First Killzone screenshot/details? So says USAToday..

[Bad_Boy]

That's not necessarily a good thing.

MP has always been a bonus to me. So if it's bad, it's not like it would make the single player any worse. But from what I hear on the killzone forums, they are trying to make MP a much larger emphasis than the last two Killzone games and are keeping it top secret until the time is right.

Nice interview btw patsu. Theres actually some really interesting questions there asked. Much better interview there, than say the 1up one...

 

[DemoCoder]

The graphics look impressive from a technology standpoint, but I do not like their artistic direction and color palette choice. I used to think the UE3 titles with their brownish/greyish palettes were bad, but this charcoal palette is worse. (I don't like Gears either) I guess I'm sick of military FPSes set in burnt out crack houses. COD4 and Crysis are a breath of fresh air.

I didn't see anything gameplay wise that makes this anything special. Unlike COD4 videos, which showed alot of NPC interaction that was cool (I loved the sniper one), or the whole Crysis nano-suit thing, this just looked like a classic shoot-em-up.

And the "Heavy" boss in KZ2 is going to invite comparisons with the "Big Daddies" in Bioshock, and KZ2 is not going to fair good in that comparison.


I think, like HS, the KZ2 guys put all of their money and effort into gfx, and haven't spent too much time on game design. Look at Valve, they have a previous-gen engine, but they keep finding ways to design some freshness into what is an aging series (TF2 looks really good to me).

It looks to me like hope of PS3's first 'killer' title is riding on either Square or Konami. Or, in my case, Little Big Planet. God of War 3 would be nice.

p.s. I hope they don't implement or overdo Bullet Time in Crysis. I'm sick of that too. Ever since Max Payne had it years ago.

 

[deepbrown]

Hate to post this here - but go to the Lair thread and you can see that it can be bought for £15 from Amazon, as can Folklore They are now both bestsellers lol

I think Killzone gameplay will do something pretty special in comparison to Bioshock - lots of enemies.

 

[Gabe323]

That's really cheap!

 

[oramay]

...
And the "Heavy" boss in KZ2 is going to invite comparisons with the "Big Daddies" in Bioshock, and KZ2 is not going to fair good in that comparison. ...

If developers think like this, games will run out of usable character types easily. Some game have a memorable or popular bulky powerful enemy, and then everyone need to be wary of making a bulky powerful type.

I don't know why "the heavy" will invite comparisons with "Big Daddy" either. I haven't heard GG is planning to make "the heavy" a mascot of the game, put a big picture of it on the game's front cover or ship figurines of it with the game. If you have insider information, I'd be glad to hear more.

If "the heavy" does get compared to mascot "Big Daddy" a lot, GG should be happy about it. It's not bad for GG to have one of the Helghast types in Killzone 2 seen as the right object of comparison for the mascot of BioShock. (Never mind what criteria you want to use for the comparison.)

 

[Phil]

Just watched the 25 minute video.



I really didn't expect KillZone to impress me that much, but what the team is delivering is quite exceptional. The whole world seems to be dynamic, the lights, the realism.... day one purchase for me.

I especially like the art-direction. Graphics wise, I think it even impresses me more than MGS4 at the moment (and that says a lot coming from me ). Love the gritty colours.. very war like and IMO puts it above my other games art-direction wise.

I never bought KillZone 1 on PS2 (I only played it briefly and it seemed a bit too slow for my liking). This seems to be the real deal.

Amazing.

 

[xatnys]

Kotaku's hands on experience: http://kotaku.com/gaming/gc07/killzone-2-hands-on-293495.php

According to them the AI is still a bit lacking.

 

[morlock]

Kotaku's hands on experience: http://kotaku.com/gaming/gc07/killzone-2-hands-on-293495.php

According to them the AI is still a bit lacking.

It does'nt come as a shock that things are lacking now since the game is'nt due next week or month. The team still has a long way to go with this game, but this far they have shown alot of potential. Hopefully they will deliver on the AI in the end.

 

[betan]

I didn't see anything gameplay wise that makes this anything special. Unlike COD4 videos, which showed alot of NPC interaction that was cool (I loved the sniper one), or the whole Crysis nano-suit thing, this just looked like a classic shoot-em-up.

Crysis nano-suit/power thing is hardly original and I actually didn't like the CoD4 sneaky mission presentation as it was too slow. But I'm sure it will be fun and we already know there is much more to CoD4.

However I agree in terms of gameplay innovation Killzone2 doesn't shine much (yet?) maybe except physics guided mocap animation system and the FPS cover system which needs to prove itself against strafe/crouch free cover. Well there are also the mysterious weather weapons and the multiplayer component we know little about.

And the "Heavy" boss in KZ2 is going to invite comparisons with the "Big Daddies" in Bioshock, and KZ2 is not going to fair good in that comparison.

Clueless can always compare. The original had pretty much the same elite Helghast class, long skirty coat, head shut only, strongly armored and armed with a heavy machine gun. Overall smaller in size.

I think, like HS, the KZ2 guys put all of their money and effort into gfx, and haven't spent too much time on game design. Look at Valve, they have a previous-gen engine, but they keep finding ways to design some freshness into what is an aging series (TF2 looks really good to me).

TBD

p.s. I hope they don't implement or overdo Bullet Time in Crysis. I'm sick of that too. Ever since Max Payne had it years ago.

I don't think Crysis has bullet time that limits you to targeting only. It has more general speed power (slow time) which is at least as old as Dark Forces II. It's implementation does look quite good though.

Kotaku's hands on experience: http://kotaku.com/gaming/gc07/killzone-2-hands-on-293495.php

According to them the AI is still a bit lacking.

I think the main problem with Killzone 1 _enemy_ AI was fishy memory. They almost always forgot they were just fighting to someone and turn around start chatting or something.
That said, I don't expect AI to be inferior to other comparable games when the game is released.

 

[nAo]

There's no double that at gameplay level COD4 has showed much much more than KZ2, but as we know KZ2 is not going to be released tomorrow, hopefully the final game will have a good AI (not that kind of AI reported by Kotaku...)

 

[Deepak]

The graphics look impressive from a technology standpoint, but I do not like their artistic direction and color palette choice. I used to think the UE3 titles with their brownish/greyish palettes were bad, but this charcoal palette is worse. (I don't like Gears either) I guess I'm sick of military FPSes set in burnt out crack houses. COD4 and Crysis are a breath of fresh air.

We have seen only one setting till now. I am sure there are going to be many more different settings (like original KZ had).

 

[TrungGap]

There's no double that at gameplay level COD4 has showed much much more than KZ2, but as we know KZ2 is not going to be released tomorrow, hopefully the final game will have a good AI (not that kind of AI reported by Kotaku...)

I agree with that...COD4 has shown all it cards; and yes it's very impressive. KZ2 isn't done yet, and like Halo 3 it could be hiding it's real graphical power for launch. If KZ2 continues to impress (not just graphically), I might have to pick up a PS3 just for KZ2. I really hope it plays more like rainbow six than UT3.

My only complaint is why is everything mono-color/brownish-gray? I mean, the last I check we're living in 2007 not in the 1950's, so I expect to see color on my screen...

 

[Laa-Yosh]

I think Killzone gameplay will do something pretty special in comparison to Bioshock - lots of enemies.

Lots of enemies seem unlikely... if you want that, look at Halo 3 instead.

 

[deepbrown]

Lots of enemies seem unlikely... if you want that, look at Halo 3 instead.

Or Resistance? I just thought that Killzone was hoping for a crazy war situation on Helghan...

 

[Mrakor]

if you want that, look at Halo 3 instead.

That "christmas-tree-game"?

 

[GreekDNA]

]Lots of enemies seem unlikely[/B]... if you want that, look at Halo 3 instead.

I wouldn't be to sure of that...

 

[bangalter]

Just seen the 25 minute video.

Game play wise KZ2 look a lot like Gears of war IMO.
Very linear with little to no new game play mechanics.

Graphics looks pretty good yes, kinda hard to tell from that off screen video.

I will watch this one but I'm not sold.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

I wouldn't to sure of that...

The engine's workings and the way the art assets are made suggest to me that the game won't really try to use large open spaces for the actual gameplay.

Yes they've shown the level from far away while the shuttle is landing, but no, you can't just get out and walk there. The buildings are empty, and it'll stream in the parts of the level on a pre-defined path. Even different floors of the same building have to be loaded separately, so you can't really interact with anyone or anything there.
Remember, their (on-screen) texture budget is significantly smaller than for example Halo3's; they have less memory from the start, and traded in a lot of it for deferred rendering. BR may provide huge levels but you'll never interact with more than a small part of it as it's streamed in and out of memory.

So it's a clever illusion of freedom, covering a relatively linear path. There's absolutely no problem with this and it can make for some cool gameplay as well. Remember Half-Life 2, it was pretty much the same, but with similar loading pauses instead of the seamless streaming they've promised for the final version of KZ2.

Bungie on the other hand has decided to go for a lower level of detail (the comparisions obvoiusly favor KZ2) but they have huge open spaces that the player can explore, and it takes a lot of time even on vehicles. And they've promised (though we haven't seen it yet) a battle with as many enemies and allies as the entire first level of Halo 1. I just can't see KZ2 matching that... but it won't have to, either, as the two dev teams are clearly making two different games.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

That "christmas-tree-game"?

That was uncalled for...

 

[Mrakor]

The engine's workings and the way the art assets are made suggest to me that the game won't really try to use large open spaces for the actual gameplay.

You missed that part of "moving camera over all this detailed area"?
They showed only one not finished level.
Not all levels in game will be the same.

Bungie on the other hand has decided to go for a lower level of detail (the comparisions obvoiusly favor KZ2) but they have huge open spaces that the player can explore, and it takes a lot of time even on vehicles.

Yeah.
Huge open empty spaces.

That was uncalled for...

Like the whole "if you want that, look at Halo 3 instead."-thing, I suppose.