Random game impressions, updates

[Almasy]

U do know that defeating Sin is only the first step. Did you defeat Yu Yevon? If the game stopped at defeating Sin, it would have been cool enough. Mate, i played the game for like 140 hours, absolutely loved it, all i'm saying is that it DID get a bit silly in the end... defeating a god, erasing a religion. the idea was col but i think they could have realised it a bit better. Still, no game can be perfect, and this one was probably my overall favorite this generation, apart from other few gems here and there...

Well, I felt as it were natural to destroy Yu Yevon, once Sin was destroyed (and well, to be honest, Yu was nothing next to it). Also, once the whole farse was revealed, it wouldn´t be hard to believe that the religion would dissapear (Yevon was founded 100% on Sin and getting rid of him, and since it was done through other means, it´s not hard to see people ditching it)...and ha! I played FFX for longer than you have, I have around 200 hours of play time in my memory card.

FFX-2 already has real shadows, i don't see why they whould take them out of a game coming out 1 year after that.
Also, shadows are some of the last things to be added to the game, i remember when J&D was first screened, and up to a few months of release, without shadows, then it came out with proper ones..

Well, I wouldn´t mind good-looking shadows, but I´d rather have a circle underneath a character than X-2´s shadows (which were really, really aliased).
And you´re right on what you say next, that´s why I didn´t minded much about the shadows and asked for his impressions on the game´s graphics.

 

[marconelly!]

Well, I wouldn´t mind good-looking shadows, but I´d rather have a circle underneath a character than X-2´s shadows (which were really, really aliased).

I was just thinking the other day, and I think that FFXII would look better with no shadows at all, rather than those silly circular looking ones, or those awull FFX2 shadows.

 

[London Geezer]

Well, I wouldn´t mind good-looking shadows, but I´d rather have a circle underneath a character than X-2´s shadows (which were really, really aliased).

I was just thinking the other day, and I think that FFXII would look better with no shadows at all, rather than those silly circular looking ones, or those awull FFX2 shadows.

The thing is, what's stopping Square to put proper shadows in, when every other developer is doing it just fine? Look at Jak2, it is likely to be much beter on a technical level than FFXII, and it has "proper" shadows for everything that moves... To be honest i'm not bothered much, i don't play games for the shadows, but it does make you wonder...

Almasy, 200 hours? wow... I mean, i know that at 140 hours i STILL havent completed the game 100% (that means EVERYTHING including all characters maxed out with damage and health limit breaks and all). FFX is one hell of a good game, despite all its flaws and mediocre reviews (especially here in the UK), the only one that kept me hooked for so long.... Eaten more than 6 months of my life!

 

[Deepak]

There are some new Killzone pics at the-magicbox.com....

 

[Almasy]

Almasy, 200 hours? wow... I mean, i know that at 140 hours i STILL havent completed the game 100% (that means EVERYTHING including all characters maxed out with damage and health limit breaks and all). FFX is one hell of a good game, despite all its flaws and mediocre reviews (especially here in the UK), the only one that kept me hooked for so long.... Eaten more than 6 months of my life!

Well, I haven´t completed the game 100% either, I just added the time of all my files. I have two files of around 30 - 40 hours, and one around 140.

I still can´t beat all the monsters in the monster arena (I think that´s its name, I haven´t played it in a long while), but I already have all of the aeons, al bhed primers, all of the mini games completed and all the weapons. I just gave up on leveling up my party...too much work.

 

[London Geezer]

Almasy, 200 hours? wow... I mean, i know that at 140 hours i STILL havent completed the game 100% (that means EVERYTHING including all characters maxed out with damage and health limit breaks and all). FFX is one hell of a good game, despite all its flaws and mediocre reviews (especially here in the UK), the only one that kept me hooked for so long.... Eaten more than 6 months of my life!

Well, I haven´t completed the game 100% either, I just added the time of all my files. I have two files of around 30 - 40 hours, and one around 140.

I still can´t beat all the monsters in the monster arena (I think that´s its name, I haven´t played it in a long while), but I already have all of the aeons, al bhed primers, all of the mini games completed and all the weapons. I just gave up on leveling up my party...too much work.

I know what u mean, i have Yuna, Auron and Tidus who can now deal 99999 (damage break hehehe) damage whatever they do... Took a while...
So we ARE quite on par, at 140 hours for one game
The monsters, i'm still missing a few of the big ones i think, or maybe i got them all but i can't remember now... i'm sure i've beaten all the one i've got though. I think the 2 best ones are missing, but they're a pain to get and i gave up a long time ago..
Have you beaten the dark aeons? now THEY are freaking strong, by far the hardest bosses in FFX... I think they were only in the european version, can't be sure though..

 

[Deepak]

There was a rumour on the-magicbox.com that RE4 is no longer an exclusive to GC and it will appear on PS2, is that true?? Cenrtainly a good news for us, RE fans!

 

[cthellis42]

Well as far as I know it hasn't progressed beyond "rumor" yet, but I'd say there's a good chance. What with sales slumping, I don't think they want to limit themselves to one platform.

SH4 would likely remain PS2-only, but Konami is at the upper end of custom engine design for the PS2, so probably don't want to spend all the extra effort in porting things across. (Earlier Xbox ports were rather lackluster, and otherwise what they do for Xbox and GameCube hasn't really been demanding.)

 

[Tagrineth]

I still can´t beat all the monsters in the monster arena (I think that´s its name, I haven´t played it in a long while), but I already have all of the aeons, al bhed primers, all of the mini games completed and all the weapons. I just gave up on leveling up my party...too much work.

LOL, it only takes about three hours to take three characters across pretty much the entire grid.

The Monster Arena is so easy, most of the bosses can be defeated in one round, the rest fall to a barrage of 99,999-point Quick Hits.

Edit: On my 105-hour file, I've unlocked all but two Original Creations (Ultima Buster and Nemesis - need five of every monster in the game for UB and a full 10 of each for Nemesis).

I've brought two characters across the ENTIRE Sphere Grid.

One character has done all but one path.

I have every item except an Al Bhed Primer that was in Al Bhed Home, and the Venus Sigil (to finish powering up Lulu's Onion Knight weapon - dodging 200 lightning bolts just SUCKS)

 

[hey69]

I envy you guys,

i can spend 1 hour max a week for games...

 

[YeuEmMaiMai]

Mortal Kombat deadly alliance, simple mindless fun mashing a controller to kick some booty

 

[ChryZ]

Small KillZone update, good read:

Killzone: Part One

PlayStation 2
Oli Ladenburg
02 Jan 2004

PlayStation.com heads to Amsterdam on a mission to infiltrate the offices of Guerrilla Studios and secure as much intel as possible on the world beating FPS.

The question, "Would you like to fly to Amsterdam to see an early version of probably the most exciting game in development for PS2?" is surely a rhetorical one. To my ears, it's in the same league as questions like "Don't suppose you'd like this large bag of cash?" Or: "If I paid for your flight, would you mind looking after my luxury villa in the Bahamas for a couple of weeks?" So, it was without hesitation that I selflessly volunteered myself for the press trip to Guerrilla Studios to see a little project by the name of Killzone.

Killzone is still around a year from release, and yet it's already been on the receiving end of more speculation, hype and fevered rumour-mongering than most games garner in their entire life span. Before the game had been announced, people were trying to pre-order the game! Before the project officially existed at all, fan sites had begun popping up.

As we take our seats in a meeting room near the top of Guerrilla's canal-side offices, I'd describe my mood as cautiously optimistic. On one hand, the early screens we've seen are undeniably incredible, and I've heard nothing but positive noises about the project from those in the know. On the other, sweeping phrases like 'Halo-beater' and comprehensive internet 'reviews' of the game from people you know can't have actually seen it inspire nothing but caution. I'll have an opinion one way or the other by the end of the day, I'm sure.

Background

We're given a brief introduction to the studio and the game. Guerrilla came about as a result of three developers merging in 1999 and becoming part of the Lost Boys group. The Killzone story starts in earnest that same year, when the studio presented three work-in-progress projects and a curved surface technology demo to Sony.

Ironically, it was the tech demo (an interactive model of an oil platform that was being produced for a major oil company) that really impressed and, by the end of 2000, work had begun on nailing Killzone's high concept and producing a working demo. Full development didn't really kick off until 2002, but the game will still have had a two and a half year production cycle by the time Killzone hits the shelves next year.

The game is set in the not-too-distant future, during a period of space colonisation. A splinter group of militia known as the Helghast have attacked one of Earth's colonies and, playing as a member of the ISA, your mission is to go behind enemy lines and thwart their plans of taking over. You're accompanied by a small team of operatives, but you won't be issuing orders, Rainbow Six style. Rather, the team is there to keep you in the heart of the action (and to occasionally help you out with little hints and pointers here and there). It's also a way of adding realism and credibility to the game, as it dispels some of that 'one man against an entire army' kind of vibe that most first person shooters tend to have. Additionally, the team 'mechanics' (i.e. yelling at one another through a haze of smoke and bullets) are certainly more true to real life combat. "If you're in a war, there's no drop down menu", the developers point out.

Interestingly, the slightly vague 'near future' setting is actually something of a compromise, as various members of the team had different ideas about what type of FPS they'd like to make. Popular choices of war included Vietnam, Stalingrad and Normandy in World War II, so the compromise, a futuristic setting, allows elements from all of these to be incorporated. Artistic licence, rather than Medal of Honor-style historical fastidiousness won the day, and the result is one of the most visually distinctive games ever.

This is all good stuff, and I'm still frantically scribbling notes when the atmosphere in the room changes. The talking has stopped and the PS2 is turned on. The lights in the room go down and a hush of excitement spreads the length and breadth of the room.

The demo

We're to be shown work-in-progress from two early builds of the game by Martin De Ronde, the Commercial Director of the developers behind the game. One dates from February 2003, and doesn't yet feature complete A.I. or animation. The other build is fresh back from Japan, where it wowed attendees of the Tokyo Game Show. First up, it's the turn of the February build. The menu screen, at this point, is an atmospheric shifting montage of game characters, rendered in close up; We deftly choose a mission from the limited selection available, called 'Slum Streets'. A character select screen appears, with two choices: a burly fellow called Templar and a svelte female operative going by the delightfully girlish name of Luger. We opt for Templar, and a loading bar appears on the large projector screen.

Considering I'm sat in a room with games journalists from all across Europe, I'm quite surprised to hear an audible gasp go up as Killzone finally appears on screen. (So much for the cynical game journo cliché.) What is on screen is indeed awe-inspiring. The level begins with Templar staring down a corridor in what was formerly a shopping centre, and what is now a complete war zone. It's a slummy, gritty place that you wouldn't feel safe in.

To the left of Templar, a bank of disused cash machines flickers. The grimy, white tiled walls are covered with crude graffiti and torn posters. A quick glimpse behind Templar reveals Luger and a third, as yet unnamed teammate, glancing round nervously. The levels of detail on their uniforms and weapons are astonishing; the folds of material on their fatigues, the cold glint of steel on the barrels of their guns, the lights blinking on Luger's night-vision goggles.... They shift around in fluid, naturalistic movements, and are so lifelike as to be almost disconcerting.

Martin turns Templar on his heels, heading up the corridor. There's a door at the end on the left, which he approaches slowly and cautiously. Through the door is a balcony, which is being patrolled by three Helghast soldiers, sinister figures clad in black, their faces obscured by balaclavas and goggles that glow a soft orange. Almost the second that Templar strafes into view, one of the black masked heads turns and the room positively shakes as the first gun fight erupts.

As the Helghast open fire, Templar's machine gun bursts to life, spitting fire from its barrel as we discharge short, sharp bursts. Through the haze of gunpowder smoke, we see the last of them slump lifeless to the ground.

Martin creeps Templar out onto the balcony, which overlooks a huge concrete valley below, the war torn remains of a commercial district. There's a handful of Helghast patrolling the rubble strewn strip below, who waste no time in opening fire the second he steps into view. Templar is quick to return the favour, letting off a few more controlled bursts and smashing some glass below the balcony's rail, which shatters into thousands of tiny shards.

Running along to the far end of the balcony to take cover, Templar is followed by his teammates, and there's another exchange of fire between them and the Helghast as Martin takes a moment to reload. The simple act of re-loading elicits squeals of excitement from the audience, for reasons we'll go into later....

End of Part One

Killzone: Part Two

PlayStation 2
Oli Ladenburg
03 Jan 2004

The second instalment of our massive early look at Killzone takes in the remainder of 'Slum Streets', the awesome firing range and a look at the concept design on the game.

Guerilla Studios' Martin De Ronde is demonstrating an early build of Killzone by taking on a group of Helghast soldiers, with only a couple of his buddies to help him out....

Locked and ready to rock, Martin crouches his character, Templar, and makes his way down a flight of stairs at the end of the balcony, still firing controlled bursts at the remaining Helghast on the other side of the street. In the distance, one of them is manning a mounted machine gun post, and he must have spotted our hero because he's sending a hail of bullets in his direction. Still crouching, Martin runs along the waist-high wall until he comes to a gap, directly opposite the machine gun nest. Waiting a moment for his teammates to arrive and provide that all-important covering fire, Martin reloads again before running across the street and getting behind the wall at the far end. Another quick dash finds him taking cover just feet away from the machine gun. He breaks cover, and a single shotgun shell neutralises the threat.

Martin works his way up towards the far end of the street, followed by his two teammates. Another three Helghast emerge from a doorway up ahead. Martin discharges a few more rounds, then takes cover behind a large boulder as his teammates dispatch the remaining Helghast. Then it's through the doors that they emerged from, and down a series of interior corridors, which eventually leads back onto the street (via a huge hole in the wall). Two more Helghast patrol below, but a single grenade clears the area.

I assume that it's the end of the level, as Martin has more or less done a complete circuit of the environment and there's not a single Helghast soldier left standing. But it's actually far from over. Martin has Templar look up towards the sky. A huge personnel carrier is looming over the complex, casting a shadow the size of a football pitch. Ropes drop down and squads of fresh Helghast troops descend onto the street...

Firing range

Next up, we're to be shown the Tokyo Game Show build of the game and, more specifically, the Killzone firing range. Initially designed to showcase the game's armoury and test out individual weapons, the shooting range has been so well received by the journalists who've seen it that it actually stands a chance of inclusion in the finished game. It's basically a huge ballistic playground that lets you test out each of Killzone's awesome weapons without the pressure of dozens of incoming Helghast gunning for you. Visually, it's a pretty standard looking range; you've got human-shaped paper targets positioned at various distances (which are of limited use in terms of actual firing practice as they're completely obliterated by over half the weapons on the range), and a larger target moving left and right over the range.

So how does a simple, humble firing range illicit such excitement in everyone who sees it? Well, it's all about the guns. This might sound like a bit of a no-brainer - we are talking about a shooting game, after all - but the reason the firing range is such a joy to behold is that you really get to see the astonishing levels of detail that have gone into every aspect of weapon handling, from picking up and readying the gun, through to discharging and re-loading. Sweet, sweet reloading. It's quite difficult to imagine something so (usually) banal as the act of replacing a weapon's magazine prompting high pitched squeals of excitement from journalists, but that's exactly what happened.

Starting with Luger's pistol and Templar's basic weapon, Martin runs around the range picking up weapons of increasing magnitude and destructive capability, firing off a few rounds and re-loading each weapon before moving onto the next. Each re-load sequence is entirely different and specific to the individual weapon, and comes complete with an oh-so subtle head bob that follows your character's point of view. You might see a hand moving the character's belt for fresh ammo, you'll almost certainly hear the metallic click of the spent magazine being released and discarded and the new cartridge being locked into place. The hand movements are incredibly fluid and natural (as with portrait painting, hands are very difficult to get just right in games), the weapon components all look astonishing and the chunky, unique, individually crafted sounds are all larger than life as they boom out in Dolby Pro Logic. Trust us: if the 'ker-click, thunk, thoom, thoom, thoom, ker-click' of the grenade launcher being replenished doesn't bring a huge grin to your face, then first person shooters just aren't for you.

Design / Concept

Still incredulous and slightly dumbstruck from the presentation, our little group was whisked off for a behind the scenes tour of Guerrilla, the first stop being the domain of Lead Concept Artist Roy Postma. Roy and his team are responsible for the overall visual style of the game, from environments to weapons and uniforms, and just a cursory glance around the room captures the feel of Killzone perfectly. Mood boards, collaged images that act as points of visual reference for the rest of the team, line the walls of the room, and from them you can trace the origins of Killzone's highly distinctive look; the muted colour palette (lots of greys, browns and dark greens), the use of photographic style filters, the geometrically uniform architecture and the iconic forms of the Helghast troops.

Roy takes some time to show us through the mood boards and the concept art for Killzone, and talks at length about the various influences behind the look of the game. One particular phrase sticks in my mind, and it seems to be a bit of a mantra for the Killzone team: "reality with a twist". The game might have a futuristic setting, but the war in Killzone is closely based on the realities of war in the 20th Century - infantry combat, skirmishes in urban environments, trench warfare and so forth. Above the mood boards are bookshelves lined with military journals and encyclopaedias, highlights of which include "Infantry combat", "Illustrated Directory of Special Forces" and the superbly named "To Fight with Intrepidity". It's a literary collection that would be really quite scary were it housed in a private residence and not a games studio. These boys clearly take their war very seriously indeed.

Next we're shown sketches and work-in-progress models of environments from the game. The 'reality with a twist' idiom applies here too, with some of the buildings bringing to mind architecture of the 1960s and 70s. In the world of Killzone, the rich / poor divide has widened considerably, with the wealthy dwelling at the top and the rest in slums below the city. The Costa Brava is the slightly unlikely inspiration for one of the wealthy, above ground environments, with large white buildings that have a slightly generic, Mediterranean hotel feel to them.

The 'realism with a twist' motif really comes to the fore when Roy starts talking about the uniforms, weapons and vehicles. Reference is again made to the historical influences evident in Killzone - in the case of the Helghast's distinctive look, the main points of reference were apparently German uniforms of World War II and Cold War era Russian attire. The Helghast's uniforms, Roy tells us, were to designed to look as functional, economical and mass produced as possible.

Similarly, the weapons are fictional but based closely on real world hardware. Pointing at key features on the ridiculously detailed weapon concept sketches, Roy tells us that there's no reason why these weapons couldn't be prototyped and developed as working guns. I find myself idly wondering whether or not he's actually been approaching military hardware manufacturers. Even the sketches of the vehicles (which are primarily just there to "deliver fresh meat", we're told) look more like technical drawings than game concept sketches.

That the team is taking the time to consider what economic and production resources a futuristic splinter group might have at their disposal, and create schematics for fully working weapons, speaks volumes about the level of detail that's going into Killzone. As we'll see, that level of fanatical detail extends to just about all levels of the game, too....

End of Part Two

Killzone: Part Three

PlayStation 2
Oli Ladenburg
04 Jan 2004

We conclude our early reconnaissance of Killzone at Guerrilla's Amsterdam offices with a look at Level Design, A.I., Art, Music and Sound.

Level Design and A.I.

Heading down a short flight of stairs, we're introduced to Martin Capel, Lead Designer on Killzone, who's going to be taking us through the level design and AI. Each level of Killzone includes one scripted event, a spectacular sequence that heavily impacts on the player's situation (in the case of the shopping mall level we were shown earlier, it was the huge personnel carrier descending with hordes of fresh Helghast troops). Another key consideration for the level design team was ensuring that each level catered to the different styles of each of the playable characters. Templar (the big, tank-like fella) can crash his way through walls in certain areas, while the more stealthy Luger would have to find another way round. Conversely, Luger's abilities extend to climbing ropes - Templar's don't. This'll make for a slightly different experience on each level, depending on which character you've chosen.

The fact that Level Design and AI (normally two quite separate departments) work in the same room is itself significant, as it highlights how different the development process is on Killzone, when compared to other games. Typically, a team of Level Designers would be working in conjunction with Artists to create fully rendered levels and environments. That done, levels are typically populated with enemies, and balancing and AI issues are ironed out from there. In the case of Killzone, it's all done a little bit differently. The basic architecture of each level is initially constructed using a very basic building block structure. It's then populated with the ISA team and Helghast enemies, who are left to duke it out in the visually minimalist environment, allowing the team to balance out the gameplay and fine tune the AI.

By way of a demonstration, we were shown a huge ruckus between ISA operatives and Helghast troops in one of these Lego-like environments. Killzone favours 'real' AI (whereby enemies 'think' for themselves, making their own decisions based on circumstances) over 'scripted' AI (whereby they follow certain pre-determined routines), so the outcome of a fight is very rarely the same. It's all very entertaining to watch; the speed of the fight can be adjusted, and you can zoom in and out to check out particular combat hotspots.

This is how each level in Killzone is constructed, tested and balanced. It's only when the gameplay and AI is all rock solid that the levels are then fleshed out and textured. In terms of showing the game, it's actually a bit of a headache for the team, as it means that there's always a very limited selection of 'complete' levels to show. They could, for example, be 70 per cent through the development cycle in terms of man hours, but only have 30 per cent of the levels complete and at a stage where they can be demoed.

Art

Our next stop is the Art department, where we meet Jan-Bart van Beek, Killzone's Lead Designer. It's the job of Jan-Bart and his team to take the mood boards, concept art and weapon designs from Roy's team and turn them into 3D models for use in the game.

I'm not a particularly technical person, and normally phrases like 'multi-layered texturing' send me off to sleep quicker than a cup of Horlicks and a couple of chapters of Lord of the Rings, but the Art presentation is actually really interesting stuff. I might have been slightly blinded by science at times, but again what's clear is that things are being done very differently. Killzone's drop dead gorgeous visuals aren't created using massively hi-res textures. They're actually, "low res textures, used smartly" Jan-Bart explains. We're shown the three levels of texturing that are applied to the weapons and character models. The first layer give you the object's basic colours and textures, and each subsequent layer adds extra depth to fabric textures, extra reflective sheen to metal components. These composite textures are visually fabulous, but very efficient in terms of processing power as all of the basic textures used are actually very low res. Incredibly, the base textures used for character models are of a similar resolution to those used in the seminal, but now extremely dated, Quake for PC (yes, the first one).

Besides creating 3D models, Jan-Bart's team is also responsible for the animation in Killzone, and it's another area in which the game really shines. The particular sequence we're shown is for taking control of a large mountain machine gun. Before running the animation, Jan-Bart tells us how much it irritates him the way you tend to 'snap onto' mounted guns in most FPSs (Medal of Honor is quite a persistent offender in the field - one second you're standing next to a gun, the next you're looking through its sights). It might seem a small detail to some, but it was important for the team that nothing like this detracted from the Killzone experience, that nothing took you out of the thick of combat. And so, as you approach a mounted machine gun in Killzone, you need to be lined up with a fair degree of precision. When you're in position, a small icon appears (your cue to hit the context sensitive action button). Rather than magically appearing in the hotseat, your character looks down, grabs the rail, puts a foot on one of the steps leading up to the gun and hauls himself up and into the seat.

Music and Sound design

We leave Jan-Bart and his team to making their textures work smarter and not harder, and round off our tour of Guerrilla Studios with a visit to a small office crammed with audio gear. It's the office of Joris de Man, the man responsible for Killzone's musical score and sound effects. It was clear early in the development cycle that Killzone should have a sweeping and epic sounding musical score, and Joris decided that a full orchestra was called for. He began work on the main score, which you'll hear mainly in the front end menus, but also in cut-scenes and some in-game sections too, and the Russian Philharmonic was enlisted to bring his composition to life. A game as atmospheric and moody as Killzone does really warrant an epic score, and that's just what you'll be getting, courtesy of a full 72-piece orchestra and 40-strong choir.

But Joris' involvement didn't end there; he's also the man responsible for the myriad sound effects in Killzone and he talks us through the often rather bizarre processes involved in creating specific noises for the game. The general ethos of the sound design was that it was more important that things sounded 'beefy' rather than realistic, and most of the sound effects have been created by combining multiple sounds together; "I wanted to make sure that each weapon in Killzone sounded unique in terms of handling and firing sound. Real life guns often don't sound that exciting, especially when fired outdoors since there's little reflection of the environment (as you would have in a room or hall) and so they often sound like loud firecrackers! In order to get the right sound, I layered a number of samples on top of each other, each one contributing a unique property to the sound. One would supply the 'crack', the other the 'boom' (bass frequencies), another one the mid frequencies etc. In the case of Templar's base weapon, the M82, it's a combination of a cannon shot, a pitched colt .45 pistol, an M16, an elephant rifle and a burst of filtered and enveloped noise. These elements are then dynamically compressed and equalized to get the right tonal balance."

Other weapons draw from less conventional audio sources, such as the grenade launcher, which is famously 'voiced' by Guerilla's office stapler. And these are just 'primary' sounds that Joris is talking about. Many of the re-load animations include 'secondary' sounds as well; fabric rustling, straps getting moved about and even breathing.

To round off, we're shown one particularly brutal animation. Joris takes up the story; "It's always great fun to see what kind of sick, twisted and delightful killing sequences the animation department comes up with! After wiping the tears away from laughing, I got to work on an animation in which the player character draws out a knife, flips it in the air and throws it in an unsuspecting Helghast's neck. Gurgling his own blood in surprise, he is then subjected to the player pulling it from his throat sideways, while being punched in the chest to get some extra leeway to get the knife out. While working on an animation like this I always try to identify the key elements first; the knife pull and throw, the insert and pull-out, and the punch; the rest is just secondary. Looking at it, I realized I had most elements on file, except for the gurgling. I suspended a mic from a stand up high so that I had to look up to face it; I then screamed at it as if my family jewels were on fire, while pouring water down my throat; messy but effective.

"After getting the right gurgle noises, I recorded some sweeps by sweeping a bendy stick past the microphone; this combined with some bamboo swishes from my library created the right swish noise for the knife being thrown. The impacts are a combination of library noises; a bayonet insert, a bone crack, a mud squish, a metal impact etc. Pulling this all together resulted in one of the most gratifying kills you can make in the game!"

Q&A Session one



After we were able to test Killzone at such an early stage at Guerrilla-Games HQ, we have organized our first Question and Answer session for all you fans dying to know more about the game and experiences from our play test of the game in question. We’ve created the ability for everyone to ask all the questions about the game that you really want to get answered, which may not have been covered within our report. We shall try to answer as many of your questions as informative and objectively as possible. Unfortunately we couldn’t answer all your burning questions as much as we wanted to, Guerrilla didn’t tell us anything about the multiplayer and online side of Killzone, that for Sony to reveal first and foremost. First of all we have to tell you that the version we played was an early version. A small number of lucky people were invited at E3 2003 in L.A. to play test an early version Killzone, which is the version that we, obviously, had a chance to play. So yeah, this is quite an old build as you can see. We also got to play the game on a normal/standard Playstation2. So this was running on a standard PS2 that is not different sitting at your home right now, and it’s an Alpha version! So it will only get better. As of yet all storylines and objectives had not been implanted into the game structure yet, but that’s logical for an alpha version!



Many thanks to everybody for your questions! Here they are!



Q: Is Killzone really running at 60 frames per second, and did you experience any slowdowns?



A: Of course, although the frame rate (fps) wasn’t perfect at the time, but that’s not what you should expect in any game, especially on such and early build of Killzone. Virtually no game will be running smooth when a game is at this stage in the development. And Killzone is really no different. But I have to admit it really is at an exceptional performance already, it didn’t annoy us at all! But occasionally in busy situations, where a lot of Helghasts were involved and included onscreen, the frame rate did suffer a bit, and only then. Like I said, the frame rate looks very good already, and we didn’t experience any real problems at all with it. There are a lot games that have been released which have a lot more frame rate drops and problems compared to Killzone at the early stage of which it is now! And Killzone is set for an end of year release, and the frame rate will only improve!



Q: What could you tell us about the music, does it fit into the atmosphere, and are you able to turn it off?


A: In the version we played, there wasn’t a lot of orchestral musical score implemented into the game yet. Again due to early build. The only real music that we got to hear was the lovely title song that we heard when starting up the game! Guerrilla told us that they would not use music in the whole game. That it certainly wouldn’t fit in the atmosphere they want to create with Killzone. But there will be music at some special moments, certain ones such as the memorable moments in each level that we would experience during play.



What we did hear was the ambience of the levels and moving through each one, and it really is fantastic! Perfectly fits the atmosphere and there’s no reason to turn it off!



Q: What about the loading times, I thought Killzone was loading-free... how long did it take to load a level?



A: The streaming technology, which is used in games such as Jak2, and that Killzone would use is probably just a fable. Probably created at one of the many Killzone rumor forums, just like the famous NURBS, nerds as they are called within the Killzone team, something they certainly enjoy laughing about. It’s difficult to change the loading technique at such late stage of the game, so we can take this one for the Killzone2 wish list.



In my opinion are loading times are far from being annoying. It makes you prepared for the battle, which awaits you in the level ahead. To be exact, the average length of the loading times were about five or six seconds long. The loading screen was a placeholder too by the way, so we can’t tell you anything accurate about that. And keep in your mind this is still just an alpha version!



Q: Did you really get that wow effect when you played Killzone, a certain feeling that you only experience by very special games?



You’re asking me to voice my opinion now and oh yeah! I’m crying every night that I can’t play Killzone! It’s really extraordinary, and the atmosphere, graphics, and controls are especially incredible!



Q: How big is an average Killzone level?



A: The levels in Killzone aren’t as big in size as they are within Halo. That’s also one of the reasons there is really no need or use of vehicles within the game. Every single square is built up carefully and used with detail. That’s why the levels are really impressive. Even if the levels aren’t massive doesn’t mean it isn’t very good, in fact, it’s even better for a game like Killzone, smaller levels, enhances the tension. It isn’t a shoot-at-all-moving-objects game. It’s a tactical shooter. You must think carefully about your actions and use opportunities wisely before you go running and shooting left, right and center at Helghasts. Else you’re in big trouble in no time. I was a little too enthusiastic at the beginning that resulted in me dying rather quickly; I really must play that level again and rethink my actions, and act carefully and as the title suggests, tactically. I don’t really understand the worries of everyone who interested in this game, trust me, the level size is fine, and the design architecture is even better!



Q: Tell us more about the invisible walls. Did they stand in your way and did you find them easily?



Nope, the invisible walls are no problem at all. It was only very amusing to see how I walked against it. And then seeing Snake hitting the exact same invisible wall a few moments later. It was only one wall by the way, during our play test of the Helghast Mist level. A very good tip for Guerrilla: remove that wall immediately! Because The Helghast Mist is the first outdoor level we played. And what is the first thing you want to do? Finding the limits. I didn’t really want to follow the pre-made path, as most people usually don’t, it’s an outdoor level after all. I wanted to see the power of the game, so no pre-made paths. I attempted to walk across the first small hill I saw, where the invisible wall stopped me! Aww. I’m describing this quite detailed at the moment, but honestly when playing the game, it’s only a couple seconds, and you forget it a second later when you must shoot your first Helghast! It is a bit disappointing, but not a problem; I don’t think there has been any game developed without a single invisible wall. And yes, Halo has invisible walls too!



Q: Are there Rag-doll physics in Killzone?



A: No, not from what we’ve seen. We got a placeholder when we had thrown a grenade between a few Helghasts and we haven’t yet seen any situation yet where we could have seen it being used. There’s a little chance, but we guess not going to be implemented in the final version.



Q: Could you zoom with every weapon, and are there silencers?



A: You can zoom with almost every weapon, but not all of them. We got the chance to play with a few weapons though. We’ve seen one weapon with a silencer, and that one belongs to Luger of course, the sniper stealth chick of the ISA squad. That gun also has a thermal vision mode too.



Q: What about the stationary guns?



A: We haven’t used a stationary gun ourselves, but we have seen it! Joris used the gun we all know from the screenshots in the waypoint mall. It made a lot of lovely noise, and no way the Helghasts could survive. About the AA gun…Amazing! We only have seen a computer animation from it, how you entered the gun and activated it! You really see the hands of your character moving around on the huge gun. Then you’ll see how you press some buttons and activate the gun. We haven’t seen the gun in action, but the animations looked really realistic and oh so sweet!



Q: What about a headshot?



Yes, one bullet shot from the sniper rifle in the head, and you know he is dead! Famous sentence, and it fits in Killzone. We only know it to kill with a headshot from the sniper, not from the rest of the weapons.



Q: What is the button configuration?



A: just like the most usual shooters. R1= primary fire. R2= secondary fire. L2= grenade. R3= zoom. Circle/Square= browsing to weapons. Triangle= reload. X= action button. The others are clear. And don’t forget, you can change the button configuration manually, so it is fully customizable so there should be no problem for you!



Q: What about the draw distance?



Honestly, is totally okay! We could see as far as we wanted to in the indoor levels, so it’s perfectly acceptable. There is a lot of fog in the outdoor levels, maybe to hide the draw distance, but it really adds something to the atmosphere, so it’s only positive!



Q: Could you tell us more about the animations?


Of course! As described in the report, there are a variety of animations to kill those Helghasts with your knife. But also the vaulting and reloading animations are incredible to witness!



I’ll tell you more about climbing a ladder. In the lift shaft, Luger went very smoothly up and down on a short ladder. The animation is just great! When she is going up, you just see a very good animation, better than we know included in other games. But when she is going down, the party is complete! You’ll see her hands at the outer sides of the ladder, and then she is gliding/sliding very smoothly downwards, just as we know from our Hollywood heroes.



And there was also a rope ladder in the shaft. Again this is very smooth and technically proficient. Something we have come to know Guerrilla to be. Not amazingly special from other games, but that animation doesn’t have to be jaw dropping. It already looks good in most other games anyway.





That’s it for now. Thanks for all your questions, we hope we have answered them as good as possible. Here are some facts too, they can be found on the site as well, but some people asked for it, so here they are.



- Killzone will use Dolby Prologic II for the sound

- Killzone doesn’t use the Havok physics engine, Guerrilla created their own in-house engine, which is getting the max out of Killzone and the Playstation2.

- A full time employed team of 35 people is working on Killzone. Plus a lot people who created the unique tools and techniques!

- Guerrilla-Games have finished 40 percent of the levels. They think they are finished on time to get the release date, planned in September this year.

- There’s still nothing known about the online and multiplayer aspects of the game.



Here a personal note: What made me mad for a couple of times are some people on different forums, they kept on bashing Killzone, the game would really suck, “It disappoints me, Killzone wouldn’t have loading times, but it has... noooâ€. I disgust this kind of quotes…Can you name a list of games without loading times? Yeah, there are probably no games other than Jak2 and Ratchet and Clank2. Halo2 has loading times, Half-Life2 has them, Doom3 has them, and so does Killzone! There are a lot of examples about these things, but just look at the overall game! This is really the best FPS the Playstation2 will know! Definitely! It still is without Rag-doll or Havok! It’s really bullshit that a game can’t be good without these things! All I can say wait until you’ve played the game! Addiction guaranteed! Thank you.