Killzone 2's campaign is simultaneously completely inside the box and a unique experience not found in any other game. I'd go on longer to introduce the idea, but I don't think going past that sentence is required.

The Good



The campaign puts you in the shoes of Sergeant Tomas "Sev" Sevchenko (yes, I checked Wikipedia for the spelling on that) in a couple ways. The story, which is pretty standard as war stories go, is portrayed only through what Sev sees and hears resulting in a “soldier-ey” feel; you are given your objectives and intel and then expected to go do your job. The other way, more literally, has you moving and performing actions with a remarkably polished set of animations. Swinging a ten pound assault rifle around feels heavy, Sev bends his knees before jumping and there's an appropriate urgency to sprinting; combined with the all first person cover system, you will feel very connected to the events in the game.

Killzone is pretty. I won't go on at length about it because that's what everyone has focused on since the game debuted. Characters look amazing, environments have a mountain of little touches that don't leap out at you, but every now and then you'll really appreciate an ominous shadow leaping around a corner ahead of a Helghast soldier or a myriad of blur and particle effects that will make you stop and think “Wow, I just blasted the shit out of all those guys and all their stuff with this enormous machine gun”. Enemy animations are as enjoyable to see and authentic feeling as your character's. The sound too, is top notch, having the volume up is vital in catching enemy chatter and the full punch of the sound effects, but a little extra volume gets you a substantial reward when things start going to hell.



The enemy AI is impressive. They aren't afraid to use grenades, but also won't waste them pitching them at a wall in front of you. They will flank you, avoid peeking out while you fire at them, and they tend not to ignore foolhardy charges up the middle. More than once I tried the standard game tactic of “run in and fuck them up” and was neatly dispatched when one backpedaled and he and his comrades filled me with whatever space-bullets are made of; probably lead, but who knows?

The weapons you pick up through the game have an authenticity to them. Most of them seem unusual enough to fit in the setting, but familiar enough to identify as believably functional guns. I have had that issue with other games, where I would briefly question why someone would design a laser rifle that can't be reloaded in the field, with pop out radiators instead of a device that limits its fire speed and big hotrod fins instead of any useful aiming apparatus. There is also a lack of redundancy in the weapons and each feels like it's own thing. Helghast weapons are generally heavier on recoil but hit harder, which fits with them as the “bad” guys that will shoot you, and not just a little. Two of special mention: The lightning gun, featured in several trailers already, is a blast. It is the super-weapon and you feel like you're kicking ass when you level it at some enemies hold the trigger a little extra. My personal favorite is the bolt gun. I don't know why the Helghast need to put rivets into things at range, but they sure as hell can. The enemy reactions to hits from this are spectacular.

The Bad



At the risk of sounding fanboyish, while not perfect, there really isn't anything objectively bad about Killzone 2. There's no obligatory install, load times aren't bad and I didn't encounter any bugs. I would say that, like Uncharted, it has not ushered in a new era of gaming, no paradigms have been shifted but there's nothing explicitly wrong. It isn't “HOLY BALLS! BEST CAMPAIGN EVUR!”, but it kept me quite entertained and didn't skimp in any specific area.

One of the complaints I've heard the most is over the aiming controls. They are to COD4 what COD4 is to Halo. They're weightier and more realistic than other first person shooters and I can understand how people can dislike that. I've got double digits worth of hours into it, both single and multi player, but became accustomed to them in the space of one Friday Night's Fights. I think everything works great, but I would feel like I was obscuring an issue if I didn't mention this. In my opinion, everything seems right for a guy swinging around a ten pound rifle; there's no lack of response, it moves when you move the stick, but it takes a moment to pick up speed. When the stick is released, momentum carries the gun for a bit. The game plays differently than other games. It feels new, and if you've heard me talk about RE5, you would know I love that. The assault rifle doesn't fire every bullet along a perfectly straight line to the exact point the dot sight is on; you need to use the Sta14 or sniper rifle for that kind of accuracy. There was a time when games were all different, and we had to get accustomed to how each character moved and jumped. The question is not if Killzone 2's controls are good, because they are what they were intended to be, but if your skills are suitably versatile to pay the bills.

I like them, but your mileage may vary.

The Ugly



While not ugly, I wasn't going to let the heading to to waste. Not so much flaws as criticisms, and not so much problems as what could have beens. Minor blemishes.

I can't describe the campaign as “short”, but it does not overstay its welcome. Sev and Alpha Squad are given several objectives and they're completed without the flagrant sidetracking that's become standard in games. Basically you show up in a place and aren't asked to trek to Forgotten Mountain to get the diamond egret key. It's concise in an appropriate way, but I would not have been upset at all had it been a couple hours longer with a few more battles like the one on the bridge (you'll know which one I mean). The story, as mentioned, is there as a vehicle for mission progression and little else, but it's presented so well that it evens out to “fine”. The characters are decent for a video game; I found Natko occasionally annoying until I realized he was just the one that's a crude douchebag and that being such was his character. It didn't make him less annoying, but thinking of some friends that went into military service and remembering that one of them was also a crude douchebag made the character a bit more authentic. There are points when enemies will spawn forever, but those enemy closets are not unique to Killzone 2, nor are they completely inexplicable—you are on the planet Helghan after all. You know, that entire planet full of people with a militaristic society and totalitarian government? Probably not going to be running short of bodies to throw at you, presumably with a pool of every adult male on the planet at their disposal.



There is no co-op in Killzone 2, which feels odd when the rest of Alpha Squad is with Sev, and completely appropriate during most boss battles and through one entire level. Many things, though not the majority of things, were designed with one player in mind and would either have been boring for one of the two or mind-numbingly easy with a second human player working to exploit enemy AI. I would rather co-op be left out than forced in as it was in COD: World at War. There, it resulted in one of the best levels of the game being removed entirely (the Russian sniping mission, where you first use the PTRS). Instead, no, you can't play with your friends in the campaign, but you also won't be totally disappointed playing a cut down game in 4:3 vertical split screen on your HDTV. I love co-op, but they didn't feel it was suitable and rather than go the GRAW2 route, they didn't waste their time on setting it up to suck.

All in all, Killzone 2 is a game you will like if you like shooters and can handle it not being some other game. It doesn't reinvent the genre or do anything revolutionary, but it isn't just flatly interchangeable with another game and the single player campaign is more than worth checking out as a rental even if you swear off the amazing multiplayer.