Killzone 2

Killzone 2

Ever since Guerrilla Games showed the first Killzone 2 trailer three years ago debate has raged as to whether the developer could deliver on its bombastic visual promise. Ever snippet of footage we’ve been shown thus far has been jaw-dropping in quality, debate raging on the internet as to whether it’s pre-rendered or in-game footage. What’s clear is that if the game does match what’s been shown so far, with every bullet fired effecting the environment, huge numbers of enemies and a dizzying sense of scale, it will be the most visually-striking console-based shooter yet seen.

Killzone 2 follows on from the story set out in the previous two games in the series, KIllzone and Killzone: Liberation. Its tagline is: “Our Fight, Their Planet”, an indicator that the whole game takes place on the alien wild of Heighan, home to the vicious Heighast, the primary enemy in the series. In the previous titles the Heighast invaded an Interplanetary Strategic Alliance, starting the war whose repercussions brought about the events of this game. Assuming the role of Sergeant Tomas "Sev" Sevchenko, a Special Forces member of an elite squad known as Team Alpha you lead a group of highly trained soldiers on a mission capture the Heighast leader, Emperor Visari, and stall the Heighast war machine.

The game takes players on a whirlwind tour of combat through a wide variety of environment.s In one level we had chance to play, Corinth River, a mission in which Sev and his team crash land into the middle of a dramatic firefight. What’s immediately apparent in play is the scale and intensity of the action, the feeling that you're stepping into an up and running battleground, not instigating it.

In this mission you have to destroy a bridge and clear out some Heighan APCs before securing a floodgate that will allow a convoy of allied troop to advance. The feeling of working within the context of an army runs through the experience, giving everything an epic sense of scale and teamwork. The Heighast display cunning AI as do your comrades, many of whom act in character, laying down suppressing fire and shooting from the hip while more timid squad members take their time.

Graphically the game features detailed textures and models and a rock solid frame rate that’s fixed at 30 fps, even if the load times in our preview build are yet to be optimized. The sense of size and sparse totalitarian chic of the Heighast world is striking and as so much of the environment is interactive, or at least destructible, there’s a sense that it’s more than just a backdrop to the game’s main attractions.

With a fully-featured multiplayer campaign, in which you advance through twelve ranks, Killzone 2 is shaping up to be the most impressive (and important) PlayStation 3 title of next year, and from our limited time with the game so far, we’re hopeful that it won’t only deliver on its previous promises, but will exceed them.