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