Truth is, all my life I’ve
been an ardent PC gamer that scoffed at inferior FPS experiences on the
console. My colleagues always teased me for being a hardcore PC fanatic
(fancy name for “fanboy”). It’s a given fact that PC gamers are much
harder to please in terms of quality or gameplay and hence, console FPS
ports are always a disappointment. Throughout the years, being an
extremist that I am, console games like Halo 3 only managed a “hmmmm”,
while few others like Resistance 2 and Gears of War 2 never went beyond
the “meh” factor. After the recent buzz and hype behind Sony’s upcoming
FPS, I decided to sit down and spend some quality time with the game
and I cannot deny the truth… Killzone 2 has made me a believer!
Killzone
2 sees you take the role of Thomas Sev of the ISA, tasked with a
nightmarish war on a planet called “Helgan”, home to a populace of
pissed off half-humans called “Helghast”. For those wondering, Killzone
2 is not merely a shoot-em-up title involving big guns and brutal
enemies. The game’s story runs deep and the enemies you’re fighting
against have a long and sorrowful past of torture and repression. The
first thing that becomes apparent when you land on Helgan is the beauty
of destruction - A rigid, temporal wasteland that’s bathed in decay and
looms in dust. The atmosphere is so thrilling and exotically crafted in
such a way that you can almost feel that debris in your lungs. And you
immediately start questioning the logic behind invading a hell hole.
Once you’re done drooling at the realistic bunch of pixels pouring out
of the screen, you will be introduced to your enemies – A marching
callous fleet of beady red eyes. The subtle “pop” that Killzone 2
starts with only grows in amplitude as the game progresses, and all the
digital chaos never seems to diminish throughout the game. You’ll be
fighting alongside your AI controlled squad members and in almost every
firefight, your team-mates act convincingly like human partners unlike
other war games where you had a dozen AI team-mates that only manage to
peek from their cover and shoot at blank infinity while you did most of
the killing. Killzone 2 vastly depends on timed sequential events that
lead to another set of objectives, be it blowing up a bridge or
releasing a platform. The movements are fluid and the controls are
smooth, making it “feel” real unlike Resistance 2 that had controls
that made it feel more ”analog”.
Apart from your team mates,
the Helghast can prove to be quite a formidable lot using cover
effectively when needed while sometimes running crazy at you for a
vicious melee attack. Though, you will be fighting in squads for the
most part, you will sometimes be left to fend for yourself; that along
with being tasked to revive squad mates make for a primordial war
scene. Sev is able to wield one primary weapon in addition to a
secondary pistol. From assault rifles to highly powerful bolt guns,
Killzone 2 packs a plethora of firepower at your disposal. Enemies
react differently depending on the type of ammunition used and the body
part targeted – like, they knock back or go limp when shot in the face
or you can make them fall forward by shooting the knees. While the game
itself offers little in the way of being open-end, players can still
access a playground of vast landscapes which makes roaming about much
easier. At one point in the game, we encountered a heavy – a huge
hunkering mass of armor that makes Marcus Fenix look like Mickey Mouse.
Some of the boss battles can be hard & challenging and mostly
involve a hidden technique to bringing down the enemy. Though the
combat has turned out to be incredibly fun, we couldn’t help but be a
little disappointed with knife kills. Sticking a knife through the
Helghast did not feel as gratifying as a COD4 knife kill. While COD4
delivered a satisfying stab, Killzone 2 was more on the side of
monotonous slashes.
To
further raise the bar, Guerrilla Games has perfectly executed the use
of Sixaxis motion controls for completing objectives like setting
charges, turning valves or even steadying a zoomed-in sniper rifle,
which brings us to our most loved level in the game where you’d be
stalked by caped, hunch-back enemy snipers able to render themselves
completely invisible in a venue that looks like a ravaged industrial
graveyard. Couple that with their near fatal accuracy and gripping
music, it produced one of the best gaming moments we have experienced
in a video-game so far. If you thought Call of Duty 4 was amazing,
you’ll find Killzone 2 to be electrifying!
As much as we loved
Killzone 2’s absorbing single-player campaign, the meat of this title
lies in its amazing multiplayer component. The game incorporates a
class-based system where scoring kills and completing objectives will
get you moving up the ladder. From Saboteurs to scouts, each class
offers a different flavor of gameplay and much more when you take into
account the ability to mix and match different classes into an amalgam
of destruction. Though the multiplayer is reminiscent of Team Fortress
2, the game takes it one step further and offers an intense
“on-your-toes” action. Packing in a vast array of weapons and classes,
Killzone 2 proves to be the epitome of fiery fragdom offering hours of
fun long after you’re done with the story mode. What really made us
raise our brows is “Warzone”, a continuously shifting battlefield with
different game-types chained into one EPIC online fragfest! Another
welcome addition is the clan system that allows you to better network
with you friends and organize tournaments albeit using an in-game
system of “cash” to place bets. Combine that with a 32-player supported
match and you have yourself a healthy dose of mindless violence. We can
“cautiously” confirm to the fact that, with an extensive range of game
types and an intricate clan system, Killzone 2 blasphemously trumps
over Call of Duty games in terms of gameplay and replayability.
Graphically,
Killzone 2 is the BEST looking game on a console so far. With its
myriad post-processing effects and textures running on the screen, it’s
apparent that the game is in a league of its own. Every little detail
has been given attention like the sparks flying off when bullet meets
metal or the intricately crafted gun models. To further up the ante,
sand bags can no longer be used as fortresses and columns crumble
realistically when introduced to a grenade. Your battle scarred rifle
and the superbly rendered anarchy keep reminding you of a war far away
from home. This is one of the few games that made us “believe” that we
were engulfed in a war and it can only be witnessed when playing the
game for yourself. Apart from the load times, the game ran smoothly
throughout our session and didn’t stutter even during intense
firefights or explosions. The environment is composed brilliantly with
chaos always riding on your coat-tails. Reload animations are indulging
and character physics is downright AWESOME! While baddies feel like a
moving set of polygons in many games, Killzone 2 manages to make the
characters appear like fully “stuffed” dudes instead of just a hollow
image.
In-game audio is equally as good as the visuals this
game packs. For those lucky enough to have a 5.1 surround system will
experience a new dimension of audio fidelity. You’ll be able to hear
every individual clank of expelled bullet casings while the rear audio
channels keep you engrossed with choice epithets from your team mates.
Though Sev is not too fond of talking, we can’t really complain at the
lack of character dialogues. Besides, this game more than makes up for
it in terms of environmental havoc and plentiful explosions.
At
the end of the day, logic predicts that a game with an intense
single-player campaign and a killer multiplayer element is a win-win
situation in anyone's book. To be honest, Killzone 2’s secret
ingredient is the fluidity in gameplay that we have come to enjoy more
than its graphical prowess or jaw-dropping visuals. And that’s what
games have always been about… We're surprised to see Killzone 2 blows
our expectations out of the water with a memorable SP campaign and a
stellar MP component. To put it short, this game makes Gears of War 2
look like a high school attempt at gaming and that is a HUGE compliment!
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