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Killzone Review - PS2

Killzone boasted throughout its development that it would be the killer of the Xbox's most popular game series, Halo. Simply put, it isn't. It is, however, the best First-Person Shooter on the PlayStation 2, and the Halo of Sony's sleek, black console.

Killzone is set in what looks like, for the most part, the not too distant future. Though it is, at heart, a futuristic First-Person Shooter, it features little to none of the monotonous space-station areas you'll find in other games of the genre - Halo, for example. Don't expect to see any blue or green blood, lasers, or even aliens, either; Killzone is all about modern warfare with a seamlessly integrated touch of the future. The game is initiated with the beastly race the Helghast invading the planet Vekta, reducing entire cities to rubble and debris and slaughtering citizens left, right and centre. These tall, bulky, human-like soldiers, clad entirely in black uniforms, masks and armour and bearing growling, deep voices, would scare even Arnold Schwarzenegger had he come face to face with one of them. You begin the game in the middle of a trench, bunker and sandbag filled battle similar to a scene from World War II as a soldier in the resistance known as the ISA, named Templar. As you progress through the battle against the waves of Helghan reinforcements, bullets flying all over the place, your fellow soldiers lay down on the table the basics of the game's controls, and herein the game progresses in full swing.

Gameplay

Guerrilla, the developer of Killzone, has done an excellent job of creating a war-torn Earth and the atmosphere of a planet struggling with turmoil and warfare. The environments that you'll push through - most of which are set on Earth - are packed with destroyed buildings, debris, rubble, graffiti, blood-splattered surfaces, smoke, grime, cracked concrete and bloodied corpses, coinciding with the destructive Helghan occupation. The middle of the game, though - consisting of three or so areas or levels - displays some generic and generally poor level design. During this point in the storyline you're making your way to the stronghold, if you will, of the Helghast, and to do so it's required that you pass through a number of outdoor locations. Buildings and cities reduced to a small number of tents, these few yet extensive levels are generally restrictive and bland in design; often, slabs of trees, rocks and the like are used to create thin 'corridors' through jungle locations, marshes and snowy landscapes. Fortunately these outdoor locations dissipate towards the end of the game and the more creative level design emerges once again as buildings and the like come back into play.

The way that Killzone is played is, in general, erratic, reminiscent of retro First-Person Shooters such as Duke Nukem 3D where you would simply run through levels blasting enemies to pieces. This is, somewhat, the case in Killzone; not often are you required to use cover unless playing (continued next page)