GOONL!NE

Developer: Gurreilla Games
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Also on: N/A (PLAYSTATION 3 Exclusive)
Console Played on: PLAYSTATION 3
Release Date: Friday February 27th 2009
Rating: PEGI 18, BBFC 18

You may remember our hands on impressions of the multiplayer beta where we just couldn’t find anything wrong with it at the time.

We simply loved it, comparing it as the gaming version of Apocalypse Now which now looking back on at the time might have been hasty… before the demo though. Having played the demo, I can safely say that tag can stay, Killzone 2 is without a doubt up there to be one of the best FPS games this year.

We wont be as “gushing” as we were in the multiplayer impressions but needless to say, we can help but love Killzone 2.

The demo takes place in the first level of the game as you enter the capital of Helghan. You take on the role as Tomas Sevchenko or Sev as he and Alpha squad land on Helghan 2 weeks after the first attack offensive from the ISA as they invade Helghan after the events of the original Killzone on the PlayStation 2 and Killzone: Liberation for the PSP.

Your hastly thrown into the deep end right away when your ‘craft crash lands on the battlefield your heading to when your giving a very hasty tutorial which isnt a tutorial level at all, it gives you the tutorial as you go through the start of the level.

It wont take any prisoners during the demo. Your only difficulty level in the game, Medium, is still a pretty difficult level to go through in the game as it is so just imagine what its gonna be like on Hard and Elite. The AI is absoutely impressive, they will get to cover when they need to, they will throw grenades to flush you out into the open when in cover. Simply put, the Helghast are tough bastards and they want you to know about it.

Helghan is a harsh place to be fighting on, it’s one of bleakness, death and warfare unlike any other. And while that maybe what Killzone 2 is, what also makes it is the fact that there is something going on around you and chances are you dont notice it. Anything from grenades, reinforcements, dialogue, anything, it has you hooked so much that you may noti

Killzone 2′s controls are… how do we say, wonky. It does take a little adjusting to, you may have to make a couple of specfic tweeks to the controls or maybe adjusting to a different control system altogther. If your gonna do that, we just Alternative 2, it’s more or less like Call of Duty only you have to tap L1 to zoom instead of holding L1. Like we said, it will take time getting used to them but make some adjustments to the control that suit you most.

Since the last time we had our hands on with the game during the beta, Killzone 2 looked great before but now, little over 2 months since the beta finished, Killzone 2 has absoutely improved alot in the graphics area and I mean alot.

The biggest improvement comes in the form of  the lighting as well as the character models, they look absoutely great, we dont wanna nit pick the graphics, we’re not graphics specalists but what we can say is this, Killzone 2 is absoutely stunning but then you already knew that, didnt you?

Contary to reports, there is no multiplayer in the demo, not even in the slightest bit. Read our impressions of the multiplayer beta (linked at the top of the article) to get a feel of how the multiplayer will be like when the full game launches just 3 weeks from now but in fairness, the demo wasnt in need of multiplayer, it just needed to show off the Single Player of the game impressively and guess what, it did.

Overall Impressions: February 27th cant come quick enough, we mean it. We like the Singe Player alot but if Single Player doesnt convince you otherwise to get this game, the multiplayer will do that for you, no questions asked.

Gurreilla Games have absoutely redeemed themselves after Killzone (personally, I thought it was a good game with a couple of problems) and come February 27th, while Killzone 2 doesnt reinvent the genre like Halo or Call of Duty 4 did (although that might be a comparison of some sorts), what will happen is we will have a very early favourite for Game of the Year 2009 and we’re only in the 2nd month of 2009 to say such a thing.

February 27th: HURRY THE FUCK UP!