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A Beautiful Bloodbath – Review of Killzone 2
What do you get when you mix a better ranking system than Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and the intensity of the Unreal Tournament series?
You get the most entertaining, and exciting FPS (First Person Shooter) ofthe year to grace the PS3 next generation gaming system. Killzone 2 is a realistic sci-fi fast paced FPS that takes place in the future where the ISA, the rebel army from the planet Vetka, that is at war with the Helghasts. But this time the ISA is invading the Helghasts home planet, instead of being on the defense protecting their planet, Vetka, from the Helghasts. You are a part of Alpha Squad, a four man squad which consists of Sev, your character, Rico, the leader, along with Garza and Natko respectively. Alpha Squads mission is to land on planet Helghan and complete multiple missions to further there cause of defeating the Helghasts. When you first launch the campaign the first thing you notice is how crisp and detailed the graphics are in the cinematic opening. The actual gameplay matches in beauty and quality. Explosions are immense and glorious, buildings crumble, and the environment physics are out of this world. Combine the graphics with the amazing sound effects and voice acting, and you get the feeling that you are an actually solider in the ISA Army. The gritty language and the gratuitous swearing in Killzone 2 is plentiful, and it’s about time!
The campaign is very addicting and the story is realistic in my mind. There are many innovative things that make Killzone 2’s campaign differ from other campaigns. The first thing to mention how well programmed the AI is. The AI seems to know basic strategy, such as positioning, flanking and using cover. The AI is that smart when I played through the campaign on Trooper (regular) difficulty. I can only imagine the AI on the hardest difficulty. Another thing I liked about the campaign is how you can choose to show the rally points on your screen, by pressing up on the d-pad. I’m sure you have those times you get so frustrated on not knowing where to go with nothing to guide you, but now Killzone 2 has solved that problem perfectly.
Killzone 2 uses innovation by taking advantage of is the six axis controller. Instead of pressing one button repetitively you press, R1&L1 and then twist the controller the way you want to turn whatever you are grabbing on to. Too bad this feature wasn’t incorporated somehow into multiplayer. When I play single player in any game I expect a lot of those epic moments that we all love. Those moments where you stop and just say, ‘That…was…AWESOME!’ Well Killzone 2 has plenty of those ‘epic’ moments. Whether it’s the big explosions, or one of the many boss battles, there are also many ‘oh sh**’ experiences.
The best part of KillZone 2 is the multiplayer in my opinion. First of all having 16 vs. 16 is a big plus. I like having the massive wars on some maps. Probably one of my favorite parts of the multiplayer is the ranking system. You get 1xp for each kill you get, 1xp for each revive as a medic, 1xp for each objective you do, etc. Also if your team wins you get 1.5xp multiplier added to the xp you just received. You can also earn badges enhance your abilities and weapons. In addition to the badges we’ve listed out the classes:
Rifleman:
The default multiplayer character is assigned when no primary badge is selected. A secondary badge may still be added. Riflemen can start with most weapons, except for the specialized ones.
Engineer:
Primary badge ability – Sets up an automated turret which targets the enemy
Secondary badge ability – Repairs ammunition dispensers, mounted guns, and automated turrets
Medic:
Primary badge ability – Revives downed team mates
Secondary badge ability – Throws a health pack, which can be picked up by other players
Scout:
Primary badge ability – Uses a cloaking suit to become near-invisible
Secondary badge ability – Tags all on-screen enemy players with a hidden marker, which broadcasts their coordinates to team mates
Assault:
Primary badge ability – Dons heavy armor twice as strong as normal
Secondary badge ability – Temporarily boosts running speed
Tactician:
Primary badge ability – Throws a colored smoke grenade, which serves as a spawn point
Secondary badge ability – Requests air support from a sentry bot which targets the enemy
Saboteur:
Primary badge ability – Assumes the disguise of a randomly selected enemy player
Secondary badge ability – Throws a sticky, proximity-activated C-4 charge
Another thing I love about Killzone 2’s multiplayer is all the classes you can play. It has a class for everyone’s style of play. Are you the guardian of the team? Then they have a medic class for you. If you like to be all Splinter Cell, they have the scout class for you (you get a cloaking device to sneak around). There are a total of 7 classes that you unlock along the way.
There are 7 different game modes all ridiculously fast paced and entertaining till the last second. Another thing I love about multiplayer in Killzone 2 is if you want to play multiple gametypes you don’t have to leave the game to switch into another gametype. For example let’s say you enter a game and play Body Count first, Killzone 2’s version of team death match, and your team loses. Well don’t worry because in 10 sec a new gametype will start up and you and your team will have another chance at winning the entire match, usually it’s a best of 7 match.
Now for the things I don’t like about Killzone 2’s multiplayer. The first thing would have to be the lag issue online. It’s not so much the kind of lag where players are jumping around on your screen but the registry lag is pretty bad. Another thing that annoys me is how long it takes to get people into your game if you want to create your own server. If you want to create your own server I would suggest inviting all your friends and then go make several sandwiches while you wait. Also the default control setup doesn’t make sense to me at all. So if you are used to playing the Call Of Duty series I would suggest switching the controller configure to “alternate 2”.
Overall I enjoyed playing Killzone 2 both single player and multiplayer modes. Normally I’m not the person to play thru the single player all the way unless it really gets my attention. The graphics are extraordinary and the sound is amazing in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. Killzone 2 has a lot of replay value in the single player mode and evenmore for the fan of multiplayer online combat. This PS3 exclusive is well worth the $60 price tag.
By: Alex Huntress
Final Verdict: 9.0/10.0
