Killzone 2

The war effort has moved on to Helghan - home planet of the mysterious Helghasts and their leader Visari. A ghastly planet devoid of colors, life, and full of wartorn cities, heavy industry and death. Yet somehow beautiful.

Killzone 2 was one of the first Playstation 3 games Sony showed off at their E3 press conference back in May 2005. The debate whether it was in-game graphics or prerendered material is fairly uninteresting today almost four years later. And while the game doesn't manage to reach quite the same visual heights, it is still mindblowingly beautiful to behold.

Beneath the beautiful surface Killzone 2 can be likened to a futuristic Call of Duty. The war is being carried out in close quarters, behind covers, occassionally in a vehicle. It lends its pacing from Gears of War, and depite the different perspective, the cover mechanics are similar. Everything is polished, and well done, but there are no big surprises or twists to the gameplay. It delivers exactly what is expected of it and it does so superbly.

Some people may be of the opinion that gameplay is all that matters and that graphics are just sugarcoating, something superficial on top of the game. To a certain degree I agree, but when the gameplay is nailed down, albeit in a very traditional mold, the graphics and perhaps even more importantly the soundscape heighten the experience and make for something greater than the sum of its parts.

The full arsenal of weapons are revealed gradually through the campaign. All the standard first person shooter weapons are there; shotgun, assault rifle, sniper rifle, grenade launcher, and so on. A personal favourite of mine is the bolt gun, mostly for the devastating effect it has to whomever falls victim to it. The helghasts are a sturdy bunch and can take quite a lot of damage, therefore it requires a bit of tactics and flanking to best eliminate a group of them. Unless there is a mounted gun nearby, of course.

The main character from the first two Killzone games, Templar, has been replaced this time around with Sev (mohawk is the new bald, in space marine fashion). He teams up with squad mate Garza for most of the game. It works well and if there is anything to complain about it is that the A.I. sometimes gets a bit overzealous, runs ahead and guns down opponents before you've even had a chance to take aim. It's not a huge problem and only happens in certain places, and while it is frustrating as your counting down Helghasts for that trophy (1000 killed Helghasts) it also ads to the drama of the battlefield.

The single player campaign of Killzone 2 takes us through some missions we recognise from other games. The moving train, helping the convoy, down the mines, but everything is so well made that it doesn't feel old or predictable. Well there is this one chapter half way into the game, where you run around the map three times. That's not exactly stellar level design, but for the most part there is little backtracking and nuggets of new interesting activities spread out in the campaign. The puzzles are simple and straightforward, switches, levers, and the occassional electricity to short circuit.

Another nice change of pace are boss battles. Killzone 2 features old school boss battles, where you are required to perform a certain action to reveal a weakness and pounce on it. And although I do miss a co-operative mode, the campaign certainly lives up to my expectations.

As far as multiplayer goes it is always hard to tell if it will have the kind of lasting appeal that games like Call of Duty and Halo 3 has had. Although I'm not the kind of player that gets stuck into a multiplayer component and play it for months on out, I can certainly see qualities in the multiplayer of Killzone 2.

In short, Killzone 2 has been well worth the wait. Now bring on the inevitable Killzone 3... preferably before Playstation 4 launches.