But somewhere after the 2nd half of the game the missions becomes dull and repetitive.
Killzone - [Playstation 2] - Impression
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Killzone ˇV Playstation 2
Written by MuadDib
Killzone is a sci-fi first person
shooter that takes place in a not so distant future. Despite having a sci-fi
setting, many of the elements in Killzone is inspired by real world conflicts,
from the trenches of World War I, to the beach invasion of World War II and the
dense jungle warfare of Vietnam.
You assume the role of Captain Jan Templar, who is assigned for a secret mission
which will turn the tide of war. During the course of his mission, he will gain
three squad members, Luger the assassin, Rico the heavy gunner and Haka a
half-human half-Helgan ISA spy, who is a Helgan traitor, to assist him. The game
may eventually turned into a squad based FPS like Rainbow Six 3, but unlike
Rainbow Six 3 your squad members are not under direct order, they will follow
behind you to give you back up support.
It is clear that the developers,
Guerrilla, had big ideas for Killzone, ideas that perhaps were too much for its
own good. Killzone started out very epic and compelling. The intro sequence sets
the scene of an epic warfare; the orchestral score is strong and help to capture
the moment. Everything seems well placed for the first half of the game as you
try to fend off the Helgan invasion on your home planet, vekta.
But somewhere after the 2nd half of the game the missions becomes
dull and repetitive.
The enemy AI is neither smart nor
stupid. For most of the time they will work as a team trying to take you down
while taking cover effectively and convincingly. The AI actually perform better
fighting in the war torn city than in the open areas of dense jungle and snow
plains
Your team AI is not too smart either, they will defend themselves when under
fire, but it pains me when they always alert the enemies every time I try for a
stealth kill. It is things like this that I wish you can give orders to your
squad.
The control of Killzone is very tight and very responsive. Guerrilla really worked hard tuning the PS2 analog stick to make it really robust for Killzone. As a result Killzone has the most sensitive control since Half-life made its debt on the Playstation 2.
Visually, Killzone is one of the best looking game on the Playstation 2. Te texture in the game is produced through a technique called 'multi-layering', what this does is when an object is far away layers are removed to maximize performance without hampering the visual quality. And it works very well on the Playstation 2, it allows Killzone to have far viewing distance, big indoor and outdoor levels and it also allows lot of models to appear on screen, the max I've seen is around 18 Helgast soldiers, without affecting the frame rate.
One thing the graphics lack is the
color, although the developers want the game to have a gritty war feel, there is
just too many grey color in the game that made visual look dull after a while.
There are some occasional frame rate problems in some of the missions, but it
didnˇ¦t/shouldnˇ¦t affect game play. There is also a texture glitch which happens
when high texture detail are not applied correctly on screen, again this is a
minor flaw in the game and will not affect game play at all. Other than those
minor flaws Killzone looked superbly amazing, the character models, the weapons
and the environments are all painstakingly well detailed. The animation is
smooth, the special effect looked stunning and the rag doll physics make the
game more enjoyable to play.
Killzones sound department is excellent;
the orchestral set pieces bring good tension in the FMV cut scenes, the constant
explosion for artillery bombardment, radio chatter, and gunfire sound so
realistic that will make you feel like you are holding a real gun.
Killzone definitely excelled in this area, and when combined with the great
visuals it created one of the best war atmospheres the Playstation 2 has ever
seen.
Killzone offers online multi-player game and supports up to 16 player to duke it out over the internet. It offers these game modes: deathmatch, team deathmatch, elimination, supply drop (Killzones version of Capture the flag), defend and destroy, and assault. I regret that I am unable to comment the online aspect of the game, but from what Iˇ¦ve heard from many, it should be really good. For those who are not online capable, fear not, Killzone offers two player split-screen with up to 14 bots for those who can not play online.
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Overall:
Despite having some flaws, Killzone is well worth the hype. It is the best FPS on the Playstation 2 since Half-Life and will sure not disappoint those who are seeking a good single and multi-player experience. It is a must get if you are looking for a good realistic war game.
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