THE GAMER REPORT REVIEW: KILLZONE 2

Killzone 2 Review written by my friend DiggitySo, for weeks my best friend Dave has been preaching to me about the much anticipated and much overdue Halo Killer, Killzone 2. For a couple years I have heard about this marvel, and it's continued delay. I have never really been a fan of Playstation in general, but the way my friend hyped this game over the phone and on Xbox Live, I was ready to buy myself a PS3 and a copy of Killzone 2. Boy am I glad I didn't.

Lets get the obvious out of the way first. This game is GORGEOUS! The graphics are top notch, and the lighting and effects are some of the best I have ever seen executed on a next gen title. Explosions and fire are incredible, shadows reflect perfectly off of weapons and in dark corridors, and muzzle flashes and smoke are pretty and realistic. Textures improved dramatically from the demo, and the animations of carrying your weapon are very realistic. About the only downfalls are the character models and voice work, which clearly are not on par with the impeccable graphics. All in all, aside from the small nit-picky imperfections, this game sure is purdy, and several times I found myself getting pelted by Helghast bullets while stopping to admire the beautiful environments and graphics.

Now the bad.... Yes PS3 fanboys, I am about to drop bombs like Vietnam. Let's be honest here. If a game does not control or move well, most savvy gamers will not give it the time of day. This is not a control issue, in fact the mapping of the controls was done quite well with numerous variations to choose from. I found alternate 2 to work quite well as it was almost exactly like Call of Duty controls. The problem here is the movement and physics of the game. I am not entirely sure if the foul-up here was supposed to emulate a more realistic feeling, or if they just dropped the ball entirely. To be perfectly honest, the game feels like you are trying to swing your gun through a pool of syrup. Even with the X and Y axis sensitivity all the way up, it was so unresponsive I almost gave up several times during the campaign and multiplayer. I kept telling myself, "you will get used to it, Dane..." It never happened. It's actually a shame, this game could have been great with a more responsive control system. There is definitely some striking influence to Call of Duty titles here, but competitive gamers and those familiar and comfortable with FPS titles in the Call of Duty franchise will be scratching their heads as to why Killzone 2 controls like it does. I mean, let's face it, Call of duty has it's share of issues in the multiplayer realm, but you can't help but admit the down-the-sights aiming is bar none one of the best fine-tune aiming systems in any shooter. I couldn't help but say it over and over again, "why doesn't this just aim and move better, it could have been SO good..." Evidently the game has been patched to try and remedy this problem, but it just is not good enough. A small problem but I had to make note of it is when selecting gametypes or navigating the menu, there is a weird shake that almost makes you wanna take a Dramamine. Again, small but strange and very annoying.

Campaign had it's moments. From tank driving, to Mech's and turrets on gunships. Nothing amazing here, but it was a nice change of pace throughout the campaign. Again, the control problems transferred straight over to turrets and vehicles alike. Another gripe, albeit a small one, is the lack of variety of enemies for me. The same red eyes and character models are in every level. Something I found very odd was the lack of interesting or unique weapon's. For a "futuristic" war game, the weapons seemed very outdated, and pretty simple. Hard to really notice the difference between a sub-machine gun, and a assault rifle. Strange that the weapon I was looking most forward to, (the semi-auto-type assault rifle) was basically a M1 Garand out of Call of Duty! There is a cover system that is actually implemented very well, but again, the controls hamper it badly as the accuracy needed to execute it well just is not there.

The AI is pretty good for the most part. My buddy Dave warned me, as you zero in on an enemy that is taking cover, they somehow know you are waiting for them to pop up. WOW, he was not kidding. If you are aimed waiting to get that satisfying headshot, the enemy will not pop out of cover. I sat aiming at enemies for minutes at a time, only to find out that as soon as I ducked back into cover, they would pop out and unload. Couple this with, YES, the bad controls (sorry to sound like a broken record here) and it's frustrating stop and pop gameplay that again that just could have been so much better, especially in some of the standoff type of moments, which are quite frequent in the campaign. Again, alot of Call of Duty influence here as to how the game flows.

Onto the multiplayer. I must admit, my experience with the multiplayer was pretty brief as the ehem.... controls really made me a bit hesitant to try and compete on a competitive level. A couple things I did notice bugged me a bit. The progression system basically means you start as a grub and work your way up the ranks, unlocking new weapons and perks along the way. At grub level, the amount of ammo is a little ridiculous. I found myself having a gun battle with a foe not to far away, only to be out of ammo after fragging him.... WTF???? No ammo to speak of anywhere on the map. ODD. Another thing I found strange was that the Helghast Red eyes stuck out like a sore thumb. You could literally see the snipers eyes across the map. Secured servers were a nice change, as P2P gaming connection is very inconsistent. It was nice to have consecutive lag-free games I must admit. But the MP just didn't draw me in as I expected. No vehicles in MP was also a little odd, but to be honest the gameplay really doesn't seem suited, nor do the maps. Class based was pretty cool but a little odd at the same time. Engineers can plant turrets controlled by AI, and Medics can heal downed players. I would have liked to see the classes implemented more similarly to a game like Battlefield, where Engineers could hand out ammo, and Medics could hand out health packs etc.

So, sorry to those looking for a in-depth review of a much anticipated game. Maybe it's that I expected too much, but this one just didn't do it for me. I would be curious to see what others say about the controls as surely I can't be the only one. A gorgeous game through and through graphically, but hampered controls really ruined this one for me. So until next time, no more PS3 for me!!

-DIGGITY, OUT