The original story saw disenchanted members of the Interplanetary Strategic Alliance (ISA), sent to colonize the barren and unforgiving planet Helghan, planning their bloody revenge on ISA. The war that ensued devastated colonies throughout the Alliance and led to the battles of KillZone. Without making any originality claims, KillZone for PS2 managed to keep it simple and to deliver something the PS2 gamer had very little of; a solid and enjoyable First Person Shooter. The game managed to utilize much of the hardware capacity of Sony’s, already aging at the time, console and brought an end product which looked better than most games had looked on the PlayStation console.
KillZone Liberation, Guerilla games’ second title in the series, took that story even further and re-established the Helghast as a force to be reckoned with. The star of the first game, Jan Templar, was again involved in the fray.
Now, ISA is taking the battle to the place where it all started; Helghan is about to be invaded and this time a new breed of hero is required. Joining the war effort, as a member of a special forces group called The Legion, your team comes in when everyone else has given up. Your mission begins with a large scale invasion of the Helghast home world, an unforgiving place prone to weather extremes and inhabited by the goggle and mask adorned Helghast.
Sev Gets a Window Seat!!!
According to Guerilla Games, the weather, so impressive in the E3 2007 video, will play an important part in the gameplay. The Helghast have adapted to the living conditions on their planet by using special goggles and breathing equipment but they have also learned to harness the power the planet offers and have turned its weather system into a weapon. For example, the ARC weapon, witnessed in the E3 video, is powered by lightning. There will be further such uses of the weather but the developers are keeping those details close to their chest.
One big gameplay shift in KillZone 2 is the lack of multiple playable characters. In the original title, four characters were playable offering, some, variety. In KillZone 2 the player will only be able to interact with the main protagonist; Sev. Familiar characters will resurface, such as Rico your commanding officer while your buddies will always be nearby offering some heavily scripted action sequences designed to immerse the player into the ISA Invasion . Immersion seems to be the buzzword for Guerilla as much of KZ 2’s design has taken that into account. One example of an almost culture shock change for F.P.S. gamers is the minimal use of the H.U.D., the developers have decided to keep on screen information at a minimum and utilize, instead, a variety of environmental cues to offer information to the player. Getting shot, for example, will lead to a change in the way color is displayed while sound is also used.
There will also be some other gameplay elements in KZ2 that players will remember from previous games; healing comrades will be a major part of your mission and you will need to be quick on your controller in order to resurrect your downed comrades. PSP owners may remember that in Killzone: Liberation, your character was able to use Helghast vehicles and this feature is very likely to resurface in KillZone 2 with Guerilla hinting that they plan to… build on the strong points of previous incarnations of the game. One confirmed Liberation feature which will make its way to KZ2 is the presence of mini-bosses. During your invasion of Helghan, you will encounter, every now and then, Helghast with additional armor and weaponry, such as the Heavy shown in the E3 2007 video. These mini-bosses will provide some of the puzzle and problem solving tasks which will face the player and will utilize a great deal of the new gameplay elements of KillZone 2. In the E3 video we saw how the impact of your ammunition on the Heavy will assist Sev in gaining access to the mini-boss’s unprotected rear, while the new lean & peek system will help keep your character protected while you target specific areas of your enemy’s body, such as the head in the above example.
The Big Bad Guy with the Small ...Name
Yet another sign of Guerilla reacting to gamer demands is the abilty of Sev to jump over obstacles. During the last E3 KillZone acknowledged the fact that Jan Templar’s inability to jump was a rather frustrating gameplay feature. This time, your ISA warrior will not quite be able to leap tall buildings but will have the ability to move rapidly over the game’s environment. During the same show, Guerilla’s developers also accepted the limitations of the AI in the original game. It was clearly evident in KillZone: Liberation that enemy AI was taking a step in the right direction as Helghast fighters begun targeting explosive objects around you while they used team tactics to flank and outgun you.
In KillZone 2 your enemy will be fully aware that the combat is taking place in a fully destructible environment. In that sense cover will be used only for as long as it can serve as that while the presence of multiple enemies on screen at any one time, will mean that the Helghan will also know to avoid each other. Your squad will also be intelligent enough to avoid killing Sev while it will be the player’s task to prove that he or she can navigate the hostile game world avoiding collateral damage.
Guerilla has been keeping the multiplayer aspects of KillZone 2 a guarded secret but has taken every opportunity to stress that the MP aspect of the game is just as important as the single player campaign. What little information we have gathered on the KillZone 2 multiplayer has more to do with speculation than fact. One such assumption is that Co-Op is a certainty, a feature that Guerilla has, of course, not commented on but one that has proved a winner for the Halo franchise. One more fact-based assumption is that since Guerilla has confirmed that the online will be linking to Killzone.com as well as into Home, suggests that there will be heavy clan-based action. An extrapolation of this logic suggests that players will be able to convene in Home’s social fora in order to discuss tactics, challenge opponents and examine rankings. Additionally, it is expected that leaderboards will feature online as well. Another multiplayer rumor, spread fairly recently, suggests that online KZ2 will utilize user created content, trying to extend the game’s online life by offering variety and capturing gamers imaginations. One certainty for multiplayer is what KZ2 QA manager, Sebastian Downie declared in a forum post, …of course there is going to be a public beta. I have always said that any game that has an online mode needs to go through a public beta to ensure it works as intended...More on a beta later this year.
All these features sound truly amazing but what engine could possibly drive such luxuries? How have Guerilla managed to harness the PS3’s, elusive, power in order to deliver, what they claim will be, the best looking gaming experience and what the BBC has suggested is the … one of the most cinematic and immersive games ever produced on a console.
In the Zone Again