Killzone Review
System: PS2
Grade: B+
Offline: A
Online: B
By: ShadowJin
The Halo-Killer. That is the title Sony boasted for this game when it was in its developmental stages. I’m not necessarily going to agree with that statement, nor am I going to deny it. What Killzone was made out to be and what Killzone actually is are two completely different things. I do hold Killzone in the highest light and I must say it is probably one of the best games I have played on the PS2. Yielding from Sony’s European branch, Killzone was developed by a team known as Guerilla. A lot of the ideas pushed forth by this hardworking group are very ingenious and it shows throughout the game. Guerilla also pushed the console to its limits and this causes some problems in some areas, but nothing that can’t be put aside as technology limitations.
How exactly did I even come to play this game, let alone purchase it? Well, thanks to Sony’s whorish ways of trying to flood the market with rabble about this game being the second coming of Christ, I planned to steer far away from this title. It’s actually thanks to Sony that I discovered that it wasn’t a bad game in the least. One day, I opened my mailbox to receive junk-mail as one often does, only I found a Sony demo DVD. I’m not much for demos, but I was bored and popped the disc in anyway. After playing what I knew would be awesome games (Metal Gear Solid 3 included), I tried some of the other demos out. Killzone was, of course, one of these demos. Given three character options, I tried the demo with each character utilizing each of their abilities to complete the sample mission (which was pulled straight from the final release.) I was surprised indeed. Surprised enough that I had to purchase the full game.
I was captivated by the extreme attention to detail. The war-torn city structures were fabulous and gritty. The heroes were also dirty and gritty. No one was wearing nifty green armor that had been buffed and waxed before they went into battle. The enemy troops weren’t the same repetitive soldiers over and over. Base troops have a total of four different models/skins. They don’t vary much, but the slight differences are enough to make a group of enemy soldiers running at you look like a group of individuals coming to rip your head clean from your body rather than clones of the same being. Getting back to the environments, great attention was paid to how a soldier would do things in such an environment. This game lacks a jump button. Why, you ask? Think about it. How often would you jump in a war environment? Exactly, little if at all. I suppose you could lunge at your opponent with guns blazing but you’ll just get yourself killed faster – insert sturdy rock that can be used for cover ad here. There is an action button which allows you to hop over small obstacles and such, but no real jumping is needed. The action button also is what you use if you wish to open doors, use ladders, and even knock someone’s teeth out with the butt of your weapon. Ladders are treated as ladders and not strange anti-gravity devices you can climb while holding two weapons, one in each hand. When your character climbs a ladder, they stow their weapon and climb like anyone would – hand over hand, moving up the ladder at a steady pace. A very realistic feature and very appreciated by yours truly. Another feature added to your control scheme is the sprinting button. You can sprint for small distances (you are carrying numerous weapons and ammunition!) You can’t fire while sprinting, but isn’t that the whole point in running in battle? To get away from whatever you’re running from? Clever indeed.
Throughout the game, you’ll move through cities, beaches, and even a city park. What’s nice about each area is that it plays to what’s going on around you very well. For instance, in the war torn city that is constantly being bombarded, you hear explosions and gunfire in the distance. This makes the game a real treat for those of us sporting a surround sound system. The audio is top notch and very reflective of all of the environments. The city park for instance is very quiet since no one is really waging war in that level, until you piss in someone’s cornflakes by sniping their buddy in the head. There isn’t a need for music in this game and even after playing the game for so long, I don’t even recall music at all. The ambient sounds and environmental noises are enough of a soundtrack for me. There is a few musical numbers played during the intro and other cut-scenes, but these fit as the game is theoretically in “story mode” and I don’t need to worry about footsteps or sniper fire. The only beef I have with the audio really is the somewhat repetitive lines the soldiers spout forth in the heat of battle. Of course, with any first person shooter, this is a problem. What bothers me more than this however, is the characters in your party just not shutting the hell up. There is many times when I just want to turn around and tell Luger to cease with the “stay quiet” garbage and take her own advice.
The story in the game is very straight-forward, however it’s a very interesting one. When you load the game, the intro fills you in on what is happening and you find out that the Helghast (aka militaristic shocktroopers coming from the planet Helghan) have just invaded Vetka, an earth colony on a far out planet. This cinema is by far one of the best opening cinemas I’ve seen in a game in years. It captures the very essence of the game and what you’re playing for – all while giving you back-story. How nifty is that? You control four characters over the course of the entire game. Your first character is Templar. He’s a run of the mill joe who happens to exceed in combat situations. He’s the all around character and probably your best choice for most missions. The second character you meet is the quick and deadly assassin, Luger. She and Templar apparently have background which you learn more about as the game progresses. She’s the character you want to choose if you like sneaking and knifing people. She can also go places other characters can’t since she’s agile and can move around more easily. Your third comrade is the hot-headed Rico. Imagine if you took Vasquez from the movie Aliens, Blain from Predator, and Gunnery Sergeant Hartman from Full Metal Jacket and mixed them together into the most nefarious hard-ass. Although he is young and doesn’t really have the ferocity that comes with age, he’s still a can of angry spite ready to shove a rocket launcher down someone’s throat for looking at him funny. He’s the heavy weapons guru of the team and the character you’d choose if you wanted to remove basically any challenge from the game – since heavy machine guns and Helghast don’t mix. Lastly, there is Hahka. He is a spy within the ranks of the Helghast forces. He’s a master of their weaponry and like his name sort of declares, he is a master “hacker.” A pretty all around group, I suggest you finish the game with Templar all the way through, then using another character to start over. It makes it much more interesting.
Multiplayer isn’t something that fancy and grand. There are some original modes in there which is nice to see. The multiplayer combat consists of basic ISA troops versus basic Helghast troops picking up various weapons and mowing down each other. Just think Socom 2 with not as many one hit kills and health packs. Humans of course are much dirtier than the offline story mode enemy AI could ever get. Of course, the AI has the ability to make ALL shots count.
Lastly, I suppose I’ll address the game’s weak points. As I mentioned earlier, this game pushes the Playstation 2 console to the limits. This is great except for one problem – it sometimes pushes it too far. The most noticeable problem with the game is slowdown and framerate dropping during large battle scenes. You even can sometimes loose sound effects from your rifle. However, as long as the bullets make it to your target, and they will, you’re ok experiencing a little slowdown here and there. Something that I don’t think was fully tested was the offline multiplayer. You have the option of using bots. When you use too many bots, the system resources are lagged out and you experience some of the same nuisances I described above. You’re better off playing the normal game if you want to just blow people away since bots don’t act like real people. There is another glitch which has already been documented on message boards dedicated to this game – firing a grenade from the standard ISA rifle, but not firing a grenade. This is performed by doing a certain button press procedure which one won’t always be hitting. Of course, it’s still there. Another glitch I ran into myself is if you look at your objectives while scripted speech happens, you’ll get a continuous loop of part of that speech in the background. Not too annoying, but it’ll slowly drive you crazy. Just get to a save spot and reset the game. I’ve heard numerous fanboys curse Killzone because Halo is far superior in the programming department. I’d just like to state that none of my characters in Killzone have phased magically through the floor only to die by falling into a blue hell. Nor does Templar find himself flying around the battlefield via energy sword tricks. In fact, both games share the same errors with texture mapping models depending on distance. The XBOX shouldn’t be doing this at all, but wait, Masterchief buffs his armor. I forgot. Okay, my rant is over.
Wrapping things up, I’m very happy with Killzone and am very glad I tried the demo (even if my wallet is angry at me.) I suggest you rent this game if you’re skeptical and notice that I gave Halo 2 a better score for online play, since that’s where that game excels. This game excels more so during offline play. If you skipped this title or only played online play, you’re missing out on one of the years better titles.