Killzone 2

[Thrik]

Going off the reviews, seems like the sequel might actually be great as opposed to... not.

The videos I've seen looked absolutely fantastic, so I'd say it's a sure bet I'll be picking this one up. Hopefully its supposedly quality multiplayer will be popular, as the PS3 could sure use a decent online FPS.

Any of you press-ites played it? Any thoughts?

[Cigol]

Watched the videos, read the previews/reviews. It has a nice COD4 vibe about it and the graphics are amazing.... should be good. Finally a game on the PS3 that everyone can enjoy?

[Banks]

just watched the videos, looks awesome

[gdf]

Won't be as good as hyped (obviously), and I'll wait for a few more reviews before I believe the 95 average on Metacritic. Still getting it, Liberation on PSP was great, Killzone was alright, and this looks to surpass them both.

[Cigol]

Demo is up on PSN. It's around 1.2GB.

[gdf]

Not mindblowing. I anticipated that to be honest, but it's solid and looks to be shaping up a decent 7/10.

[Ben]

We don't do scores here. I give your post 4.6/10.

I jest of course. I had the opportunity to play on the beta and as well as the impressive visuals I found the game to be quite enjoyable in terms of online play. The weight of the gun and control in general takes a bit of getting use to coming from games like CoD4, it almost feels too heavy and slow to respond initially; but it's rather satisfying in how solid it feels once you adjust.

Edited February 5, 2009 by Ben

[Thrik]

This Giant Bomb article makes the multiplayer sound really good:

http://www.giantbomb.com/killzone-2/61-20601/killzone-2-lets-talk-multiplayer/35-228952/#50

[James]

My main impressions from the demo were that it could really do with toggle crouch, and that there seems not to be any happy medium between fast turning and fine aiming. The former would be easily added, which would be encouraging except for the fact that they haven't added it yet, suggesting they're not into the idea. I don't know about the latter. Change the gradient between gently caressing the stick () and slamming it as far as you can (), maybe?

Other than that, I thought it was pretty cool. I'm looking forward to giving the multiplayer a go.

[Ben]

My main impressions from the demo were that it could really do with toggle crouch.

I believe the crouch toggle is available as an option in multiplayer, and according to some reports once you switch it on it also applies in single player.

[James]

That's an utterly bizarre way of doing things. Still, if it works, I'll be happy.

[gdf]

My main impressions from the demo were that it could really do with toggle crouch, and that there seems not to be any happy medium between fast turning and fine aiming. The former would be easily added, which would be encouraging except for the fact that they haven't added it yet, suggesting they're not into the idea. I don't know about the latter. Change the gradient between gently caressing the stick () and slamming it as far as you can (), maybe?

Other than that, I thought it was pretty cool. I'm looking forward to giving the multiplayer a go.

I really wanted to adjust the zoomed view separately from the normal look sensitivity, but lo, it was not to be.

Also: Mr Stabby, excellent.

[James]

I really wanted to adjust the zoomed view separately from the normal look sensitivity, but lo, it was not to be.

Oh yeah, I also considered that. I haven't seen that in any other games, but I don't see how it could be anything other than a great idea.

And the avatar was suggested by Wrestlevania.

[Cigol]

What a tease that was. I actually spent more time downloading it than playing but what I did get to play was extremely promising. Graphics are without a doubt amazing and the sound effects and general atmosphere is really intense. That said, the gameplay is, as Chris divulged in the most recent podcast, rather generic.

I believe it was one of the earlier Call of Dutys which had me fetch an RPG to blow up a tank? Well, Killzone 2 has its equivalent only you fetch an RPG to blow up a bridge. Not exactly inspired but the resulting explosion of special effects sort of make up for it.

Still, that aside I found the combat satisfying. The AI was intelligent enough to respond and act differently on repeated playthroughs and gunplay required a degree of skill... I'll definitely be upping the difficult when I get the full version though... in nearly a months time ()

@James; I found switching the crosshair off changed the game for me. It forces you to be more methodical in shooting; find cover, zoom in, aim and then fire. If you have to shoot off the hip at least you realise it's going to be inaccurate rather than focusing upon the crosshair. It helped me anyway - but this is my first console FPS in a long time.

[Thrik]

Oh yeah, I also considered that. I haven't seen that in any other games, but I don't see how it could be anything other than a great idea.

And the avatar was suggested by Wrestlevania.

Metal Gear Solid 4 does this and it works extremely well, like pretty much all the mechanics in that game really.

[gdf]

Here's a summary of impressions I posted on another forum, I realised that a few of them were similar to that which Remo spouted (even stole the Thumbs crew's description of the squadmates, great way of putting it):

Good

+ Well thought out cover system, only thing is it's a bit annoying to shoot precisely from behind walls as you need to hold down about six buttons

+ Obviously it does look incredible, great aesthetic.

+ Fantastic sound effects, just like the original and the awesome Liberation on PSP.

+ Satisfactory shooting that's tailored pretty well to the console, much moreso than Resistance and even Halo (although I can definitely see something like it being playable on PC. FEAR 2, for instance, handles similarly with a mouse and keyboard).

+ It looks bloody brilliant.

+ The framerate is very stable considering how much is going down on screen at once.

+ Seriously, the visuals are peerless. Except when the excessive lens flare blocked my view of enemies. Yes, it happened more than once.

+ Superb attention to detail periphery. A lot of care has been put into periphery such as physics, blood splatters and dust sprays et al. and it shows.

+ Holy shit, the explosions.

Bad

- Squadmates appear to be a bunch of "bro"-ish assholes. I criticised the original Gears for this, Gears 2 was worse, this seems as just bad.

- There's no option to determine the sensitivity of iron sights aiming. I want to turn faster, but I should be able to adjust the zoom separately because it really screws up trying to get off precise shots.

- The enemies always delay before they begin to shoot, even at close quarters when they're backing off weirdly slowly. In turn, this means that you can rush whole sections with the knife and it breaks the game.

- It's grey. Very, very grey. Grey beyond the realms of "gritty". The level design in the demo also seemed very heavily dependent on chokepoints and a little flat and uninspired, but I'll need to get the full game before I can truly evaluate that.

- It can be a little hard to see where you're getting hit from because the slow turning speed totally impairs your awareness. Even if it's an inevitable by-product of design it's very annoying.

- For all the "sluggishness" of the control scheme, the visual representation could have been a little more weighty. Not a massive point, because it does handle nicely most of the time, but your character doesn't feel as "entrenched" as he should.

- The actual act of just shooting dudes just isn't massively compelling, and the death physics that we saw in the video are pretty unexceptional in motion. I think that fewer enemies with more HP would have complemented the style better and perhaps rendered it slightly more tactical, because there isn't that considered element that you feel should have a part to play.

- You can only carry two weapons, and you can't swap out your pistol. You can't swap out your damned pistol. I really hope this doesn't marr experimentation with other weapons in the full game, what a stupid idea.

Looking forward to getting my hands on the retail code, just to see if it can sustain over several hours.

Some of those are almost directly what was said in the last podcast, but I totally see where they're coming from on many counts.

Metal Gear Solid 4 does this and it works extremely well, like pretty much all the mechanics in that game really.

That's what annoyed me with MGS4, they did such a good job with gameplay then pissed it all away after the halfway point.

[James]

@James; I found switching the crosshair off changed the game for me. It forces you to be more methodical in shooting; find cover, zoom in, aim and then fire. If you have to shoot off the hip at least you realise it's going to be inaccurate rather than focusing upon the crosshair. It helped me anyway - but this is my first console FPS in a long time.

It's not so much the inaccuracy that bothered me (I generally zoom in anyway, having been trained to do so by CoD); it's that if I have the X and Y sensitivity high enough to be able to turn around at a non-laborious speed, it's too sensitive for aiming with in zoom mode. I guess you could say that I could put up with the slow turning if I'm going to be spending most of my time in cover anyway, but I would counter that that is a dumb idea and I'd rather not be annoyed while playing a game.

[n0wak]

I just played through the demo and I'm completely and amazingly underwhelmed. I was about 80% sure of this fact when I reached the part near the control room, but when my squadmate asked for cover while he "hacked" the door, that bumped me up to 100%. Is there anything more cliched at this point? The second he said "hold on" I knew music was going to swell up and enemy guys are going to respawn behind me. Lo and behold, this game lived up to expectations for once.

The whole experience felt so rote. A pointless merger of one cliche (World War II) with another (stupid sci-fi.) What's the point of this setting exactly? Why have the sci-fi element if everything else is going to play like it's the 1940s? Is having a personnel carrier fly in that much more different from a beach landing on a boat?

I wanted to give the game the benefit of the doubt, but it's resolutely on my "pass" list. Maybe I'll give it a rental to see how the multi is.

[Cigol]

Maybe I'll give it a rental to see how the multi is.

Looking back, you didn't seem overly joyous about the singleplayer portion of COD4, but you did speak highly of its multiplayer. Considering there's a lot of parallels between the two games in style, and with the added inclusion of tournaments, built-in clan functions, and bots both on and offline alongside a similar experience and class creation system - there seems to be enough to warrant another look when the full version comes around.

Oh, and I personally prefer the lo-fi approach in futuristic settings. It gives you grounding and allows you to easily relate to whats on screen. Besides which I don't think they had much choice in deviating... it is part of an ongoing franchise

[gdf]

Killzone 2 is helplessly inferior to the mighty Call of Duty 4, though.

[Thrik]

I quite enjoyed the demo.

I don't really empathise with the complaints about the floaty controls I've heard in various places, and I thoroughly enjoyed what little action there was. I think the demo is far too short to call any conclusions either way though, so I'm pretty much as oblivious as I was before of how good the overall game will be.

All I know now is that the combat is solid, the cover system works well, and that it looks superb.

I never try to put too much weight on single-player demos anyway, because it can be really difficult to gauge the quality of a game based on such a short segment. I mean, pretty much all the criticisms I've heard of Killzone 2 (cliched set-ups, action in a warehouse, etc) could be levelled at games like Half-Life 2 if you were to take an equally short segment of the game out of context.

I seriously doubt the whole game will consist of the demo copy/pasted a thousand times, but I get the impression that's what people are expecting. Maybe I'm being too optimistic.

One thing I did find is that the combat is much better if you use the Call of Duty-style scheme (Alternate 2 and enable hold zoom), which puts zoom on the left shoulder button. I much prefer aiming this way, much like you do in Call of Duty 4 & 5, Metal Gear Solid 4, and Uncharted where you move your aim into position while zoomed out, then zoom in to actually fire once you're in the right region.

The aforementioned games pretty much force you into it though, whereas Killzone 2 gives you the option — I kind of think it'd have been a better design decision to softly force it in Killzone 2 too by taking away the crosshair when not zoomed out.

Annoyingly the only control scheme with this set-up has 'use cover' on L2, which is a serious pain to use at the same time as you typically don't use L1 and L2 at the same time in any game ever and it's a bit awkard on the fingers. I would very much like fully configurable controls.

[n0wak]

Looking back, you didn't seem overly joyous about the singleplayer portion of COD4, but you did speak highly of its multiplayer. Considering there's a lot of parallels between the two games in style, and with the added inclusion of tournaments, built-in clan functions, and bots both on and offline alongside a similar experience and class creation system - there seems to be enough to warrant

Correct. Which is precisely why I left that caveat on the end. But like gdf says, this isn't exactly CoD4. It feels slower, more animated (ie. less responsive), and less lethal. But yes, it's hard to judge the multiplayer based on how the campaign plays. We'll see. I think games like this benefit on being popular (kind of a catch-22). If it hits the tipping point and there's a large multiplayer community, it's probably worth a look. Doubt I'll ever complete the single player though.

[gdf]

I played me some Black yesterday, first time in a year or so.

It's like if Killzone 2 was fun to play.

[Thrik]

You genuinely think Black is better than Killzone 2?

[Cigol]

If the forum wasn't broken I'd post an image of a troll, but as it is you'll just have to imagine there's one here instead. Or simply read GDF's posts. I'm not one of those fanboys who thinks it's impossible not to like Killzone 2, but really... Are the silly comments necessary?