Killzone

To be or Not to be like Everyone Else

HIGH The multiplayer.

LOW The battery in my controller going dead while playing the multiplayer.

WTF Everything about the game other than the multiplayer.

Killzone 2 has the Playstation fanbase divided; on this week’s show we take our stand. Plus, reviews we’d like to take back, and the sexiest listener e-mail segment ever! With Chi Kong Lui, Brad Gallaway, Mike Bracken, and Tim Spaeth.

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Topic and Game References:

• Killzone 2
• Gears of War
• Halo
• Aquaman: Battle for Atlantis
• Ready 2 Rumble Boxing
• Fallout 3
• Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions
• Ninja Golf
• Ribbit King
• Kirby's Dream Course
• Leisure Suit Larry
• Mass Effect
• Star Ocean: The Last Hope
• Onechanbara
• Rapelay
• The Sims
• Indigo Prophecy
• Fear Effect

Please send mailbag questions to podcast (at) gamecritics (dot) com.

Please post your thoughts and impressions on Killzone 2 here and we will discuss your comments in an upcoming episode of our podcast. You can also record your question to an MP3 audio file and email it to podcast [AT] gamecritics [dot] com and we will play your question on the podcast. Thanks!

Throughout my playthrough of Killzone 2's single-player campaign, I regularly found myself making comparisons to Gears of War 2. This might seem strange given that these are very different games, one being a first-person shooter and the other being in third-person. But they share a certain gritty meat-headed quality that made it impossible for me not to think of one while playing the other. And again and again, the resounding conclusion I kept reaching about Killzone 2 was that it was missing one very important ingredient: personality.

I was going to write this week's blog entry about the general topic of "gameplay" and how it's defined (exciting, I know), but instead I've decided to shelve that idea in favor of something much more topical: namely, the new Killzone 2 demo, which I just had the unexpected pleasure of downloading and playing, thanks to some PSN trickery. Here are my initial thoughts.

Yes, the graphics are very good. In fact, these might be the best graphics I've seen in a game. (Before people start bringing up Crysis or whatever other graphics-heavy PC game they like to jerk off to, just bear in mind that I don't play PC games, so that's not what I'm talking about here.) The gritty atmosphere, the wind and dust, the explosions, the sunlight breaking through the hazy sky, all of it looks fantastic. The visuals aren't so much a giant leap above competitors like Gears of War 2 and Call of Duty 4 as they are a small step. But it's definitely a noticeable step.

Game Description: In Killzone: Liberation, two months after the events of Killzone, most of southern Vekta is still under Helghast control. The rules of war have been cast aside with the Helghast General, Metrac, employing brutal measures in order to seize the initiative and strengthen his position further. Returning as Templar, players will be sent on a mission to undertake a covert operation to save hostages captured by Metrac, while ISA troops continue the fight for liberty.