Once upon at a time in a galaxy far, far away, Sony and Guerilla Games came up with the idea of Killzone, a shooter that was set in the future yet felt like a war that had engulfed masses and nearly wiped out 60 million people. Its sequel aimed at achieving a level of development that was unparalleled technically by any next generation console this date.
Killzone 2 places players in midst of a conflict that rages on the Helghan planet against the ISA. The ultimate result is a complete chaos that aims to visually satisfy any PlayStation 3 owner till date. The preview code that was played upon at Milestone’s offices in New Delhi clearly showed the importance of this title for Sony and the gaming community as a whole.
The build starts off with the player landing in Corinth River and engaging the Helghan in violent combat. Sev is then required to pick up an RPG and blow up a nearby settlement of enemy forces camped on a bridge. This segment introduced the technical poweress that the player’s journey would embark upon, all the action went in such a smooth transition that it was almost impossible to overlook the fact this was actually a videogame being played and not some computer generated visuals from E3 2005.
The action kicks into overdrive towards the end of the entire arena, where he is required to blow up a tank and wipe out an entire legion of foot-soldiers. The next area was right out of E3 2005, only with an added bunch of colors. This perhaps the first few areas when the player actually gets to see most of the heavier version of the Helghan forces. The Mini-boss battle requires the player to hit the enemy at his gas chamber continuously till he explodes into a rage of flames.
The Visari Square preps up the player with the utilization of a sniper rifle that requires the player to keep the Sixaxis steady whilst, pump his foes with lead. This bit actually required a lot of tacit and dexterity from the player since the aiming module needs to be perfectly tuned. So if the player is taking hits or is under fire, his desired target would have either escaped or would have been taken down by one his own squadmates.
Most of the fights in Killzone 2 require the player in holding or defending a position. The only problem with the game is its variety of spice that does fizz out after a number of battles. But since the environment keeps on changing, each combat experience does feel fresh and unique. There are a couple of things about Killzone 2 which might irk the player, this bit is subject to question since this was a preview build and may have already been revamped as we speak.
The first bit is that Sev has the ability to revive his squadmates, but his squadmates somehow cannot revive him. Once a player is dead, his lesson in history begins from his previous checkpoint. The second bit was the ability to carry only one gun into combat.
Sev’s primary weapon of choice is a magnum which has unlimited ammunition and most of the times he is heavily dependent on the Helghan assault rifle which is not as fun to use as his ISA counterpart. Grenades have a timer lag attached to them, so the player can strategically cook a grenade and fling it onto his foe for maximum destruction.
Visually, it still remains stunning as ever. There are a few timed instances in the game that would actually make the player foam in his mouth with frenzy. The preview build of Killzone 2 did have a few load issues between checkpoints but these were minor enough, not to spoil the overall experience of the game.
Overall the game seems to be a must have shooter for the dawn of 2009, even if you own a Xbox 360, Killzone 2 is still worth a dekko for it seriously fine tunes all the experience of classic shooters and builds on a fantastically looking game that is sure to knockout a billion jaws before settling down.