Killzone

The Good
It is one of the finest first-person shooters I've encountered to date. All those regular shooters coming out just don't have the spark to make it going, but Killzone delivers an extraordinary experience that at times makes you forget you're playing a PlayStation 2 game. First of all, graphic on this game is unbelievable. High-level of details makes you cherish variety of levels as you go alone or with your comrades through the ruined cities, swamps, trenches, deserts, or frozen wastes.

As the game starts, you immediately find yourself in the mid of trench warfare battling along with some friendly CPU soldiers against heavy assault by the enemy forces. As you progress throughout the missions, you'll team up with four other characters, each with unique weapons and abilities, making it available to select your playable character at the start of every new mission. This game is true to it's first-person sight-seeing means you won't get to see your character from third-person unless through cinematics that keep up the plot ticking. When you jump over the wall, climb up the ladder, crawl, all of such moves are masterfully done through first-person perspective.

This entire game feels like a small epic story from downright incredible level of details to soundtracks score and abundance of action whether in cinematics or with you in it. There are no aliens, monsters or whatever usually come with sci-fi games that try to be something... this is more up to the true feeling of leading battles one after another in a real warzone. It's so much fun watching the badguys sweat as the team of only four is blasting through their ranks and coming to face them.

The Bad
Didn't think such thing exists for PS2, truly amazing.

The Bottom Line
One of the best shooters to date as long as you can cope with a gamepad instead of a mouse and a keyboard combo. This game should leave you jaw-dropping from start to end. Its story is intriguing and nothing too fancy but adding elements that make up for great cutscenes and witty dialogues as all four of the characters have quite a unique attitude. 'Tis a game to be played if you're an owner of a PS2 for sure.

The Good
Killzone is an incredible FPS shooter for the Playstation 2. If you didnt know that, you dont appreciate good gaming. The graphics on this game are perfectly seamless. Never a dull moment or a break in the textures. Everything is stunning visually. Light affects and just pure beauty of the lush landscapes really sets it off. The characters are unique, each with their different perks and complete personalities. Rico hates Hahka, but is pals with Templar, which is just a simple example of the relationships. The level changes slightly depending on which character you choose to be, and offers some replay value. The enemies... Oh goodness me I love the Helghast. They're like the Combine, but alot more bad-assed. Brute strength and a lack of concious is all that's needed to be a low-level soldier, and the ability to massacre hundreds of people, even civilians is what'd getcha to an officer level. They're the epitome of the word "Bad Guy" or "Enemy". Plus, their arsenal is pretty slick and powerful too. The guns are SUPREME. Halo comes in LAST for guns. The sounds are heavy, and very realistic sounding. Alot of power with each weapon can be felt through the controller alone, even without the vibration on. Light reflections off of every single weapon gives a nice feeling, and the melee attack is different for each weapon, even giving a realistic/decent sounding crunch when it connects to the enemy. Also, each gun sounds different upon striking. The pistol would obviously sound lighter than the shotgun, for instance, or when you ram the minigun into the gut of a grunt, you can hear the wind get knocked outta his helghan ass. Way better than halo in every aspect. The storyline provided a well-fueled hate or love for the Helghan Empire. It'll shock you with ever twist and turn the story. Stunning intro as well.

The Bad
Well, very little. The comrades' banter during the levels kind of rattle my nerves, but that's by far the only shortcoming.

The Bottom Line
The game that is way better than Halo, hands down. The war is over, and master chief lost. Definate buy.

The Good
Killzone's introduction promises an epic war story. The leader of the Helghast speaks to his soldiers, about how they will crush their enemies who drove them off their home-planet. While listening to his speech, we see short scenes that hint at a rich background story, as well as furious firefights between the Helghast and the ISA. These set the mood, and start pumping the blood of the gamer.

Killzone delivers plenty of hard action, with enemies (the Helghast) that take many hits before finally falling to the ground. They look suitably sinister, have rough unhuman voices and brutal-looking vehicles and weaponry. But you never forget that they are humans, somewhat transformed by their planet's environment. We hear them scream when injured, shout rallying cries when rushing to your position et cetera. They are a great foe!

All the while i was playing , the great atmosphere and tough combat really pulled me into the gameworld. Expecially during a mêlée attack, the weight of your punches and kicks is shown with the swaying motion of your vision, truly a joy to watch and play. And the yelps of the poor Helghast that you kick in the nuts! Hilarious and slightly painful to listen to. The sound is also an impressively crafted aspect: crunching snow, howling wind, hot muzzle blasts, deep rumbling explosions. There is excellent music in cutscenes , and these are also of high quality. However, the use of polygon models limits the amount of expression in faces, and they do not show the natural motion of real human bodies. Motion capture has its limits.

The firefights are very memorable, and its so refreshing to see rich tactical opportunities. Being a quarter of a team, they alert you to dangers and function as extra eyes and ears. Cooperating with the other soldiers is a good way to keep the gamer emotionally involved with the firefights: having to protect not only his or her own life , but the lives of others as well. It also discourages reckless behavior with grenades…

You won't be fighting the Helghast in boring corridors that all look alike and only allow one tactic. The environments are awe-inspiring. Beautiful parks with the leaves falling softly from the trees, depressing slums with dirty streets, huge hi-tech structures to enter and shoot your way through, misty swamps to wade in : very varied, detailed and convincing design.

The Bad
The AI is very challenging, and rarely messes up. So when it does mess up, you are painfully reminded that it is a game.

The visuals come with a price. Killzone's graphics are very advanced, and the PS2 can not keep them flowing smoothly all the time. This is annoying because it stresses the eyes.

There is lots of data streaming while playing through levels - the PS2 constantly makes annoying loading sounds. However, this doesn't affect gameplay. It's just annoying to listen to it if I'm not using headphones.

The Bottom Line
I have played many First-Person-Shooter games, both on consoles and PC, and i can say now that Killzone evolved from the history of the FPS, inheriting all the good things, and none of the bad. I started playing this game without expectations, but i found plenty of memorable gaming moments, and i was very much amused throughout the entire trip. It's such a rich experience, i want to recommend it to all who enjoy the virtual hunt.