy, Bodycount and Capture & Hold. The twist, however, is that you can play games where these games change over the course of a single session. Thus, for example, the game might start out as Search & Destroy, then later change to Capture & Hold. This really keeps the games dynamic and forces teams to stay on their toes and to move around the battlefield. Guerilla Games has also confirmed that vehicles will be implemented in multiplayer in the future.

At the time of this review, the game has no co-op mode, but Guerilla Games has confirmed that they are looking into the possibility of implementing co-op in a future patch or DLC.

Replayability: 10/10

Aside from the multiplayer, the game also has a very solid campaign mode with 3 difficulty levels and a 4th difficulty level that must be unlocked. This game also has a huge amount of trophy support for both campaign mode and multiplayer mode. Additionally, each level in the game has hidden items that you need to shoot or collect to get additional rewards.

The Helghast soldiers in campaign mode act like real, thinking enemies, which makes playing through the same levels very fun as well.

Overall: 10/10

People doubted that Guerilla Games could match its infamous Killzone 2 trailer from E3, but not only has Guerilla Games matched that trailer, but they've also exceeded it. As Lens of Truth said, Killzone 2 has raised the graphical bar for gaming. Gamepro magazine compared the game to Halo 3 in many categories and concluded that Killzone 2 is superior to Halo 3 in everything except story and heroes (they thought Master Chief was more interesting than Sev). This game has a 91% positive ranking on Metacritic as of today.

Even if you've played every other FPS to date, Killzone 2 is worth picking up. This game will fulfill my FPS needs for quite some time, and I'm not sure if another FPS game will replace it any time soon.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/03/09

Game Release: Killzone 2 (US, 02/27/09)