Killzone Review

The Story

In the future, humans found their way into space and colonized a number of planets. A radical group broke away and colonized the planet Helghan. Soon, due to the atmosphere, the population on Helghan changed dramatically and became a new race called the Helghast. So, maybe a little bored or a little angry, they decided to attack the neighboring world of Vekta.

To the fate of Vekta is put in your hands and you must help in repel the Helghast, which looks like a futuristic version of Hitler's armies. Over 11 missions, you'll control your characters as they fight with each other and reveal their pasts in hopes of winning this space war. Not a Star War because that would be a rip-off.

The Gameplay

Single-player mode offers many objectives to each single mission you must complete. All landscapes are represented in this game: snow, the desert, a huge industrial city, and of course, a space station. Not the Death Star because that would be a rip-off.

One negative to the game are the enemies. There's quite a bit of action through the game, but you'll find yourself fighting the same types of Helghast through the missions. They'll swarm you and overwhelm you at times, but their basic training on planet Helghan must have been slight because these enemies are just plain stupid. And since there's hardly any variety to the enemy, you might get bored fighting the same bad guy with the same assault rifle over and over again.

Another disappointing feature was the lack of cool weapons. Doesn't every first person shooter nowadays have a shotgun, a rocket launcher, a sniper rifle and grenades? I mean, come on - this is the future. Humans have populated planets and we've still got a slow-shooting rifle? BORING!

What also was boring was the feeling of getting through mission A, just to get through mission B. Not even the amount of sub-objectives could keep me interested past mission 5, and by that time I had unlocked the other 3 characters and that seemed satisfying enough for me.

The Graphics

It doesn't get better for the graphics in Killzone. From the outset, you might get the impression the in-game graphics might be decent. They are in most respects... until you actually start playing. I encountered lots of slowdown, which affected my aiming and that can get annoying. Certain characters movement (both ally and foe) would move in jerky ways that just didn't seem possible. Killzone creators spent so much time on the story that they rushed the graphics.

Multiplayer

One saving grace to Killzone is multiplayer mode. Granted, the modes included are pretty much standard fare, but for some reason, it was easier to play against humans (or bots, if desired) and the familiar capture the flag, deathmatch, and run-n-gun type gameplay because it was never the same game twice.

You can't say that about single-player.

Thompson's Two Cents

Killzone is a below average shooter that had lots of potential, but fails on many fronts. While some of the graphics are beautiful and most of the story interests you, the boring gameplay and lack of innovation turns you away. Sure, rent it, but don't expect Halo or even Unreal Tournament. Heck, don't even expect Dark Forces quality. And I don't mean Dark Forces for PS1, because I have to pay Lucas $7 to use the name. Okay, I meant Dark Forces, but don't tell him I said it.