Review: Killzone 2

Killzone 2 is the most sophisticated first-person shooter ever released. That's not necessarily a good thing.

Read Full Article

A non-perfect review of Killzone 2? INCOMING (fanboys)! Duck and cover!

I noticed no delay between pressing the button and seeing the action on screen but I will try it out later.

Now this is a review I can believe.

Indigo_Dingo:
I thought Susan did all the audio supplements of the reviews.

Not anymore. It was creating a lot of confusion - people thought I wrote stuff I didn't. So everyone is back to voicing their own stuff. :)

I enjoyed reading that review. Though the raging masses will probably come at a later time. You probably expected that though.

Susan Arendt:

Indigo_Dingo:
I thought Susan did all the audio supplements of the reviews.

Not anymore. It was creating a lot of confusion - people thought I wrote stuff I didn't. So everyone is back to voicing their own stuff. :)

Noooooooo! I really like your voice.

Indigo_Dingo:

Susan Arendt:

Indigo_Dingo:
I thought Susan did all the audio supplements of the reviews.

Not anymore. It was creating a lot of confusion - people thought I wrote stuff I didn't. So everyone is back to voicing their own stuff. :)

Doesn't help when they sound bored with their own work.

Practice makes perfect. Thanks for the constructive criticism, though.

Indigo_Dingo:

Susan Arendt:

Indigo_Dingo:
I thought Susan did all the audio supplements of the reviews.

Not anymore. It was creating a lot of confusion - people thought I wrote stuff I didn't. So everyone is back to voicing their own stuff. :)

Doesn't help when they sound bored with their own work.

Agreed, Jordan's review is all well and good, but his video portion lacks enthusiasm.

+1 for the eraser head avatar!

go jordan

+ another 1 for the first kz2 review i've seen that didn't read like it was a sony press release

I don't think you sound bored, you just sound like you don't realize exactly how your audio is going to be perceived.

If you care, I think this is a much better review than your Halo Wars review. It feels like you go into a lot more detail about what makes the game good and bad.

From someone who is a PS3 fan but doesn't actually own one (play my roomates all day!) I'd be curious to know what you think this game will do for the system. How will it impact the Shooter market? Will it pull away Halo fans? Will it kill any Resistance community that's left? Will this game sell consoles like Metal Gear Solid 4?

I would've also liked to see more about the multiplayer because multiplayer is the PS3's biggest selling point for me.

Other than that I liked the review... not that you or anyone else cares... but still...

if you're getting input delay it's your TV, i and thousands of others aren't getting it.

Doug:
A non-perfect review of Killzone 2? INCOMING (fanboys)! Duck and cover!

Gamesradar did the exact same thing, except went two steps further saying that while Killzone's campaign is better, both Halo 3 and Gears of War 2 are better overall.

JoeNut:
if you're getting input delay it's your TV, i and thousands of others aren't getting it.

Watch and learn

KamikazeSailor:
I'd be curious to know what you think this game will do for the system. How will it impact the Shooter market? Will it pull away Halo fans? Will it kill any Resistance community that's left? Will this game sell consoles like Metal Gear Solid 4?

The game is excellent but I do not feel that it will pull away Halo fans, I think it could quite possibly reduce any remaining Resistance community but I don't think it will quite kill it. I do not think this game will sell consoles to 360 owners, but it may well sell consoles to those who do not yet own a PS3 or 360.

The problem is it's hype, 360 owners automatically put down this game because the hype said: "This game is the best thing ever and its only for PS3", even the ones that don't put it down straight away will play the demo trying to dislike it, and the demo is rather poor, so they will come straight to the conclusion that the game sucks (it does not, the multiplayer is the best online gaming experience I have ever had, honestly - my opinion).

One thing that is good about the game that I think people cannot be too opinionated about is the support, if you look at the killzone.com forums Guerilla keep us updated with posts and do seem to read some of the more important posts, which is more than can be said for most game supports.

bluerahjah:

Doug:
A non-perfect review of Killzone 2? INCOMING (fanboys)! Duck and cover!

Gamesradar did the exact same thing, except went two steps further saying that while Killzone's campaign is better, both Halo 3 and Gears of War 2 are better overall.

I heard, and I'd heard about the explosion of fanboy rage against them for it. Hence, why teased ;)

A very good review actually, I find it hard to disagree with any point. I felt like it should have been longer though, felt a little cut short (the review, not the game).

Meh, whether you think halo, killzone, or gears is superior is just personal preference. Personally I don't think halo is better nor gears, and I own both consoles and all 3 games (4 if you count gears 1). The multiplayer behind killzone is just extremely deep and addicting. I do think xbox live has better voice support however. But killzone's multiplayer is just amazing, in my personal preference it blows halo and gears out of the water, but I'm also a huge TFC/Tf2 fan, so that might have something to do with it.

As for the review, it was good but i haven't finished the singleplayer yet. I wish your review hadn't had so many spoilers (especially in the video supplement). None of them really spoiled the plot i suppose, but it would have been cool to have just stumbled accross the lightning gun, or the air turret section on my own. But at least now I know i have something to look forward to. Also, I'm not sure why you kept harping on a 600$ price tag which hasn't existed for well over a year now. Even when it did, there was an option to buy one for 400$ with a slightly smaller hard drive *shrug*. Just a thought.

At this point, I don't think any one game is going to sell consoles to 360 owners. There's just such a rivalry between the 2 consoles, it's almost as if one console's success repels the other console's fan base. In my experiences, it seems impossible for one group or the other to admit the other group has a good console (or a good game for that matter).

It's sad really, because it's the gaming industry that suffers. Both consoles have great exclusive titles, and similar capabilities. Why can't we all just get along? :(

Killzone 2 has actually made me appreciate the dialogue in Gears of War 2, at least in Gears the dialogue seems to know how silly it is. The problem I had with Killzone 2 was the desperate focus on boring, hardass army types who spout stereotypical gibberish liberally peppered with profanity.

At least the Gears crew has some personality and over the course of 2 games I've learned to enjoy how amusingly dumb they are.

PedroSteckecilo:
Killzone 2 has actually made me appreciate the dialogue in Gears of War 2, at least in Gears the dialogue seems to know how silly it is. The problem I had with Killzone 2 was the desperate focus on boring, hardass army types who spout stereotypical gibberish liberally peppered with profanity.

At least the Gears crew has some personality and over the course of 2 games I've learned to enjoy how amusingly dumb they are.

I'd agree with that, though it seems that they're going for 2 different moods. Killzone 2 is supposed to be a more serious and mature title which relies heavily on immersion, and at times, it really pulls it off, makes you think, "wow this is truly horrific."

Gears is Epic games, the same dev studio as unreal tournament. It's supposed to be ridiculously over the top and awesome. It's got more of a sense of humor, where killzone has more of a dramatic air about it.

Crash486:

PedroSteckecilo:
Killzone 2 has actually made me appreciate the dialogue in Gears of War 2, at least in Gears the dialogue seems to know how silly it is. The problem I had with Killzone 2 was the desperate focus on boring, hardass army types who spout stereotypical gibberish liberally peppered with profanity.

At least the Gears crew has some personality and over the course of 2 games I've learned to enjoy how amusingly dumb they are.

I'd agree with that, though it seems that they're going for 2 different moods. Killzone 2 is supposed to be a more serious and mature title which relies heavily on immersion, and at times, it really pulls it off, makes you think, "wow this is truly horrific."

Gears is Epic games, the same dev studio as unreal tournament. It's supposed to be ridiculously over the top and awesome. It's got more of a sense of humor, where killzone has more of a dramatic air about it.

The main thing I note is that in both games, the characters are jackasses. But in Gears they're at least likeable, amusing jackasses, in Killzone 2, they're just plain old, overly serious jackasses. It makes it VERY hard to care about what happens to them, in fact I wanted all of their generic, lame asses dead so they'd stop being so generically badass. The game is trying WAY to hard to be "Gritty and realistic" that it forgot to make the characters likeable.

Meh, Rico was the only character I didn't like. Garza almost seems like Barney from the half-life series (good thing). And I don't remember the name of the guy with the big nose, but he almost never has any parts so he disappears into the background (hence I don't remember his name). I thought Sev and Garza were pretty likable.

Review was adequate, in general really lacking exicting voice (though it is nice to hear a new one).
It isn't really a review of large scope and I honestly thought there was no closure in the end. I'd advice you to be more personal and use a more emotional voice delivery.
But then again you have an Eraserhead avatar so my criticism fades into nothingness.

Ultimately, there are two ways to look at Killzone 2: as a beautiful but intentionally obscure artifact, to be admired from a distance by most but only truly enjoyed by a select few

That statement is pure truth.
I really enjoyed this review, it really hit a lot of the main points although it could have been a bit longer.
The dialogue is silly except in the end when Visari is talking to you. He brings up some good points.
On the issue of lag it could be your T.V. because I use a old tube T.V. and I have no lag.

Game Tip: It pays huge dividends to hip fire in the multiplayer.

I also find the controls slightly sluggish. Maxing out the axis' sensibility seemed to do the trick.

Great review, but I would be nice to hear how many hours I can expect from the first playthrough.

Another thing I caught while playing through Killzone 2 and remembering the original... where did all the unique environments go? That was the best part of Killzone, you go from Urban to Beach to Jungle to Arctic to Space Platform, tons of variety. There's very little in Killzone 2 so far, it's all urban.

The text part seemed balanced, but the video was posibly a bit short, and only focussed on telling you how good every part of the game was. You do get the idea from watching that that one person wrote the text and the other wrote the video, and they had conflicting views. I kept waiting for the 'It's a good game but...' section of the video, and it didn't seem to be happening.

mGoLos:
I also find the controls slightly sluggish. Maxing out the axis' sensibility seemed to do the trick.

Great review, but I would be nice to hear how many hours I can expect from the first playthrough.

It took me about 9 hours to complete the campaign on "normal" (Well, except for the last boss ... I had to switch it to "easy" for that part).

Nice Review.

But where the hell is matzy? I guess he'll be in here soon enough.

KamikazeSailor:
From someone who is a PS3 fan but doesn't actually own one (play my roomates all day!) I'd be curious to know what you think this game will do for the system. How will it impact the Shooter market? Will it pull away Halo fans? Will it kill any Resistance community that's left? Will this game sell consoles like Metal Gear Solid 4?

I might be uniquely qualified to answer this question, because I actually don't own a PS3 either :P I will say that, despite its flaws, Killzone 2 is finally making me consider scrounging up the cash for a PS3 - not because it's a better shooter (although I enjoyed it more than Halo 3), but because it's a different shooter. And if Guerrilla patches the controls to get rid of the input lag - which they recently indicated they might - then it would be that much more appealing to me.

I personally believe long running franchises with successful first game components like Metal Gear Solid and God of War are better system sellers than games like Killzone 2. Sure killzone has been around since the PS2, but really the first game was a pretty big letdown. Killzone 2 is a great game, and in my opinion has one of the best multiplayers of any console game I've ever played (more of a pc gamer myself).

However, it seems to me hardcore 360 owners are set in their ways of halo is the best game ever and gears of war is a close second. If they're happy with what they have they're less likely to branch out and look elsewhere for games to fill the void, especially when it comes with a 400$ pricetag.

That coupled with the fact that the console war has really evoked a sort of zealotism behind each console's following, it seems almost blasphemy these day's to support the other console's product. It's much easier to rip on them on forums and blogs than actually try to make an informed decision by playing the game yourself.

The truth is 400$ is alot of money, but there are enough great games on the playstation 3 right now (aside from killzone 2) that if you had the finances to dish out 400$ on a new console (perhaps 300 soon) then it would be very unlikely you'd be disappointed with your decision. If you're honestly considering it, maybe wait until april to see if there's a price cut on the console?