Killzone 2 pre-release discussion thread

[sevanig]

Guys watch the vid with the tank and the building falling to pieces (from Gamersyde)
Jaw dropping!
Now we have to wait till 09

 

[betan]

It looks great and all but global illumination, about which someone is doing research for Guerrilla, would really help K2 (as much as any other game of course).

 

[Scott_Arm]

Really?Which level was intense exactly?

The whole thing really. The second sniper level is a good one, where you have to defend around the ferris wheel while you're waiting for the chopper to come pick you up.

Killzone2 looks fantastic, visually, but I'm eager to see footage of a polished level.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

This , my friend, was a polished level .From last year to this , is a huge improvement.Last year everything looked like a game, now its a war movie. If you want extra shine , then wait till feb 2009 ! this game has only surpassed itself, will most probably do again next year!

 

[patsu]

The whole thing really. The second sniper level is a good one, where you have to defend around the ferris wheel while you're waiting for the chopper to come pick you up.

Well... if it's the whole thing, then it left something to be desired. It is intense, yes, but also frustrating and somewhat awkward that I have to rush the mysterious spawn points to stop the flow of enemies. I wouldn't want that kind of gameplay in this realistic setting. The KZ2 environment is already true to a warzone. Gameplay from Halo, RFOM, Uncharted and Gears would be much preferred. Gameplay-wise, CoD4 is better loved for its MP option.

Killzone2 looks fantastic, visually, but I'm eager to see footage of a polished level.

Only missing gameplay. The rest are already more polished than most games I have seen.

 

[dantruon]

 

[Nesh]

When I took a glimpse of the images I thought I was seeing the CGI trailer. Then I realized it was from the game. Amazing

 

[Scott_Arm]

Well... if it's the whole thing, then it left something to be desired. It is intense, yes, but also frustrating and somewhat awkward that I have to rush the mysterious spawn points to stop the flow of enemies. I wouldn't want that kind of gameplay in this realistic setting. The KZ2 environment is already true to a warzone. Gameplay from Halo, RFOM, Uncharted and Gears would be much preferred. Gameplay-wise, CoD4 is better loved for its MP option.

To each his own, I guess.

Only missing gameplay. The rest are already more polished than most games I have seen.

The construction of the levels and the graphics are very good, but the gameplay in that level looks kind of boring to me. I'm not sure of the word I'm looking for. While the presentation is top-notch, the video is lacking in that intangible "charisma" that attracts me to certain games.

 

[patsu]

What we saw is merely the barebone shooter (or shooting gallery) mechanics. The player is generally lost and s*cky, we hardly see any brilliant execution. Only one weapon was shown. The enemies stayed put in their locations. It's certainly easy to be underwhelmed by the gameplay in that trailer. The other montage showing collapsing wall seems more epic., but it's a graphical showcase for now.

 

[deepbrown]

What we saw is merely the barebone shooter (or shooting gallery) mechanics. The player is generally lost and s*cky, we hardly see any brilliant execution. Only one weapon was shown. The enemies stayed put in their locations. It's certainly easy to be underwhelmed by the gameplay in that trailer. The other montage showing collapsing wall seems more epic., but it's a graphical showcase for now.

I want to know more about the 20 weapons KZ2 has

 

[deepbrown]

TTP of Neogaf gives his impressions:

"Ok, just got back from London and I guess it's time for me to share some Killzone 2 impressions with you.

First of all, in order to actually play the game I had to wait in line for around a fucking hour. Just three kiosks + dozens of people all playing the demo from start to finish = me spending half of the even watching others playing.

By the time I got the DS3 in my hands, I already knew the demo in and out. Could almost do it all blindly.

Demo starts with a bang. Kinda like the E3 demo, you are flying with your comrades towards the war zone. The scale of the scene is amazing. No fog whatsoever hides the busy battleground 200 meters ahead of you. The amount of detail is so high I can barely discern the single elements. As u get close one of the allied flying vehicles ahead of you explodes into a cloud of flaming debris and corpses. You end up flying into it (one of the corpses actually crashes on you vehicles), resulting in a crash landing. Mr Fucking Convoy is first to jump out of the vehicle. You follow and game starts. Before going ahead I looked above me, behind me, towards the other side of the river (I guess it was a river) just to check if there was any less detail around me than there was on the path I was supposed to traverse. There were no such compromises. I could see the buildings standing tall and 3D on the other side of the river. In the sky, there was traffic: vehicles, anti air missiles and stuff.

First thing I noticed graphics wise is the CGI quality of the lighting. It was so non-gamey and realistic it felt real. It's usually easier to impress with dark settings these days, while bright ones look washed out or whatever. Not in this case.

The post-processing muscle of the engine was put to good use with subtle motion blur and the most impressive lens flare effects I've ever seen in a videogame. And when I blowed that bridge with the rocket launcher... WOW. I could see it crumble piece by piece and the dust filling the area, with sun rays raining diagonally through it. It was so realistic in its volumetric authenticity I almost coughed. But apparently that was not enough spectacle for Guerrilla. While the dust was still settling, a flying vehicle came from behind me and went right through it leaving spiralling whirlpools of dust in its trail. That was seriously awesome and a pity most players didn't notice as they where looking in a different direction when that happened. (Note for Guerrilla: add a Gears of War-like press-button X-to-see-cool-stuff-going-on-around-you functionality).

Anyway, I go ahead, graphics keep impressing. Soldiers leave footprints. Animations are smooth and realistic. Detail abound. At one point I was shooting at this Helghast hiding behind a low concrete wall. I could barely see his left shoulder from a corner. I kept shooting trying to hit every bit of Helghast I could spot until it kinda looked like he moved. Is he still alive dammit? I wonder. I look closer and I see a pool of blood expanding on the ground from behind that cover. Yeah, he's dead.

Another detail. Real time shadows. Impressive. Not pixellated anymore and are EVERYWHERE. You see an Helghast shooting from 100 meters ahead? Look closer and u'll notice the muzzle flash sending blinks of his very shadow on the wall behind him. This happens both in dark sections and in light ones. Obviously shadows look more or less dark accordingly.

Fastforward and I'm at the "Sixaxis moment" where I have to rotate a wheel in order to open a steel door. That's a pretty nice implementation of the tilt functionality. You "grab" the wheel by holding both R1 and L1, rotate the controller 45° anticlockwise, release R1 and L1 in order to center your hands on the wheel and grab it again for another 45° anticlockwise spin and you keep doing this until the door is opened. Very nice.

This said, I have a complain to make. While aiming and shooting was spot on, both responsive and with a very good feeling, the controls layout was kinda odd to me. It probably just needs getting used to it, but having the ironsight view on R3 rather than L1 (which is used for cover/crunch) gave me troubles. The good thing is you dont have to keep R3 pressed to stay in ironsight mode. It's on/off stuff. The bad thing is, while pressed behind cover (holding L1), you cannot go straight into ironsight mode by pressing R3. You have to first lean on the top or the side of the cover (meaning having to keep the L stick in the respective direction) and then press R3. This makes sense, and I'm sure I'll get used to it, but I'd have loved to be able to stick to the cover with the press of a button (a la Uncharted/Gears of War) and then pop up in ironsight view with L1. Anyway, controls are still worked on and the option screen seems to allow u to change the layout (default one was "Type A", didn't try Type B or whataver was there to choose from).

Another thing is your companions. When they get hit too much they lay on the ground unable to help you out in the firefight. You can ignore them and keep going or "revive" them by pressing Circle. At times you need them to progress (like you saw at some point in the vids) so revive is not an option but rather mandatory. The thing is reviving them is too fast and easy. You can litterally run by them and press Circle "on the fly". There is no "reviving animation" going on. Hence there is very little risk involved in reviving them. Grated, if they are out in the open it is risky to just reach them, but when they go down they usually do so behind their covers so it's very easy to just run, cure and hide again. They should at least add a brief animation
showing you injecting something in them, so that you are forced to stay exposed for a couple of seconds.

Anyway, other than these very minimal complains, I had a blast. Oh, almost forgot. Frame rate is perfect 99% of the time. Solid 30fps. There are small pauses here and there like you saw in the E3 demo, but they are going to be fixed for sure and they only happen whne game loads next section, never during action. Also noticed some LOD pop-ups on the characters. Not too bad tho. Hopefully they fix this as well. Textures where MUCH better than at E3. Very crisp and detailed."

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=11095510&postcount=2011

 

[London Geezer]

I know i've been a bit absent lately, but is Lens Flare back on with a vengeance?? Have i missed something?

 

[deepbrown]

TTP of Neogaf gives his impressions:



http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=11095510&postcount=2011

"Coming from one of the most graphical-nitpickiest of all posters on this board, sounds fucking amazing."

It is indeed. It was seriously unbelievable.

There was virtually no aliasing at all. And we were playing on 37" screens (maybe less) from like 30cm

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=11095950&postcount=2045

Good to hear

 

[slider]

I know i've been a bit absent lately, but is Lens Flare back on with a vengeance?? Have i missed something?

It's been rumoured to be back a few times only to, sadly, disappear again. Hey, if it's good enough for cinematographers it's good enough for coders!

london-boy posting again. Ahh, it's like that magical summer of 2005 all over again.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I know i've been a bit absent lately, but is Lens Flare back on with a vengeance?? Have i missed something?

Pah! Lens flare? We spit on lens flare! KZ2 has internal reflections - uh-huh! On a virtual 16 element high-density lens system with chromatic aberration. Welcome to the future!

 

[Shifty Geezer]

The construction of the levels and the graphics are very good, but the gameplay in that level looks kind of boring to me. I'm not sure of the word I'm looking for. While the presentation is top-notch, the video is lacking in that intangible "charisma" that attracts me to certain games.

Again, the videos are of journalists asking questions and getting info as they play. They're not really 'playing' the game, just moving around vaguely. It's the same in lots of demos, where you see the players are lousy or god mode is on, but that isn't indicative of the final true-game experience. It might still end up rubbish, but these vids aren't the place to see it yet!

Well, as the GAF report explains cover and deeper gameplay mechanics to prove the point...

... while pressed behind cover (holding L1), you cannot go straight into ironsight mode by pressing R3. You have to first lean on the top or the side of the cover (meaning having to keep the L stick in the respective direction) and then press R3. This makes sense, and I'm sure I'll get used to it, but I'd have loved to be able to stick to the cover with the press of a button (a la Uncharted/Gears of War) and then pop up in ironsight view with L1.

The fact cover gameplay wasn't visible doesn't mean it's not in the game, only that the person playing was distracted, or just rubbish!

 

[Scott_Arm]

Again, the videos are of journalists asking questions and getting info as they play. They're not really 'playing' the game, just moving around vaguely. It's the same in lots of demos, where you see the players are lousy or god mode is on, but that isn't indicative of the final true-game experience. It might still end up rubbish, but these vids aren't the place to see it yet!

Well, as the GAF report explains cover and deeper gameplay mechanics to prove the point...
The fact cover gameplay wasn't visible doesn't mean it's not in the game, only that the person playing was distracted, or just rubbish!

I guess I just prefer it when developers keep information scarce until they have some really meaty gameplay to show off that is representative of the final product. Having years of tech demo showings detracts from being surprised by a final product. I also think it focuses on the wrong parts of the game. It would be different if they were showing at a developer conference where the focus would more likely revolve around the technology.

 

[patsu]

It's a good opportunity to get early feedback from the journalists. If you read TTP's impression, the level is more complete than I first thought. It is more than a traditional tech demo because the game is playable.

If this is a developer conference, the audience don't get to play it. It'd be shown as a hands-off demo (with GG staff playing on the stage and then switching back to slides again).

 

[PSman]

WHAT DID I TELL YA!

KILLZONE 2 WILL ACHIEVE THE E3 TRAILER SHOWN BACK IN 2005!

 

[AlphaWolf]

WHAT DID I TELL YA!

KILLZONE 2 WILL ACHIEVE THE E3 TRAILER SHOWN BACK IN 2005!

I think people would have no problem believing that, if they had known at the time it was going to be 4 more years in development.