G-pinions

I'm a bit late to the preview party, but I finally picked up my 1¢ demo of Killzone today at Circuit City. Money well-spent, you ask? Halo-killer, you ask? Yes, you moron, I say, then I hesitate, and then I punch you in the jaw. For starters, I think that out of all gaming genres FPS' have the least clear cut leader and standard. Halo, Doom and Half-Life are all pretty great for different reasons, for starters, and could easily be argued to represent the species at it's apex. So no, I don't think that Halo is necessarily something that needs a clear-cut beating, because it isn't unarguably the standard (unlike, say, FF for RPGs and Mario for platformers). So when people call something a "Halo killer", especially PS2 fans, I take it more as an expression for a desire of a console-defining game, as PS2 has several hovering around the top without a clear representative. Microsoft got lucky with Halo, and in reality, probably wouldn't have made it without the game (at least in the game hardware business). One of the main reasons Halo is what it is comes from the simple fact that for a long time there very little reason to own an XBox outside of that one game. Now we have Ninja Gaiden and KOTOR, so things have thankfully improved a bit, but I think it's fair to say that it made and defined the system in the eyes of gamers and the public. On the other side of things, Sony has a ton of a top-tier exclusives spanning most genres, all of which are similarly popular. I won't say that this works against them exactly, but it is a problem of sorts for them. So, basically what I'm raving on about is this: the "Halo killer" expression that we all throw around is more about something becoming representative of the system a gamer chooses and the titles they like to play. From what I've played, Killzone won't change this gaming landscape, not by a longshot, but that's not to say it isn't a wonderfully atmospheric, well-made entertaining game.

For starters, it's probably the most realistic shooter that I've ever laid hands on. And that's an important distinction, because I really don't think that comes across from screenshots or videos. The movement is very methodical, even more so than Halo, and the general pace of the game has you feeling claustrophobic and defensive, as oppose to run n' gun. The weapons don't always shoot perfectly in the aiming reticle, but it's not frustrating as you would understandably assume - it just requires some patience and fine-tuning, and is usually pretty rewarding by the time a battle is over. Again, this is based on the two demo levels. The graphics go a long way towards furthering the realism too - they are indeed pretty great for PS2, and wouldn't look out of place on a more powerful system. The general dirtiness and wear of the environments can be immediately appreciated, as can the depth of focus and light placement. It all feels very organic, which feels welcoming in such relatively linear levels.

Other sweet things include the grenade throwing mechanism - firstly, you can charge them up by holding down the button longer, and some fancy lights on the grenade help you decide when the right time to throw it is. The throwing animation is believable too, as you'll put your whole body weight into it, throwing your shoulder and view forwards and then partially downwards for a split second. You can adjust the grenade's flight path at the last second while moving, but the results are expectedly varying. The weapons are fairly intense too, and all require a good amount of reloading. They all have their uses, and each new combat scenario comes a good amount of choices to be made. The Helghast, your main enemy, are not only creepy as shit but fairly offensive-minded. When a group of them come sliding down ropes from a hovering helicopter to a courtyard mere feet away from you, you'll truly understand badassness.

I'm fairly pleased with how Killzone is turning out overall, even if it is more or less what I expected - not a "killer" of any means, but a very good game nonetheless. I could obviously change my mind and retract all statements if Halo 2 is somehow even better than I think it's going to be, but for now I'll say that Killzone will certainly still be worth playing through, and will probably make for some good online play as well. It's a very different kind of FPS as a result of the feel alone, but one that's certainly welcome in my book. It will certainly make PS2 devotees feel like they're missing out a bit less this fall, and possibly even prevent a few murder/suicides.