I picked up my copy of Killzone 2 yesterday, and have been playing it on and off for a few hours. I won't spoil much, as I'm still playing.
The graphics are awesome and the controls are still touchy, to those who have played the demo, the controls and everything are identical, and I am beginning to miss my secondary fire (though not enough to ruin the experience). I haven't tried multiplayer yet, though I look forwards to it after I beat the game.
I can't think of much to say, but my progression in the game can be summarized with this comment: ATAC's piss me right the fuck off.
I've opened the thread for spoilers, so beware, you have been warned!
The lack of secondary-fire or weapon mods makes me sad. In fact their are a lot of things about the game that indicate the developers were obviously trying to take a "safe" road. Undoubtedly because Guerilla's existence probably hinged on this game. That being said, it's a good shooter. It's actually challenging and has enough character to keep your attention.
It's too bad the developers never even thought of a Helghast campaign. Everyone has been begging for that since the end of the first game. Perhaps DLC expansion one day?
I had originally believed I was going to find the single player to be the weakest part of the game with the multi the strongest. It's kind of the other way around. Multi battles are largely just grenade spam run n gun festivals which I dislike. The again, maybe I shouldn't play 16v16 battles on small maps.
Visari's death at the end of the campaign made me sad. Brian Cox's voicework is one of my favorite things in both Killzone games.
And this is why you don't watch anything produced by Ronald D. Moore after he had his brain surgically removed and replaced with a bag of elephant semen.-Gramzamber, on why Caprica sucks
Man, they killed Lugar and Templar. That made me sad. Oh, well. They got to blow some shit up when they died. That's a plus. What's a negative is Hakka's still missing and Rico gets to live. Bah. At least he doesn't constantly say "Hoo! Need my glasses?"
Yeah, there's semi-decent variation on the guns until you get the grenade launcher, boltgun, flame-thrower and electro-gun. Those are fun and, in the case of the electro-gun, ridiculously effective. But that was the point and why it was only in that mission. The grenade launcher still makes that incredibly recognizable "p-TINK" noise that was oh-so-frightening in the first game. I almost feel bad for people who get hit with the flame-thrower, what with their screaming (which made my girlfriend giggle o.O) and all.
The characters that make up your party of four are decent enough. Rico's still Rico, Garza was spiffy enough, and Nakta kind of annoys me. The villains are all right, I suppose. Brian Cox still gets the best monologuing, of course.
The game play's pretty solid, except for taking cover getting pretty sticky at times, where you'll either not be able to move or get stuck sticking out until you let go of the cover button. Sometimes it looks like your head should be getting shot while in cover, but it's not, while other times it looks like you're safely behind cover when you aren't.
Aiming is pretty easy, reloading and running is nice, but being able to switch out your pistol for another gun would have been a welcome return, as would alt-fire modes (the ISA riffle still has the grenade launcher piece on it's model).
It's pretty fun all around.
"To make an apple pie from scratch you must first invent the universe."
— Carl Sagan
I love it when guys kill the wounded in MP. Thanks for cutting my respawn time in half douche bag.
Man, when you listen the Helghast propaganda speaker you really get a good idea of what the Helghast think. They seriously believe they're the good guys, not only that, but the victims. They've built a new Empire with extreme emphasis on mass- wartime industrialization at the cost of general living standard. (Hence the shanty town look of Helghan's cities. Despite the prevalence of many impressive industrial facilities.) The Helghast have undoubtedly convinced themselves that material desire and elegant living conditions are secondary to the Empire. That being said, I doubt Helghan contains a majority of Helghast industrial power given what the ending has shown us. Helghan looks like little more than a cultural center, so most of their industry, naval bases, population etc, are probably safe elsewhere.
I'm happy they don't just run around being lawlawl we are teh vellunous cuz manual sez so.
I enjoy the multiplayer quite a bit. The various modes remind me of CoD 4's modes and the ability to pack multiple missions in per round is very nice, as it alleviates some of the monotony of run and gun (as entertaining as that is!).
Rank advancement is a nice change, though the familiar unlocking of weapons as you advance is still there. Speaking of which, I do enjoy that component of recent games, as it helps keep some of the spamming of rockets down during lower level matches.
I've found aiming to be an interesting exercise, especially since it kind of slows things down compared to other shooters. I feel this is a nice touch and that it doesn't detract from the intensity of firefights within the match.
I haven't advanced far in MP yet, but I'm hoping that different costumes become available.
What's a negative is Hakka's still missing and Rico gets to live. Bah. At least he doesn't constantly say "Hoo! Need my glasses?"
It doesn't help that Rico fucks everything up...twice.
I rather liked Radec as a villain even if he was pretty much a generic "Evil, uber-strict general who loves combat above all else" Spoiler
I liked the ending too, aside from the fact it was a setup for another game. I mean how many games end with "You've killed the guy who could actually prevent a massive group of people from flipping the fuck out and going shit crazy. Oh, by the way, your side is getting wiped out!
Fun game, maybe when I get a stable internet connection I can play the multiplayer without fear of disconnecting
Pretty sure she was on the command ship with Templar.
That ending, though, yeah. Wow. Good going, Rico. Good going.
I'm sure you are thinking of the scientist women, as far as I know no mention is made of Lugar at all during the game. Maybe she is referenced in the intel items, I suppose yet another playthrough is in order.
