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OPM: Killzone 2 gameplay matches graphics
Saturday 17-Jan-2009 9:16 AM UK Official PS mag gives Guerrilla a 9/10 pat on the back
54 Comments
It's so far so good for Killzone 2 reviews then, as the Official PlayStation Magazine UK slaps a 9/10 score on the end of its verdict.

Tim Clark, editor of the mag told CVG: "The most surprising thing isn't the visuals - anyone who's seen recent footage will know it's the most handsome thing on the system - but the fact it's got the gameplay to match.

"Killzone 2 is without question the most exciting release due in the first half of 2009," he added.

The review itself says: "Visually it's so far ahead of anything else out there it shatters your expectations... The gameplay is cruel and uncompromising, but also forceful and empowering. You don't finish levels, you survive them."

The full six-page review, as Clark explains, "takes you through every aspect of the game, from the sweeping single-player campaign to the innovative multiplayer mode, detailing what it gets right, as well as the occasional misstep."

The issue, which also packs a huge Game of the Year feature, comes in a fancy "magic holowallet" pictured above, and is on sale from January 20.

Reacções:

So far so good, but I'm the kind of bar steward who will always knock a point off an official mags review- but saying that it's certainly looking promising. My interest for the ps3 is ever growing- though I still think Killzone 2 looks like a futuristic (and generic) COD 4 with fancy blur effects! I'm more interested in LBP and Warhawk- but I'd certainly give this one a go if/when I do get a ps3.

What I really want to know though is will there be 4 way split screen multiplayer ala Halo and COD? The co-op multiplayer has been dumped on (which i think is a real shame because playing with different people makes each play through different). I can see this happily being played with a few mates on one of my patented gaming evenings, but if it's one of those system link jobbies (like bloody Far Cry 2), then I may not bother!

So far the reviews have come from official sources only, so I take them with a pinch of salt. The graphics look impressive, nothing even close to the target renders like some people will have you believe, but they are impressive.

Game of the Year? I do wonder how people who have yet to play this game are posting comments on the forums around the world that this is game of the year? It will be too early to call it game of the year, we are in January you fools. The hype is knocking me sick to be honest, I don't remember Halo 3 having this much hype and think Killzone 2 will not beat the sales record for Halo 3.

I believe that Sony will like their other exclusive titles fail to market this properly and it will once more fall to the wayside and is unlikely to push the Playstation 3 sales.

Resposta ao Halo3:

Woah, woah, woah.....you can't remember this much hype for Halo 3?!! Where were you? Mars?!! Halo 3 had a television ad campaign a month before launch- it had numerous websites posting preview after preview, hype after hype- we had Microsoft come out several times and say that it was going to shake up the industry. We had websites fighting tooth and nail for that elusive world first review.....if there's one thing Halo 3 had it's more hype than any videogame of this generation with the exception of the brilliantly clever hype machine of GTA4.

I have yet to see Killzone ad banners drowning websites. I have yet to see a single TV ad. All I've seen are web previews and news about first reviews; which is normal for AAA titles

Resposta ao Killzone2:

What are you talking about my bottom? The hype for Killzone 2 started in 2005 when Sony tried to pass that famous target render as the real deal. It's been building since then and the fanboys are driving it. You need to read some of the US forums and see how much praise is being lavished upon a title that people haven't even played yet.

I'm not ragging on Killzone 2 because I am going to buy it. I'm sick of fanboy posts proclaiming Game of the Year in January of 2009 because it's the first major exclusive title for the PS3 that is a must own for the majority of its owners. Hype makes me sick, but saying this title isn't hyped and that Halo 3 was more hyped is a joke. To me I have heard a lot more about Killzone 2 over the last 3 years than I ever did hear anything about Halo 3 in the months before that games release.

É HYPE?

Yes, Sony tried to hype KZ2 at E3 a few years ago- the purpose of which was to market the CONSOLE not necessarily the game, which was still a long way off at that point. The same could be said for FFXIII, with early CG stills and an exclusive CGI test render re-make of the intro to Final Fantasy VII all designed to hype the hardware and not necessarily those particular games. I would argue that the negative publicity from the backlash of the fake renders negated any hype or publicity gained from that event. As such, I find it silly to use it as evidence for some sort of mass hype campaign for the game.

If we cast minds back to just last year, try to remember GTA's campaign, now THAT was a hype machine. compared to that, this campaign is a few placards at a roadside really.

E o hype do Resistance2?

Millions and millions? Not having a dig at R2 but for a sequel to a franchise Sony put a lot of faith in, it didnt set the charts on fire. I think it's actually sold about 1.3 million so far (but that's not Gospel) and that is not what you would call the marquee FPS for that console.

KZ2 on the other hand, I now fully expect it to shift about 2 million in it's first month on release and that will be the marquee FPS for the PS3.

Sobre a Beta do KZ2:

I'm still waiting for an 'honest' review of the game. Official mag scoring Sony's big hope after so many flops highly? Wow, what a surprise.

The beta was ok, but it hasn't convinced me Killzone is going to be stellar. Graphics look great, but gone are the days I am sold on graphics alone. I need to be challenged like I haven't been before, I want to see innovation and imagination in a genre which is the same idea recycled in different clothes ad nauseum.

The beta is the only 'real' contact I have had with the game. All other coverage has been either previews, or reviews from official mags, neither of which give an accurate representation of what to expect.

Ou muito me engano ou esse momento é scriptado! O que sobra da parede não se comporta de maneira normal.. A granada explode e alguns paineis de vidros partem-se com o impacto...








Alguns Helgast's disparam contra o jogador quando este vem contra ele "feito psicopata" outros atrapalham-se ou seja recriação da realidade ... ve-se claramente que ele mandou uma cambalhota para a frente, não por causa da granada, mas sim por causa do objecto que tinha à frente...

Aquelas partes onde olhavamos para o cenário de fundo, e levavamos com aqueles raios de luz,,, desapareceram.

Antes e depois:





Houve mudanças no nível da ponte (tiraram a animação faustuosa das luzes):

Do people not understand that they're not going to downgrade a scene that's already running at a locked framerate?
Citação:
The slightest change automatically counts as a downgrade.

Killzone 2: IGN Final Build Comparison (HD)



Personagem canhota:



Duração do modo campanha:

O comunicado oficial refere 10 horas, no entanto há pessoal que o acabou em 6h30m, 8h, 10h, etc..

Mais um vídeo gameplay, tem spoilers, quem adora ser surpreendido não deve de modo algum ver este vídeo.
11:46 Duração: 3' 00":

Vídeo exclusivo da eurogamer

A capa espanhola:





E a nossa como será?



review da megamers:

Killzone 2’s secret ingredient is the fluidity in gameplay that we have come to enjoy more than its graphical prowess or jaw-dropping visuals. And that’s what games have always been about... We're surprised to see Killzone 2 blows our expectations out of the water with a memorable SP campaign and a stellar MP component. To put it short, this game makes "Gears of War 2" look like a high school attempt at gaming and that is a HUGE compliment!

Truth is, all my life I’ve been an ardent PC gamer that scoffed at inferior FPS experiences on the console. My colleagues always teased me for being a hardcore PC fanatic (fancy name for “fanboy”). It’s a given fact that PC gamers are much harder to please in terms of quality or gameplay and hence, console FPS ports are always a disappointment. Throughout the years, being an extremist that I am, console games like Halo 3 only managed a “hmmmm”, while few others like Resistance 2 and Gears of War 2 never went beyond the “meh” factor. After the recent buzz and hype behind Sony’s upcoming FPS, I decided to sit down and spend some quality time with the game and I cannot deny the truth… Killzone 2 has made me a believer!

Killzone 2 sees you take the role of Thomas Sev of the ISA, tasked with a nightmarish war on a planet called “Helgan”, home to a populace of pissed off half-humans called “Helghast”. For those wondering, Killzone 2 is not merely a shoot-em-up title involving big guns and brutal enemies. The game’s story runs deep and the enemies you’re fighting against have a long and sorrowful past of torture and repression. The first thing that becomes apparent when you land on Helgan is the beauty of distruction - A rigid, temporal wasteland that’s bathed in decay and looms in dust. The atmosphere is so thrilling and exotically crafted in such a way that you can almost feel that debris in your lungs. And you immediately start questioning the logic behind invading a hell hole. Once you’re done drooling at the realistic bunch of pixels pouring out of the screen, you will be introduced to your enemies – A marching callous fleet of beady red eyes. The subtle “pop” that Killzone 2 starts with only grows in amplitude as the game progresses, and all the digital chaos never seems to diminish throughout the game. You’ll be fighting alongside your AI controlled squad members and in almost every firefight, your team-mates act convincingly like human partners unlike other war games where you had a dozen AI team-mates that only manage to peek from their cover and shoot at blank infinity while you did most of the killing. Killzone 2 vastly depends on timed sequential events that lead to another set of objectives, be it blowing up a bridge or releasing a platform. The movements are fluid and the controls are smooth, making it “feel” real unlike Resistance 2 that had controls that made it feel more ”analog”.

Apart from your team mates, the Helghast can prove to be quite a formidable lot using cover effectively when needed while sometimes running crazy at you for a vicious melee attack. Though, you will be fighting in squads for the most part, you will sometimes be left to fend for yourself; that along with being tasked to revive squad mates make for a primordial war scene. Sev is able to wield one primary weapon in addition to a secondary pistol. From assault rifles to highly powerful bolt guns, Killzone 2 packs a plethora of firepower at your disposal. Enemies react differently depending on the type of ammunition used and the body part targeted – like, they knock back or go limp when shot in the face or you can make them fall forward by shooting the knees. While the game itself offers little in the way of being open-end, players can still access a playground of vast landscapes which makes roaming about much easier. At one point in the game, we encountered a heavy – a huge hunkering mass of armor that makes Marcus Fenix look like Mickey Mouse. Some of the boss battles can be hard & challenging and mostly involve a hidden technique to bringing down the enemy. Though the combat has turned out to be incredibly fun, we couldn’t help but be a little disappointed with knife kills. Sticking a knife through the Helghast did not feel as gratifying as a COD4 knife kill. While COD4 delivered a satisfying stab, Killzone 2 was more on the side of monotonous slashes.

To further raise the bar, Guerrilla Games has perfectly executed the use of Sixaxis motion controls for completing objectives like setting charges, turning valves or even steadying a zoomed-in sniper rifle, which brings us to our most loved level in the game where you’d be stalked by caped, hunch-back enemy snipers able to render themselves completely invisible in a venue that looks like a ravaged industrial graveyard. Couple that with their near fatal accuracy and gripping music, it produced one of the best gaming moments we have experienced in a video-game so far. If you thought Call of Duty 4 was amazing, you’ll find Killzone 2 to be electrifying!

As much as we loved Killzone 2’s absorbing single-player campaign, the meat of this title lies in its amazing multiplayer component. The game incorporates a class-based system where scoring kills and completing objectives will get you moving up the ladder. From Saboteurs to scouts, each class offers a different flavor of gameplay and much more when you take into account the ability to mix and match different classes into an amalgam of destruction. Though the multiplayer is reminiscent of Team Fortress 2, the game takes it one step further and offers an intense “on-your-toes” action. Packing in a vast array of weapons and classes, Killzone 2 proves to be the epitome of fiery fragdom offering hours of fun long after you’re done with the story mode. What really made us raise our brows is “Warzone”, a continuously shifting battlefield with different game-types chained into one EPIC online fragfest! Another welcome addition is the clan system that allows you to better network with you friends and organize tournaments albeit using an in-game system of “cash” to place bets. Combine that with a 32-player supported match and you have yourself a healthy dose of mindless violence. We can “cautiously” confirm to the fact that, with an extensive range of game types and an intricate clan system, Killzone 2 blasphemously trumps over Call of Duty games in terms of gameplay and replayability.

Graphically, Killzone 2 is the BEST looking game on a console so far. With its myriad post-processing effects and textures running on the screen, it’s apparent that the game is in a league of its own. Every little detail has been given attention like the sparks flying off when bullet meets metal or the intricately crafted gun models. To further up the ante, sand bags can no longer be used as fortresses and columns crumble realistically when introduced to a grenade. Your battle scarred rifle and the superbly rendered anarchy keep reminding you of a war far away from home. This is one of the few games that made us “believe” that we were engulfed in a war and it can only be witnessed when playing the game for yourself. Apart from the load times, the game ran smoothly throughout our session and didn’t stutter even during intense firefights or explosions. The environment is composed brilliantly with chaos always riding on your coat-tails. Reload animations are indulging and character physics is downright AWESOME! While baddies feel like a moving set of polygons in many games, Killzone 2 manages to make the characters appear like fully “stuffed” dudes instead of just a hollow image.

In-game audio is equally as good as the visuals this game packs. For those lucky enough to have a 5.1 surround system will experience a new dimension of audio fidelity. You’ll be able to hear every individual clank of expelled bullet casings while the rear audio channels keep you engrossed with choice epithets from your team mates. Though Sev is not too fond of talking, we can’t really complain at the lack of character dialogues. Besides, this game more than makes up for it in terms of environmental havoc and plentiful explosions.

At the end of the day, logic predicts that a game with an intense single-player campaign and a killer multiplayer element is a win-win situation in anyone's book. To be honest, Killzone 2’s secret ingredient is the fluidity in gameplay that we have come to enjoy more than its graphical prowess or jaw-dropping visuals. And that’s what games have always been about… We're surprised to see Killzone 2 blows our expectations out of the water with a memorable SP campaign and a stellar MP component. To put it short, this game makes Gears of War 2 look like a high school attempt at gaming and that is a HUGE compliment!


GAMEPLAY9.8
Intense action and gripping storyline are the crown jewels of this game.
GRAPHICS10
By far the best use of physics animations we have seen in a game to date. Destruction has never looked more picturesque.
SOUND9.8
Ricocheting bullets, exploding grenades and undying chaos puts you at the edge of your seat.
VALUE10
Apart from its SP campaign, Killzone 2’s sturdy multiplayer will give this title quite a long shelf life.
FUN FACTOR10
The game stays fresh with a constantly evolving gameplay and some of the most memorable boss fights.
OVERALL9.9
We’ll bite the bullet and accept that Killzone 2 has graced the ranks of all-time classics like Half Life and Doom. This game will make you a believer!

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Quanto a previews e reviews... estarem a comparar com Gow 2 é normal apesar de ser um TPS, pois é um dos "benchmarks" gráficos da 360... Na altura do Gears 1, não faltavam comparações com o Resistance 1, apesarem de serem jogos bem difentes na sua maneira de jogar...
É destas coisas que a maioria do pessoal gosta... saber se existem melhores gráficos do sistema X ou Y.... é como nos pc andarem a medir pil*s com os FPS e gráficas...
Agora realisticamente falando, não me parece que o Unreal Engine da Epic consiga debitar gráficos do nível destes... mas só depois de ver a coisa em casa a correr é que poderei ter uma opinião fundamentada.

Espero bem que este Killzone passe a ser o benchmark gráfico nas consolas para FPS (em carros é o gt5p ), e que tenha um mplayer de jeito(com a quantidade de gente que usa headset na ps3 tenho as minhas reservas, pois com classes tem de haver organização)...e que mereça nem que seja 1/3 do hype que lhe está a ser atribuido.


Lojas online:

A maioria das lojas do UK (como a Shopto) enviam os jogos antes da data de lançamento de forma a que este chegue ao seu destino no dia de lançamento ou 1 dia depois. Neste caso e visto que o dia de lançamento no UK é uma 6ªFeira (no resto da Europa penso que a data é 2 dias antes) o jogo deve chegar nesse dia ou na pior das hipóteses na 2ªFeira.

Killzone 2 Review Build Numero Dos:

I know everyone seems to jump down my throat whenever I mention Killzone 2, but please bear with me, as I’m a bit annoyed.

Before New Years, we received a review build of Killzone 2. The embargo on the review lifts in February, but I took my time to conquer the game’s campaign over the past couple weeks, taking notes and judging it for what would be my eventual review. After all, this is the review code, this is what I should be judging.

Yesterday we received an updated review code for the game. And this is where things get a little dodgy. When we review a game, we often play through it on a “debug” console, which allows us to play non-retail versions of games. From our perspective, the “review build” aspect implies that it’s the final version and identical to what will appear on store shelves. Apparently this was not the case, at least for the first “review build” they sent.

The one that came yesterday came along with a note that said the following:

“We realize you received a version of review code right around the holidays, however the team at SCEA wants to make sure that you are playing the most updated, cleanest version of the game for your reviews and impressions.”

I emailed SCEA to find out what exactly changed from the previous build to this build, but no response yet. Presuming I hear nothing, I’m probably going to have to play through the game again to see if anything major has changed. I know for sure that control issues I mentioned (regarding the game’s inability to let you remap all the controls or set crouch to a toggle) are still in there, but apart from that, it’s anyone’s guess.

Long story short, a “review build” is no longer a holy thing, a perfect replica of what gamers will play when they buy the title on launch day. And that’s deeply worrying, and may require us changing our review practices in the future.