Saturday, March 23, 2024

Killzone 2 Review

Reader Note: This is only a review of the single player campaign, due to the lack of servers. Hence the multiplayer has only been briefly touched.

Killzone 2

When space Nazis threaten to unleash their fury by ravaging mankind into war, you get the perfect setting for one of the most explosive games this generation has ever seen. Killzone 2 may have put the entire community in a shadow of doubt, post its computer generated fiasco at E3 2005, but ultimately it has the last laugh on its naysayers by meshing together an incredible experience that cannot be warranted in words alone. This review is a hype induced rambling but confessions of a hardcore atheist, who came back convinced by the offerings of the game.

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Killlzone 2 places players in the shoes of Sev, part of the “Alpha squad” aboard the New Sun, one of the gigantic ships that has taken over Helghan skies as a counter assault by the ISA forces. Their main objective is to capture scholar Visari, the grandmaster of the treacherous Helghan design. Templar, the valiant hero of the previous Killzone games, has been promoted to the rank of commander of the fleet.His counterpart General Radec forms the insidious opposition of the Helghan high command, who has been modeled after the infamous leader of the Third Reich, “Adolf Hitler”. The game also has a nuclear and environmental twist added to the entire chaotic situation, which aids in keeping the nuggets of the single player campaign juicy and sultry.

Killzone 2 Screenshots

Sev’s squad consists of three other members beside him, Graza, Rico and Natko, in addition to these NPC’s, his squad also encounters various other squads which aid or receive aid from their squad. The plot that the game offers is pretty generic, but its implementation ensures no erratic plot twists found in most alien shooters from this generation.

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The gameplay of Killzone 2, although highly reminiscent of Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty series, is a tough nail to crack through. Gone are the days when ducking being an indestructible crate provided a tactical advantage in first person shooters. Killzone 2 refines all the mechanics seen in modern action shooters to give its players a wholesome treat. The cover system implemented from Kill. switch / Gears of War finds itself right at home when players take command of Sev. Pop and shoot is the primary objective of the game, ploughing it through like an average mundane shooter will be a rather difficult option. The enemy strikes are fairly linear towards the initial moments of the game, but as time moves on and the environments begin to expand, Killzone 2 morphs itself into a multi-directional gorefest.

Often the Helghan force continues to spawn till Sev has reached a designated point on the map and since Killzone 2 forces the player to judiciously utilize ammunition, each firefight with the enemy feels different, tactics need to be rotated quite frequently for the player to survive his ground on the battlefield.The game offers the player to carry one primary interchangeable weapon and a good for nothing magnum with unlimited ammunition. Although this can be replaced with an automatic pistol found later on in the game, the review code removed it at the beginning of next area making it a bit puzzling experience. The lightning gun is perhaps the most fun weapon found in the game, since it contains unlimited ammunition and the ability to strike multiple enemies at one go. The other bits of arsenal include your regular fare of assault rifles, sub machine guns, grenades and a combat knife for those close quarter encounters. The game also uses the sixaxis controls to plant satchel charges, lower bridges and keep sniper fire steady, adding onto the innovative list of features in the game.

The overall design of the game is a visual treat, since the game uses sufficient juice from the PlayStation 3 CPU and GPU processing units. Each environment looks natural, the term destroyed beauty fits naturally for Killzone 2 more than anything else. Players will find their squad entrenched in the bowels of a rotting locale, traversing through the shacks, dangling wires, precariously built buildings of concrete, when they reach the village and refinery, they shall bear witness to the dusty haze that engulfs the planet, on board the cruiser, the skies are filled with smoke and chaos of a worthless war that pitches man against his own kind. Visari place showcases the luxury the elite and high raking officials indulge in. All in all, players will have very little to complain about the visuals.

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Killzone 2 Screenshots 2

Helghan enemies come and flood the streets in all shapes and sizes, from towering heavy troopers to lighting fast fully armored elite guards. These vile, vicious and engaging foes keep the adrenaline pumping throughout the game, although the artificial intelligence is far from perfect.

Their ability to take in a million bullets at a single go is a rather remarkable feat. These guys remind me of torrential raindrops that just refuse to die down, during the later levels the conflict becomes intense with mechanical flying beasts pushing through the squad at regular intervals.

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Killzone 2 comes embodied with two vehicular segments, one a tank skirmish and the other a mech run through a wild barren land towards the final assault. There is a segment early on in the game where a crawler levels a couple of buildings to emerge into combat, the unexpectedness of such a situation will take most players unawares and will leave many squealing in joy.

The game’s multiplayer offerings consist of Warzone and a skirmish mode, the former offers a class by class option of progression across eight maps, while the latter is a simple deathmatch option that allows players to browse through the multiplayer area and compete against bots offline. However, this mode was not tested due to the non-availability of servers.

The game, although the best in its genre, is far from perfect and suffers from a regular number of flaws that inhibit almost all shooters in this generation. Killzone 2’s visual beauty sometimes falls out of line by presenting ugly textures on models and environments. This is particular to the flame effects which look pretty shoddy in comparison to the other lighting textures in the area.

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The major puzzling factor I found in Call of Duty was the inability of the player to open key doors in the campaign, no matter how brave and valiant the soldier is, his ability to open regular doors takes a fall and he requires extensive support from his teammates to progress further and this carries onto Killzone 2 which represents a technological tour de force. The artificial intelligence seems to be stumped sometimes trying to throw a grenade or hide their butt from incoming fire and the ability for different sidearms really needs to be fixed, since enemies get stronger and more powerful during the course of the game.

Better dialogues need to be put in place, the dictionary of a war hero / commander consists more words than F*** and S***. Remember the buggy section from the E3 2005 trailer which looked really cool, well a little more variety with the vehicular sections would make its sequel more exciting. The other major omission which needs to implemented is the option of cooperative play, Killzone 2 screams to be played along friends.

Killzone 2 Screenshots 3

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The Final Word: Killzone 2 represents a destroyed universe of war which is somber and grotesque, coupled with its intense gameplay mechanics, this game warrants a serious look if you are a fan of shooters and addicted to franchises such as Call of Duty. A worthy addition to your PlayStation 3 library and actually warrants all your pennies in case you do not own one. Individuals who look at this game as the next Half-life, an evolutionary shooter may go home disappointed since it aims and succeeds in providing oodles of fun and joy.

Killzone 2 Single Player Campaign:

Graphics: 9.5 /10.
Gameplay: 8.5/10.
Sound: 9.5/10.
Budget pocket: 8.5/10.
Overall (not on a average): 8.5/10.

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