A new level of graphic brilliance. Great sound, controls and action. But very mindless, lacking depth and atmosphere
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Top of the line graphics
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It is technically the most visually impressive game that I have played so far. The graphics is detailed and there is a lot of motion going on everywhere at the same time, which makes it very alive.
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Great sound , bad music
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The sound effects are very good. The music though, is just random orchestral stuff with no substance - recognizable, forgettable background stuff.
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Light : Realism compromised for sharp looks
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One esthetic aspect of the visuals is that the picture is treated with a dynamic contrast, resulting in a lot of dark shadowy areas, but not without precence of bright areas. So there is always a big range from blackest to brightest, and especially the darker areas, as well as the brighter ones, have been given a boost. This is often seen in movies, where the picture has been given a finish with dynamic contrast to intensify the look. This is obviously an appealing look to many people, but I think it is a trend of the times. In the long run, natural light is more varied and provides more atmosphere. It means more general levels of lightness were you can get a sense of the time of day and different weather, instead of there always being the same relationship between shadows and bright areas - it takes away some of the realism.
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Controls
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The controls are a bit heavy in a realistic way. You can feel the weight of your gear, not being too agile. The movement reflects the steps when you walk. But it feels totally natural after a while. I even found out that you can run by pressing the L3 stick, but that was after I had completed the game. So don't miss any moves.
Hiding behind walls and objects is a very useful way to take cover. You grab on to it holding L2, and can then lean forward and to the sides - a fun ingredient to the game.
You get the opportunity to drive a tank and a sort of mecha robot, and the controls are great here as well, particularly for the robot.
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Challenge
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The action is very war-like, so it's not so much about sneaking around on your own, battling a few enemies at a time. More often it's full battles with massive amounts of activity around you. Luckily everyone is not shooting at you, but are equally engaged in battle with your team members.The enemies are pretty smart, mostly hiding behind objects and moving around.
In many cases the object is to press on forward while there is a steady inflow of enemies. You can't just take everyone down one by one, you have to advance your position and gain command of the territory a piece at a time. If you press forward too fast you will be shot, beacuse you will need support from your team members which haven't catched up with you yet. If you stay at the same place the enemies will keep coming and you won't progress. This is the war-like action the game often is about, but there are of course many smaller battles with a limited amount of enemies.
The enemies can take quite a lot of damage if you don't aim very well and hit their heads. Their heads are always marked by the glowing redness were their eyes are. That red spot is actually boring me a little after a while, since I always aim for it, especially from long distances.
- High difficulty, compensated by generous save points
It's not easy to know how to deal with each new situation in the best way, so I have died a great number of times. It's no problem though, you are passing save points at regular intervals which you resume from when dying. In a challenging situation you can try an idea, and die realizing that it wasn't a good one, and when starting again from the save point you can try something else. That way you can learn by trial and error and ultimately choose a strategy that works. But this takes away some of the satisfaction of feeling like a survivor and a fair player. You could say that the game is too hard, the action being very compact and intense, but the save points is a helping hand, making up for it. With fewer save points, the game would have had to reduce the difficulty level. With so many things going on at the same time you are bound to make mistakes. Maybe it couldn't have been done differently, but I'm personally not a fan of too frequent save points.
Weaponry
Although it's a Star Wars inspired sci-fi game set on another planet, the weapon arsenal is very like real modern weapons. You are always carrying two default weapons - a knife and a revolver with unlimited ammunition, and can pick up one more weapon which you will use most of the time. Mainly there are different types of machineguns. Then there is a sniper rifle, shotgun, rocket launcher, grenade launcher, and flame thrower. You can also carry three grenades, which are very useful.
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Weak story, immature, pathetic characters - no appeal
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It's a dystopic sci fi story, the enemies are called the "Helghast", nazi-inspired soldiers dressed in black, wearing masks with red glowing eyes. It is originally very inspired by the japanese anime Jin-Roh.
You are fighting for the ISA (Interplanetary Strategic Alliance) which has a very obvious american way about them, like a parody of a very bad b-action movie from the 80:s. Macho stereotypes, working like a very cohesive and bonded unit. Enthusiastic, over-self confident with a naive lust for war and its gloriousness.
The game concept, story and characters have no appeal at all, and I wonder what sort of feeling I'm supposed to have when playing it. It's as if the game thinks that you as a player will be spurred on by the attitude of the characters in the squad, feeling like you are one of their friends. That would be sad. Then it would be like a children's game, playing war and feeling like a hero, which is below me. The characters do a great deal of swearing, which doesn't have to be wrong, but it's too much and done in a way to show attitude, self-confidence and lack of fear in a most anti-intellectual and embarrasing way. You as the main character are always being adressed as "Sev", which is also a bit annoying. I don't want to be their friend. I don't think I even want to be "Sev".
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Levels and gameplay
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As we've said, the action is intense and compact, a lot of things happening all the time. The game urges you on constantly , always a task to be carried out and not a second to lose. It is all about the action, and there's no problem knowing the way forward. If you by any chance go in the opposite direction, your teammates will quickly tell you what you are supposed to do, and were to go.
As in the first Killzone, the levels don't have much big areas were you can wander around freely. Not that the environments are small, confined areas - the scenery is big, often with a great view towards the sky and ocean – but the space which you can move in is limited. It's all constructed as a route which you follow. This is not my favourite kind of setup – I really like a bit more freedom to explore, and choose my own way forward. I would prefer more open spaces, and travelling bigger distances.
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Summary
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This is an impressive game with a new level of graphic brilliance. The graphics, controls and sound works in harmony. There is a lot of attention to detail, and it all feels ambitious. The online multiplayer possibilities is a strong feature which adds its own value to the package.
The uninteresting light, bad music, unimmersive concept, unoriginal story, and immature attitude of the characters; the controlled possibilities and limitation of free movement in level design; the stressful, war-thirsty intensiveness - these are factors that prevents atmospheric depth and tension and brings down the general appeal of the game.
Nevertheless, it has moved the genre forward in the technical departments. I can only hope that future games of the genre will show more development in imaginative game concepts and storytelling, as well as freedom in interaction.