KILLZONE: A Discussion of the Evolution

KILLZONE.

The mere mention of the word alone is enough to drum up more emotions and opinions depending on who hears it than that of a particular candidate's name in the current U.S. presidential election.  This is a world away from the humble beginnings of a company now called Guerilla Games, which finds their humble roots in the year 2000 as a small Dutch developer that was swallowed up by a larger Dutch conglomerate named "Lost Boys", that actually worked under that name for a short while.  Not many know that Lost Boys games released four games for the Nintendo company.  Two for the Game Boy Color and two for the Game Boy Advance. 

After a shuffling of the deck chairs in 2003, Lost Boys was split up and Guerilla Games was officially born; going to work on KILLZONE for Sony Computer Entertainment and their PS2,  and Nam '67  developing for Eidos to be played on the XBOX,  PC and also the PS2.  These titles were released in 2004 to lukewarm receptions; however I must say that I played both and was immediately attached to the KILLZONE universe.  In fact, despite the mostly malicious reviews by the big influential magazines (at the time), the game went on to enjoy a real cult following and underground fervor at the time for which a young development team could only hope to achieve, and was most likely responsible for garnering Sony's attention in a larger way which we'll discuss later.  

KILLZONE went on to sell over a million copies and enjoyed a permanent stay on the PS2's "Greatest Hits" list.  Believe it or not but KILLZONE actually went platinum in North America and the EU.  Admittedly, what made KILLZONE such a buzzkill to reviewers was Sony's own hyping of the game early on as a Halo killer, which it certainly was not.  Sony eventually tried to tone down the hype as launch of the game loomed closer, but the hype bubble was built nevertheless and it was popped faster than a funny car clutch at green light.  

Then, out of nowhere, and much to my surprise and glee, Sony swooped in and annexed the young company to make games for the PS2, PSP, and PS3 exclusively ensuring that my beloved KILLZONE would receive the funding and technical muscle needed in order to ensure great future titles.  Guerilla and Sony proved this to me right away with KILLZONE:Liberation on the PSP which was an outstanding tiotle that I find myself playing in airports and airplanes still today!  Fluid, crisp graphics, precise controls and a good story line keep me interested and wanting to play the game over and over again.   

In May 2005 at E3, Guerilla and Sony found themselves yet again in the middle of a PR firestorm behind a game named yep you guessed it,  KILLZONE.  The audience both in house, on television and via the internet were treated to a trailer of the game that was absolutely breathtaking and unlike anything we had ever seen in a game.  Well, there was a good reason for that; it wasn't in-game footage as Guerilla and Sony had asserted, but CG and the gig seemed to be up prematurely on Guerilla with the introduction of their newest installment (KZ2) and Sony's PS3. 

Guerilla and Sony suffered immensely from that little stunt at the hands of gaming pundits like Geoff Keighley,  Shane Satterfield, and various writers at Kotaku and other outlets, not to mention the waves of fanboys and haters that stood against it in one voice pronouncing that the type of tech shown would never be achieved and that Sony's PS3 was nothing more than a hype machine to go along with hyped CG trailers and well, Guerilla Games' games well on their way to the rubbish bin.

So I found myself in an anxious funk (if there is such a thing) for a couple of years wondering if the dream would ever be realized?  I still played KILLZONE 1 as much as possible at home and even hotel rooms and packed my Liberation with me wherever I went.  It's just that everyone I played with online online was wondering the same thing I was -- "what in the hell is this game really going to look like and play like -- and can it be achieved?"  We had somewhat of a vision knowing that the CG trailer,  as much as it was fake as Pam Anderson's funbags, gave Guerilla and us "fans" a glimpse at the direction [target] they were trying to take the game, and oh what a vision it was. 

Fast forward to the future, and you would have seen me go through waiting in the cold for three days during a new console launch,  a diminutive line up of titles, gripping through the controls of a well touted dragon game,  and even more and more drum beating from the Microsoft camp at how badly and miserably the PS3 was "doomed to fail". 

I'll never forget that time as a gamer; it was very easy to become jaded by all of the negative commenting, and to a degree I guess I did, but I digress.  Then came E3 July 11, 2007, quite honestly the day that changed the conversation and expectations of FPS's as we know them today.  Sure COD4 was a ton good, but KILLZONE 2 , even in it's purest homologated form, interjects something into the gaming zeitgeist that you just can't put your finger on.  

The hype is legendary, the screens and in-game footage as we all know now, are all real.  The release date has been set and the anxiousness I once had inside grows again, but for different reasons.  I know it sounds silly, but I wonder if they have managed to keep that grittiness, and that dark feeling of pure freaking war that drew so many of us to the first one?  From Templar to Sev how much has really changed I wonder.

Will the team at Guerilla remember their meager and humble start and the [reasons] that drew so many players to KILLZONE despite the hype, and what garnered it an 8.5 user review at Gamespot? Will they remember the Park, Beach, Southern Hills and Vekta from a purely MP paradise point of view, or has the largesse of this title and the aura around it managed to get in their heads, deterring them from allowing critical gameplay elements of the game to dominate like great level design and weapon elements [timed frag grenades, timed land mines and wall mines]  to thrive while focusing on newer "cutting edge" elements.   Hopefully they retained a sense of nostalgia and can find a way to marry all of these elements past and present into a cornucopia of a KILLZONE lover's dream.

Tell me what do you think?  Did many of you here on N4G play through the first KILLZONE and if so, what were your tags?  Did you enjoy the MP as much as I did which was a ton, and did you play with a clan, if so which?  What was your favourite map to play and which weapon(s) did you use most often and which weapon do you want to see the most carried over to KZ2?  I wonder if there will be a map editor and would like to know who wants to join my new KILLZONE 2 clan?  But more importantly, I wonder how many of you would like to play the campaign from a Helghan perspective?  I think that would be so cool.

Please feel free to add comments about this great series (in my opinion) as you see fit.  I'd like to see positive and thought provoking comments alike about one of my all time favourite games.  Thank you.