Killzone 2 pre-release discussion thread

I put mouse acceleration in quotes because the current controls with the controllers behave in a similar manner to enabling mouse acceleration on a PC FPS game.

 

It should feel akward because its opposite to the natural motion of aiming unless your weapons weighs 50 or 60 pounds.

 

Finally got a chance to play the demo after getting home from work today. Played it close to ten times now.

I've never in all my years of gaming been so blown away by a game.

Adventure on my Atari 2600
Star Raiders on my Atari 800
Dungeon Master on my Atari ST
Ultima Underworld on PCs

So far the Killzone 2 demo has topped how I felt about seeing those games for the first time.

This is the biggest graphical leap I've ever seen within a console generation. The amount of detail and richness to the world is staggering. It's obvious to me now where all that hard work went into over the past few years working on the game. It is incredible to just move around checking out the game's graphics and think back to all the silly talk about how it would never be possible.

The AI is very sharp and has done different things every time I've played. I think that is why people keep playing over and over again.

At first I mistakenly read about people switching to the CoD style controls and used those, but then I got the hang of the excellent cover system and the default controls are the way to go. The way the player moves himself, his guns, and aiming all have an incredible weight and realistic feel to them. So much more immersive than the standard weightless gun gliding around on a pole in other fps games.

 

I thought Gears of War was the biggest graphical leap this generation, it really set itself apart from games that came before it.

I don't think Killzone 2 is such a staggering leap as you make it out to be.

 

btw, the hero of this game is like four feet tall. If you walk up to one of your buddies, you're staring at his nips.

http://fidgit.com/archives/2009/02/killzone-2-and-the-five-foot-s.php

 

Was there an official description of Sev ? He is strong enough to help pull Garza up the elevator platform.

In any case, I melee with Helghast soldiers all the time. Didn't notice any height problem against the enemies.

Also, what a way to miss the AI and multiplayer entirely.

 

Seriously though, if you walk up to your buddies, real close, you'll be staring into their chest and their head is at the top of the screen.

 

It's the way the camera is set up. One of the dev interviews zoomed out to a third person view of Sev. He looked normal there. You can clear railings and table tops easily too (Try monkeying around in the warehouse ).

 

Having played the demo I cant help but feel as if the title was considerably blown out of proportion.

Visually I wasnt overly impressed. I didnt feel as if there was anything in the title present that we hadnt seen done before regardless of what tech is being used to render the graphical presentation. Granted it is a solid looking title but having read months of KZ tech, and graphical presentations actually playing the game was very underwhelming. Nothing "blew" me away. Artistically I prefer the "ultra detailed" nature of Gears or Unch. To compare this title to Crysis or C:WH seems entirely off of the mark as the level of visual fidelity in KZ2 is no where near that of Crysis or C:WH. Overall a solid visual title but nothing spectacular (imo).

Gameplay is solid as well, though it is strictly the standard norm. Nothing struck me as new or even any attempt at being so. Which is fine by me as it has a solid control structure to begin with.

Ultimately Im satisfied with the game but far from hailing it the pinnacle of the console fps genre in either the visual or gameplay department (as far as the demo goes).

 

COD4 aiming is very quick, predictable and precise. KZ2 aiming feels strange to me, as if there's some sort of lag. Not sure if I like it..

 

Was that a joke?

 

Well, didn't you read all the media hype at Gears launch in 2006?
I definitely am not trying to say that Gears has better graphics though,

 

NO GEARS VERSUS OR SIMILAR! Just post impressions of this games, with some references if needs be, but no-one dare drag this off into one of those tiresome bickering messes.

My impressions - Visual wasn't as good, but I think that's because I've seen all the media up until and am now used to it. eg. The ground is very detailed, but you don't look at it in the game so wouldn't know. Gameplay was okay but much like any other shooter I've played (which isn't many) though the aiming did feel rough in the few playthroughs I had. My biggest concern was the scripted events, which were easily breakable. If you rush through, things just don't make sense. I chucked a grenade over the wall in the first encounter and blew up the Helghast. Turning the corner, I saw my comrades getting mercilessly shot down by nobody at all! I sped to the bridge and the rocket launcher dude appeared in front of me from thin air so he could get shot. Also first play through I hit the bridge with lots of rockets but it did nothing. Having to hit the explosives is a bit of a misdirection without a prompt. Then I reached the other side and the CO was standing around like a statue waiting for the scripting to catch up with my movements.

And back to graphics, aren't we missing all the persistent smoke? In previews movies we've seen that bridge blow and a vehicle fly past swirling the smoke, no? And the framerate was also dipping a fair bit in places.

AI probably can't be judged in a demo with only one low difficulty, so I'll give that a miss. All in all I think KZ2 is more going to be made (or broken) from its online experience. The game proper is a single action, disposable story, and then you know the tricks and it can't hang together. The class system and levelling of the online should provide a far better game. Perhaps this explains toned down effects in the single player (assuming that's not a matter of being a demo build) as they aimed for graphical parity??

 

Try to play it again without HUD, hints, tips etc. (turn off everything in the Display menu).
Try to adjust the controls so they best suite you. It takes some time, but it provides a much better experience.
The thing is, Killzone aims to be a realistic shooter and behavior and weight of the weapons really helps it acomplish that task.
This isn't a shooter for Average Joe, game is much more complex in multiplayer and the fact that there is little to no auto aim will cause a headache for anyone who played Call of Duty for a long time.
Regarding the AI, when you play the demo for 2nd and 3rd time you'll notice that they behave differently each time. And from what i read, AI is much harder to defeat on Hard and Elite difficulty settings.

 

The only framerate dips I had was with the loading, the rest was fine.

 

Back to graphics again, what's the difference between 720p and 1080i?

 

As far as graphics goes, I wouldn't say this is beyond anything else I've seen. But it is up there with the best of them. And besides, who knows how old this demo build is.

I tried chasing down a helghast with the knife again, this time he was out in the open and walked backwards while firing upon me. They really try to make the best of the situation they're in.

I think anyone having troubles with the controls should take some time to get used to them, because once you do they are just as good as in other shooters. And know when to fire from the hip, or when to zoom in, and when to fire from cover.

 

Getting a bunk up onto the platform, it was very apparent. I'm not talking slideshow here, but the consistency of refresh in pans of the camera there was lost.

The old caveat applies though. This is a demo, and is not completely representative of the final game.

 

Did not play the demo but what about the visuals you felt were underwhelming?

 

I don't thinks are so terrible. But there are in the final version too.