Game: Killzone 2

Makers: Guerilla Games and Sony

Guerilla Games and Sony Computer Entertainment sure made an impressive first impression with their new release, Killzone 2. After a four-year incubation period triggered by a CG trailer in 2005, there are still plenty of questions about whether Killzone 2 is the PS3’s messiah.

Not straying far from the traditional first-person shooter, Killzone 2 is your basic linear shooting with some bonus features. In most situations this could be the turn-off right away, but Killzone 2 doesn’t leave gamers mindlessly walking in a straight line.

Killzone 2 is a serious look into the PS3’s potential that other games could have taken advantage of. While there aren’t too many PS3 ‘saviors’ out there, Killzone 2 is certainly one of them. It looks and sounds amazing. The developers took the PS3 and used every bit of it to make this game really immerse gamers in the action.

The developers wanted to give gamers this immersion factor. By eliminating a heads-up display for most of the game play and keeping the player in first-person for cut scenes, gamers get a real feel of the battle. With the glorious-looking graphics that rival most console games today, it’s not at all lacking in the realism. Sony and Guerilla also make incredible use of surround sound, rivaling most new movies.

In the previous game, the Helghast (an alien race) attacked a human planet. In this sequel the Humans are invading the Helghast world in retaliation for their previous attack. You play as Sgt. Tomas ‘Sev’ Sevchenko, who gets inserted right into the heat of battle. While there is a brief moment where you’re introduced to the character you played as in the previous game, this is as much backstory you will get.

The story line throws you some curveballs every once and a while, but for the most part it’s fairly basic – shoot through the enemy’s lines until you reach the castle with the dictator and take him out.

This is fairly short and to the point, and with all the random misplaced cursing and inappropriate dialog it can be kind of refreshing. On the flip side, it gives games plenty of time to work through the intense multiplayer features.

Warzone is the multiplayer mode that takes gamers and places them in a server full of their friends and peers. The game type can shift in the middle of a game, even during the same map. One minute you will be playing Team Deathmatch; the next minute you’re the VIP and the entire other team is targeting you, without having to switch games and start over.

The only problem that can hinder a gamer’s experience is its controls. They seem to be muddy and slow, and the learning curve is frustrating. In order to hide behind cover, aim down the sites and fire, you’re basically holding down all the buttons on the controller at once. Then you have to try and hit someone running past you. By adding the Sixaxis motion control to the zoom on the sniper scope you get a little more fine-tuning, which is really nice – however, this is a feature that should have been implemented into all the weapons.

With an Honor and Ranking system that allows players to unlock more weapons classes and perks, finicky controls are still no reason to ever put Killzone 2 into that collection of games sitting in your closet after you beat them the first time. Move aside Halo, uhh 1, 2 and 3. Killzone 2 is here and it only took Sony two times to get this one right.

mlbellez@syr.edu

Published on March 17, 2009 at 12:00 pm