2008 Woodie Awards
PS2's Killzone Disappoints
Issue date: 12/9/04 Section: Arts and Entertainment
I can't deny the heart-pounding excitement that filled me as I mowed down villains in the guerilla games of Killzone, Playstation's attempt at a top-rated first-person shooter. However, after I played a few levels, killed hundreds upon hundreds of drones with the cumulative AI of a set of dominoes, and followed a redundant storyline, I was left feeling like the orphan Oliver, asking, "Please may I have some more?"
In the game's storyline, Earth has moved into the future and expanded into other solar systems, colonizing planets and stars. However, at some point during this planetary expansion, humanity split into two major factionsthere is the ISA, the upstanding humans, and the exiled Helghasts. The Helghasts settled on an uninhabitable planet that altered their appearance. Hardened and strengthened by an existence plagued with peril, they have taken up arms and are now marching to reclaim their territory and destroy the ISA.
The introduction explains this in a well-orchestrated opening cinematic sequence. After viewing it, I waited to see an all-out war - a battle for supremacy, but was instead given a skirmish at best.
The game begins with the player as Templar, a decorated ISA soldier, who is a typical video game grunt. As you advance through the game, Luger, Rico, and Hakha join in the war. Luger is a female assassin; Rico the group's heavy gunner, and Hakha a Helghan traitor.
There are no advantages to playing a particular character because the makers didn't have the foresight to create levels better suited for one character or another. After playing through a few levels I quickly found the same problem I've always had with first-person shooters: they are all the same. If you want to beat the game quickly, you may as well choose Rico and just aim straight. There is no room for stealth in the game, thus making it pointless to play as Luger.
However, what impressed me about the game was the unbelievable graphics and artwork. The trenches looked and functioned as trenches. Each scene is drawn to fine detail leaving nothing desired. The artists succeeded in their illustration of futuristic buildings, as well as in the wide variety of guns that spit bullets in favor of clichéd laser or plasma.
In the game's storyline, Earth has moved into the future and expanded into other solar systems, colonizing planets and stars. However, at some point during this planetary expansion, humanity split into two major factionsthere is the ISA, the upstanding humans, and the exiled Helghasts. The Helghasts settled on an uninhabitable planet that altered their appearance. Hardened and strengthened by an existence plagued with peril, they have taken up arms and are now marching to reclaim their territory and destroy the ISA.
The introduction explains this in a well-orchestrated opening cinematic sequence. After viewing it, I waited to see an all-out war - a battle for supremacy, but was instead given a skirmish at best.
The game begins with the player as Templar, a decorated ISA soldier, who is a typical video game grunt. As you advance through the game, Luger, Rico, and Hakha join in the war. Luger is a female assassin; Rico the group's heavy gunner, and Hakha a Helghan traitor.
There are no advantages to playing a particular character because the makers didn't have the foresight to create levels better suited for one character or another. After playing through a few levels I quickly found the same problem I've always had with first-person shooters: they are all the same. If you want to beat the game quickly, you may as well choose Rico and just aim straight. There is no room for stealth in the game, thus making it pointless to play as Luger.
However, what impressed me about the game was the unbelievable graphics and artwork. The trenches looked and functioned as trenches. Each scene is drawn to fine detail leaving nothing desired. The artists succeeded in their illustration of futuristic buildings, as well as in the wide variety of guns that spit bullets in favor of clichéd laser or plasma.