The graphical wonder of the PS3 is finally here. Is there something else than graphics to this game? Let's see.
And really, is there something else that holds up Killzone2 other than its graphics? Uh, online for a while, I guess.
The gameplay is a mixed bag. Gun models looks good, ( ripped off modern weapons and transformed into futuristic ones ) and shoots right. Every guns packs a good punch, but the enemies you'll face in the SP are very, very tough to get down. You'll most likely spray about fifteen bullets per enemy, if not the whole clip, because the aiming-from-the-ironsight is so wonky ( unless you're using the M82, wich is fine ) and hard to use properly.
So trying to get headshots is a real task, and worse, most of them needs two bullets in the face to get down. One will spin them , the other will kill them. Wich is hard. I would have liked to see enemies getting a little bit less health, to make things feel realistic enough. Online seems much easier to get headshots, because players needs one well-placed bullet to drop down, wich is fine. So, for the first hours, the game will be very hard, because you'll need to adapt to the deadzone of the sensitivity.
Harder difficulties will literally make you want to throw the controller at the screen, like ninjagaiden2. Why? Because in some places, you'll need to keep moving otherwise the game will spawn an infinite ammount of soldiers for you to mow down. And the game doesnt tell you that. So you'll sit down, and try to make your way while clearing the Heglhan troops- yet they'll keep coming. So you'll need to trial-and-error- your way in, and rush past them to see them literaly disapear ( like in the bridge fight ) It's frustrating, no, infuriating. It doesnt rewards your skill, but your luck, wich is not fine.
The problem with the gunplay is that there's nothing else to it. No secondary firemodes, ( unlike KZ1 ) and no gameplay features to speak of. Maybe the cover system, wich is wonky at times. See, sometimes you'll want to peek out, yet Sev( your dude ) won't, or will stagger.
The sound is fine, and the songs are epic. The big problem in that domain is only one guy, Rico. He spits out f-bombs in every single phrase he speaks out. Every single one of them. Except one or two. And really, it gets super tedious after a while, since his voice actor sounds like an horny gorrilla ( guerrilla, see what i did there? ) and the character himself is a pain to bear.
The graphics are...yet again, a mixed bag. Some locals and set pieces are simply breathtaking, including the lighting effects on both ISA and Helghast soldiers. But there's this ugly, displeasing grain filter that blurs everything out for no reason. Even the butt of your gun is blured out. When you reload, it gets blured out. Maybe was it the trick the devs did to hide some of the technical blemishes? Anyways, the game really shines graphically, and it's easy to '' wow '' in front of them. Except for the shadows, wich are extremely low res for some reason.
The online aspect is quite nice - as long as you have something cool to unlock. Like classes. After that, wich is about 18 hours long to get at a 1-1 kill death ratio, you'll start yawning. Since the game supports only 11 weapons online, there's not much diversity for an online shooter. After a while, chances are you'll want to start using something else than the default M82, but you'll realise that its one of the most easy to use weapon, and get back to it, wich isnt really a good thing.
Of course, with some patches the online aspect of the game could be improved with patches, and guerrilla seems quite dedicated to it. Overall, the game is a must rent, its a real tech demo for the PS3, yet there's literaly no features to make this shooter unique and stand appart of its competitors, other than good graphics. You aim, you shoot. No weapon modding online, no secondary fires, nothing. For some it may be enough, but for me, its definitly not my cup of tea. I've spent 30 hours on the game, and I don't see how i'll get back to it, unless something interesting gets DLC'ed for it.
9/10.