Release date February 2009
www.killzone2.com
http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/action/k...094&mode=press
*UPDATE*
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www.killzone2.com
http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/action/k...094&mode=press
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| Two years after the Helghast assault on Vekta, the ISA is taking the fight to the enemy's home world of Helghan. The ISA goal is direct: capture the Helghast leader, Emperor Visari, and bring the Helghast war machine to a halt. Assuming the role of Sev, a battle-hardened veteran and a member of the special forces unit known as the Legion, players will lead a group of highly trained soldiers on a mission to take out the Helghast threat. For Sev and his squad, the invasion of Helghan is just the beginning. Tasked with securing Pyrrhus, the Capital City, the team quickly discovers that the Helghast are a formidable enemy on their home planet. Not only have they adjusted to the planet's hostile conditions, they have also harnessed a source of power they can now use against the ISA. Sev discovers his squad isn't just fighting enemy forces – their fiercest opponent may be the planet itself. Features
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| Guerrilla's Killzone 2 and Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet, had been bumped from their projected ship dates--in Europe, at least--to February 2009 and October 2008, respectively. |
http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/action/k...&mode=previews
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| Killzone 2 information has been thin on the ground throughout the game's development. However, Sony and Guerrilla Games threw PlayStation fans a bone yesterday when they not only gave media a chance to play the game, but finally ended speculation around its ship date. An intended February 2009 ship date in Europe was confirmed during the Sony keynote address. SCEE representatives at the game's booth were quick to point out that they could have had the game on shelves this year but chose not to in the face of stiff competition from other AAA titles, including Gears of War 2. Not surprisingly, the line to play the game was long. Although the game was tucked away in a difficult-to-access booth, the perforated walls made it easy to get a glimpse at the code being shown, long before a controller was in your hands. We were told the level in the demo came from around 15 minutes into the single-player campaign, and it sees you needing to assist pinned-down Interplanetary Strategic Alliance units after they've been shot down. You, too, are forced to the ground after being hit by what looked to be a laser attack. You're then thrown straight into the action, gun in hand. Controls are fairly typical for a console first-person shooter, with the R1 button used to fire your currently selected weapon (two can be carried at a time) and the R2 button used to toss out a grenade, which leaves the L1 button to handle the cover mechanic. Rifle-sight zooming is toggled by clicking the right analogue stick, and with iron sights up, it all feels a little like Call of Duty 4. A single click on the left stick activates sprint, with no need for it to be held down as you run. Our demo also included an example of the game's Sixaxis support. At one point the game requires you to hold both of the top shoulder buttons and turn your wrists to the left to rotate an onscreen valve wheel. Like many other games, Killzone 2 lets you revive a fallen teammate if you're sufficiently close, and during the advance on a well-fortified hill position, we were forced out of our cover to get comrades back in the action. The demo also showed off the game's buddy system, which, as in Army of Two, helps you access out-of-reach places. Your comrades can help you onto a ledge, from which point you can then help them up too. If you jump down again, the roles are reversed, with the AI dropping a hand to pull you back up and out of harm's way, if needed. We've seen the game running on previous occasions, and it has advanced by leaps and bounds in terms of delivering on the now-legendary video shown back at E3 2005. Particle effects are looking impressive, with smoke thick and plumed. While blowing up a barrel may give you a tactical advantage by taking out a bunch of guys standing near it, it won't be long before you realise doing so will severely affect your ability to see through the smoke it will create. Enemy and team character models are looking solid. We did notice a slight pixelation of Helghast soldiers at range when cycling the scope, but we're putting that down to the pre-alpha nature of the code on show. The game still has plenty of development time, and each milestone is bringing it closer to what was originally shown all those years ago. Most importantly, the team appears to be doing a brilliant job of re-creating the scope and impact felt in war movies. |
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| Previews: Killzone 2 We shoot our way through two sections of an early level.  Target: Killzone 2 Background: This gritty sci-fi shooter pits the Interplanetary Strategic Alliance against the Helghast in the long-awaited sequel to one of the bigger disappointments of the PS2 library. The original Killzone received tremendous prerelease hype, only to stumble on enough technical problems alone to ensure it never lived up to expectations. Developer Guerrilla Games seems unfazed by that experience, though, with excitement for Killzone 2 growing to grand proportions. The notorious E3 2005 teaser clip hooked everyone, and ever since, the question has been whether the game can live up to the buzz. What We Played: The playable demo encompassed two sequential areas, helping to demonstrate the "sectioning-off" approach Guerrilla hopes will make the long levels more manageable for players. The first area opened with our character on a flying assault landing craft approaching a Helghast base. After getting shot down, we had to make our way through debris and enemies to reach the entry to the next section. The second part of the demo took the action inside a warehouse environment, ultimately leading to a gate-control room where we opened the door for a whole convoy of our buddies to come through. Good to Go: In the section we played, Killzone 2 handily cleared the technical hurdles and demonstrated its ability to execute well on all the fundamental shooter mechanics. After a slight tweak to the sensitivity settings (the default halfway setting felt way too twitchy), the controls responded predictably to our inputs, and the onscreen action moved smoothly. A number of special effects, particularly motion- and depth-of-field blurring, helped play up the cinematic feel of the game. And while not overemphasized, the cover system worked very comfortably. It was easy to get into a protected position -- and once there, peek out to take a quick look or squeeze off a couple of rounds. Warning Sign: The level design in certain places felt forced. Sometimes, this was as simple as needing to blow open a wall -- a handy rocket launcher would just happen to be nearby. The major concern came from a stretch in the first section we played, where enemies could be seen on catwalks ahead, but the producer guiding the demo advised us we were wasting our time sniping them, as they would infinitely respawn. The explanation given was that access to those positions along the line allowed the enemy to reinforce at will, but watching guys file back in to take the places of their fallen comrades almost immediately broke some of the game's immersion. And then, once we got to the right place in the sequence, we actually were able to eliminate those enemies, making it feel all the more artificial. Warning Sign: Killzone 2's designs show a tremendous attention to detail, but what we saw struggled to stand out. The drab environments filled with concrete, rubble, and more concrete looked like a stage from any number of similar games. The guns might not have been modern real-world weapons -- but, for all intents and purposes, they could've been. The warehouse area -- which turns into a killhouse when commandos drop through the skylights -- didn't do anything to distinguish itself. Nor did the requisite exploding barrels and gas tanks. Lukewarm Afterglow: The intoxicating effects wore off fairly quickly once we actually started playing. The game's subdued gray color palette certainly didn't help matters, but the issue goes deeper than that. "Been there, done that" crept in pretty quickly, and the strict, linear progression in this play session only emphasized that. We almost got the feeling that the developers programmed every action we took: take cover here, shoot guy to right, shoot guy who comes through doorway to left, slide right.... And infinite respawn spots -- seriously? Killzone 2 definitely proved its technical ability; now the question becomes whether it finds a way to distinguish itself from the crowd |
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 Previews: Killzone 2 Odds are that you won't hear veterans of the original Killzone bemoaning the myriad changes being made to its PlayStation 3 sequel. Odds are that you won't hear veterans of the original Killzone bemoaning the myriad changes being made to its PlayStation 3 sequel. Several aspects of the first game simply didn't work, and developer Guerrilla Games has no qualms about rethinking fundamental design choices. "Killzone was our first game, so of course you're going to find some mistakes and glitches," says Visual Designer Roland IJzermans. "We really had to figure out what people liked and didn't like about the first game and then fix what was broken." Their first order of business? Add a jump button. "I had no idea that everyone thought jumping was so precious!" IJzermans says. Another big design shift pares the number of playable characters down from four to only one, fresh-faced protagonist Sev. "We wanted to have one stronger main character as opposed to having four separate heroes," says Game Director Mathijs de Jonge. "We feel that having one hero will lead to a better experience." That doesn't mean that Sev's blasting through the Helghast home planet by his lonesome, though -- in both of the levels we've seen, he always has at least one surprisingly effective A.I.-controlled squad member at his side. You don't even have to worry about issuing commands to your buddies (even though it worked so well in Killzone: Liberation, Guerrilla thought it would be too clumsy in a first-person game), but you can revive them when wounded, help them over obstacles, and assist them in other context-sensitive ways. Implementing a new cover system also makes Killzone 2 a far more user-friendly experience. Much like in Gears of War or Uncharted, a simple button press anchors you to your nearest available cover point. From there, you can either lean-and-peek to fire at your target or instantly pop up and zoom in for a quick headshot. This new defensive dynamic radically changes up the game's pacing -- it's now definitely less run-n-gun and more stop-and-pop. Killzone 2's effective new cover system doesn't just benefit you and your Interplanetary Strategic Alliance (ISA) pals, though. Helghast troops now routinely make snap tactical decisions on the battlefield, leaping behind a safer cover point if you start to pepper their current hiding place with gunfire. The original Killzone wasn't exactly renowned for its clever enemy A.I., and the guys at Guerrilla hope to correct that here by giving its foes the ability to intelligently navigate maps by climbing over obstacles and a desire to relentlessly pursue you should you attempt to run like a coward. The addition of vehicles should also have a profound effect on the game's pacing, but our limited hands-on time felt a tad...inconclusive. We squared off in the climactic tank-on-tank melee shown in these screens, but the slow-moving controls and narrow battlefield made for a frustrating experience. Let's hope that Liberation's hovercraft and jetpack reappear here, possibly with Sixaxis motion control. So far, the only gestural implementation we spied was in a brief wheel-turning puzzle. Guerilla Managing Director Hermen Hulst promises "a lot more Sixaxis content where that came from." Honestly, we were somewhat surprised that Killzone 2 felt so accessible and engaging. We were less shocked to find ourselves gawking at the game's audiovisual splendor, however. While it's not quite up to the level of that E3 trailer yet, this game looks choice. Even though you spend most of the game staring down a gun barrel, Guerrilla has put tremendous effort into creating characters that look, move, and act naturally. Motion-captured animation lends obvious realism to both the cut-scenes and in-game content, and just as in Heavenly Sword, the same actor who's delivering the lines is also running, jumping, and leaping while covered in ping-pong balls. "Being able to simultaneously capture the dramatic line reading, actual lip sync, and physical mo-cap session makes a far more believable final performance," says Cinematic Lead Jonathan Kray. Once you look past the stellar animation, much of the game's beauty lies in complex special effects that give everything a stylized edge. In the demo level we played, we constantly felt like we were in a colossal, unpredictable firefight -- frequent airstrikes, grenades, and heavy-artillery assaults make for a chaotic battlefield. "There are tons of effects going on that you may not even notice," says Technical Director Michiel van der Leeuw. "We try to get it to a point where you don't even see polygons.... You should be so immersed in the game, it should be so dense around you, that you forget it's only a game." The developers are quick to reveal the man -- or, rather, the machine -- behind the curtain, boasting about the benefits of deferred rendering techniques and how they've maxed out four-and-a-half of the six cores powering the PS3's Cell chip, but they're also quick to give shout-outs to other Sony teams that have shared invaluable tools, tech, and info. "Sony basically has an international forum for sharing character technology, animation tools, and graphic shaders," says van der Leeuw. "We've taken a few tricks directly from the Resistance guys at Insomniac, and we've even been talking directly to the God of War guys in Santa Monica." Guerrilla obviously isn't afraid to ask for help, and they've already bolstered their 130-man team by enlisting various outside contractors and even "borrowing" several key members of Sony Europe's Studio Cambridge (Primal). That effort to delve deep into the PS3's graphical well has paid off: During our hands-on demo, we spied one of gaming's most impressive visual showcases to date. Midlevel, you pause to destroy an enemy-infested building with a rail gun, aiming for explosive-rigged supports. When the structure finally collapses, the resulting effect is positively eerie -- huge chunks of wall tumble down, followed by billowing smoke clouds that realistically cascade, solemnly settling over the battlefield. Then, look up and you see leftover airborne debris glinting in the shafts of light streaming through the clouds. At this point, you're probably not hunting for seams in the polygons. |
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| Previews: Killzone 2 Sony shows off Guerrilla warfare with multiplayer support. You're reading an E3 2008 preview, which we've broken into three sections to make it easy to sift through during this week of convention madness. Check out E3.1UP.COM for all (meaning words, screens, and videos) of our E3 2008 coverage. What's the game about? Uh, if you don't already know about this behemoth first-person shooter for PS3, go load up our big Killzone 2 write-up, and then find your local paper magazine repository and pick up the August issue of EGM and read the cover story. You will love it. If you are familiar with the sci-fi FPS spectacular, you'll probably be interested to hear that one of the big features that Sony and developer Guerrilla discussed today is the game's kept-secret-until-now multiplayer. What's new for E3? This is the first time any aspect of Killzone 2's multiplayer has been shown. The two main thrusts of it are 1) to make it accessible to pretty much anyone, even those who've never played Killzone, and 2) to reward those who stick with multiplayer through a host of unlockable features and community-management tools. Basically, they want newbs to play the game, unlock cool stuff, and then keep on playing with their buddies. You start off the multiplayer game as a level 1 grunt with no neat skills or medals. But as you play more, you increase in rank (there are 12 total), which acts as a bit of shorthand for your skill. Along the way, you earn medals for things like pulling off 10 headshots in a row or being the cool-headed guy on the team when the chips are down. It's when as you dig deeper into the multiplayer system that you start messing with the badge system, which is essentially a class system under a different name. Before jumping into a match, you select up to two badges to wear; they are broken down into categories like "medic," "engineer," or "sniper." Each badge has two special abilities attached to it, which leads to customization as you mix them around. A developer on the team demonstrated this customization by combining a medic and engineer badge together to create a soldier who can heal people and machines with equal skill. One thing to keep in mind when you actually do this is that the primary skill of your first badge will be paired with the secondary skill of your second badge. This means you would actually get a different class and skill set by choosing to be an engineer first and then a medic instead of the reverse. As you get into the groove of unlocking medals and skills, you might want to join a clan. Killzone 2 will support clan management via the game's interface and its accompanying website. Clans can set up matches and even full-blown tournaments against each other, the victor earning "valor points." So, for example, your fledgling clan can attempt to take on the BigBadMammaJamma clan with its 482,679 valor points, and if your team pulls off an upset, expect some crazy valor points to come your way. Killzone 2 will also have the usual host of multiplayer features, such as being able to divide players into manageable squads with a defined squad leader, voice chat within the squads, and so forth. What's our take? These collectively sound like significant changes that make the Killzone 2 multiplayer experience a lot deeper and more interesting than the typical "hey, let's shoot at a bunch of anonymous dorks" setup that typified the previous game. We're actually looking forward to the public beta that will be up and running sometime before year's end; if nothing else, we'd like to figure out bizarre exploits and griefing techniques and make plenty of use of them before they get fixed. |
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| Previews Impressions and hands-on time with Guerrilla's multiplayer suite for the PS3's flagship FPS. You're reading a Games Convention 2008 preview, which we've broken into three sections to make it easy to sift through during this week of convention madness. Check out GAMESCON.1UP.COM for all (meaning words, screens, and videos) of our coverage from the show.What's the game about? By now, you should be nicely familiar with Sony's long awaited first-person shooter for the PS3. It's been the highlight of several of the company's E3 press conferences, and it's been steadily gaining hype as we've seen its cinematic visuals nearing the experience Guerrilla set out to achieve in the incredible target video released early at E3 2005. What's new for Games Convention? At E3 last month, Sony gave a rundown of all the multiplayer options that Killzone 2 will support -- a pretty darn substantial offering. At Games Convention in Leipzig, Sony allowed us to actually get our hands on the multiplayer game. Sony also confirmed A.I. bot support, which allows you to include bots in multiplayer games when there aren't enough human players in a match -- according to Sony, they'll mimic human behavior so well that it'll be hard to realize the difference. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see them in action to judge this for ourselves. What's our take? Up until now, I'd viewed Killzone 2 primarily as a single-player experience -- it's always just struck me as a very cinematic FPS, emphasizing story and staged events. Having played it for a good while at Leipzig, though, I'm convinced the multiplayer is getting just as much attention from the developers -- and Killzone 2's multiplayer should be able to hang with the best of them. Killzone 2 offers eight different maps to choose from (more will be available for download later), with some better suited for massive 32-player skirmishes, while others are designed for just a handful of players. Before entering battle, you choose your character's badges, which essentially dictate how you want to play by offering you different abilities. For example, you could choose a medic badge, which has a health pack and allows you to revive other players, or you could choose an engineer badge that lets you repair things and use sentry turrets. Since you can choose two badges and combine them, you could then create, for example, a medic engineer who can revive people and repair things. The neat thing about the badges is that you can switch these on the fly before respawning. And speaking of respawning, you can see real-time video feeds of what's going on in each spot, so you don't accidentally end up spawning into the middle of a firefight. Also cool is the ability to respawn wherever the team's leader is. Killzone 2 offers all sorts of map customizations, such as choosing your mission types (Assassination, where you hunt down an enemy soldier chosen at random; Search & Destroy, where you have to trigger explosives; Body Count, where it's all about how many kills you pull off, to name three) and weapons. We got to play rounds on both small and large maps, plus modes like Assassination. I'm happy to report that it was fantastic -- multiplayer felt great and was tons of fun. The available weapons were nicely varied and all felt substantial, the map designs were cool (with a good mix of open and confined areas, staircases, and windows), and there was a fair amount of strategy, such as placing sentry guns in key locations. I had so much fun playing that it was hard to pull me away to let others check it out. The only concern I have at this point is the occasional slowdown when the action got a bit too intense. It wasn't bad at all -- it didn't affect the gameplay -- but it was certainly noticeable at times. Here's hoping this is something Guerrilla can polish up before the game hits, though it may just be an irreparable side effect of just how much detail the game's pushing onscreen (an all-out firefight in Killzone 2 multiplayer really is a sight to behold). Still, with the multiplayer gameplay already so good, and with all of the other multiplayer goodies Guerrilla's supplying -- from clan support to online leaderboards -- I'm convinced Killzone 2 is going to keep playing long after the single-player campaign's complete. |
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| Previews We get our hands on Killzone 2 -- and give four different opinions on Guerrilla's FPS juggernaut. Killzone 2's finally landed in our office -- well, at least two-thirds of it. We recently got four copies of a single-player version containing the first six missions, and here are immediate reactions from four 1UP staffers. Check out The 1UP Show for an extended dialogue between most of the participants below. Thierry Nguyen, executive editor, previews: I actually reviewed the original Killzone, and from my quick spin through some of the single-player, the safe thing to say is that Killzone 2 reskins the original with more "bang-bang-boom-boom!" aesthetics and fewer technical holdbacks. Killzone was essentially Medal of Honor/Call of Duty but with space Nazis, meaning an intense cinematic depiction of warfare with a sci-fi sheen -- think Saving Private Ryan where Spielberg digitally replaces Allies and Nazis with ISA and Helghast. Killzone 2 preserves this tone while serving up production values that do manage to hit the fabled target render video from 2005 -- all with a consistent framerate (my biggest annoyance with the original). Besides looking really snazzy, the original's slightly tactical tone remains; running-and-gunning's ill-advised, as it's often better to adopt the unofficial cover system of "crouch and uncrouch behind stuff a lot" to your advantage. Killzone 2's addition of an actual cover button, where holding it down means that not only are you attached to cover but you automatically lean out to fire, is a welcome tweak in this direction. Essentially, Killzone 2 is what Guerrilla tried to promise with Killzone -- it's just now finally realized. What I commend most is how complete the game feels already. Released right now, it's a solid effort with some annoying glitches (some scripted sequences necessary for mission progress didn't happen due to the friendly A.I. failing to trigger said sequences) that could garner a B. But since Guerrilla has a couple of months left of pure polish, I'm hoping it's time used wisely -- and I'm looking forward to the end result come February. Nick Suttner, associate reviews editor: Killzone 2 is cinematic by virtue of its astonishing visual presentation -- perhaps the best-looking console game ever, at least on a technical level -- and engaging by virtue of being so cinematic. I found myself playing through it just to witness the tense gunfights and ridiculous set pieces; the linear, Call of Duty-like shooting gallery wasn't particularly interesting to me (rife with exploding barrels and every other cliché you might imagine), but it'll certainly appeal to fans of gritty realism. Which is echoed in the way the guns handle, for better or worse -- there's rare satisfaction from pinpoint kills, but some of the periphery weapons (Sniper Rifle, Flamethrower) are very well done. I don't think Guerrilla Games excels at making games "fun," but they're certainly good at making them look the part -- and nailing their own version of the fundamentals of a shooter. Killzone 2 will be an excellent showpiece for the PS3, and games in general (Dear Sony: Please use in-game footage instead of CG for the inevitable commercials), but I'll stick to the less-realistic side of things for my own tastes. Though, by all means, if you want pretty and gritty, mark your calendars for February. Tina Sanchez, community manager: Right away, I feel that the Helghast are plentiful, yet somewhat unsatisfying to fight against. For one, their lack of aesthetic diversity hinders my enjoyment of defeating them. On top of that, the overall character design also seems questionable -- red eyes contrasting dark uniforms make them unnecessarily stand out. In turn, from a player's perspective, the Helghast eyes become the only feature to watch out for on the battlefield -- which distracts from their overall visual design and makes them all blur together into a sea of red eyes that feel one and the same. Despite all that, they're not completely void of offering gratification -- it's funny when you shoot off their helmets and briefly catch them off guard. Shooter fans will find Killzone 2's cover system notable. Separating the "take cover" function from the "run" function makes gameplay seamless, especially compared to Gears of War -- you'll never find yourself getting stuck behind an unnecessary barrier. Also, popping out of cover to the side makes the camera rotate about 45 degrees in the direction you move in; though after a short while, this particular aspect feels more like a gimmick than an engaging in-battle experience. I'm also really bothered by how crouching becomes a chore via the lack of a toggle-crouch option. Even so, I still think the simple act of shooting from cover feels pretty good. The learning curve for each gun will likely keep players engaged, and managing recoil feels natural -- I just wish the Helghast were more interesting foes. Shane Bettenhausen, senior executive editor: While I'm only a casual connoisseur of the first-person shooting genre, over the years, I've played a few shooters that have truly impressed me (Half-Life, Halo), along with a slew of abysmal duds that made me question the behind-the-gun art form (Turok: Evolution, RoboCop). But I know what I like, and Killzone 2's one of the first shooters to grab me in a very long time. And perhaps it's because I'm not closely tied to any one specific gameplay "feel" like the die-hard Call of Duty or Gears fans around here, but I find Killzone 2's controls to be entirely to my liking. Sure, you'll need a few minutes to acclimate to its surprisingly realistic simulation of weight, physics, and character movement, but once you do, it's a rewarding, engrossing experience. The phenomenally beautiful visuals help to paint a convincing theater of war, but I believe that Killzone 2 offers far more than just a sexy exterior. I fondly recall sprinting across a chaotic battlefield with my electric harpoon rifle, ducking behind a pile of smoking rubble, then tensely peering down the gun's iron sight while lining up my shot -- for me, the game's single-player action accurately simulates the tense feeling of invading an incredibly hostile alien world. Plus, I've had a chance to play through the game's final four levels...and I think everyone will be utterly shocked by what Guerrilla's done with the endgame. |
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| The Killzone 2 beta went out to the press last week, and we jumped onboard for some multiplayer skirmishes. While Sony already has Resistance 2 in the bag this winter, there's no doubt that two triple-A shooter franchises are better than one. Insomniac's World War shooter already has its fair share of fans, but the anticipation for Killzone 2 in February is possibly even greater. The long-awaited follow-up to the PlayStation 2 original will finally launch next year, and as is becoming customary for the genre, Sony has issued a multiplayer beta for the game. We got our dirty little mittens on said code, and wasted no time shooting up the other testers who were populating the servers.  With 32-player online, Killzone 2 is hectically entertaining.The Killzone 2 beta offers a generous amount of what we'll get on the finished Blu-ray, with three of the eight maps and all of the game modes that will ship next year. The beta also offers the first proper introduction to the class system, which allows players to combine skills and specialise in areas that suit their particular playing style. Then there's the ability to group up into clans of four, allowing you to build a team that supports each other with the different abilities on offer. Combined with support for up to 32 players per map, Killzone 2 multiplayer can be hectic but also highly tactical, and it's an encouraging sign for the full multiplayer offering next year. Like the original game, Killzone 2 has a very distinct feel to it, with environments, characters, and weapons that feel heavy and robust. You start out with a standard assault rifle, which is much more effective than most default FPS weapons, as well as a pistol and a set of grenades. So far, standard FPS, but the game offers little in the way of extra weapons and ammunition on the battlefield. Your only real option is to take weapons from your fallen enemies, or rifle-butt them if you get close enough. The health system is regenerative, but if you do run out of health you have 10 seconds to be revived by a medic, or for the enemy to finish you off. The class system is Killzone 2's defining feature, and it allows you to specialise the more you play the game. There are seven different classes to set yourself up in, most of which will be familiar to shooter veterans, such as rifleman, engineer, scout, medic, tactician, assault, and saboteur. The rifleman offers better firepower, the engineer can set up automated turrets, the scout can use camouflage, and the medic can revive downed allies. The other classes are slightly different from the standard FPS--the tactician can throw smoke grenades that act as respawn points, the assault class has better armour, and like a similar class in Team Fortress, the saboteur can disguise himself as a member of the opposite team. What's more, you can choose to specialise in up to two of these classes, which allows you to hedge your bets as well as create someone fairly unique, even in a 32-player game. Developers Guerilla were kind enough to include every game mode from the finished game in the beta. There's a standard team deathmatch mode in the form of Body Count, but it's a shame to see that there's no option for an every-man-for-himself variety. Capture the flag is called Search and Retrieve, with a Search and Destroy variant turning the tables with explosive results. Finally, Assassination mode sees one person given the role of VIP while everyone on the team tries to keep them alive. While all of these game modes have been seen before, the Warzone option allows the host to change game types without ever having to come out to the lobby, and it's this option that's certainly the most popular online. With support for up to 32 players, Killzone 2 can get fairly hectic, so it's good to see that clan support has been implemented even on the beta. You can group into teams of four, allowing you to share the class types as well as communicate directly with one another over voice chat. It's also encouraging to see just how many matches online reach their full capacity, with little if any impact on the speed of the game. The maps themselves certainly seem built for this number of people, with Salamun Market and Blood Gracht in particular offering some particularly sprawling streets and multiple levels to fight on, while Radec Academy is much tighter and suited to fewer players.  You can group together in clans of four, spreading out skills from the class system and communicating via voice chat.Killzone 2 has a distinctive look to it, but the multiplayer maps don't really give the engine much chance to show off. There are lens flare effects and the weapons have plenty of detail to them, but the environments are very static with no movable objects or vehicles. The sound is impressive though, with some really meaty weapon effects from the standard sidearms and automated turrets. And while we sometimes had trouble getting into multiplayer games, the lobby system was quick and painless, allowing us to get into the action immediately after connecting. The Killzone 2 beta offers a promising first look at what will be a very important part of the overall retail package. There's plenty to like about the class system, and while the skills themselves are nothing new to the genre, the way in which they're rewarded certainly is novel. We also like the clan system, which looks like it will offer some sense of teamwork in the huge 32-player games. Killzone 2 is due for release in February 2009 on the PlayStation 3, and we're as excited as ever about playing the finished game. |
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| We take our most extensive look at Killzone 2's campaign by going a full six chapters deep. Because so much of the gaming public's attention is focused on scrutinizing every Killzone 2 screenshot to see whether the graphics will stack up to that infamous E3 2005 trailer, it's all too easy to forget that it's a real, honest-to-goodness game with a real, honest-to-goodness release date not far off. Sony recently reminded us of this by giving us the opportunity to play through the first six chapters of the campaign. What may not surprise you is that, yes, Killzone 2 is an absolute stunner in motion. But if you haven't been following the progress of the game, you'll be pleased to know that it's also an intense and exciting experience with the potential to work alongside Resistance 2 to provide a serious one-two punch of PlayStation 3-exclusive shooters.  Welcome to the world of Killzone 2. It's a pretty one.Whereas the first Killzone allowed you to play as a number of Interplanetary Strategic Alliance (ISA) members over the course of the game, Killzone 2 drops you into the shoes of a gruff soldier named Sev and keeps you there for its duration. Throughout the campaign, you'll follow Sev and his similarly rough-and-tumble Alpha Squad buddies as they push deeper into the Helghast home planet in an opposite scenario of the invasion that occurred in the first game. Sev isn't the most vocal guy in the world, but you'll hear plenty of quips from teammates like jokester Dante Garza and the perpetually vulgar Rico Velasquez. Most of the story unfolds in the heat of battle via dialogue delivered from these squadmates, though occasional cutscenes give you fleeting glimpses of what's going on deep within the Helghast quarters. One thing becomes immediately apparent when you begin Killzone 2's campaign: This is not an easy game. The first chapter, Corinth River--an area Sony has shown several times before--drops you right into a heated firefight with no shortage of heavily armed Helghast soldiers trying to take you out from scattered perches. It feels like every balcony, bridge, and window has a pair of glowing red Helghast eyes staring down at you. Starting you off like this seems like Killzone 2's way of saying that running and gunning won't cut it; you're going to learn to be patient and deliberate with your targets, and you're going to learn right away.  Popping out of cover is a necessary trick you'll become quite familiar with.To do this, you'll need to become good friends with the game's cover system. It's a sticky cover mechanic where you pull L2 to snap right onto nearby walls or low barriers. From there, you have the standard move set that includes leaning into a doorway or popping up over a barricade, with the ability to look down your gun's iron sights to help you get a bit more precise. What makes this system unique and challenging is that you remain in the first-person perspective at all times, so your vision is partially obscured as you stay out of harm's way. In a third-person shooter you can see almost every target thanks to a wide camera, but here you'll need to poke your head up fast and get to shooting even faster--making that initial moment when you leave cover that much more thrilling. The cover system is less critical in close quarters when you don't have Helghast soldiers trying to kill you from every which way. The second chapter in the campaign, Blood Meridian, trades in Corinth River's expansive industrial shipping yards and warehouses in favor of tight urban alleyways. In this locale you can become a bit more mobile, charging through the narrow corridors with more close-quarters weaponry, such as shotguns, submachine guns, and your trusty infinite-ammo pistol. But before you get too comfortable, Killzone switches things up in the next chapter, Visari Square, by pitting you against a seemingly endless flood of Helghast in a series of prolonged standoffs. One of these is a small, desperate scuffle with you and two squadmates in a small alley trying to fend off incoming Helghast for 10 or so minutes. However, that's quickly followed by a huge battle in a wide-open city square where you and dozens of newly reunited squadmates need to hold down the fort as Helghast foot soldiers, tanks, and walking piles of metal and Kevlar known as "heavies" come at you in wave after wave.  The fire effects, blood-splattered screen, and red enemy eyes really pop from the bleak gray backgrounds.These two moments are a nice little microcosm of the way Killzone 2 keeps you guessing by sharply switching up the scale and intimacy of battles. Later chapters perform a similar trick by quickly altering the setting. The first few hours of the game will be spent running through demolished cities, but later you'll find yourself in different locales like an elaborate Visari palace and a windswept mining town that wouldn't feel entirely out of place in a Star Wars movie. Fights tend to last a while due to clever AI on the part of the Helghast soldiers. They seem to have attended the same school of cover techniques you have, because they'll be spending just as much time behind crates and walls. What makes things interesting is that their behavior seems to change as the odds of their survival are whittled down. You'll see them get brave in a group and pop up quite often, but when they're in a bad spot they'll stay put and frantically blind fire while defiling your good name.  Sometimes you just have to stop and admire the lighting, even if it means staring at a dead body.Of course, you do have teammates alongside to lend you a helping hand at nearly every point in the game. It can be anywhere between one and several dozen at once, but the ebb and flow of battle is something you determine on your own since you're generally taking the lead and letting the others follow you. You won't need to worry about any sort of squad commands, but a bit of teamwork is required when a buddy goes down. In situations like this, you'll need to pull out your trusty medic gun and zap him back to health with a quick spark of life. It's an oddly simple mechanic, but a critical one because your buddies are expert shots who help a lot in battle. Along with constant banter, this helps to provide a feeling of belonging to a greater group despite the fact that you're taking the fight into your own hands most of the time. Finally, with this being Killzone 2, we would be remiss if we didn't mention the graphics--or more specifically, how awesome they are. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to say Killzone 2 is the best-looking console game we've seen. The use of lighting is probably the most impressive of the game's technical feats: with so much of the game taking place in demolished urban centers with gray steel, concrete, and asphalt, those moments when you're flushed with color are extremely striking. This might include an orange street lamp, the blue glow of a faulty electrical tower, or the green haze in a sewer tunnel, but the way it all reflects off nearby objects like your gun and character models looks terrific. Add in sharp textures, great smoke and explosion effects, terrific depth of field, and an ominous sky that looks like the world might cave in at any moment and you've got a combination of technical and artistic brilliance that's hard to understate. Best of all: the framerate does a good job of keeping up, with the only noticeable hitches arriving during an autosave between checkpoints.  Later missions will take you from the city to remote locations like this mining facility.If you were to nitpick the presentation, most people's attention would probably fall on the audio. While the sound effects and music are both great, the voice acting could give Gears of War's Delta Squad a run for its money in terms of smoldering, manly rage. In fact, it can often be difficult to separate one gruff voice from another when your vision isn't fixed on a squadmate's face. It's not exactly an abrasive fault, but it does stick out when you consider how stellar the rest of the presentation is. Small gripes aside, we had a thoroughly enjoyable experience with Killzone 2's single-player campaign. The combat is intense, the visual aesthetics are amazing, and the level of difficulty provides a rewarding challenge. It seems that PlayStation 3 owners will have a lot to look forward to when the game is finally released. You can expect that to happen on February 27. |
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http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3172693
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| 1UP News Killzone 2 Intel Collecting to Unlock Content on Killzone.com Goodies include printable posters, journal entries, and papercraft. By Steve Watts, 02/09/2009  Killzone 2 has been getting a lot of positive buzz, some of it more tempered praise and some not so much. But the PlayStation.Blog informs us today of another interesting feature we hadn't heard before. Killzone 2's collectible Intel will unlock documents on Killzone.com. We assume users will have to link their PSN accounts to the Web site, but after doing so the site will let users download Adobe Reader documents for viewing and printing. The downloadable PDFs include propaganda posters, wildlife entries, Helghast journal pages, and even Killzone-themed papercraft. The blog also promises more details on how the Web site and game will interact with each other soon, so we'll keep you informed of the new features as we hear about them. |
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| Reviews Killzone 2 has established its place among the pantheon of top-tier console shooters.  With 2008 still in the rear view mirror, the first candidate for 2009's "Game of the Year" has arrived. Killzone 2 is a visual powerhouse that offers a grounded and "realistic" take on futuristic warfare. From fighting your way through shantytowns while lightning storms rage overhead to avoiding sniper fire during vicious dust storms, brutality has never been this beautiful. Killzone 2's story is a simple one: Humanity has decided to strike back at the Helghast by invading their home planet Helghan. But that's just the backdrop for a stunning mixture of intense combat and jaw-dropping visuals that will last for 8-12 hours in single-player. Joining you in battle are the other members of Alpha squad. It would have been nice to play co-op with friends (they are strictly A.I. controlled), and your squad mates are walking stereotypes (hotheaded heavy machine gunner, easygoing tech guy, etc.), but their playful and delightfully vulgar banter serves as a respite from the dark urban environments early in the game. Once you get out of the main city, things really take off as you find yourself moving from one fantastically designed set piece to another. One of my favorite sequences takes you through a gigantic factory, where you have to hitch a ride on the machinery while wielding the most powerful weapon in the game, the lightning gun. It's incredibly satisfying to watch the lightning arc from one enemy to the next á la God's wrath from the ending of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Another level has you taking the reins of a mech, and tearing your way through hordes of unsuspecting Helghast soldiers. Managing the mech is simple as the controls are identical to those in the on-foot sequences, and avoiding incoming missile fire while dealing out massive damage is a thrill. Tiny details like cracks appearing in the glass after taking damage highlight the details that Guerilla placed in the world. Beyond its good looks, Killzone 2 is a game of strategy that rewards tactical decisions and careful aim. Playing it as a run-and-gun shooter is a quick way to get killed; correct use of cover grenades is necessary as the Helghast are constantly trying to flank and bring overwhelming firepower to bear on you and your fellow soldiers. The friendly A.I. is usually competent, but squad mates will sometimes blindly run past Helghast squads on their way to checkpoints, leaving yours truly to clean up the mess. However, this is the exception rather than the rule, and if you think before shooting, it's an incredibly fun ride. Multiplayer Thus Far As is often the case with game reviews, there isn't always enough time to play online multiplayer before the text is written. Because of this, I didn't get a chance to level up many of the character classes. And since this is such an integral part of the multiplayer experience I don't feel comfortable "reviewing" this part of the game yet -- but I can say for certain that I've played enough to know that my overall grade will not change based on more play. So with that in mind, here are at least my impressions from my time playing in the beta and with the review build so far: Guerilla clearly spent a lot of time on the multiplayer portion of Killzone 2, as few other games offer the same amount of depth in character customization. You can equip up to two different badges, and every badge offers different abilities to suit your style (read Sam's preview for a breakdown of how this class system works). And as discussed in the 1UP Show Killzone 2 segment, the game cleverly handles matches; instead of having you play a search and destroy match, get taken out of the game, and then switch to another match for assassination, all gameplay variants occur spontaneously. This creates a thrilling sense of momentary confusion as you switch between game types, mimicking the chaos you experience on the single-player battlefield. Depending on which game types are included in each game, matches generally take around 20 minutes to finish. My favorite inclusion to multiplayer is bot support -- hopefully this will become an online console shooter standard. Although bots don't replace the challenge of a real-life opponent, they allow everyone to learn the basic mechanics of the game and even get a few kills in. After the game launches, I'll be posting a blog to give some more in-depth thoughts on multiplayer after spending significant time with real opponents, but again, what I've played so far has been really, really good. What This Means Shooters have replaced fighting games as the most over-saturated genre in gaming today, and it's increasingly difficult to stand out from the crowd. However, with its unparalleled graphics, incredibly well-paced single-player campaign and in-depth multiplayer offerings, Killzone 2 has established its place among top-tier console shooters. Expectations on Killzone 2 had reached ridiculous proportions; here's one of those cases where the game actually lived up to them. |
