by Brendan Rose
Now, I know that a lot of people like Killzone 2, but a lot of people like crack, as well. Killzone 2 proudly sports many features which have become standard in the current generation. Like the iron sights, two weapon limit, and automatic regeneration. Iron sights just makes your normal aim pathetic, I prefer the dot in the center of the screen that actually hits the target. I don't really like any of these, but I may as well be complaining about cell phones.
I suppose there's nothing really WRONG with it. The graphics are fine the music is fine it's all fine...but it sucks... It's just androgynous fighting with no real satisfaction in killing anything. You go from fight, to fight, to fight, to fight, slowly advancing, solving whatever goal of the minute is bothering your comrades, and it's just boring. I don't see the appeal. There is very little blood, and there's nothing really tactical about it. It's terrible.
Some people might point out that the multiplayer is better, which I might believe, but will let sit for now. I don't want to play it. Now, everything I said there was actually about Call of Duty 5. The difference is, Killzone 2 is good, and Call of Duty 5 is tripe. What Call of Duty does wrong, Killzone 2 makes work anyway. It's very generic, and at the same time better than anything it seems to imitate.
There are two deaths in Call of Duty 5. You die normally, and you also die when you shoot your own people. It will say "Friendly Fire will not be tolerated" and then starts it again. I hate that, not only do I want to kill these people, half the time in the middle of a firefight they look the same. There is also the little death every time you have to play it. Thankfully, Killzone 2 doesn't have this problem.
Upon completion of Call of Duty 5, you are rewarded with an endless, ultimately unwinnable zombie shooter set inside of a house that just makes you wish you were playing Left 4 Dead. I'd rather eat broken glass than play Call of Duty 5 again. I'd rather pluck off my fingernails one by one than play Call of Duty 5 for one more minute. I'd rather live in a pile of dog doo. That dog's feces would be like manna from heaven pouring over me rather than playing that festering stinking pile. I'd rather eat raw mold. I don't want to play it. Call of Duty 5 is not even worthy of piracy. HELL is having to play Call of Duty World at War over and over for the rest of eternity.
The first thing I noticed about Killzone 2 is how much livelier and cooler the enemy are. The good guys are instantly repulsive. I think I will enjoy playing as the Helghast in multiplayer. Damn right, get the f*@% off my homeworld!
Okay so the story is that your high school football team, is fighting a space Adolph Hitler. You are invading his home world. No matter how many times you try you cannot kill your teammates, so eventually you start killing space Nazis with glowing red eyes instead that populate most of the game.
Killzone 2's graphics are really great, probably the best I've seen on consoles so far. The AI is smart and the Framerate is good. It's fun, and YES, we have physics. To me physics are as beautiful and important as the graphics themselves, which is why I crave fire and destructible buildings. The audio is excellent, including enemies chattering to each other. The gameplay is strong, cogent, and satisfying. It's really excellent, almost triumphant, and I haven't even gotten to the multiplayer portion.
I can't believe my name is Sev. They swear a lot. You move slowly, but there's a sprint. The weapons are kind of modern, assault rifles mostly, and there are also flame throwers and electricity weapons and RPG’s and shotguns. You can only carry one pistol and one main weapon. The pistol is functional.
What's cool about the multiplayer is how it changes objectives in the middle of a match, going from CTF missions to Assassination to Control points to Team Death-match to Search & Destroy, over and over. It's arguably the best multiplayer game on PS3 so far. The multiplayer graphics are spectacular, there's character progression as you play through the game, and it's just a lot of fun. It's great. There's up to 32 player multiplayer and you can have the extra space taken up by bots or play skirmish missions on your own. The red eyed Nazis are just great, real dark and fascist looking, very fun. The ISA are also good, and their chatter is less intrusive. No complaints on the multiplayer, except that a Nazi gives these weird propaganda speeches when you lose as the Helghast.
Overall though Killzone 2 is a really excellent multiplayer game. It was extremely rewarding to earn my first promotion, the "killing specialist" and "good conduct" ribbons. The first promotion is Corporal which allows you to create a squad. Sergeant lets you create a clan, eventually unlocking new weapons and classes. The multiplayer maps are great, and the overall level design is really good. There are eight online maps and lots of trophies to unlock. The boss characters are pretty cool.
So, how do I sum up Killzone 2? I suppose that I could weakly complain about the story, but that would be verging on pointless. This game is better than the sex act. It rocks. It's first-rate - too polished to bitch about the slightest missteps. Soon the gathering darkness will sweep over us and hover for many months, but this title, right now, just makes me glad I have a Playstation 3.
Presentation (10)
Graphics (10)
Sound (9)
Gameplay (10x2)
Lasting appeal (9)
Overall: 9.6
