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Killzone review

Game: Killzone
Platform: PlayStation 2
Genre: First-Person Shooter
Developer: Guerrilla Games

Reader review by diamond_ambience

January 06, 2005

Killzone is the newest FPS for the PlayStation 2, developed by Guerilla. It has been widely acknowledged as being the main competition for the XBox's Halo 2, but I'm going to break the trend, and not compare the two games in this review to remain as unbiased as possible.

Story: 9/10

The story doesn't let you down in this game. Set reasonably far into the future, humanity has become a space-faring race, and colonized planets they could live in. A civil war occurs, when the somewhat disgruntled and former public enemy Helghast civilisation wages a civil war on the humans that shunned them so long ago. The Helghan planet and environment has altered their bodies to make them larger, stronger, and more endurant; their leader has ambitions of galaxy domination as revenge for the actions of humanity long ago. There are enough plot twists and developments that the story keeps fresh, including a traitor in the human forces, teammates that just can't get along, and old lovers re-uniting and fighting together against hundreds of enemies in a covert, small-team style trying to prevent the destruction of their own planet.

Graphics: 8/10

For the PS2, the graphics are great. Overall, the graphics are good. There's a little lacking in detail sometimes, and every now and then the anti-aliasing gets a bit dodgy. Nothing I can really complain about, though, especially when there is a really hectic firefight going on with people fighting on all sides, and as yet, not a hint of slowdown. Lighting and distinctions are done well.

Audio: 9/10

The sound is done incredibly well in this game. The background music isn't something I can remember after turning the game off, though, so that's why it doesn't get a 10. But as for everything else, it's awesome. The guns actually sound like real, damaging guns - really loud, really authentic, and of course for those explosions, you wanna cover your ears sometimes. If you got the volume at the right level, that is. (Not saying you gotta crank the volume, just have it normal, and the sounds are great.) Voice acting is decent, as each character has a voice suitable, and they don't get lazy in trying to pull of their emotions. There is a fair bit of explicit language in this game, though - enough to pretty much shock me when I first played it.

Gameplay: 9/10

Can't think of much to fault it. As you play through the game, you get a new character every now and then, till the point you have four characters to choose from. They're all reputed to have their own strengths and weaknesses, but to me, they didn't mean anything aside from one guy that can't climb ladders 'cause he's carrying too much heavy weaponry. Aside from that, the weapons have their own qualities, and you get the typical FPS items as well; grenades, melee attacks with your weapons, and health pickups.

The enemy AI is done pretty well. Even on Easy mode, they won't just run blindly to attack you wide open. They'll hang back, check out how many of you there are, and if appropriate, attack you from behind some cover. If they're wounded, they'll try and retreat to places outside of your aim. When one enemy is getting shot to hell, his buddy who's standing 20 feet away won't stand still and pretend to not know what's going on. He'll go ahead and reinforce.

The controls work well. You shouldn't be fumbling or pressing the wrong button. Using the analogue sticks, the aiming is precise and the button allocations give you great control without making it too hard to get a grip of.

Overall: 9/10

The game is definately worth buying if your an FPS fan. For those of you that don't really enjoy the genre, however, it's probably not something you want to spend your money on. The game is true quality, with alot of new things that haven't been tried before, with a new look on itself as a game, and with real effort put into the weapons and their effects (sounds included); but there's nothing too special about the gameplay that sets it apart definitively.

Rating: 9/10

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