It's technically perfect, but there's nothing to set it apart from other shooters.
Amazingly, the title they were looking for came from the most unexpected place: Killzone 2, the sequel to one of the worst shooters in history. No one could have guessed that it would not only live up to its expectations, but actually exceed them in many ways. Graphics? Amazing. Sound? Perfect. Level design of both the campaign and online maps? Creative. Controls? Tight. A.I. of both enemies and allies? Intelligent. Gameplay? Intense, fast, and furious. Name any technical aspect you want, including the online, and it's near perfect in every way.
Any issues you experience will pretty much blow right by you without a care thanks to some careful planning on the part of the game's developer, Guerrilla. Frame-rate dips are frequent during saving and loading, but it only saves and loads when there's literally no action on-screen to be interrupted. Parts of the game are on the frustrating side, but the checkpoints are close enough together. If you die it doesn't kick your keister so far back you start pulling your hair out. The quirks never hold the game back from reaching its full potential.
But for all of its technical glory, there's still something missing. When Guerrilla was pouring all of this hard work and creativity into the title, they somehow missed the mark on setting the game apart from other Shooters. It's as if they baked the perfect cake but only used plain vanilla frosting.
First it shows the storyline, which is almost as forgettable as the characters in it. Soldiers will go into a rage and you won't know why. One of the main characters seems to have an impulse problem that just comes out of nowhere. There's a Colonel in the Helghast (enemy) army that wants to slaughter every last human soldier he sees. None of it is ever explained, so you simply end up not giving a care about any of it. You just go through the game killing everything, and you never really understand why.
It also shows in is the in-game mechanics, which are the same conventions that have been repeatedly used in many shooters this generation. Grenade-spamming enemy A.I., the way you take cover, slowly regenerating health, and a screen that glows red with blood when you're injured and turns black and white when you're close to death are just a few of common conventions you'll see used in the game. You'll lose track of whether this is Gears of War, World at War, or actually Killzone 2 during gameplay.
Your arsenal is just as common. You have two basic types of sub-machine guns, a bigger machine gun, a railgun, a shotgun, a sniper-rifle, a flame-thrower, an RPG, a grenade-launcher, and an electricity gun. See anything in that list that hasn't been used recently in other titles? Neither do I.
Don't get me wrong. Nothing I have mentioned in the last few paragraphs completely ruins the game. Far from it, actually. But after you're done licking your screen and rocking out to the sound effects, it boils down to be nothing more than another capable shooter in a sea of capable shooters. You walk away feeling a sense of disconnection from the game, as if you've done it all before, and that's sad given the obvious amount of work that went into this title.
It's pretty easy to recommend this title to anyone looking for a good FPS and online play. Killzone 2 offers a lot of value, especially to those whole love take their vengeance out on others online. Just be warned: If you've played a lot of shooters this generation, there's absolutely nothing new here outside of some technical achievements. Be aware of what to expect out of this title before picking it up.