Theres no competiton to Killzone 2s graphics and multiplayer! But the game lacks originality and interesting storyline!
Since E3 2005 many other sentences like this has hounted you and probably the GG (developers) for ages. But Now we can breath without a worry, Guerilla Games have acheived and surpassed promises made in this infamous E3!
Story:
It dosent have thrilling atmosphere, like we remember cod 4 opening sequence.
considering story, you probably will not expirence anything remarkable. And characters are pretty easily forgettable. Yeah your forgiven when you skip the singleplayer and dive into MP.
Gameplay
The thing is that you may feel dejavu while playing killzone 2 , this means it dosent quite have its own style, lack of originality!!. Still This game combaines the best of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Team Fortress 2.
I suggest to use Alternate 2 setting for gamers who are used with cod4, btw then turn off HUD and you kinda feel like watching a movie. And its also smart to check the zoom box, otherwise you must tap a L1 to switch between normal and zoomed in view. And you probbly will want to put turning sensitivity near max, then you will not be owned in multiplayer.
BTW theres no auto aim (thats probably the main reason ppl complain about), so this means you must be extra sharp. And thats why many gamers judge Killzone 2s controls to be hard/bad/broken etc, and because they played it just few times! i suggest you to give it a little more time, practice and u will get better!! .
You will drive with tanks, use anti aircraft gun, theres also turrets,and the awesome Mech (Exoskeleton) sequence, i wish those missions lasted longer. Killzone 2 also uses sixaxis capability, you can aim with sniper rifle using sixaxis motion sensors, turn wheels etc, botoom line- thank god it turned out pretty decent.
Killzone 2 brings back the old days real headshots, forexample with stA14 rifle, shotguns etc, you can actualy shoot enemys heads off!! What a blast.
Theres also flamethrower, powerful bolt gun, shotgun, rifle, lighting gun-which may easily be one of the most powerful gun in fps genre.
Killzone 2 presents one of the smartest AI in videogames, the enemys use cover, play tactical, throw a grenades towards you. They even switch locations when current cover has been destroyed. You cant just run and shoot!
Multiplayer
Simply put: Awesome.
Key words:
•8 Maps
• Up to 32 players supported for online.
• Mix & Match Badge Systems.
• UAV's/Aircraft support.
• Clan System
Multiplayer is the pearl of Killzone 2. Which means in some aspect cod4 is Killzowned. And im a huge fan of Modern Warfare. But killzone 2s unbalanced classes sets a drawback here, more about it later!
Every game should have such online lobby, system. You can let the game to select only your rank !! Which is well needed feature otherwise you will be pwned, (btw this feature is so needed forexample in warhawk) Once you connect you are all good, you will be drawned into infinity circle. This means you can play with the same team/gamers (unless they logout ofcourse) as long as you want theres no connection errors, You will play multiple mission in a single round without a loading screen, forexample after bodycount ends it gives you a next mission called assassination. After this long round ends you go to lobby where points are given and then it quickly connects to gamers selected map and then the circle starts again!!
Team feeling is just awesome i havent expirenced any other shooter which had such team support. And probably my favourite mission is assassination the whole team have to defend one of your teammate. Or when you must take down certain gamer of enemy team!
This is probably the first time ever, when a fps game features such cool clan management system, which allows clans of up to 64 players to compete for "Valor Points", an in-game currency that clans can use to bet on tournaments, and you even have a calender there to check out the upcoming events!
Theres also 4player squads, which all have a leader, and when you die you can respawn back to leader, so that you are quickly put back into the action.
Killzone 2s classes: Rifleman, Engineer, Medic, Scout, Assault, Tactician, Saboteur.
Forexample you can be a engineer and medic at the same time.
The only drawback i see with online, some maps are very confusing, i mean not so well done, not quickly learned. Btw i have played them multiple times.
And the classes and weapons are a bit unbalanced, its weird that the most powerful class is Assault, with its run boost, plus armor. M82 is very accurate compared forexample half/fully automated Machine guns which are quite weak, dosent have right feeling at all. Engineer's turrets do pitiful damage to the assault class. Rocket launcher is too powerful, and probably should be removed from the game.
Btw be warned, after sergeant major rank, the leveling up will be very hard.
Graphics
Yes, it is the best looking console game out there! Very highly detailed ground, wall textures, lightning, facial animation is the best yet.
If there is a game comparable to crysis, its Killzone 2, it even is surpassing it in some aspects like extreme amount of lights (hundreds), stacked animations with real time rendered ragdoll, real time ray tracing. But then again crysis weapon detailing includes the luster of the steel, and the effect of the environment on the weapon. And a real explosion, with the subtle, hazy dissipating flames at the exterior, yes the awesome particle effects , etc, still crysis wins here.
But in the end of the day we must admit that Ps3 is the graphical powerhouse! Devs even said that they can get more out of ps3 in future projects.
Thers one thing to nit pick, i dont like the normal view, camera is too much zoomed in, and sometimes its just weird when you use your weapons zoom. best example is Bioshock (before the patch).
But remember Guerilla games have made visually a stunning game which should be remembered already just because of its visuals, hands down!!
Audio:
Killzone 2 supports 7.1 audio. So, people with surround sound will get the most out of this game. And i mean throughout the game you will enjoy the thrilling background music, the gun fire sound is so realistic, it just surprised me. Voice acting isnt top notch. But still, it will get its work done.
Pros:
*Never presented graphics on consoles
*Superb audio (7.1 support)
*Multiplayer- Simply fantastic, its very awesome how well everything has been thought, almost revolutionary
*Smart AI
Cons:
*May feel hard to pick up, especially because theres no auto aim. Default controller setting dosent quite work as you wish, needs a little bit more tweaking than you are probably used to.
*Voice acting feels weak, not so impressive as like in Uncharted, except the Visari himself (Brian Cox)!
*Storyline feels a bit missed oppurtunity. Atmosphere could be alot better. Killzone 2 ending is... lets say It ends but you may feel dissatisfied. But then again Intro is thrilling!!
* Gameplay isnt original
* classes and weapons are ubalanced- Assault is very sharp compared to others.
Summary:
Killzone 2 not just looks the only next gen game out there, but it also plays so, and theres no competiton . The well thought multiplayer gives you a plenty fun to play this game for months to come : ). It really shows what the ps3 is capable of!