If I had to only pick two words to define Killzone 2, it would be "technical masterpiece." GG has done a very astounding job with the visuals, sound, and presentation of this game. Every nuance and small detail added into the gameplay just culminates to a very rewarding FPS. The sound of your guns, the light that emits from your fire, the reload animations; everything is virtually sublime. Killzone 2 sets the bar extremely high for FPS's, more so than any other FPS released in the last few years that I could think of. However, Killzone 2 has it's faults that can sometimes be reminiscent to any other mediocre FPS akin to games such as Blacksite or Conflict: Denied Ops. This mediocrity I speak of stems at the single player.
Killzone 2 takes place on the planet Helghan where the ISA takes the fight to the Helghast's home planet to overthrow their ruthless military faction and seize the Emperor Scolar Visari (think of a futuristic Hitler.) Already plot holes are apparent as the living conditions for Helghan shouldn't allow the ISA to breathe normally in it. Even the Helghast have to continue wearing their masks due to prolong exposure of the environment, and yet the ISA have no problem sustaining themselves in this hostile atmosphere. To me, this doesn't make sense, but whatever; that's not the problem here. As a matter of a fact, there are three main problems with the campaign. 1) Unoriginal and uninspiring script. 2) Very poor voice acting and script aside from Scolar Visari. 3) Characters fail to connect with you. Some of these problems aren't as bad as they seem actually, the voice acting is actually realistic. I'm pretty sure in a real war, you would be cussing about as much as comrade Rico Vasquez; one of gaming's already most obnoxious characters to most people. However, this is a game, we demand a script full of substance similar to MGS4, not a barrage of F-bombs.
This poorly written voice acting score sadly compliments the somewhat unoriginal story. GG definitely scores points for the dark and gritty sci fi atmosphere, there is nothing wrong with this as it's actually a really cool art direction that I've never seen before in a game. It's futuristic, but it still feels down to earth as the game omits most cliche sci fi weapons such as plasma guns and such. However, the whole premise is nothing to be amazed with. To put this simply: you invade a planet with a rag tag squad, try to take down the leader, end Visari and Helghan's tyrannical reign, and that's it. Nothing special and sadly, there were no plot twists that I was hoping for. I think GG could've made a really interesting story if there were more secrecy going underneath the straight forward story. For example, I would've loved it if Jan Templar (Colonel of the Vekta cruiser) was discovered to be an underground spy working for Helghan since the first Killzone game. A little sabotage and subterfuge would've been interesting to spontaneously jump out at you but sadly, the game is pretty obvious.
The characters weren't too bad on the good side. You won't be emotionally attached to guys like Rico or Sev as much as you were when seeing Gray Fox's last words in MGS1, but they do portray some pretty good realism. Sev getting pissed off at Rico for accidentally killing Garza, Rico killing his own ISA teammate because of his trash talk to now-dead Jan Templar, the teamwork between Sev and Rico, and other parts are really good. What's even better is that both the enemy and team AI is amazing. I got to say that I felt completely safe with Natko on my side as I was descending on an elevator on the Vekta cruiser. He would cover my back when i was literally seconds away from death and I can tell you that I never felt as much gratitude for friendly AI as I did in this game. Really good, but again, they're isn't much with the character. They all cuss, get pissed, kill, rinse, wash, repeat. Great guys to have as teammates, but you won't enjoy their company as much as Alex from Half Life 2.
Again, only small complaints to a very polished game. Controls are nice and are a lot better after a few patches, enemy AI is astounding (you will see enemies slightly move from their original cover if they've felt compromised), Elite difficulty will leave any hardcore FPS player in tears, and a single player experience with excellent fight scenes and fire fights.
And the best part of all this game isn't even the very solid single player, but the online play. There are 7 classes (Rifleman, Medic, Engineer, Tactician, Assault, Saboteur, and Scout), with 6 of them having primary and secondary abilities that correspond with their class type. The game consists of a ranking system similar to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare where you gain XP and unlock weapons and classes as you progress throughout your online tenure. Sadly, the ranking system is very very short and once completed, there isn't much incentive after reaching the top rank. It would've been better if it was spread a lot more as having everyone using the same classes in roughly a few days didn't make you feel unique about your classes compared to other people online. That, and the lack of weapon variety. The shotgun, ISA assault rifle, semi automatic rifle, revolver, and sniper are excellent weapons, but sadly the rest don't feel as great; at least for me that is. One of the good things about Call of Duty is it's weapon variety and how each gun worked and feel different to cover people's different preferences for a gun.
Other than the lack of weapons, short ranking system, and the difficulty of playing this game online; it's a very unique and fun game online. Easily my top FPS for online at the moment. Excellent maps, well balanced classes and perks, interchangeable secondary abilities, patches and ribbons to unlock more goodies, a weekly honor system that rewards players with top 10%, 5%, 3%, and 1% stats for online (I got top 1%!), and a plethora of other features such as multi-mode matches and a really nice clan system.
If anyone is a FPS aficionado, then they should pick this game up immediately. There are not many, if any, FPS's that plays anything like Killzone 2 and I can only wait for Killzone 3's release.
Hugely disappointingly, it seems that Guerrilla Games, developers of the Killzone and Horizon series, may be done with Killzone for good.
1 was fine, overhyped as a " halo" killer
2 was a graphical beast at the time, and felt heavy
3 was good a refinement of 2 but not much else. weird audio issues environment were to quiet
shadow fall was pretty but bland
Shadowfall had great Multiplayer though. Too bad the campaign was meh at best. It did have the occasional great moment sprinkled in.
I played through 2/3 multiple times. I played through the original once, but it felt pretty lukewarm for me. I couldn't be bothered to beat Shadow Fall. I got a couple hours in and just went "I'm done". Never touched it again. It was awesome on the tech side, being a launch title, but it didn't even match up to the first game when it came to actually having fun playing it.
3 in 3d was an amazing experience to be had.
Although not many experienced it as intended for good reasons.
You forgot the ai advancements on the playstation 2 killzone one you could have a full team of bots doing everything even playing the objective that was a big thing.
In killzone 2 they always flanked you and when available used the high ground.
Playing killzone 2 no hud 5.1 audio was/is awesome
I dont mind if someone else takes up the mantle for the KZ franchise. We are several years removed from the first game. It certainly could use a remake to gauge interest in the rest of the series. I know it has its fans... Im thinking of how a proper reboot can rekindle that old dormant flame and bring in a new generation of fans in the process.
You forgot killzone mercenaries on the ps vita but it was the worst selling sony game for awhile there.
Would like a new IP before Horizon 3. Just because games take so long to make these days.
The PlayStation 3 may not have been the strongest generation for Sony, but there were still some diamonds in the rough that deserve a revisit as PS5 remasters.
Even if they could just remaster and put on PSVR2, some would still look great as VR titles and could do a whole lot to bolster the headset w these exclusives! I'd imagine the investment of reworking these titles into VR would be way less than building new games from the ground up, and they could be amazing experiences, and VR often makes flat games feel fresh again. The Resistance and Killzone games are particularly what I want to see!!
I played killzone 3 in 3d and it really changed the game per being immersive.
In vr, that would be even more awesome.
Funny you mention that... my son wanted to play some PS3 games in 3d on my PS tv and he was blown away by how good KZ3 was. It really was a great addition to the game. Im surprised there have not been more 3d games from that era being ported to the PSVR/VR2.
resistance 1-3, killzone 1-3, uncharted 1-3, uncharted golden abyss, folklore, socom 4 , motorstorm, twisted metal, MAG, heavenly sword
Killzone 2+3
Sly Thieves in Time
Crack in Time
God of War Ascension
Motorstorm
Modnation racer
Infamous 1+2
Killzone trilogy in VR would be amazing bonus points if they offer shadow fall.
There was a psvr1 Killzone project that supermassive was working on at one stage which wasn't up to scratch and Sony brand it back in house I was hoping we would see that on psvr2 eventually.
Personally I'd love to see some more love or acknowledgement of psvr2 from Sony in general it was a expensive headset and Sony barely acknowledge it's existence
The amount of work needed to remaster these games wouldn't be beneficial on a financial and business sense.. MGS4 would probably be the best bet as it would need the least amount of work!
The time is perfect for a resistance fall of man game campaign coop multiplayer
The resistance series is str8 trash to me. Socom 3 I would welcome. Or killzone MP.
Resistance was ok but Warhawk and Starhawk was better and kept me coming back for almost a decade of fun and petty revenge on the loud mouth unskilled players 🤣
Edit I loved capture the flag dropping the pot on the flag carrier was extremely satisfying as well as transforming your plane in bot form and stumping them to death 😱
The Amsterdam-based studio reflects on its humble beginnings, beloved franchises, and growth through the years.
Up there with the top tier in the industry. Love Guerrilla Games - Horizon Burning Shores is simply STUNNING.
Same. They nailed it with Horizon. The trouble is I also want a new Killzone! Can't I just have it all?!
I have yet to play Burning Shores as I just started Forbidden West (bought at launch, just unwrapped last weekend LOL) and playing on PS5.
man...I still can't believe the graphics especially now I'm playing it on my LG OLED. that graphics and with stable performance backing it up, GG really is the master of their craft!
32.7M sales in the Horizon franchise! With 8.4M coming from Forbidden West alone! Truly a hugely successful game and franchise as a whole. Looking forward to Horizon III
One year after realease HZD sold 7.6 million.
https://www.noobfeed.com/ne...
So not a drop off.
Unless you're saying a HFW should have sold as much now as HZD sold in 5 years?
It's been 3 games, this includes Call of the Mountain. Also no, its a great improvement over HZD.
lol you are comparing:
HZD: 28 February 2017 - May 2023 (6 years+)
HFW: 18 February 2022 - May 2023 (1 year+)
We will see if it surpass original number.
@shane, 2 full main games, 2 DLC add ons, 1 VR spin off game, oh and a an official LEGO set.
Not too bad for an ip that's only been on market for 6 years
Wow, very impressive. I didn't know the numbers were so high for Forbidden West. Still playing through it myself
Yooo, when I first saw that Killzone 1 footage at E3, my friends my brothers and I were like, Holy shit! When it came out, it didn't look exactly like it, but we sunk so many hours into 1 & 2.
I even liked Killzone: SF, it was a spectacle to look at, and even today it looks good. I hope they make a new one. Can you imagine how that will look, and they can get some modern FPS pointers from Bungie.
Such a wonderful studio. They deserve all their success.
The Decima Engine is absolute 🔥 I'm just mad they have abandoned Killzone.
They are probably working on mutiple projects. One of them is Horizon 3, but another is a multiplaer game and probably somehting else.
I really enjoyed this game.The graphics, unlike most good looking games, gave me that "WOW" factor till the very end.
But god damn man...is this game EVER FREAKIN'HARD on elite.
I've been stuck at the end where i fight Radec since april..
And whoever reads this in the months to come..hell..i'll probably still be stuck there..
Good review, I enjoyed reading it. Im glad to see other people enjoying the game as much as I did.
@ThatCanadianguy420
Im in the same boat as you, its one hell of a challenge, I am on the second floor trying to get past the helghast soldiers, Radec's gonna be a *****
i can't agree more XD
Regarding the AI, it's pretty good throughout the game, but i was slightly pissed with Rico towards the end. You know, that part when Sev&Rico goes up against Radec & his guards.
He tends to focus too much on the enemies below and neglect his job of covering his side of the balcony. As a result, i kept getting flanked.
Anyway great review, enjoyed reading it. Hopefully GG comes up with a way for us to direct the AI priorities or add some kind of squad control :)
As I understood it anyone could breath in the atomosphere on Helghan, It's just the long-term effects of living there that had the helghan wearing masks.
The storyline is a good read: From Killzone.com -
"In 2220 the heads of the various refugee camps come together for the first time to reform the Helghan Administration. 90% of the refugee camps agree to collectivize their resources and labor, in order to cooperate in the rebuilding of their civilization.
Disturbing medical problems are found to be common throughout the colony – high gravity, exotic radiation and storms have serious effects on the longevity of the human being. Medical support from the ISA is non-existent, and indigenous facilities are too primitive. The wearing of masks for those who work in the outdoors becomes mandatory. Mask wearing becomes the sign of having a working class profession. Even with masks, 'lung burn' (as the settlers call it) becomes the primary cause of death in Helghan over the age of thirty."