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

The new map pack, available for 800 Microsoft Points, can be considered the second part of the most recent update that encourages us to come back to the multi-player part of this game. If you haven’t come back to Gears of War 2 in a while you’ll find a few needed improvements such as a shorter matchmaking time, new ranking system from 1 to 100 and bots for those ridiculous situations when you are alone against a 5 member team.

Talking about this update first, I have to say its pretty much ok except for the bots part. The Bots are very weak compared to the very competitive players found when playing Gears of War 2 online. Rankings are ok as you gain experience according to your match score. The more kills and recovers you have, the faster you’ll level up.

Now let’s get down to business. The snowblind map pack includes 4 now maps; 3 brand new and a very welcome remake of fuel depot, all of them available for traditional matchmaking and horde modes.
Grindyard was the first map I played. It is a big industrial junkyard place ideal for long matches. Grindyard is pretty symmetrical on the first floor and has an elevated bunker on each side and is perfect for being able to provide cover fire. Everything you need for attack and defense is here; flamethrower and grenades have proven to be a big part of strategy when trying to protect your meat flag.

Under Hill is a pretty cool exterior and interior map. The exterior part is pretty straightforward. It has a lot of covering so you will be pretty safe on your way to the central weapon (torque bow or sniper). The lateral part is underground and has narrow ways leading to a central area of the map where all the action takes place. This map is pretty fun and invites you to explore inside and out in order to find your best strategy.

Courtyard is another awesome addition to multi-player maps. Courtyard is fairly big with a good view of the horizon. Snipers, Boomshots and mortars are deadly in the right hands. There is a good elevated area where snipers are very valuable however be careful as there are 3 ways your foes can corner you. Great map for explosive matches.

Finally we have Fuel Depot, the long awaited remake of the same map of the first Gears of War. Winter arrived to the depot with no considerable in-game effects but definitely adds that elegant wintery touch to the game. This map is practically the same one we all know and love but gets the benefits of the new game mechanics like the weapon swap, making it even better. I could tell you more about this map, but you already know it, it is one of the strongest reasons to buy this map pack.

We also get new achievements with the Snowblind map pack. All the achievements invite you to play these new maps and some require you to reach a determined level according to the new ranking system.

Final words…
Overall I really enjoyed playing these maps. Epic knew its matchmaking was very poor compared to Halo 3 or World at War. However Epic has made the proper adjustments to make the multi-player experience more desirable. If you enjoyed Gears of War 2 try its new matchmaking system and if you like it I’ll suggest you download this map pack, it’s a lot of explosive, bloody fun.

This review by Reeve

Check out his work in Spanish Here:  http://alecker.blogspot.com

Not really April Fools you silly people! You are looking at a screen shot for the upcoming Fight Night Round 4 and finally Mike Tyson is being added to the game. I only hope it’s the Mike Tyson of old before he went a little…well um how do you say…CRAZY!

I’ve been dreaming of a Tyson vs Ali match forever and now I shall be able to silence all the Ali haters in Hatersville that talk crap about Tyson being able to whip Ali. The only thing that Tyson could whip would be Ali’s eggs in the morning before his workout. Oh I said it and I’m calling you out sucka! ALL OF YOU! “I’m so pretty…Ahhh!”

Oops sorry folks I got a little carried away there. Anyhow I really looking forward to Fight Night Round 4 and the Whoopage (my own word) I plan on putting on just about anyone that steps into the virtual ring with me. “I float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, don’t pick up that joystick cause you’ll never beat me”.

Nils’ flaw exploited a bug in a Firefox routine known as method _moveToEdgeShift. He used it to hack the browser running on Mac OS X, but it could affect other platforms as well. The other flaw, which has to do with the way the browser processes XSL (Extensible Stylesheet Language) stylesheets, affects Firefox on all operating systems, and also affects the Seamonkey Internet application.

Both of these bugs could be triggered by tricking a victim into viewing a maliciously coded Web page, which would then allow an attacker to install unauthorized software on a victim’s system. This kind of Web-based malware, called a drive-by download, has become increasingly popular in recent years. Firefox’s next update, 3.0.9, is set to be released April 21.

Source: PC World

“Normally, improving contrast sensitivity means getting glasses or eye surgery — somehow changing the optics of the eye,” said Daphne Bavelier of the University of Rochester in New York, whose study appears in the journal Nature Neuroscience. “But we’ve found that action video games train the brain to process the existing visual information more efficiently, and the improvements last for months after game play stopped.”

For the study, the team divided 22 students into two groups.  One group played the action games “Call of Duty 2″ by Activision Blizzard Inc and Epic Games’ “Unreal Tournament 2004.” A second played Electronic Arts Inc’s “The Sims 2,” a game they said does not require as much hand-eye coordination. The two groups played 50 hours of their assigned games over the course of nine weeks.  At the end of the training, the action game players showed an average of 43 percent improvement in their ability to discern close shades of gray, while the Sims players showed none.

Bavelier found very practiced action gamers became 58 percent better at perceiving fine differences in contrast. “When people play action games, they’re changing the brain’s pathway responsible for visual processing. These games push the human visual system to the limits and the brain adapts to it,” Bavelier said in a statement. She said the findings show that action video-game training may be a useful complement to eye-correction techniques.

Source: Reuters