Fans of shooters generally gravitate towards the Xbox 360 due to its high profile exclusive games. In the past Sony has tried to steal some of that oh so sweet thunder with mixed results. Along comes Killzone 2 however and things start to look a bit brighter for the PS3. But is it any good? Well yes, in fact it can be very good but unfortunately its not great. For those of you reading who are gasping right now bear with me, I have plenty of reason to state such a claim. For the rest who are laughing at Sony's golden child under-performing then stop as this game has some very redeeming features.

Read more to find out just exactly what these are...

Killzone 2 literally starts with a bang as your character, Sev, finds himself awakened on an oddly shaped space ship high amongst the clouds. What appears to be your good friend pops by your room and you both head off to a briefing room. All the usual beginnings of a game are present from familiarising yourself with the plot via people standing around and chatting to basic introductions into the controls. After some wandering and a cut scene or two you settle onto a drop ship with other soldiers awaiting your descent onto the Helghan planet. This is where the battle takes place in Killzone 2 whereas the first game had you fighting a Helghan invasion of Earth.

Killzone 2 is a marvel to look at. The graphics are fantastic and the animations are fluid and realistic. From the very first cut scene to the end of the game everything about the game pleases the eyes. The facial expressions are as convincing as if there were muscle beneath the character's skin rather than a crapload of polygons. Like most games of this generation it has a slightly cartoonish look about everything but this does little to hamper the overall experience. Something that does take a little shine off the apple is the lip synching. This can be terrible at times with a movements reminiscent of a ventriloquist dummy. This wouldn't be such an issue but since the rest of the game looks so good little things like this stand out even more. Unfortunately this is really the only area where Killzone 2 is innovative as the gameplay doesn't offer anything we haven't seen before in a shooter.


The story is quite forgettable with something to do with a special type of metal, wiping out the Helghast and killing their leader. Luckily that's not why you should play Killzone 2 and lets face it, not a reason why many people play FPSs. The writing isn't all that great either and seems as if it's trying to one-up Gears of War for pointless testosterone-fuelled dialogue. It's mostly "fuck this" and "fuck that" with the occasional "I fucked your mum" jokes thrown in for good measure. Bless. At one point towards the end of the game one of your team mates looks as if he beat to death another squad member simply because he mocked the ship's captain. The scene ends with the 'victor' saying "he should learn some respect". Nice... Voice acting is a mixed bag as it can be gripping and well-spoken but also predictable and cliché. When confronted with your first large enemy soldier most of your squad are yelling "how do we kill this thing" all the while your partner is shouting at you exactly how to defeat him. That made me chuckle.

Controls are the standard shoot-em-up affair and for the most part work fairly well although the handling takes a lot of getting used to. I wrote about this in my demo impressions and how it would be only a matter of time before you get used to them. I played the game for around eight hours and it still frustrates me. Aiming just doesn't feel quite right and even with the sensitivity turned all the way up I still had trouble. And not because I simply wasn't good as early on in the game I achieved the trophy for shooting off 100 of the Helghan's helmets, something that does take some accuracy to do. Coupled with your accuracy diminishing due to your gun recoiling as you shoot, aiming can be a troublesome thing. A welcomed balance is the electricity gun you acquire over half way through. Once you have it there's no need for any other weapon because it even has unlimited ammo. It does exactly what it says, shoots a beam of electricity at your enemies and has a fairly good range too. Reloading can take a few seconds for the gun to charge up again, a slight penalty for having such a good weapon. Because of the beam it produces you don't have to be 100% accurate which sounds like cheating but is a comforting ability after struggling with the controls. The biggest disappointment though is how you loose this gun once you've completed the level reverting back to the usual options of shotguns, machine guns, rocket launchers, grenade launchers and so on. At times you have to plant charges and to do this you merely approach an area with a ghosted image of said charge on, press 'O' and you'll place the explosive with one hand on the central handle. You must then hold R1 and rotate the controller from left to right illuminating lights on the charge. This and a similar wheel turning exercise is how the PS3's motion sensing is implimented into the game. A cover mechanic helps with the combat by pressing L2 when against objects. You can then lean out in all directions to shoot then safely return to your cover with ease.


Levels are large and nicely paced with multiple paths to complete your task. The game is essentially giant kill-boxes having you eliminate most if not all the Helghast from a particular area before you can progress. Most of the time you'll get into some tense fire fights with a large groups of people all on the battlefield at once. Other times you battle alone or with a partner taking on whoever stands in your way. Missions can vary from destroying Helghan anti-aircraft guns to rescuing captured team mates. Sometimes levels can be a touch confusing but thankfully you can press UP on the D-pad and a helpful arrow will appear on screen pointing you in the right direction with a marker on the ground a few yards ahead of you. It's foolish to depend on this however as it can sometimes lead you into trouble. I used it once and walked right into the centre of a Helghan party resulting in my doom. You also get the chance to man turrets and an exo suit – a chunky walking tank that moves with authentically heavy footsteps - and near the end of the game you enter the cockpit of your own anti-aircraft cannon. Both break up the run-and-gun missions perfectly.

Over the course of Killzone 2 you'll experience all sorts of enemy AI ranging from intelligent to downright stupid. Mostly the Helghan troups will take cover, flank and hunt you down making for enjoyable battles but quite frequently there are times when they clearly want to die. I had to take out one with a rocket launcher hidden in a tower who thought it would be a good idea to shoot one of his rockets into the ceiling killing us both. Other times soldiers would run towards me as if possessed, only to pass me, turn around and try and club me with their weapons. They received only bullets in return. A comical trait is when the Helghan take cover. They're mostly hidden until they pop their heads up, look left to right and then back down again as if in a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Oh how I laughed. And not only at that but at the bizarre cockney accent these Helghan seem to have. Imagine Christian Bale's character from Reign of Fire talking into a tube to echo his voice and you have the Helghan. The difficulty in this game comes more from the amount of enemies you have to kill rather than their intelligence. One of the last battles sees you fight wave upon wave of Helghan soldiers which quickly becomes tedious. You're team mates' AI is also a mixed bag but most of the time they get the job done and you feel happy to have them alongside you – as long as they don't get in your way because if they do, there doesn't seem to be any budging them unless they choose to move.


Overall the game offers some highly entertaining moments but at times has you're fighting in repetitive situations. The controls can be very annoying which is the biggest failing that Killzone 2 has and the lacklustre story also lets down an otherwise flawless presentation. It was very hard for me to give this a score because by the end of the game I was ready to throw my controller out the window but still wanted to go back for more. Also I was unable to test multiplayer due to restrictions so will revisit this once the game is released on 27th February. There are some people who are going to love this game and happily glaze over its shortcomings because of it's gorgeous visuals. Others will become frustrated at the handling and repetition. This is why I said the game to me just doesn't qualify as being great but still a very good experience for first person shooter fans. If you own a PS3 and like your shooters then for the most part you'll be happy with Killzone 2. If nothing else it's a perfect way to show off the graphical capabilities of the PS3 and will give you some enjoyable moments along the way even if they're nothing new to the FPS genre.

88%

8-D
Stunning graphics never-before seen on a console
Highly entertaining moments
Good pace of levels
Overall length of eight hours - just right

>:-(
Annoying controls
Frustrating and sometimes repetitive combat
Inconsistent AI
Doesn't innovate or do anything we haven't seen before