Fun, exciting and beautiful game is only held up by some annoying flaws...
Right I played the first Killzone and to be honest I liked it and loved the red eyes of the helghast and was very excited when I heard that I would see them again.
The game runs on the storyline of the ISA bringing the fight to Helghan itself and the opening of the game is truly intense and for the most part that is kept up.
Unfortunately when it comes down to weapons and actually using them they do feel a lot heavier/clunkier than those of other games (maybe it is because the guns look like they weigh a ton but it is just odd when I played Resistance 2 I could really feel the difference...). Also as for the absolutley annoying ****ing pistol I dont understand who said "lets force the player to keep a crappy pistol throughout the game!" (The ISA M4 revolver does pretty much no damage and its counterpart the helghast pistol isnt that much better and oddly enough the most basic knife can kill more effectively than an assault rifle!). It works in other games why not just allow us to use two guns? Trust me anyone who has played this game will say the battle with the ATAC would be sooooooooo much easier if you could have both the Assault rifle AND RPG. It just seems that a stupid decision has such an impact. However I will defend the fact that the weapons do look great and their designs do look cool yet that heavy feeling is tres agacant (very annoying).
AI is pretty good they will blind fire attempt to flank and their heavier troops and shock troops will try and get close and butcher you and there are few things more satisfying than blasting a few of the less tough higs who try the same as their heavier counterparts. Unfortunately this leads on to another problem. The game is very hard and I have completed R2 on hardest difficulty and this on the second hardest (I know what it is to be difficult) the weakest of the helghast become superhuman and your weapons become peashooters compared to their weapons it is extremely frustrating as I mentioned earlier they run at you and so much as 3 assault rifle rounds could bring you down (not to mention shotguns, LMGs, submachineguns etc.).
Enemy AI is pretty good however the same can't be said for your idiotic companions Garza, Natko and Rico. They can put a few higs in the dirt but other times you will be running into the open to go save one of those guy's asses because he thought that the "direct" approach was best which involved a hig blasting his stomach open with a shotgun. Also their back story is virtually none existent the only character who does have a back story is Rico (and thats only if you played the first Killzone) Narville, Evelyn, Garza and co. have nothing other to them than the fact that they have weapons and want to kill higs...
Ok it does sound by now that im just getting angry however it does get an 8 because it is absolutley beautiful. I was literally amazed when I played the demo and was one reason why I got the game (if you dont believe me check some gameplay on Gamespot). It kicks ass. The terrain is dark and falling apart and really does look good however it does seem a bit too dark for my liking because helghan is either Grey, Black or Brown (or in the case of their eyes red...). It does make a good contrast between the blue and white of the ISA and the Black and Red of the Helghast (hmm kind of remembers me of Jedi vs sith...). Also despite my crack at the ISA teamates stories and absent of coolness, Visari and Radec (two main Helghast) are sooooo cool Radec's gear is awesome and Visari's voice is absolutley FANTASTIC (I played the trailer 20 times just because of his voice!).
Also Online is fantastic it looks good as the single player and everyone this time suffers from clunky weapons! so no surprisingly fast firing ISA or Helghast. Also the game modes simple team deathmatch etc. are fun and evern those who start at private do have the basic gear which will allow them to start and not be completely destroyed. This isnt to say that things dont improve later. You unlike sniper rifles, RPGs (bloody noobtubers! trust me I barely use these unless everyone else is being a noobtuber) and you unlock badges which unlock skills inturn like calling in flying sentry bots etc. All classes have a purpose simple trooper, medic and engineer are included earlier then tactician (can throw spawn grenades) and scout (can go invisible and use sniper rifle) add a little flavour to online play and a want to become a high level on it. The fighting is intense and the maps are cool, goodlooking and there are plenty of spots for good old fashioned skirmishes and sniping alike.
Inconclusion the game is great and I would certainly recommend it to someone looking for a FPS because of its kick ass graphics, general coolness and online play. However due to some frustratingly avoidable problems like heavy weapons and difficulty this game stops from being fantastic.