Might not beat Halo or Call of Duty, but it's still a great shooter nonetheless.
The game's story is set two years after the events of the original Killzone, several years into the future from our own time. The militaristic human mutants known as the Helghast army has been defeated by the ISA (Interplanetary Strategic Alliance) on Vekta and driven back to their harsh home planet of Helghan. Believing that the defeat had weakened the Helghast morale, the ISA has decided to launch an all-out assault on Helghan in order to crush the Helghast insurgency. However, what they soon realize is that not only is Helghast morale stronger than ever, they've also become a mightier military regime. The result is a war that the ISA isn't prepared for and is struggling to win.
You play as Sergeant Tomas "Sev" Sevchenko, a veteran who's been tasked with assisting in the assault. He's accompanied by his friends Master Sergeant Rico Velazquez, a hotheaded tank; Corporal Dante Garza, the smart-mouthed tech specialist; and Corporal Shawn Natko, the demolition expert. These characters have their clichés all pointed out from the beginning, and aren't really given much depth or character aside from these. In spite of all that, they play their parts very well due to the great voice cast, and never feel as though they're pushing their stereotypes too far.
The first thing to mention about Killzone 2 is the graphics. I don't think I've ever witnessed more stunning visuals in any console First-Person Shooter (no, Crysis doesn't count because I said console, not PC). The animations run smoothly, the environmental rendering is incredibly detailed with virtually no signs of pop-in or screen tearing, and the lighting effects give off an incredible sci-fi atmosphere. Even the character models are fleshed out well, with moments where they almost fall into the uncanny valley. Explosions look grand, fire and smoke are realistic, and blood splatters realistically. There's even motion blur whenever things are getting crazy, giving you the sense that you're partaking in epic sci-fi battles.
Speaking of battles, Killzone 2 delivers some of the most action-packed, brutal, and intense set-pieces ever put into an FPS campaign. Right off the bat, the game places you in the heart of the war, never skipping a beat and taking you from fight to fight with little room to breathe. As you fight your way through wave after wave of Helghast soldiers, buildings get torn to bits, vehicles are getting blown to kingdom come, and dense smoke rises from mortar blasts. Killzone 2 delivers on its promise of intense action, and it packs a mean punch.
The gameplay is standard FPS fare, with your usual aim-and-shoot mechanic, a sprint button, grenades for throwing, and a multitude of great weapons to choose from. There is a cover system in the form of leaning-and-peaking. Crouching near a cover point will cause you to stick to that spot and lets you either lean over to shoot or blind-fire from it. This allows for deeper immersion into the gameplay, as you feel you're still in the first-person viewpoint. One thing to note about the gameplay is that it doesn't feel as quick as most other FPS games like Call of Duty or Halo. Instead, it opts for giving a sense of weight and precision to everything you carry. Weapons recoil fiercely, moving left and right takes a bit of time, and moving around doesn't seem as though you're moving as fast as you want to. It's off-putting if you're used to the aforementioned games, but it takes little time to get used to it.
Getting used to these controls helps out a lot against the enemies you encounter. I have to give special mention to the Helghast for being some of the most competent and dangerous AI in an FPS game. They take cover in the same manner you do, but that's not the extent of their programming. They will flank you, pin you down if they see you in a tight spot, and even cover their downed buddies to let them recover. They can even overwhelm by playing the numbers game, with each unit doing everything mentioned. They don't have any discernable patterns either, making them very unpredictable in combat. They're manageable on easy difficulty, but ramp it up to medium or higher, and you've got one hell of a military force to deal with. They're not impossible to kill, but require different tactics than a simple run-and-gun, take cover, repeat system.
The campaign itself has ten replayable chapters and will last you around ten to twelve hours depending on the difficulty and your skill with FPS games. While the story is well-told, it isn't anything special. Little detail is given to the Intel the ISA received, the research put into Helghan weaponry, or the politics surrounding the events. It's mostly background information that drives the intense gameplay forward, which I have no issues with in this case. The protagonists might not be all that memorable, but the villains are pretty noteworthy. From the power-hungry leader Scolar Visari, to the master soldier Radic, the villains prove to be more entertaining and help push the story along.
Killzone 2 also features multiplayer, which is some of the best I've ever played. While there's no crouching or cover system in multiplayer, the action is still intense as ever. Matchmaking begins in a lobby, and places you in the middle of a game as either an ISA or a Helghast soldier. There are a set number of rounds in each match, with varying challenges for each round, such as assassination, search and destroy, capture the flag, and bodycount. There's no set game mode to play during a match unless you make the match one solitary mode in the settings. This allows for great variety and has players think on their feet more often as each round is announced. There are several staple multiplayer features, such as loadouts, a ranking system, and solider classes to choose from. Up to thirty-two players can participate, providing large-scale battles with destructible environments that make it all the more intense. There's even an offline mode that allows you to play with either your friends or AI bots (which are just as intelligent as in the campaign). The modes are the same as in online mode, only there's no ranking system in it. You'll love the fact that these modes run with no noticeable lag, and features the same graphical power as the campaign mode does, even while playing online.
The only thing that holds Killzone 2 back is its story, which doesn't go into too much detail. Even so, it's a well-presented blockbuster-type story that serves to move the intense action set-pieces along. Combined with stellar graphics, awesome gameplay with no visual or audio hiccups, memorable villains, intelligent and aggressive AI, and a terrific multiplayer, this game is one of the best First-Person Shooters ever made. Sadly, it's only a PS3 exclusive. If you own one, pick this game up and add it to your collection. If you don't, find a friend that has it and play it if you want an intense FPS experience.