Hyped as the Halo Killer prior to launch - Killzone falls flat where it matters most - the gameplay. A decent shooter and one of the better first person shooters to grace Sony's platform, Killzone provides great fun and good action early on. I feel for Guerilla and Sony - who have good ideas and I know full well how tough it is for a first person shooter to stand out in the gaming climate. However, Killzone is stifled by the platform it appears on - and is held back by many of it's ambitions. The premise of the game is solid enough though, and well animated CG sequences show how Humanity has reached into far space, and how a military splinter group has broken from Earth and settled on the planet Helghan. It is here that they succumbed to the planet's atmosphere which altered their mind and now they have come to bring the fight home, and wipe out humanity. It's a simple story - but there is more to it than that. It is not Earth that you will be fighting on however, but the planet Vekta, a near Earth world which is much like our own, surprisingly. The Helghast themselves look similar to normal AI - so ocassionally you may mistake an allie for an enemy, but scripted attack sequences soon show where the enemy will be striking, so you can easily learn from your mistakes. However, this is one of the games main downfalls. The scripted AI show little to no awareness of their surrounds. On occasion, they will flank and outmaneouver, but they put up very little fight and resistance. With it all being scripted, there is almost no replay value whatsoever, but this is helped with the addition of being able to play as multiple characters. Staring with Captain Templar, your all American Macho, and moving on to Luger, a Russian like Stealth Sniper to Rico, a massive machine of a man who lugs huge guns and firepower, to Hakha, a half Helghast operative who has the ability to sneak into compounds disguised. Some operatives change according to the player you choose, and you can choose any at will once you unlock them, which won't take long. The Campaign mode is fairly short, and can be finished in the time of an Overnight rental - if you put in the hours. However, the saving grace of the package is the online Multiplayer - which really adds to the replay value and is something you will continuously return too. However both online and off, the guns themselves feel far too heavy and loose. They don't pack the firepower necessary, and feel nowhere near accurate enough. The machine gun sprays everywhere, and as your mainstay, is a major problem. The sniper rifle is almost completely unusable, and the Shotgun is underpowered and far too long at reloading. The same can be said for all the weapons, which are slow at reloading and underpowered in their appearance and effect. As well, Killzone suffers from an abhorrent amount of slowdown. Not only do you feel like you are crawling when you are indeed walking, pop in and unsteady frame rates will jar even the most unjaded gamer. Coupled with the aforementioned reloading problems and inaccuracy of the weapons, and you get the feeling of the game running at one tenth of the pace it really should. These graphical glitches wouldn't be so bad if they didn't inflict upon the gameplay as much. But with the heavy scripting of the missions, it would appear that Guerilla didn't add the kind of graphical polish which it so apparently needs. The sound as well, will infuriate many gamers with again, the weapons being the main culprits. It's bad enough that the weapons feel inaccurate and reload far too slowly, but they also sound underpowered. Voicing for the most part is good - but there are several instances when you can tell the actor is reading off the page, instead of portraying a character. There is no sense of urgency. As well, there are far too few lines from the enemy - who repeat the same battle cries far too often. Simple lines like "Scatter, grenade!" and "Kill" are repeated too often, and all enemies sound alike. It is especially annoying, but it gives you even more incentive to shoot them at least, if only to shut them up. While the sound is mostly average, the music is above average, though individual triggers for it stirring only occur upon the fabled scripted events occuring, so there is no subtlety to the design. You know what will happen before it does - and again, the lack of urgency in the situation brings the whole side down. Online multiplayer is the real saving grace for the package, with it being so good it is worth getting PS2 online for this title alone. Although the campaign problems with the guns and grenades still appear, at least the enemy isn't scripted, and there is decent variety in the maps and modes. Although much of it is what you have seen before, it is handled well and runs smoothly. Overall, Killzone had the makings of a great shooter - and many gamers will enjoy it. Those used to faster gameplay on the Xbox and PC are best to turn away though, as the repetitiveness of the sound, massive graphical problems and lacklustre and shortlived campaign will only further their resolve that Killzone just hasn't been optimised to it's full capacity, or playtested enough to ensure good solid gameplay. This is a mediocre effort.
This game is not a Halo 1 killer, however it is a super fabulous fps, with an awesome story.... Graphics don't make a game, but they help in Killzone. Overall, this game has better graphics than Halo 2! That is my opi... Read Full Review
Killzone is one of those games that really shouldnt be missed if your a fan of the FPS genre. It has a fanastic gritty realism that I've yet to experience in another FPS. Multiple characters, awesome Variety of armamamen... Read Full Review
