A very interesting title in retrospective. A game that came out in 2004, that feels like a late 00s-early10s blockbuster from the PS3-Xbox360 era. This game was kind of a precursor to all Gears of War and Resistance games. It indeed feels like "AAA from the future" in terms of presentation, style, and visuals.
Graphics are nice for PlayStation 2, and for 2004 in general. It is completely different from the early titles on the same hardware. And I can understand why it was so hyped back in the day.
Sadly, because of the hardware limitation, hard cuts should've been made to fit it all and it shows. This game has all the sins of ps3-gen FPS titles, but much bigger. Small levels, big loading times, slow character movement, 2-3 types of enemies on the whole game, re-use of sections of the levels.
More than that, the game starts with spectacle, but then kind of half gives up and turns into a regular average corridor shooter with spongy enemies you need to pass. And bosses, if I can even call them bosses, are no different.
Still, it is not entirely boring, it tries hard to change the environment and do the plot and cutscenes, but be warned that it might get very tiring in the 2nd half.
Graphics are nice for PlayStation 2, and for 2004 in general. It is completely different from the early titles on the same hardware. And I can understand why it was so hyped back in the day.
Sadly, because of the hardware limitation, hard cuts should've been made to fit it all and it shows. This game has all the sins of ps3-gen FPS titles, but much bigger. Small levels, big loading times, slow character movement, 2-3 types of enemies on the whole game, re-use of sections of the levels.
More than that, the game starts with spectacle, but then kind of half gives up and turns into a regular average corridor shooter with spongy enemies you need to pass. And bosses, if I can even call them bosses, are no different.
Still, it is not entirely boring, it tries hard to change the environment and do the plot and cutscenes, but be warned that it might get very tiring in the 2nd half.
The only thing I really disliked about the game was it's combat. The game had a pretty good story and the game still looks great! (played the HD version on PS3)
I am new to this series so naturally I started with the first game, and I got to say, I think it’s pretty good although flawed. It’s got what a good FPS requires: good gun sounds, satisfying feedback and decent pace. What makes Killzone interesting are the enemies you fight against who are known as the Helghast. Don't want to go into the lore too deeply but basically humanities greed causes this race of people and their planet to go into serious decline but through adaptive genetics they eventually grew to be incredibly powerful beings.
The reason why they wear those cool masks and uniforms is because the air they breathe has literally gone to shit. Pretty awesome lore! I guess you wouldn't know this unless you bothered to read the manual and stuff...oh the good ol' days of reading!
You play as a four-man unit each unlocked after beating a certain level. At first, I thought they were generic protags but oddly I grew to like them at the very least...like there is serious potential to develop a great relationship between these characters with the right direction. For example, one of the characters who is half-helgan and half human isn't trusted by Rico and so a xenophobic dilemma is something that goes on between them but gets hashed out eventually.
Graphically Killzone is fantastic pushing PS2 hardware to its limit but maybe a little too much as the framerate can suffer for this ambition. I don't mind it, but there is a solution as the HD remaster on the PS3 fixes this problem from what I understand. This review is on the PS2 version, however.
Animations especially on the guns are great! But they can impede when in a jiffy as every time you select a gun the animation cannot be canceled. There are FMV scenes, and they aren't the greatest things ever, some of them even make me laugh.
Another hysterical thing are the jeers and death cries enemies make. I cannot get enough of them lol you can tell they had a field day recording those. I suppose it’s just the way they process it, like in crunchy compressed way. Another title that comes close to this is Halo 3. There is no sound other than the ambience of gunshots and your enemies yelling. It sets a certain atmosphere for Killzone that I appreciate.
Anyhow, FPS fans should give this one a go, however if low framerates is something that bothers you then just play the HD version on PS3.
The reason why they wear those cool masks and uniforms is because the air they breathe has literally gone to shit. Pretty awesome lore! I guess you wouldn't know this unless you bothered to read the manual and stuff...oh the good ol' days of reading!
You play as a four-man unit each unlocked after beating a certain level. At first, I thought they were generic protags but oddly I grew to like them at the very least...like there is serious potential to develop a great relationship between these characters with the right direction. For example, one of the characters who is half-helgan and half human isn't trusted by Rico and so a xenophobic dilemma is something that goes on between them but gets hashed out eventually.
Graphically Killzone is fantastic pushing PS2 hardware to its limit but maybe a little too much as the framerate can suffer for this ambition. I don't mind it, but there is a solution as the HD remaster on the PS3 fixes this problem from what I understand. This review is on the PS2 version, however.
Animations especially on the guns are great! But they can impede when in a jiffy as every time you select a gun the animation cannot be canceled. There are FMV scenes, and they aren't the greatest things ever, some of them even make me laugh.
Another hysterical thing are the jeers and death cries enemies make. I cannot get enough of them lol you can tell they had a field day recording those. I suppose it’s just the way they process it, like in crunchy compressed way. Another title that comes close to this is Halo 3. There is no sound other than the ambience of gunshots and your enemies yelling. It sets a certain atmosphere for Killzone that I appreciate.
Anyhow, FPS fans should give this one a go, however if low framerates is something that bothers you then just play the HD version on PS3.
I have listened to the main theme on this game over a million times.
This game has a special place in my heart, even though I know it's bad, I like it. (Good old times in my ps2)
an obvious attempt to rival Halo, except it completely didn't understand what made halo so good. the story makes absolutely no sense if you don't have the manual, the character's except Rico are boring husks of cardboard and have no unique traits at all. the levels are so boring to get through especially with the nonexistent gunplay. here's what happens, you start out with a good gun, but eventually run out of ammo so you have to pick up a worse gun from the Heilgast just to get ammo, and then carry that gun through the rest of the level. the balancing here is awful i don't understand how people had fun with this game. only check it out for curiosity sake.
Really thought I'd give up on this one, but I completed the campaign anyway. Overall it's an okay game with a lot of flaws (unprecise gunplay, bland levels, etc), but still manages to be fun sometimes.
It was meant to be revolutionary. Sony's Halo-killer they wanted it to be called. But did it become that? No. It lacked lot of the charm and identity Halo was given. To lot of people this was just another relatively janky military shooter at the time. But was that all due to the artistic design? No. I think the story and especially the main characters played a huge part in the game being considered a bit generic at the time. Templar and Rico are just absolutely dull. Rico is even unbearable according to many of the players. With constant snarky remarks and this certain level of meat-headedness, listening to him can become infuriating quite quickly. And Templar is just, a soldier dude. Like, there's not much to say about him is there. Thankfully, the premise was interesting enough that the sequel could be produced and oh boy was that a banger! But let's talk about that another time.