FIRSTLY, MY MOST humble apologies for, once again, being silent for so long. After a great many headaches and changes of plan and last minute problems that should really have been explained right from the outset but were conveniently left unsaid until the eleventh hour, my beautiful wife and I moved to our new apartment on Monday 11/05/09. But now, I return to the fold with a…well, you’ll see.

I’ve heard much about KILLZONE, primarily positive, though when considered in depth, all people ever seemed to really talk about was the quality of the visuals and how uberly kickarse the Helghast are. Whilst I agree with both points (the leader of the Helghan Army is Brian freaking Cox, how can they NOT be uber beyond the realm of uber after all?) that still doesn’t tell us much about the game itself. Well, some would argue that it does, after all, it’s only the graphics that matter.

Right?

…

Moving on.

The opening cinematic sets a grandiose standard which the first mad dash through the trenches of the desperate attempt to repel the overwhelming Helghast assault only serves to enhance. Unfortunately, the game then falls flat on it’s face. The control scheme is awful, not to mention hideously unresponsive, and there are glitches flying around left, right and centre. So much so, that having moved only one level into Act 3 frustration got the better of me and I packed up the game, deleted my save file and swore never to ever play it again. A shame really, because I desperately wanted to like it.

Basically, KILLZONE promises a lot, and fails to deliver. I won’t deny that it really, really tries. Sadly, it just tries too much in the wrong areas. The visuals are truly stunning, clearly pushing the Playstation 2 a great deal further than any game either before or after (at least as far as I have seen), but I, personally, need more than just top notch texturing and fluid animation to make a game playable. After more than twenty years of gaming under my belt, I suppose the shine has just worn off for me. Sorry Reaper, I really did try to like it.

Graphics: 9/10
Gameplay: 3/10
Audio/Music: 6/10
Plot/Scripting: 8/10
Overall: 3/10

One final note, it has to be mentioned that, inspite of it’s faults, KILLZONE really tried to be a well balanced game, and that effort, though ultimately futile, deserves to be recognised.

Effort: 9.5/10

Okay, another FINAL final note.

Brian Cox: 10/10

Overall: 5/10

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“My people, sons and daughters of Helghan; for many years we have been a broken nation. Shunned. Oppressed. And conquered by those those we sought to escape! Twelve years ago I asked for time…” and that’s how Killzone’s intro kicks off, sending us into a frenzy of OH MY GOD amazing! Although the intro cinematic is one of the best I have ever seen, and boasts some of the finest animation and very good voice acting from Brian Cox as Scholar Visari, it is still only a cinematic, nothing to get excited over- though the almost Scottish undertones make Brian Cox all the more believable as Visari, the diabolical leader of the Helghast people, or should that be Nazi’s in space? Does this mean the game is any good? Sadly, you’ll find out here…

The game’s story is generally intriguing, with enough substance to keep the player occupied through-out the entire game, as you set out on a mission for General Vaughton, as a Captain Jan (Pronounced:Yan) Templar to locate a spy called Hakha, and to escort him to the Space Defense platform in orbit.

However things do not always go as planned. On the way however, you run into Jan’s old girlfriend; Luger the assassin, Rico the Heavy Weapons and loud mouth, and of course the spy Hakha, who is an ex-Helghast. While the story certainly is very well thought out, sometimes you would wonder if maybe the developers creating the story watched the A-Team a little too often. Those of you who play or have played the game will certainly know what I mean.

Anyway I don’t want to spoil the story for those of you who have yet to sample this game in any way so I will not let loose on the exact details. The game does have quite a good narrative through-out and certainly some of the dialogue is almost as witty as such that is found in TimeSplitters: Future Perfect, with the most biting dialogue between Rico (BA?) and Hakha (Murdock?).

The graphics are also very nicely done, definitely pushing the PS2 to its absolute limits.

The level of detail is surprising for a PS2 game, although there are some rendering issues with close up items looking low resolution, where the game is still catching up with onscreen events- the developer claimed the PS2’s hardware wasn’t up to the spec required of it, technologically undermined by the X-box. Though, tracer bullets, smoke, highly detailed environments, blood, explosions, shoot-outs and weapons are all very believable.

The gunfights are hectic, fast paced, and mechanically well done, with the enemy AI dealing with you fairly well, though in some cases it is quite forgivably dumb. Its as well as could be be expected for such an ambitious game. The varied ways in which you can choose your path through levels by selecting the different characters. Jan is the general route, Luger is the stealth route, Rico is the freight train through the Helghast ranks. Hakha is the one who can get behind enemy laser grids etc. You get the picture? No? Well tough. The first person character animations are good, very good, from climbing ladders, hopping low walls, to the amazing reloads. Its all good.

Sound design is quite good, with each gun sounding resoundingly satisfying, and definitely your usual FPS gunfire, certainly sounding that they pack the punch that it actually does. I do however like the soundtrack. The online mode is definitely something to talk about, including the split screen multiplayer against bots. The BOTS actually do react like REAL players… cool!

All in all, a good rout through the Space Nazi’s of KILLZONE. Anyway; lets get down to the Final Verdict before I fall asleep on my
keyboard.

The Score-

Graphics: 8
Gameplay: 8
Sound Design: 8
Story/Plot: 8
Replayability: 8

Final score: 8 (Bronze)

Awards: Jedireapers “Favorite PS2 FPS” award

Final Words-
Killzone is definitely worth it to see the story play out, but by no means is it a Halo beater as people had labeled it to be, nor can it truly be compared to Halo… duh different console. And with the release of KILLZONE 2 coming early 2009 (February?) it should be picked up for a quick play through. And until KZ2, I haven’t got anything better to do than write this.

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