Official Website

Platform: Playstation 2

Genre: First Person Shooter

Number of Players: 1 - 16 (online)

Peripherals: Network Adaptor

My face is a little red here. When putting in the request for Sony's public relations department to send over Killzone, I had made a comment about how it was just a first-person shooter, so it was going to be something that was very easy to play through and get a review posted for. I'm sure the reps at Sony had a good laugh over that one. That statement is generally true as most of the FPS titles that are released, while they require a little strategy, can be played through start to finish in just a couple of days, even a night in some cases. Killzone however, while it may appear to be just another shooter, this is a game that can require just a little bit more forethought.

Set in the distant future, mankind has finally achieved its dream of colonizing other worlds, and Vekta is one such planet. The peace of the world is about to be shattered beyond belief. The Helghast Empire, once driven from Vekta, has spent time and resources reinventing themselves, and now under the leadership of Scolar Visari, they have come back to Vekta to retake the world they believe is theirs. The defense forces surrounding the planet have failed, the Helghast have landed and that assault has begun, and while reinforcements from Earth are said to be one the way, there is still no help to be found. Now it seems that the only chance that Vekta has for survival lies in the hands of a few brave soldiers, but perhaps even they may not be enough to repel the invading forces and buy some time before help arrives.

Initially players will assume control of the ISA forces Captain Jan Templar, but as you being to complete more missions, there will be more characters available for you to play. However, before you get all excited and state that you're going to have them all unlocked within a matter of hours let me assure you that this isn't going to be an easy task. It isn't that there are certain conditions that need to be met in order to get new characters, but the fact is that Killzone is a game that can be a little rough as far as the difficulty goes. Believe me, I've tested through on different difficulty levels, and even the easy setting isn't necessarily a walk in the park, let alone the nightmarish hard setting. However, having played countless FPS's game on a variety of consoles, having a game that goes that extra mile and has a higher degree of difficulty is something of a godsend.

From the beginning of the game, the thing that I'm reminded of in the history of first person shooters is EA's Medal of Honor: Frontline. You find yourself in an urban setting with tracer fire and explosions all around you, trapped in a foxhole with your unit and desperately looking for a way out. The thing is though that in comparison, Killzone looks much better and shows just how much developers have improved their skills with graphics and details over just a few years. Through the first few stages you will learn the basics of the gameplay for Killzone, though it is, for the most part, the same layout that most of us are used to already, but there are a few slight differences.

Much like SOCOM, you are limited to how many weapons you can carry. You will have one sidearm and then you will also be allowed to have up to two different rifle-type weapons. Some of these will have a secondary firing ability as well, but that's not going to be true of all of them. You also will have grenades, but you're supply is very limited, so I'd suggest keeping them until you feel you desperately need them. Even ammo can be in short supply from time to time, and picking up more rounds doesn't guarantee a full arsenal, this adding a level of challenge into the game. Like some other FPS games, you can climb, but here's where the change is. Most of the time, you can climb a ladder and still have the luxury of firing a few rounds into your enemies, but not true in Killzone. You're completely out in the open here, but you do have team members to cover you.; Unlike SOCOM though, they aren't always essential, and you will find occasions where they all might be slaughtered, but as long as you survive, the game goes on. You can climb over objects in spots as well, but again you will not have the ability to fire at anyone. Luckily vaulting over walls and such is quick, but taking a few hits can be devastating. And although you have health packs that you can pick up, you can also regenerate a slight amount of health by simply standing still all thanks to that high tech armor that you have. You may be thinking that this is going to make the difference and give you an easier time, but trust me, you're elation is misplaced.

The enemies that you will encounter are the Helghast solders, and these guys aren't pushovers. You will easily recognize them by their glowing goggles, and should you see a flash of red or orange, or any other color for that matter, in the darkness, the best solution is to find over. Unlike other FPS games, Killzone is more of a duck and cover type of game. Most of us are accustomed playing the usual style of "run-n-gun" where it's fairly simple to run through a room of enemies, open fire, and then escape relatively unscathed, but this isn't that type of game. The AI is very smart, almost too smart at times. I ran into quite a few times where I thought perhaps running and hiding would be the solution, but that's not the case. Should the Helghast get a glimpse of you, they tend to swarm to your position, firing all the way and ducking when needed. Even tossing a grenade isn't always met with success. All too often I'd hear the cry of "Grenade! Scatter!" and see Helghast troops feeling from the area. There's another bit of wasted ammo for me. Seriously, this is a game where playing it smart and playing it safe go hand in hand, and there's no shame in ducking behind something in order to survive, especially if you're dealing with a platoon of enemies.

There is a good selection of weapons available in the game as well, but again you need to remember that you will only have access to three at a time. You can swap these out by holding the circle button when you're on top of them, and while it might be nice to pack a full arsenal, you definitely will need to be selective. Even those weapons that I love having in my possession, the sniper rifle for example, don't have quite the same level of usage as they might in another game. I might enjoy taking someone out from yards away with a sniper rifle, but for the most part this just isn't the type of thing to carry into battle. There are also quite a few areas where you're battling in closed quarters, so having something like a rocket launcher isn't the brightest idea in the world, and it also goes back to that limited ammo factor once again.

Killzone though has a little more to offer than just a campaign mode. There is a battlefield option that allows you to select the area you'd like to fight in and then select the type of game that you're going to play. Some thing you naturally expect to be included here, and the first thing that will almost always come up is deathmatch. Don't worry; it's here in either single player of team mode. Yes, you can play with two players in the offline mode, or up to 16 if you're online. Domination meanwhile has you trying to take control of the playfield. Supply Drop is something like capture the flag, though you must pick supplies up and then drop them off in the indicated location on the map, giving a nice twist and making for some interesting gameplay. Assault is in the same style that we've seen before with one team invading another's turf whereas Defend and Destroy is almost like Assault, but it puts both teams in the identical type of game, resulting in havoc at times. I also do want to mention that for the game itself and for online mode, Killzone will allow you to use a USB keyboard, if you have one, and those of us that have spent a good portion of the last few months playing Final Fantasy XI have been wanting another use for this add-on. And of course, you can use the USB headset as well. If this weren't included as a feature, I think there might be riots in the streets.

There are some things in Killzone however that's I can't say I'm a fan of. Some of the stages are very restrictive as far as where you are allowed to travel. I can see that bombs have broken the street apart, but there shouldn't be any reason in the world that I can't climb up on top of it. Instead, you're relegated to more or less a path that you must follow in areas, and even though you might see a section that it appears that you can climb up to, that's usually not the case. One thing I think some might get frustrated with is the high sophistication of the AI, but honestly, I think that makes the game that much more entertaining, and the same can be said for the occasional limited availability of ammunition.

Everyone right now is ranting and raving of course about Halo 2, and it seems that Killzone might slip under the radar of quite a few gamers. Let me say, I've played Halo, and I don't think that it's all that it's cracked up to be. It's a game that's far too overrated for it's own good, and it's the one thing that Microsoft has been trying to use as leverage to sell as system that has been nothing but a means for them to lose money on since day one. Comparing Killzone to Halo is like comparing apples and oranges, and from where I'm sitting, I'll take Killzone any day of the week. Forget about Halo, Halo 2, or any other first person shooter that the industry has to offer, Killzone is one of the more challenging games in the genre and should provide just the challenge that gamers need to keep them at their PS2's for quite a while.

-mike-