What a very pleasant day...

Contrary to what the end of yesterday's post said, 'twas not the rigours of Contact Badminton that would have tired me out from being able to post. In fact, horror of horrors, I didn't even get to school today. As the title of the post would suggest, I had a very pleasant day, or at least pleasant in contrast to what I was doing most of last night and early morning.

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But enough of that horrible unpleasantness. To the point o' the post. See? I can do what I said I would! ph33r me!

The Dickyblog Games Review
Issue 2
'Killzone'

Ahh, sweet gaming bliss! My first PS2 FPS! And what a stunner it is too! Most fantabulous thanks to the ever brilliant Stompp for purchasing it for me!

Ok, i'll get the obvious out of the way first: This game ain't better than Halo. In fact, comparing Killzone to Halo is sort of like comparing Horizon to The Simpsons. They're both television programmes, both a great work of fiction, but there the similarity ends. I've had enough of Halo fanboys who will instantly start bitching at me when I mention Killzone, saying such choice phrases as:

"It's terrible, it just copies Halo in everything"
"The weapon reloads take ages"
And even:
"OMGOGMGM H@0 r t3h R0xx0rs lolol gt n Xb0X j00 n00b!!!111 ROFL"

I have played both of the games (something you lamer-gamers should try) and there is so much difference between them it's exasperating just to hear this mindless drivel constantly repeated at me on the forums. And, ironic as it is, I am going to compare them! Simply because they're different enough, and I don't listen to what I say myself. I've no clue...

Helghast vs. Convenant

In case you didn't notice, each of those lovely bold pronouns is in fact a link! Click and gaze upon the happy people in question! Do i even need to explain the dissimilarity?

The Helghast

The inhabitants of the planet Helghan. They left earth to escape oppression, and landed on Helghan (think those Puritan smurfs colonising America). However, Helghan's less than healthy air and atmosphere poisoned the inhabitants, and basically made most of them psychotic, ugly, and unable to breath without respiration equiptment.

In an attempt to gain some revenge for having to leave Earth, the Helghast attempted to invade Earth, and by the end of the First Helghast War, the Helghast gave up, packed up and scuttled their orange-eyed behinds back to Helghan.

Then they decided to do it again, invading the planet Vekta. And thus the game does it's thang.

The Covenant

As far as I understand it, a group of alien races that follow a similar religious code. Ranging from the screeching little Grunts and Jackels, to the large and imposing Elites and Hunters.


So, militaristic and grudging Helghast, and overly religious Covenant. Oh yeh, What a rip-off...

Anyway, enough ranting at simple-minded n00bs (by the way, most of this anger is derived from that fool Paul, so if no-one else could take offense that would be fine and dandy.)

Killzone is a game that does take some getting used to. The reload times are a touch exaggerated, in that while lengthy, do not exactly give you enough time to regain your bearings in a firefight. there are a few graphical issues, with there being quite a bit of noticable glitching during play and some real oddities (it's not often you find yourself exchanging bullets with a floating gun and pair of goggles). The POV camera is more realistic than in most FPS's. While it does give a sense of realism (whose head isn't going to move when throwing a grenade?) it all to often can disorient, meaning the grenade flies a good few yards to the left of the inteded target. Still, this becomes somewhat of a minor fault, as extended play and practise means that you can get used to the movement and learn to compensate.

Even for a game set in the future, it's nice to see a lack of neon lighted weaponery and lasers. The weapon's look great, in a nutshell. The melée (location specific you Halo people) attacks are accompanied with a very nice animation with face meeting rifle butt, and do look like they hurt. Then there are the knives. Play as Luger and your knife will quickly open jugulars with the greatest of ease, or play as Hakha and throw it into the Helghast's neck before pulling it out.

The only weapon I have a problem with is the grenade launcher, and that's more a programming error. Even with full ammo, you will randomly reload for no reason with no prompting, and then be unable to fire it. Fortunately this hasn't happened anywhere vital, like in the middle of a fight, so it's not too bad. Another slight gripe is the availiability of some weapons. The Helghast Light Assualt Rifle is found everywhere, while the Helghast Missile Launcher and the Laser Designator are found on only 1 level. And while the LD is actually useful, the Missile Launcher you never actually need to use, which is a pity as it's quite a nice weapon. The Squad Cannon still gets me drooling!

The levels are nice and lengthy, something I admired about Halo. The game took me a total of 10 hours to complete on Easy, and I aim to do Normal once I have got through FFX, or when Winter-een-mas rolls around. The checkpoints in each level are usually spaced just as you need them. Many is the time I've barely scraped through a huge battle, hoping for a checkpoint, only to reach one after a few steps, but many times (especially in the later stages) it can be a frustrating exercise having to replay a part of a level several times due to an unreachable checkpoint.

Another gripe is the level start. At the end of each stage of a level, you keep the weapons and ammo you have for the next stage, meaning you're all tooled up for whatever faces you. However, at the start of every level, you're stripped down to your basic equipment. While not so bad if your playing as Rico (who starts with one of the best infantry weapons) it can be tiresome starting a level only to have to retool over again. This point is really driven home at the start of the final level, when you start outside a room containing about 9 Helghast with superior weaponary, and you have to try and either kill them all using more cover than nessecary, or risk going into the open to grab one of their guns.

One thing I didn't like about Halo was the single player on co-op. The level could seem too long on a second play. However, where Halo came into it's own more was in it's multiplayer! Killzone, by contrast a) doesn't actually have co-op play an b) isn't great at split-screen. The frame rate suffers dramatically, and since the aiming has to be precise even in single player, this makes shooting damn near impossible unless you're toe to toe. Also, it seems to suffer from what dub: The ISA/Helghast (delete as applicable) Explosion Rule. For example, if you're playing as ISA, it's the Helghast Explosion rule. The rule is as follows:

For every 1 explosion needed to kill you, 4 are needed on the Helghast

Many is the time I've dropped an entire load of grenades at an opponent's feet, only to have him walk out of the smoke calm as ever. However, it invariably takes only 1 (no matter how inaccurate) blast to kill me. Still, while Halo and Halo 2 have their Blood Gulch and Coagulation (respectively), Killzone has it's own best map : Beachhead. Sweeeeet! Split-screen is a terrible way to play Killzone, especially since it only supports 2 players. This is another reason I want my PS2 online (hint, hint).

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But, damn do I love this game. Even for all it's faults, when I meet them i just smile and try again. I have yet to get completely stressed out at this game, and it will take some real injustice to make it happen. I wouldn't spend 10 hours killing 2019 Helghast if this game wasn't great. And it is. Oh man, it is great!

Goodnight
Richard