Killzone 2

[ak47]

demo will be the decisive moment
i love cod series, i wanna know also why this is better

 

[C A Iversen]

For me, it's just the overall controls feel tighter, the tactical element with medics is much more strategic. The world is a dark fantasy world of military technology as opposed to the real world basis of the COD series. That doesn't make it better, but it sort of feels so sleek and well fleshed out in it's futuristic enviroments, that in some ways it's feels like a much deeper game than I've played before.

The layout of maps are more imaginative than most I've ever seen and there are so many places and spaces to laucnch attacks from that you'll never feel safe.

Graphically it has it's own style and it's very consistant. It makes you realise that if the same graphical style is rigidly used throughout a game, it creates a more thorough and believable world. Sonically it's as good as any other game, but has some nice extra touches, as I believe that the gunfire sounds more 'real', at least to me.

Communication in game is well implemented and seemed to work flawlessly, unlike 90% of the games out there. The amount of options and settings exceed what you'd usually get in a game of this type also.

Finally, it plays really f**king well. I did need to use that expletive. I feel fully in control playing this game. My player stops on a dime and doesn't move in the slightly slidy fashion that can happen in other games of this type. You can run through a map with more ease than usual. When you line someone up, it feels much tighter and easier to get a bead on your enemy. It doesn't feel over-sensitive as some ***les do.

Weapons do the right amount of damage, thats another important thing. I hate feeling like I've been blown away in .5 of a second. You can get hit and if you are really quick get away and recover enough to take your assailant down. Sure that happens in other games, but feels more right here.

So anyhow, thats my take on it.

 

[TheBokke]

How did you get to play it?

Sorry jumped the gun and did not read the post before. Nice so you played the demo. Glad to hear that it plays well. Sounds good so you reckon a first day purchase for all.

 

[C A Iversen]

If you like the subject matter and fps then yes. Otherwise even the greatest game won't appeal that much to non-genre fans.

And I was a beta tester for that game nearly five months. Also beta tested, Resistance 2, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Home.

 

[TheBokke]

Nice someone to contest Locksley crown ha ha.

 

[C A Iversen]

Hell no. Well not with Rugby games thats for sure. I haven't done anything like what he's done posting all of his videos etc. I am getting into heaps of betas though. I have spent a huge amount of money on psn and have signed up for all manner of Playstation promotions through threespeech and Playstation Blog. Have had a few questions answered by head devs and thats about it.

I'm sure Killzone will absolutely be the next COD4 and then some. Mind you, if you don't like it's art style (god knows why, but you might not) or it's plot and characters, which I haven't seen a lot of, then this may sink down to an 80% ***le for you.

I think a lot of time has been spent balancing many artistic and technical agendas in making this game.

It has the potential to be game of the year '09. I can't see it making anything less than the bronze medal, in any respected reviewers end of year lists. Thats all formats too.

 

[CeeJay]

Hey Iversen, did you get chosen through the playstation network to beta test or are you a professional game tester?

 

[C A Iversen]

Chosen through Playstation Network and have been giving active feedback on ***les in every official forum that I could. I think there is a core team of professional testers (ya couldn't live off the rewards - free games etc), but each studio and dev team has a varying number of them. They don't really have to pay as such, with the exception of their in-house and online staff. I think I'm getting close to the get freebies side of things though, lol.

 

[Gay-Guy]

Well thats that then......the game is pretty much THE game to get this side of 2009. Watching videos on Youtube and reading review after review I am having a VERY hard time trying to find evidence that this game is a flop.....or even an "average" game.

 

[C A Iversen]

I think anyone who goes into it not expecting to have an orgasm will be really pleased.

 

[TheBokke]

Killzone 2 demo up for download on EU PSN store.

 

[C A Iversen]

Yeah, it's going to be great to see if everyone else feels the way those of us in the beta did.

 

[ak47]

I PLAYED 30 SECONDS OF IT - i had to go to work - i'll dominate it later
It is visually an immense package â€" pure brilliant
The presentation is also an absolute gem â€" the cut scene thing at the start dominates ur attention

I played for 30 seconds, and I can see myself liking this game very much â€" I need to get hooked on the storyline

The only thing I didn’t like was the controls â€" whats this friggen press r3 for zoom

All shooters in my eyes should be L2 zoom â€" R2 shoot, and I should be able to roam around pressing L2 for zoom

This clicking R3 crap feels tacky, and I hope I can change the controls and FULLY Customize everything!

But I played 30 seconds and died, so I know I’lll be hungry later to see what else I can do

I agree on all reviews about the graphics â€" the best ever or with mgs4

 

[C A Iversen]

I'm pretty sure that in the beta we could change our controls, so I'd say fear not about that. i think I changed mine for that very reason. I was very impressed by depth of options, so I'd expect that in the full version too.

 

[Gay-Guy]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ak47 @ Feb 6 2009, 11:32 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

The only thing I didn't like was the controls â€" whats this friggen press r3 for zoom

All shooters in my eyes should be L2 zoom â€" R2 shoot, and I should be able to roam around pressing L2 for zoom

This clicking R3 crap feels tacky, and I hope I can change the controls and FULLY Customize everything![/b]

Ummmm...well if you had played a little bit longer...change your controls to "Alternative 2" and click the "Hold Zoom" box....there you have it...Call of Duty.

 

[Gay-Guy]

Well I played 30 minutes of it as opposed to AK's 30 seconds. I found the game pretty average. The turning on full sensitivity is still a bit slow and sluggish. Looking at the graphics at 720 didn't impress me...perhaps I am simply waiting for a shooter that is in 1080. The details in the landscape I have to say are very impressive as everything looks very gritty, dirty like.......there are tonnes of tiny little details.

The hide system is ok...not really too much to write home about. The button that activates the hide is also the button that makes you crouch in open play....problem is unlike COD where you toggle crouching with KZ2 you have to hold it down to crouch. Another thing you can't do is lie down.....sometimes you feel very exposed out in the open.

Overall after 30 minutes play the game looks very much like Gears of War as a FPS. I will fiddle with it a bit more and see if it grows on me. However for now it hasn't really captured me the way Call of Duty 4 did....

 

[ak47]

even though i had a very brief 30 sec play on it - i agree with GG comparing to COD
after 30 seconds of COD, i started all over again to see if i was hullucinating
see what happens tonight, i am liking a new fresh shooter, and KZ brings that.
i think at the end of the day if ur going to bring in a fictional element that Gears and KZ do, u wanna do it bloody well
unlike COD - which u can relate to life like, it doesnt need the exageratedness of epic action, it just needs realism and good acting

 

[C A Iversen]

I think it's harsh and unrealistic to really compare COD4 and Killzone 2, unless you are just comparing them as a gaming experience. Some of the comments are fair enough "not being able to lie down" etc.

Saying you found the game pretty average though? Fair enough, thats your opinion, but comments like those are forged in the fire of ridiculous expectations. I'd prefer to hear more about what was expected? Were you expecting a 3-D effect? Helghast soldiers running through your living room? There really is only so much a game can do. Also, average. Compared to what, the most praised shooter of console history COD4? That's not comparing it to average.

Guess what, it's a demo? It's not the whole game. Expect some deep gameplay options, both online and off-line. Expect a great story. Don't expect to be sucked through a vortex into the world itself.

Just remember, COD4 was patched many times. So will this be. So take a breath.

This is starting to be like what I hear when people go to a hyped event movie. It's incredible watching people come out with vague criticism, such as "I expected more!". I expected more "what" exactly?

At the end of the day it's certainly not your "average" shooter. It's much better.

Edit: I've just taken out my cooments on control sensitivity. I just played the demo. It's significantly different to the beta in that regard. I had to have it on full sensitivity and even then it was only just enough. This will certainly have to be different in the full version or patched.

Also, the demo's environment is crap compared to some of what I played in the beta, so they've deliberately chosen a very average part of the game. It's still graphically very good though.

 

[ak47]

Just comparing my first 30secs of both KZ and COD

I’ll play more later â€" I am getting this for online play, so I can dominate you lot.

30 seconds isn’t enough to really gauge anything, I am just bored at work and want to talk about it

At the end of the day COD4 raised the bar soo high, unless that lifted on the same scale, nobody will be blown away like COD4 did

The expectations are very high indeed â€" read the reviews, this KZ is made out to be gods gift to gaming â€" I cant gauge that from a demo, and certainly not 30secs of play, but I will discuss my feelings of that 30secs…its not my final answer..stay tuned, but I am sure the answer is in the full version.

 

[Gay-Guy]

Fair points there Craig...yes I was a bit harsh calling it "pretty average" as clearly a lot of effort was put into making the game. I suppose I am saying "average" in the context of a long line of shooter experiences on various consoles and the PC. I judge a FPS on a console first by one criteria....the ability to emulate the instant accuracy of a mouse. I found (more than COD4) that Halo 2 simulated this PC mouse accuracy feel better than any other console game....followed by the other Halos, Timesplitters, Goldeneye, COD4......the original Killzone was shocking with aiming and I really hoped KZ2 would be different. So yeah when I started shooting around I was not that thrilled with having to keep adjusting my aim a bit more than other shooters. Not only was it slow on full sensitivity but it was also sluggish as in "delayed" response. I have heard people who have reviewed it say the aim movement is sluggish in its response and also saying that this simulates a real gun....but I am not too convinced on that as the reason. I think most people would have prefered a truer feel rather than a delayed.

I do realise I am judging a "demo" and that the full version is better...so maybe the controls on the full version will be sharper etc.

A few cool things happened when I was playing. One of my soldiers was down and dying...actually maybe he was dead...however his body was still moving twitch like. I felt sorry for him so pumped him full of lead....his body stopped moving...was dead still. Very cool!