'Killzone 2' video game review

(Credit: Sony)

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Developer: Guerilla Games (“Killzone”)
Publisher: Sony
Available On: PlayStation 3

When Sony showed the first footage of the sci-fi first-person shooter “Killzone 2” at the 2005 E3 conference, gamers were floored by its awesome visuals. That is, until they realized the footage wasn’t of the game being played, but was pre-rendered video. And then they remembered that the first “Killzone” looked good, too, but was ultimately boring. Since then, “Killzone 2” has had to live down both the hype and the spite.

So how is “Killzone 2"? Well, it’s not as bad as people might have feared, but not as good as people might have hoped. The game is visually stunning, one of the best looking shooters we’ve seen on the PS3. There are also some interesting gameplay tricks that add new wrinkles to the genre. Most notably, the system used to duck for cover that, unlike every other game, doesn’t switch to third person, which makes it easier to pop up and shoot someone. The game also forces you to be a bit strategic, instead of a runner and gunner, since your enemies are good shots, you can only carry one major weapon (and one less effective pistol) at a time and not all opponents can be taken down by sheer brute force.

Things get even better when you play “Warzone,” the game’s competitive online multiplayer mode. Though you can tailor it to your tastes, this mode normally has you randomly playing some of the five different kinds of multiplayer gametypes in a single match. A round might start off as a “Deathmatch”-like team-based firefight, then quickly switch to an “Assignation” type where you have to take out a specific enemy, and then have you try to capture something or some place à la “Capture the Flag” or “Capture & Hold.” “Warzone” also has you playing as specific kinds of soldiers, including sneaky Scouts and tough Assault Warriors, who can level up and add abilities with experience, much like the multiplayer in the two most recent “Call of Duty” games.

This is not to say that the game is perfect. You have to use the PS3’s motion controls to turn valves, and while it doesn’t come up much, it’s often enough that you wish they’d just stuck with the usual “hold down the X button to turn” cliché. Many of the game’s controls also require you to hold down the respective button the whole time you want to do that action, which makes it difficult to multitask, like if you want to peer out from cover while using your scope, unless you’re nimble enough to play “Guitar Hero” on Expert while simultaneously knitting a sweater...

“Killzone 2” also isn’t anything we haven’t seen before. The mix of a grim futuristic setting with modern weapons, harrowingly frantic battles and enough action-movie style explosions to make Michael Bay jealous, is one that’s been done before, and more interestingly (most notably in the “Resistance” series). It’s ultimately just a basic sci-fi shooter. But it’s also a very good sci-f shooter.

Bottom Line: While it may not live up to the hype, it does live down the spite.

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