With the Killzone 3 beta having recently started, me starting Killzone 2 is either just right or horribly late, depending on how you slice it. I must confess that I had little interest in this game going into it and only bought it because I was able to get it for really cheap alongside Infamous.
All I knew about this game going into it was that it was hyped to be a Halo or Call of Duty killer. I still dislike the Halo series, but I really enjoyed the Modern Warfare games. I haven’t played nearly enough to say one way or another, but from what I’ve played so far, it appears to have a lot of potential.
To say that Killzone 2 looks like crap would be a flat-out lie. Killzone 2 may have come out last year, but it still looks incredible. Everything looks amazingly detailed. Side-by-side, I think that Killzone 2 holds its own against the best in the business, including Modern Warfare 2. I was consistently impressed by how great everything looked. One particular scene early on that really caught my eye was the moment where you shoot at the enemies in the building with the turret. It was really cool to see the building fall apart in such detail as I shot at it.
Other aspects of the presentation vary in quality. The music and sound effects are great. However, the voice acting, scripting and overall plot appear to have room for improvement. The story about humans vs. aliens, the rag-tag group of soldiers and curse-word filled dialogue all feels so rote. I’m not very far into the game, so it’s not fair for me to write this game off. I feel like I should wave the flag nonetheless.
Playing the game was a bit of a shock. As someone who is comfortable playing Modern Warfare and Left 4 Dead, the feel of Killzone is very different. Everything moves a bit more methodically and with weight and momentum to it. This affects everything from character movement to shooting. So far, I haven’t been able to get away with unloading a whole clip into an enemy because of the dramatic recoil effect. Good aim and short burts of fire appear to be even more important in the Killzone universe.
The biggest kink I’m struggling with right now are the cover mechanics. The way it works is like the inverse of Gears of War. Unlike Gears, where you press a button to lock into cover, you have to hold the button to stay in cover. To counteract this, you’ll stay in iron-sights view by pressing the button rather than holding it. The ‘backwards’ sensation makes it feel like I’m having to learn how to walk using my hands. I wish they went with something more traditional, but I guess it’s on me to adjust.
Overall, my first experience with Killzone 2 was a positive one. Considering the time of year it is, I may not power through it with the same motivation I had for Uncharted or God of War. However, when things settle down, I think I’d give it a fair shake.
In Third Person 