E3 2008: Killzone 2 Multiplayer Update

It seems that every last detail pertaining to Killzone 2 has been measured against the ambitious trailer shown three years ago at E3 2005. Developer Guerrilla knows all too well that that's a tough shadow to escape from, but it's not necessarily impossible. One way is to shift gears and change the discussion to the game's often-overlooked multiplayer aspect. That's precisely what happened earlier today when we were treated to a multiplayer-focused presentation from designer Eric Boltjes. He guided us through Guerrilla's plans for player progression, character customization, and community features.

Boltjes started us off with an overview of the design team's goals for making Killzone 2's multiplayer both more accessible for newcomers and deeper for veterans. The plan to go about doing this involves easing players into the various features attainable through extended play. What this boils down to is a player-progression system similar to Call of Duty 4 that tracks players' ranks and gives them new abilities when they rank up and collect supplementary ribbons and medals. There are 12 ranks, 46 military ribbons, and over 100 personal statistics that you can keep track of during your entire Killzone 2 career.

The abilities that you unlock as you rank up are numerous. One of them is the badge system, which is basically a selection of character classes. We noticed a distinct Team Fortress 2 feel from Boltjes' description of these classes. There's an engineer who can build and repair turrets, a medic who can revive fallen teammates, and a saboteur with a disguise ability. You unlock new badges as you go, and each of them has a primary ability to start out with and a secondary ability that you collect later on. However, what makes this badge system unique is the ability to combine classes. Boltjes' example was a medic engineer with the ability to revive teammates and repair turrets. It seems that Guerrilla is banking on this mix-and-match system to add some extra depth to the multiplayer experience. So far, it sounds like a neat idea, but we'll be waiting to see what other sorts of abilities come with the other badges. The medic engineer sounds interesting, but this particular combination of abilities is hardly earth-shattering in its novelty (to speak nothing of the name).

The team aspects aren't just limited to players choosing a mix of badges that will work in harmony with each other. You'll also be able to subdivide your teammates into squads. Matches support up to 32 players, and each team of 16 can break up into four squads of four. This will affect your style of play in a few different ways. Those who've been playing the multiplayer in a game like Battlefield: Bad Company will find a few of these features familiar. Squads have the ability to communicate over a separate headset channel from the rest of the team, but they'll also see a Heads-Up Display unique to their team. The leader will act as a spawn point for teammates if they so choose, but players can also take a look at the map in-between lives and choose from a few spawn-point options. If an area on the screen looks like a total mess of blood and bullets, you're given the option to cautiously avoid it or revel in the mayhem by hopping right in there.

When you're setting up a match, it looks like you'll be given a fairly broad assortment of options to tinker with. You can basically create a playlist of matches with choices that include which of the eight scalable maps you want to see, the combination of game modes or "missions" as they're called, weapon and badge selections, and timers on respawns and bombs. The example that Boltjes provided was a sniper duel in which players could select only the scout badge and the sniper rifle. Most of those options aren't terribly new, but the ability to create class-specific matches (A medic battle? A saboteur showdown?) sounds intriguing.

Another interesting feature is the selection of community tools available through the game's official Web site on Killzone.com. All players will have a profile displaying their progression in terms of rank, ribbons/medals, what abilities they have coming up, and a sortable list of those 100-plus stats mentioned earlier. It will also support clans. You can join clans online, keep track of clan stats and members, set up matches and tournaments, and a host of other options. The cool thing about clan battles is that clans can bet a certain amount of "valor" on each match, which is essentially a currency of reputation points. Bankrupt clans do have the option to earn valor back through participating in tournaments with no valor entry fees.

It seems that Guerrilla is aiming for an ambitious pallet of multiplayer features with Killzone 2. We weren't able to get any hands-on time with the game, so we're hoping to do that before the public beta they're aiming to release later this year arrives. In the meantime, Killzone 2 is scheduled for release next February.