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“The game that will change PS2 shooters forever”. That line was actually on the cover of PlayStation Magazine way back when. Several publications dubbed Killzone as the “Halo killer”. Developed by Guerilla Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment, Killzone was released for PlayStation 2 in November, 2004. A remastered version was released for PlayStation 3 in October, 2012. For this review, I played both. Killzone received a lot of publicity before its release and, ultimately, despite all the hype, it ended up disappointing a lot of players. It did spawn sequels that proved to be successful and Killzone 2 in particular is regarded as one of the best first-person shooters for the PS3.
The story is set on the fictional planet Vekta in the future after a nuclear war destroyed the Earth. The world governments formed the United Colonial Nations and established human colonies on two planets; Vekta which is similar to Earth, and Helghan, a barren wasteland named after the Helghan Corporation. A war broke out between the UCN and the Helghan Corporation and the the UCN’s military arm called the Interplanetary Strategic Alliance forced the corporation out of Vekta. The exiled colonists established their own civilization on Helghan and are now known as the Helghast. The harsh conditions of the planet killed many people and mutated others, resulting in them being biologically stronger than normal humans. Convinced they are superior to the human race, the Helghast plan to conquer Vekta and expand their empire.
The events of the game begin after the Helghast launch a secret invasion of Vekta and capture several ISA locations. Captain Jan Templar is sent on a mission to locate Colonel Hakha, a Helghast half-breed who defected to the ISA and is the only one with knowledge on how the Helghast got passed the ISA’s Solar Defense network. Along the way, Templar recruits Luger, a Shadow Marshal and ISA soldier Rico Velasquez to accompany him.
There’s a few things that Killzone has going for it and the plot is not one of them. I really enjoy the premise, tone and atmosphere but the writing leaves a lot to be desired. It doesn’t touch on any of the more interesting aspects. The story primarily focuses on the team’s efforts to repel the invasion. The voice performances are pretty good for the most part, considering what the actors have to work with. Some of the dialogue comes across as cheesy. The cast is comprised of some celebrity talent including Ronny Cox, Sean Pertwee, Steven Berkoff, and Brian Cox who voices Scolar Visari, emperor of the Helghast, and gives the best performance in my opinion.
The campaign features four playable characters; Templar, Luger, Rico, and Hakha. You start with Templar and unlock the rest as you progress. Each character differs in some way which can affect how you progress through levels, adding some replay value to the campaign. Templar is your typical soldier. Luger moves quickly and can sneak through certain areas. Hakha is more accurate with the Helghast assault rifle and can get passed certain Helghast defenses the others cannot and even reprogram Sentry Bots. And Rico can sustain more damage than the others. The characters you don’t select will accompany you as AI friendlies.
Killzone showcases a hard sci-fi look and feel. From the gritty and war torn environments to the enemy designs, there’s a constant feeling of dread in the atmosphere. The idea of an army of soldiers in black armor with helmets with orange eyes laying waste to the world as they try to dominate the planet creates a sense of impending doom. Unfortunately, feelings of dread and doom are often undermined by the gameplay.
One of Killzone’s biggest problems is the enemy AI. The Helghast will vocally respond to situations which is cool but they all sound the same and they’re behavior is often predictable. They frequently stand out in the open when under fire and sometimes not react appropriately like not shooting or turning to face you as if they’re unaware you’re around despite the fact you just engaged them moments ago. I never saw them try and flank me or do anything super sophisticated unless it was scripted.
The Helghast don’t seem to rush you often which can feel odd when you’re outnumbered and in close proximity. I would frequently get behind cover to reload or regenerate health and rarely had to worry about them taking the opportunity to rush in and blow me away. The most common enemies you’ll face are Troopers, Squad Leaders, and Officers and tougher types like Elite and Assault Soldiers become more prevalent as you progress. You’ll also face Base Commanders, Sentry Bots, and Bodyguards at certain points. Despite the decent enemy variety, most of them seem to behave the same and the tougher ones are just spongier and carry deadlier firepower like heavy machine guns and grenade launchers.
I feel there’s one level that really highlights how poor or questionable the enemy AI is. Your team reaches a point where they have to defend a beachhead from invading Helghast forces. I remained on the platform that overlooks the beach to blow away the armor and ground forces that appeared. The enemies I wasn’t able to kill would reach the trench below the platform and that’s where they stop. For some reason, they don’t actually take the stairs up to the platform. They just run around in the trench making them easy targets.
The second half of the game is definitely more challenging than the first half and some encounters later in the game can be frustrating. At one point in the PS2 version, I was getting sniped by an enemy with a grenade launcher and the short draw distance made it hard to see where the grenades were coming from. It was an ambush and as soon as I was hit, naturally, I tried getting to a safe distance but grenades always seemed to land near me, inflicting damage. Afterward, encounters like this become more common and more tough types are thrown at you. As a result, I found Rico to be the most viable playable character for the later levels because he can tank a lot of damage and quickly drop tough foes with his insanely powerful chaingun.
In my opinion, what really carries Killzone is the gunplay. The arsenal includes your typical mix of firearms like assault rifles, heavy machine guns, a shotgun, missile launchers, grenades, etc. All the weapons look cool and the game conveys a good sense of weight. The gunplay feels good and even visceral primarily due to great audiovisual feedback. Killzone is not a very gory game but puffs of blood do appear when enemies are shot and kills with the knife look awesome. Also, despite all the Helghast sounding the same, I found their constant shouting and screaming during firefights to be humorous and adds some intensity to the battles. I do think the PS2 version has a slight edge when it comes to the gunplay, solely because the PS3 version displays pathetic excuses for muzzle flashes. It may seem like a small thing but considering the gunplay is one of the best aspects of the game, the shit flashes are hard to ignore and bring down the cool factor a tad.
The campaign takes you to a good variety of locations and the environments are mostly linear typically with multiple routes to certain destinations, allowing for different approaches. Some battles take place in more open-ended areas and you can utilize weapon emplacements. Unfortunately, I can’t say there’s anything exciting about the environments or encounters. Each environment feels like a gritty war zone which is cool, but the gameplay often feels underwhelming and sometimes repetitive. There’s no exciting set pieces or scripted sequences to break things up. Enemies are often found standing or patrolling around but sometimes arrive by dropship, APC, or assault boat. You will encounter Helghast tanks and enemies on jet bikes here and there but most of the time you’re simply running from A to B and shooting all the Heglhast in between.
Killzone’s multiplayer mode is called Battlefields and features several game types and the PS2 version did support online play. You can play with Bots and while they’re not as good as actual players, they are somewhat competent. They’ll shoot at and kill each other and actually attempt to complete objectives in team matches. Unfortunately, I was unable to play against other players but the bots do make for a decent time.
Killzone is not a very colorful game but the art style is unique and makes for a very atmospheric experience. The PS3 or HD version does look better and cleaner, overall, but as mentioned earlier, the muzzle flashes look like shit. I really hate them. Common eyesores in both versions include the short draw distance and noticeable pop-in. Also, the cut scenes in the PS3 version look blurry. On the audio side, weapons fire and explosions sound good but there is a lack of music during gameplay. The music that is present is pretty good, it’s just a shame there’s not more of it. The performance is where the two versions really differ. The PS2 version runs like shit. The frame rate frequently dips and can be very annoying during hectic battles. The PS3 version runs much smoother, although I did notice the frame rate dip on several occasions.
Killzone feels like the developers were aiming for something bigger, like it should be more exciting than it is. In the end, it’s just an average shooter. I love the premise, I love the weapon and enemy designs, the atmosphere and tone are great, and the art style is cool, but the gameplay is underwhelming and rote. Killzone showcases some cool ideas but doesn’t do anything exciting or interesting with them. I think the gunplay is the only thing that really stands out. The game just doesn’t reach its full potential. Maybe technical limitations held it back from being something better because the sequels developed for PS3 are not only better games but also feel like they fulfill their vision of what a Killzone experience should be.
I would only recommend Killzone if you’re a huge fan of the sequels and Killzone universe and I would recommend the PS3 version just for the better performance, alone. Ultimately, Killzone is not a bad game but it’s not a great one, either. It has its moments but fails to even come close to the highs of its successors. It won’t blow you away but it should keep you occupied for at least a little while.