Stephen- A short dabble with Killzone 2

Once more I am very late to the party, last night was my first real play on Killzone 2. This was a game I was very excited about playing and I can tell you now that I will consider it as a purchase in the future. I really enjoyed the time I spent with it, there were a few problems I found with it to me as a player but still I soldiered on through it because it was just so darn fun! My first problem was that it was really hard, this hardness was brought about by several other factors but for some reason i just found it really difficult. I think the main reason was it took me a while to get a hold of the cover system, the first level is instant death if you stray from cover. Now I quite like this in games, I never used to be a fan but since I was converted to the pop up gameplay of Gears of War I've really enjoyed strategic cover systems. I actually think Killzone's cover system is an improvement on Gears of War because it feels more fluid, the cover system is hidden in the gameplay and doesn't stand out as much as gears. The constant on screen prompts of the Gear's cover system really distance it from the actual game, it's great, and you can do alot more in that than you can in Killzone's but still I prefer Killzone's. It's the suprising simplicity that makes the Killzone system so great, simply duck behind suitable cover and you get to sort out your aim on enemies whilst you are hidden, then fire and you will pop out and hopefully kill them. Really simple and really fun, it has few button presses and just works. The fact you can lean out the side of cover is great also. It's hard to explain really how well this works, you have to experience for yourself. But of course it does have on issue that Gear's doesn't, in Gear's you are guided towards cover in Killzone I found it difficult occasionally to work out what would make suitable cover, without on screen prompts it's harder. However I would argue this makes it more realistic and more immersive.

So back to the difficulty, it's hard. Lots of enemies on the screen at once all shooting at just you, but it never feels like it's the game being cheap. I died alot but always I would ready to go back into the area, the checkpoint system is very forgiving, and try out new ways of taking down enemies. It was always my skill level letting me down never the game being too hard, yes it's hard but it's a welcome challenge. However I had it on the easiest difficulty so you expect it to be easy, towards the end of my play though I felt it getting easier as I was getting used to the game. Once you have got a handle of the controls and the cover the game is just fun and not too hard. The controls were a major problem for me at first, they were very stiff. The controls have a very heavy feel to them and if your used to call of duty, like me, it will take a while to get used to them. But they do give you the feel of a big armoured soldier, who annoyingly has the most pathetic jump ever. So this is a problem that you get used to but the actual controls are quite wierd. This is because they are once more differently set out to Call of Duty, the look down the gun button was not left trigger or something logical like that, it was right thumbstick pressed down. This is where the difficutly came from for me. To be honest I did find the game a bit hard, but that was mostly because I kept pressing the wrong buttons.

Finally the layout was a bit annoying to me. The game felt really linear yet with a huge lack of direction. The linear gameplay was fine and made it a really enjoyable shooter but, this was hampered by confusing commands and a general lack of direction. At many points I was unsure where to or what to do because a troop would shout something and I was not sure what they meant. After a while this became easier because the game is so contrived. Blow that bridge down, how? Well look a random RPG right next to you, the person carrying it luckily died. Kill all the enemies on that building, that will be hard! Well right next to you a turret, awesome. This made the game fun but it all felt a bit too convenient. No real complaint, but still at some points there was a suprising lack of direction. The level layout seems quite odd every now and then, really illogical and that makes it hard to carry out orders.

But overall I really enjoyed this game, it's hard but I reckon if you used to all he different factors it wouldn't be that hard at all and on recruit difficulty it could turn out to be quite easy. So I would really recommend this game so go out and buy it! Keep gaming,

Stephen!