Killzone 2 pre-release discussion thread

[SonComet]

7/10 is a bit harsh, but a persons rating will really depend on their background. I think a lot of these uber fanboys like you see on N4G went from PS2 to PS3 and never had a PC or 360, so to them it's a 10/10 l33t haxx0r game. If you've had a PC or 360 then you have already had great graphics and gameplay for years, so it's far less likely to be a 10/10.

I just played through the demo. It's a good game, but to me there are better shooters out there. The graphics are nice but again there are better looking games available at least going by the demo (I don't like to judge by videos and screenshots). The hype machine is partly to blame, I was expecting a a lot but in many ways it seems like a traditional shooter. Some stuff is very predictable. The artifacting around particles, the very short clip distance on ground objects, texturing errors on the ground, etc. Same with gameplay elements. For example, he has to hack the control panel so I hide and wait for him to do it. Hmm, seems like it's taking him forever to hack it. Oh of course, I have to kill all the bad guys and then he will have magically hacked it. Sure enough that was it.

In any case, it's a good game but the hype machine has blown this way out of proportion based on the demo. Likewise, anyone comparing this visually to Crysis needs to seriously upgrade their Voodoo2 card.

After finally playing the game I was a little let down in the graphics department as well. It wasn't because I've played other PS3 or 360 games that are better, just that the game's graphics have been hyped like crazy. I have a feeling if I went into it almost cold turkey, like I did for Gears 2, then I would have been much more impressed. Still, it is a fantastic looking game and we've only got to play the first area of the first level. Most games don't show their best stuff that early on.

On another note, the sound design is amazing.

I totally agree that it should be forbidden to compare Crysis to a console game. I was only able to play Crysis on High settings at a sub-native 1920x1200 because I only have 1 GTX 280, but it looked glorious compared to any current console games. I only hope that the next gen consoles can handle it at 1080p60.

 

[Archgamer]

I also wasn't as wow with the graphics when I first played. I really think it has to do with the fact that I've seen this level so many times that I got used to it. Still, it's one of the best looking games on any platform thus far.

The gun recoils and mobility weight reminds me a lot like Counter-Strike back in the days when I played it. This is how I like it.

 

[joker454]

I don´t agree. I am a video games player from the Amstrad CPC times and no game is better graphically, no game has better lighting.

That's fine I don't plan to change your opinion, I just don't agree. I don't agree with Edge's 7/10 either (or their R2 6/10) but it's their opinion. Gameplay was fun but typical of todays shooters. The hype implied that other games crumble in the shadow of KZ2's gameplay magnificence but I don't see it that way. It looks like it will be a solid game amongst many other solid games. Likewise the game visually looks great bit it still has typical current gen issues like blocky wall textures, shadow artifacts, etc, things that sometimes look better in other games. The hype implied you'd burn all your other games because they pale in comparison but again I don't see it that way. It looks like a game with great graphics amongst other games with great graphics. In other words it looks like overall it will be a great game, but it doesn't leapfrog what's currently available.

But again, just my opinion Previous experiences inevitably affect current impressions. If my last shooter was Socom PS2 then I'm sure I would be blown away, but it's not.

 

[the ignoramus]

I notice some are underwhelmed by the graphics.
In Killzone 2's defense, Corinth River is probably the most aesthetically bland level of the game: a boring, grey, industrial environment. (I dont think they should have made it the demo)

I feel levels like Salamun Bridge, Suljeva Village and Maestra Barrens make Corinth look ugly in comparison.

 

[scificube]

Who cares about the hype. It means nothing on a personal level. It won't make the game any better or worse for anyone unless they want it to.

If people are excited they have a right to be and if they are not they have that right also. Frankly bitching about it either way isn't going to change anything - which is a good thing IMO.

 

[BadTB25]

I just noticed that the water on the beach isn't effected by you in either way. Was jumping up and down on it and while there is water splash sound there isn't any rippling of the water.

Played 3 more times tonight before I started to get a little queasy again. I really love the animation of the Helghast enemies. For some reason, I wasn't that impressed with my fellow soldiers though.

I don't think anyone on here is saying the graphics were not good/great, it's just that it was not as good as they expected. I know I was slightly disappointed.

As ignoramus said, it's just one level. Hopefully the other levels will really excite.

 

[RudeCurve]

EDIT: Someone was asking about gore. A poster in GAF mentioned that you can use the StA14 rifle to shoot Helghasts' heads off... if you like those kind of things. :|

Yeah Gamersyde had a HD video where you are able to see it happen. I was actually shocked when I saw it because that type of stuff only happens in games like RE. I think it's cool that they put that into the game.

 

[patsu]

Who cares about the hype. It means nothing on a personal level. It won't make the game any better or worse for anyone unless they want it to.

If people are excited they have a right to be and if they are not they have that right also. Frankly bitching about it either way isn't going to change anything - which is a good thing IMO.

Touche !

I notice some are underwhelmed by the graphics.
In Killzone 2's defense, Corinth River is probably the most aesthetically bland level of the game: a boring, grey, industrial environment. (I dont think they should have made it the demo)

I feel levels like Salamun Bridge, Suljeva Village and Maestra Barrens make Corinth look ugly in comparison.

Well... I was hoping no one said that. So people can experience the full game like a virgin.

People will pick specific examples from the demo to illustrate their points. But I am surprised joker454 highlighted the "trigger" event instead of the combat AI to characterize KZ2 gameplay. I hope KZ2 is not a terminal hacking game !

Yeah Gamersyde had a HD video where you are able to see it happen. I was actually shocked when I saw it because that type of stuff only happens in games like RE. I think it's cool that they put that into the game.

Do you have the link ?

 

[vanquish]

I was actually shocked when I saw it because that type of stuff only happens in games like RE. I think it's cool that they put that into the game.

Are you another one of the astounded people who've come over from playing PS2 shooters?

Gears, UT3 CoD:WaW, FEAR etc. all have gore.

 

[patsu]

For folks who are having trouble with the control "lag", here's an interim update from GG:
http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=killzone2&thread.id=143456

Hey folks,

I have been looking at this with one of our Game Designers and we are starting to come to the conclusion that this is down primarily to the design decision to make the game weightier. Killzone 2 is not a 'twitchy' shooter like some of you might be (rightfully) accustomed to and we think it might simply be down to some growing pains on some people's behalf. In this demo we also did not add the section that comes before this where a player would naturally climatize to the controls and have simply dumped you on Corinth River, so I think a lot of these complaints will be negated by the players natural progression through the full game.

So at this moment we are not considering it a bug, or anything that needs to be patched.

We do suggest however not having the sensitivity on full as this can make the appearence of a delay seem more aggressively. Work your way up the sensitivity scale slowly as you become more accustomed to the game.
Also seeing if there are any post-processing settings on your TV you could shut off without negating the visual quality of the game or if you have a 'Gaming' setting to try that as few TVs are set up as standard for gaming and often require some tweaking.

This does not mean we are going to pull a blanket over our heads and stop evaluating this and looking into it and allowing you guys an adjustment period and I will pick this up with some coders on Monday as well to see what they say.

What i am however interested in, what FPS games have you just recently or are playing currently. The majority of people on here seem to not have any issues adjusting and we think it might simply down to a certain mindset more than anything, which is of course of interest to us too from a playability standpoint.

I would also like to take this opportunity to ask you all to show some restraint and keep the forums a bit more tidy. We pride ourselves here on having a mature forum and encouraging healthy discussion, but the past few days it has been anything but healthy and a lot of the conversations have simply been drowned out. So please take a deep breath, take a break and if I have any more information about this I will let you know. I'll try and be on here this weekend, but with the massive amounts of posts and threads I can't promise to read and react to everything. I do after all have my actual job to do . I also want to thank those of you that have helped identify what is going on and to let you know that we will continue to take on all constructive feedback to help us make better games.

Have a good Friday folks.

EDIT: Just wanted to add that I heard from Sony something else you might want to try out. Having a direct input of your PS3 to your TV, rather than it going through a secondary system can improve things. Try it out and let me know if you notice some difference.

 

[djskribbles]

After playing the demo probably 10 times now, the controls are growing on me. The only time I have trouble with the sensitivity 'lag' is when enemies are near by. When I'm in cover and pop out to shoot, it actually feels quite good now.

 

[RudeCurve]

Do you have the link ?

The videos have been taken down from the Gamersyde site. I could upload it somewhere just tell me where, it's 137MB.

 

[the ignoramus]

Edge is just another publication, we honestly shouldn't give it any more credence than any other review outlet (okay, maybe more credence than IGN). It's a 7/10, it'll be an outlier in metacritic when all's said and done. It'll probably settle in the low 90 range, which is a more honest score than the high 90s a bunch of '10' games have settled on in the last couple of years.

Ive read the review in question.
It commends the combat mechanics, exalts the animation system and enemy AI and claims the MP, while nothing new, is extremely solid.
The complaints focus almost exclusively on three things: poor storytelling and characterization, uninteresting level design and frequently unambitious and archaic campaign objectives.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I guess I shouldn't be surprised by the off-topic visual comparisons with other games, particularly Crysis, and the complaints about review score, in a game discussion thread. It always happens afterall, especailly with the upper-tier creations. But still, I look forward to the day when the whole B3D population grasps the simple concept of 'on topic' and moves their off-topic conversations into other relevant threads, leaving those who want to talk about the game the space to actually do so without having to traipse through a smog of unrelated guff.

Heavy pruning applied. And kudos to those who know when to step away or move talk to somewhere else.

 

[abcgamer]

What's wrong with you guys ?? How can you judge a game solely on a demo ...

I think it is obvious KZ2 is the technically most advanced console game. Read some interviews too they have mentioned how they use PS3 SPU to get all the special effects. GT as an tech HD video of this on their site too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSGY...um.beyond3d.com/showthread.php?t=50676&page=6

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Mod : Don't discuss Review bias and corruption!

 

[LordNerevar]

I got my preview copy yesterday. I'm not sure if it's the final build, but anyway, my impressions are still excellent.
The demo doesn't really show the beauty of the game.
There are some moments where your jaw will simply drop because of how awesome the game is.

AI is quite smart and reacts differently every time you play. That really adds up to replay value, because you will surely want to play another time, just to check out how the AI behaves in a different situation.

Sound and music are amazing.
Intro is absolutely fantastic. I really can't think of any other intro that's better than this one.

Single player is quite solid. Cutscenes are excellent. Also, unlike the CoD4 campaign which i found to be quite boring (except the sniper level), Killzone 2 campaign is a blast to play. I'm really enjoying it right now.

I love the fact that there is little to no auto aim involved and how the weapons behave. I imagine that this is going to get many people angry, since casual players tend to prefer Call of Duty "Fire the weapon, and let the game lock on to target" style. This is going to make the difference between skilled players and those who don't have a great shooting skills when the points are counted in the end of a round in multiplayer.

I've also played with bots in offline multiplayer and they held up pretty nicely. I haven't played much, so i won't comment it any further.

Atmosphere is really, really great. There are moments where you really think you're right in a middle of a battlefield, and that's something i never experienced in a game.

The only problem i have with the game is the fact that there are some short freezings (1 second short) when the game loads data. They tend to brake the immersion in the game, although they don't occur offten.

Regarding the EDGE article, 7 out of 10 is a joke. If those were the only complaints, they are clearly biased, since they gave Halo 3 10/10 and Gears 9/10.

 

[deepbrown]

After playing some more I have to say I also really like the cover system. I can now also see why the original controller layout may be better - I was trying it with the Resistance-like setup (alt-2) but then aiming from cover and zooming requires you to combine L1 and L2 work, and that's not very convenient (though I was getting used to it a bit at the end, but it's a short demo ).

The AI is really rather good. This is just the fairly easy difficulty though, and it will be interesting to see what it will be like on harder levels.

Hey you read my mind! In playing the full game, Standard 1 is so much better for taking cover and zooming. Alt 2 is just awkward.

Full game is incredible - I have to politely disagree with Edge.

 

[deepbrown]

Shifty - the quality of the floor textures and look is very important. There's often times where you ARE looking at it - it's always in front of you, turn a corner and there's a river with great lighting and Helghast jumping over, casting his shadow.

And those underwhelmed by the graphics - you haven't seen anything yet.

 

[patsu]

Hey you read my mind! In playing the full game, Standard 1 is so much better for taking cover and zooming. Alt 2 is just awkward.

I think it was TTP (in GAF) who recommended using the default controller scheme. He seems like a level-headed guy, so I decided to try his suggestion out.

I think it's rather natural (at first I was having some problem finding the Sprint button). I don't use cover much, usually only when I entered a new level. Once I saw/knew where the enemies were, I'd switch to play like the Aliens in the movie (Terrorize individual soldiers via close contact where possible).

I am also not affected by the "acceleration lag" (Hardly noticed it ^_^). Sometimes I pressed the reload button accidentally during melee. The reload sequence would kick in while I lept backward (desparately) to avoid a Helghast swing/hook.

As for hit response, I'm not impressed by Killzone 2 at all. Hit response should be realistic before they "die" too.

They need to find a balance. I don't usually react to non-fatal bullet wounds (Just keep firing !). If the Helghasts stopped their attack when hit by a few, I would have the overwhelming advantage to overrun them.

 

[Scott_Arm]

For folks who are having trouble with the control "lag", here's an interim update from GG:
http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=killzone2&thread.id=143456

The control is obviously not a bug. I'm not sure why anyone would suggest that. If I play on default sensitivity, I have no problems aiming. You just turn way too slowly. If you crank the sensitivity way up, that's when aiming becomes an issue. A middle ground works ok for me, but turning speed is still too slow for my liking. I'm sure anyone that plays it will get used to it, but there are games out there with controls that feel much smoother and accurate from the outset.