Many developers have ventured in the FPS world, but only a few managed to release a title with an innovative experience. Killzone 2 managed to do just that, it managed to bring FPS gaming to a whole different level, they raised the bar, and now guerilla released the predecessor to what I believe was and still is the best FPS game ever.
Plot: The story starts off from after the huge turmoil caused by Rico and Sev in the previous installment, which continued to aggravate the situation between Helghan and Earth. I don’t want to spoil a lot of the story, but under the new leadership the Helghast start playing dirty and Rico and Sev decide to bring them down, even if it means going against their orders.
Audio and Video Quality: The visuals of this title are nothing short of being amazing, an acheivment for the gaming industry, and not just on offline mode, but also on online mode. The environments vary, unlike its predecessor, there are various environments with different textures, weather, and lighting effects. The physics and A.I. are spot on even though there are a couple of glitches that can get annoying at times. The sound unfortunately left me dissapointed, and i tried everything in my power to configure them as best i could. The cutscenes are the worst, at times there are huge action sequences were you expect alot of SFX but only the speech and music is audable, making it sound like a scene being narrated by the characters. The orchestral score of this title was amazing to say the least, you can definitely compare parts of it to The Pianist’s or Schindler’s list’s scores, which give the game that extra bit of emotion in the cutscenes.
Game-play: The game play mechanics are the same as its predecessor. The gunplay feels improved and steadier. There are new vehicles, and weapons, both of which have been tastefully rendered. The enemy A.I. is great, which cant be said for the team mates A.I. The online mode is superb, the best in its class; this is the proper Killzone experience. Guerilla reworked the ranking and pointing system, they also added fresh new abilities, upgrades, medals & Ribbons, and weapons. The maps are vast, even never ending, and upgrading your abilities is awesome.
Personal Impact: I had high expectations for this game, I am a hardcore fan of this series, and I am really fond of the developers behind it. Personally, I am really disappointed; I feel deprived of the gaming experience Killzone 2 gave me two years ago. Now don’t get me wrong, Killzone 3 is still a fantastic game, but I expected a stronger story line, I expected to bond with the characters and immerse myself in the story like I did in its predecessor, but the story here lacks excitement, adrenaline, and most of all it lacks the emotions that Killzone 2 managed to give me. Even the final boss battle, I didn’t even notice it was the final battle until the credits popped up, and I was left staring at the screen trying to understand what happened.
Overall Rating: 8.5/10
By Matthew C.