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I want to make one thing clear as I go into this preview, I am not a huge fan of console FPS games. I've always taken my FPS needs to the PC with a trusty keyboard and mouse. Fortunately though it looks like Sony has one of the best FPS games of this generation on their hands now and PS3 fans will get to play it soon. I was able to get the demo of Killzone 2 early through a contest put on by TweetHunters (thanks guys!) and the demo logs in at well over a gig, so set aside a good chunk of time to download this. The only big disappoint for me with the demo was that there's only one level and only single-player to go through.
The first thing that everyone will notice is just how beautiful the game is, this is why you have an HDTV and a PS3. It is one of (if not THE) best looking console game around. The game itself feels like a standard FPS on the console, if you've played any other console FPS such as Halo or (god forbid) Haze you will be at home with these controls, the demo does walk you through the controls with on screen guides, although the action (and subsequently difficulty) starts quick and the demo only allows for the normal difficulty to be selected. One of the more interesting points is that the HUD disappears after some time of non-use, there also was no health meter of sorts but visually on the screen you can see when you're hit and when you're close to death when the screen flashes red in the corners. In likeness of traditional modern shooter you can replenish your life by staying out of combat for a time.
The game relies heavily on planning your attacks and not just running in guns blazing, there are many pieces of cover to be used that you can pop out of to attack the opposition. The demo starts off on the cliché FPS scenario of storming the beach. You move through the level having to make use of cover effectively as the enemy attacks you from many sides and has a land advantage also. Eventually you get yourself into a building, along with an AI buddy, and start on the second level above some guards talking that are easily taken out with a grenade and then the soldiers start rolling in.
Once you take those enemies out you move on to the first floor and find a door you have to crack the code to do so and your AI buddy is able to do this but it won't happen instantly and the enemies start rolling in and you have to protect him! There seems to be no magical time limit that you have to continue to defend him, as it seems to be more on a timer of having defeated all the incoming attackers. Once you get through that the demo concludes, you're treated to a video with all sorts of quotes from websites and magazines praising the game.
Speaking of the reviews, it seems really odd that the initial reviews absolutely praise the multiplayer but seem to think the single-player is anywhere from good to so-so and Sony decided to leave out any multiplayer with this demo. Isn't the selling point suppose to be the multiplayer in this game? The single player seems decent enough although the voice acting is very gruff and passable at best. The demo is amazingly short at anywhere between 15-20 minutes of playtime which seem inexcusable with the size of the demo.
At the least though this will be added to my rental queue and I'll fire up the multiplayer and see what all the hype is about because the demo didn't sell me completely on plunking down $60 on this game. PS3 owners who didn't pre-order from GameStop or create a European account can get the demo this Thursday and form their own opinion on it. |
