Killzone 2
Nicholas "bapenguin" Puleo
Sony - PS3
Very few games have been able to match Call of Duty's intensity. Dropping the player in the middle of a war, the gritty and scary nature of a fire fight, hiding behind a wall for fear of death. Killzone 2, from Guerilla Studios, has not only matched it - it passed it in many aspects. There's no cheap grenade spams or infinite spawning enemies, at least for the most part. So after three years since the infamous E3 announcement trailer the game has been released on the PlayStation 3 - and it has some big shoes and hype to fill
Right from the get go Killzone 2 shows why it's one of the most beautifully detailed games to date on any system. Spawning from high flying ships, your dropped from two miles in the sky into the thick of battle. Amazingly, it DOES look almost as good as that E3 trailer. Exploding buildings, flying shrapnel, and gorgeous puffs of smoke all create an intense battlefield situation that will have you gripping your PlayStation controller tighter and tighter.
The problem with that PS3 controller though is it just never quite feels right. Perhaps it's the deadzone of the controller, or something with the analog sensitivity in the game, but I found it incredibly difficult to pull off shots and turns - I always felt like I was fighting it to some degree. Thankfully the game employs a great cover mechanic that's similar to Rainbow Six Vegas, and this helps counter any issues you have with the controls for most of the game.
From beginning to end, Killzone 2 is a solid first person shooter experience, even if it is flawed by the controls. While you'll be finishing up the single player in roughly 7 or 8 hours, there's an entire deep multiplayer section that puts it right in the same category as Call of Duty 4 in terms of a progression system. It would have been impossible for Killzone 2 to live up to the hype, but that doesn't mean it's a bad game.
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