Still haven't received my copy of Killzone 2 yet, so I can't really comment on the following claims and the credibility of the author:
http://ps3thevolution.com/2009/03/09/killzone-2-smoke-and-mirrors-from-a-cgi-artist/
What do you think?
Lol, that's an 'interesting' article, don't let Dargakis see it he might have a stroke
The shadow cheating thing is hardly shocking, for instance COD4/5 (which he holds in such high regard) use it blatantly, it's absolutely everywhere (and thanks to some low res textures) is immediately recognisable whenever you see blocky shadows.
I think everyone noticed that not all the lighting in KZ2 was real time, even from the demo, and doubt anyone even cares (are there even any FPS/TPS where all the lighting/shadowing are real time?)
I do think Gears 2 had better texture work though (although it could just be the third person view). KZ2 has quite a few low res textures spiced up with specular/normal maps.
I don't know what he's talking about by his 'flat textures with no normal maps' comments though, basically everything is bump/ normal mapped in KZ2 (like every other shooter). I even noticed some floors that seemed to be parallax mapped (I think the bullet holes are too)
And I seriously doubt this guy is an 'industy insider' he sounds too much like a 360 fanboy, with ridiculous statements like these:
"the weapons were very COD4 like which makes no sense. If we were in the future, say… 5052, would we still be using machine guns? Hell, would we still be using bullets?"
No everyone would be carrying laser pistols, like they do in Halo 3 (oh wait they don't).