RTTP: Killzone 2 - after more than a decade, still one of the GOATs

The_Observer

The_Observer

Member
I have felt nostalgic recently, listening to old podcasts and they were talking about Killzone 2 among else so I felt the urge to replay it again as it is one of my favorite games.

Damn, this game is a real cult classic and one of the best FPS games ever created. The gunplay is just on another level and I can't really think of any other game that depicted shooting in such a fun way. It's like gun porn. I think it's the result of the hit feedback of the enemies and their awesome animation, the lighting and shadow effects, with the very strong rumble effects of the Dualshock 3 when shooting a gun accompanied by crazy good sound design.

Graphics-wise I think it still holds up, thanks to the mentioned lighting and shadow effects that still shit on some modern games and the heavy post-processing that provides a CGI movie look. Honestly, at its time I already felt this game was "nextgen" compared to the average game of that generation.

Killzone 3, while still a very good game, felt like a downgrade and Shadow Fall was a huge disappointment, so I'm still waiting for the real sequel of this game.

If you are an FPS fan you must play this. But mind you, it's a cult classic for a reason. It's not for everyone. It has a really heavy feel that IMO adds a lot to the immersion, but others will say it has unplayable input lag. Also, if you are one of the "60fps60fps60fps!!!444" crowd then avoid it like the plague, it's not for you.

obligatory gifs:

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kz2-shots-small.gif
 
The online mode where it cycled different game types was a Lot of fun. I wish more games tried something like that. The multi in general was just really fun.
 
The MP in this game is unmatched to this day for me. No game, save from UT, was so much fun. So many nights playing it and having so much fun. It was so gritty and "realistic." I really don't know how else to describe it.

The SP is amazing too. Still go back to it from time to time.
 
The controls ruined the game for me. There was a massive dead zone I could not get over. Cool game regardless.
 
makaveli60 said:
Ah, I wanted to mention it, the final game IMO shits on the cgi trailer. Not in a technical sense maybe, but purely from a "looks" viewpoint it does.
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The CGI trailer was too bright, the final used lighting that was more consistent with the gritty design and art direction.

But the CGI trailer had superior animation, of course. LOL
 
One of those games that need a PC version to completely fulfill its potential. or a remaster with fixed controls.
 
I couldn't get into, the controls felt bad, the fov was abysmal, and the enemy encounters weren't that fun to me. Game looks phenomenal, it just wasn't fun to play.
 
Loved the campaign back in the day. One of the few games I actually replayed.

Multi-player was a bit of a mess from what I remember, framerate would tank and the extremely low FOV made it hard to play. Still got that platinum tho
 
I enjoyed this game greatly. Too bad my disk was stolen.

This and Halo 2 have been the only MP in FPS games that I have enjoyed on console.

That satisfying headshot chirp. Amazing I can still remember that more than 10 years later.
 
I actually went to PlayStation Now to try it. Haven't played it since it came out. Can someone explain to me why it still looks so good? Is it the bloom effects and art direction? Game has shit tons of atmosphere.
 
Hadn't played KZ1 but was on KZ2 for at least a month. The maps, classes and point-to-point gameplay were fantastic. I honestly don't know how they weren't able to capture that magic for Shadowfall (never played KZ3): I mean the MP was okay. . .just didn't grab me the way KZ2 did.
 
Yeah the controls took a bit of getting used to but it was very atmospheric and looked amazing.

The multiplayer was great, the chirp sound that accompanied a successful kill was *chef kiss*.
 
The only thing I disliked about this game was the restrictive weapon variety. Anything that was not an automatic rifle/submachine gun had limited utility in the campaign and you could only use one at a time. It really hurt my heart after coming from Resistance. Still, the MP modes were fun as hell and the ISA rifle felt so good to use.
 
Amazing game, amazing atmosphere, amazing graphics for it's time.
Controls were awful, but you got used to them. It was hard switching between shooters and going back to KZ2 though.
 
Same here, I loved KillZone2, finished at Veteran, what a blast to play. I miss a shooter like KZ2, and I would love a true Next Gen KillZone back; maybe it will never happen, but this is what I would love.
 
This is a game that needs a Bluepoint treatment (and it would blow away anything, since it's basically a corridor shooter).

But Sony has its head too far up its ass to understand (yep, still mad about Driveclub xD).
 
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makaveli60 said:
Ah, I wanted to mention it, the final game IMO shits on the cgi trailer. Not in a technical sense maybe, but purely from a "looks" viewpoint it does.
Click to expand...
I agree. The trailer has an obvious cinematic feel, and some stuff looked impressive on it at the time like facial animation, smoke. But the rest of the character animation, camera movement, environment detail, particle effects, the final game is so much better.
 
It's fantastic but gets kinda annoying and looses some steam in later 3rd.
Found killzone 3 to be better paced
 
For me, Killzone 2 was how the franchise should've been - dark and quite bleak.

Apparently, Guerrilla weren't overly fond of this in the end, which is while Killzone 3 was lighter in tone.
 
Damn it OP, now I have the erge to unpack my PS3 and complete the game again. Never played KZ 1 or 3, but Killzone Mercenaries on the Vita was just as amazing, considering it ran on a handheld.
 
a first person shooter with ungodly amounts of input latency due to quad buffer to keep the framerate stable enough to be playable

nope, bad game.
 
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Tunned said:
Damn it OP, now I have the erge to unpack my PS3 and complete the game again. Never played KZ 1 or 3, but Killzone Mercenaries on the Vita was just as amazing, considering it ran on a handheld.
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Do it, you won't regret it! It's still a blast to play if you liked it back in the day. And I agree with Mercenaries, I didn't like it that much (it felt more like KZ3) but it was certainly impressive.
 
I agree. It aged pretty well. Sony were idiots for pitting it against Halo though. It plays nothing like it and it doesn't need to. Its fine by itself as it is.

Sony's shortsighted and foolish move only hampered the series chances of a proper success. Now its namesake is just "tainted" as that series that "tried to be like Halo" and Halo fans consistently dunk on it for that. Its Sony's own fault for that perception.
 
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Ah man, I remember the hype for this game before it released. Killzone 2 was a technical marvel. Felt a bit sluggish to play, but once you got used to the controls, the gunplay was sublime. Underrated multiplayer as well. I miss that little "chirp" sound when you got a kill. Pulled out the PS3 a few years back to mess around with it and I thought it still held up pretty well. Really wish GG would make another Killzone sequel. Love this franchise.

How does this game feel on PlayStation Now? I have the sudden urge to play through the Killzone games again, but my PS3 is in storage right now.
 
makaveli60 said:
Killzone 3, while still a very good game, felt like a downgrade and Shadow Fall was a huge disappointment, so I'm still waiting for the real sequel of this game.
Click to expand...

...no I'm pretty sure those were 2 real sequels.

Thankfully Guerilla are able to be more creative now instead of having to bear the responsibility of making a 'Halo killer.'
 
01011001 said:
a first person shooter with ungodly amounts of input latency due to quad buffer to keep the framerate stable enough to be playable

nope, bad game.
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Also your PoV was for some reason from your crotch so everyone seemed to be 10 feet tall

This weird perspective lasted all the way through Killzone Shadow Fall so I can only conclude that it was an intentional design decision. Thank God that Guerilla went off and started making 3rd person open world titles after that so we were never subjected to the 'crotch PoV' ever again.
 
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Unknown Soldier said:
This game was trash then and it's trash now. The people who carry a torch for this are like the people who carry a torch for Driveclub. No thanks, now or ever.
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Can someone ban this guy? I carry a torch for both. Some people can't know quality if it was even rammed down their ass.

P.S. I am kidding about the ban... maybe... really...
 
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People like yourself called it's controls "weighty" and as having "momentum" and all that, but it's legitimately unintended input lag due to their engine. It has close to 200ms input lag which is unbearable to many people. The developers admitted that it was an engine problem and couldn't be fixed, it wasn't a design choice. They attempted to remedy it in 3, which toned down the post processing and reduced the lag resulting in a much better playing game. Games like battlefield have "weighty" controls without input lag.

The graphics were impressive in many ways, underwhelming in others. The texture work was terrible for example. As you said, it's basically post processing:the game. What made it look impressive was the over the top lighting/lens flares, and the motion blur. It looks like a Michael Bay film. Like driveclub it benefits a lot from being made into tiny gifs. Its style is the video game equivalent of shaky hand held cam found footage movies - very analogue and effects heavy with film grain galore.

The gameplay, once you got past the horrendous input lag, was just your standard fare imo. The story had potential but was ruined by Rico. That character was poorly written and just ruined the story. Not to mention that your character for some reason is about 3 feet tall. Having ADS mapped to a toggle on clicking in a stick was also just terrible.
 
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Killzone 2 mp still remains one of my all time favourites. I never touched the campaign. I just couldn't miss out on the mp whenever I booted it up.

I bought a cross battle adapter and a wired Xbox 360 controller especially for this game. Worth every penny.
 
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