Killzone 2 - Gen. Discussion & Info

Well, I think one of the reasons why they didn't continue with the exact same characters was that it's been so long since Killzone 1, not to mention not many people remember much of the game besides fans. It'd be confusing to dump all that plot and character info on people who aren't familiar with them.

Also, storywise there'd be no reason for the characters to stay together besides maybe Templar and Rico. Luger goes off and does secret ops, Hahka goes to work at intel or infiltrates Helgha again, Templar probably leads a larger or just a new specops unit. Rico got promoted so now he's got command responsibilities.

Oh and yes, that is Rico as your captain. I hope he picks up a Helghan minigun somewhere, he just doesn't seem right without a minigun in his hands.
 
[quote name='dallow']And here's the video where they fight the mini-boss:

http://media.ps3.ign.com/media/748/748475/vids_1.html[/QUOTE]

I really liked how that mini-boss with the big weapon looked like he was hunting the player. Maybe we should call him a "Hunter." Yes, a Hunter with a big gun who you have to defeat by shooting his exposed, vulnerable back. Novel. Wait a second ...

I kid ... sorta.

Still, I'm impressed. I'm not willing to jump on the "best game ever!" bandwagon, but it looks like it may beat out the mediocre Resistance as the premeire FPS on the PS3. I've always been a whore for slick looking animation, and that was one of the redeeming points of the first game, so here's hoping they top them (but shorten the damn reload times) in part two.
 
Killzone2-1small.gif


Sweet. Mess these guys up, up close.

And I love love this gun model, looks realistic...

killzonegun.gif
 
[quote name='DarkNessBear']

killzonegun.gif
[/QUOTE]


Yeah, one thing I'm proud of the developers of that they did in the original is how well everything felt about each gun. Plus they make the best damn reload animations.
 
The gun reload animations were too long IMO. Hopefully the final game feels smooth in terms of controls (kind of like Halo), the first game felt kind of choppy and slow when moving and aiming to me.
 
[quote name='aerozero']The gun reload animations were too long IMO. Hopefully the final game feels smooth in terms of controls (kind of like Halo), the first game felt kind of choppy and slow when moving and aiming to me.[/QUOTE]


The long animations forced yo to use cover. It balanced alot, plus showed how important bullets were between fights.
 
[quote name='seanr1221']So it seems like the first game was love it or hate it, and the psp version is generally considered to be an ok/good game?[/QUOTE]The PSP one was fantastic.

Anyway, awesome hands on and I can't wait. :D
 
[quote name='Ikohn4ever']got a question, I saw the Killzone 2 trailer and it looks real good, but having never played the first i looked it up and it got a 73% at gamerankings.com which is pretty pedestrian. I know it looks good but what really do you know about it besides it being a sequel to an average game. Not trying to be a dick just curious.[/QUOTE]


I don't know the scores... but look at ZOE, compared to ZOE 2, the game was vastly improved - everything improved in part 2, Konami just gave a better effort the second time around.
 
[quote name='DarkNessBear']
Killzone2-1small.gif


Sweet. Mess these guys up, up close.

And I love love this gun model, looks realistic...

killzonegun.gif
[/QUOTE]
Why is that guy dancing like that?

Shouldn't he be falling down?

Should be fixed by time it's released.
 
[quote name='zewone']Why is that guy dancing like that?

Shouldn't he be falling down?

Should be fixed by time it's released.[/quote]Looks like he just started to get shot, notice he starts to fall and step back as the GIF loops.
Besides they're not human.
 
 
Killzone 2 supports 7.1 surround with location-specific audio, providing players the opportunity to experience sound and music that are not only dynamic but in context to indoor and outdoor locations.
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Mmmmmm....
 
Killzone Rendering Document (.pdf).

How did Guerrilla pull of its distinctive "Killzone look?" Their Develop presentation was all about "deferred rendering," a process which adds Hollywood-quality visual effects to the images rendered by the PS3. Extensive post-process effects allowed the team to create "highly dynamic lighting in environments" with "complex geometry" and "MSAA" -- whatever that is.

Those with technical know-how will appreciate the Develop presentation the team delivered, which goes into some intricate detail about how much SPU power is being used by the game. Even with already-impressive results, the team has a long way to go. In fact, there are still "a lot of features planned," such as: ambient occlusion, contact shadows, shadows on transparent geometry, more efficient anti-aliasing, and dynamic radiosity.
Click to expand...
PS3Fanboy
 
MSAA means multi-sample(-ing?) anti aliasing. Do note that they're only doing this in 720p, looks like it's too much for 1080p and that's fine. Killzone is so first party, Sony will throw in as much support as needed to get it looking and playing good. I have a suspicion that there's one of Sony's crack engineer teams permanently at Geurilla, the same ones that are helping Epic optimize UT3.

My main concern isn't with the graphics. It was clear that even with the 2005 prerendered video, the Guerrilla guys know how to handle artistic design. If they got the game looking that good on the ancient PS2, all that mattered was harnessing the PS3 output their designs.

But the AI is an issue. The AI was piss poor in Killzone 1 mainly because it just didn't have enough power to do AI and graphics, aka first person shooters in general. So far all we've seen of Killzone 2's gameplay is a lot of Medal of Honor/Call of Duty style set pieces with similarly unimpressive "stand and shoot" AI. They've got a lot of time and processor power to work with now.

The AI they showed in Killzone Liberation was great for a handheld top down game, so that shows promise. But otherwise, I how they showcase the AI too later on down the line. One problem with that though is that the AI is something difficult to show in a video, so we'll have to wait for hands-on previews and reviews.
 
To be honest though, a lot of this is because of Guerrilla's excellent artistic design.

I've been playing through Killzone 1 on my PS3 upscaled and in widescreen and I'm finding the visuals looking great despite its age. That's also possible if you design the art to look good regardless of tech first. It's similar to how Blizzard and Valve work. Except in this case, Sony also provided them with a large and skilled technical team to combine art design with graphics technology.

So far, my only concern now is the AI. From the videos I've seen, the feel of the game, from weapons to explosions, to even the way movement and cover speeds feel just right.

However we haven't seen much mention of the AI besides it takes over. I'd really like to see them try and get some AI working like FEAR's AI or even Halo 2. Doesn't have to be realistic AI, but at least make it more fun than standing and shooting at you. In other words, Medal of Honor style AI just doesn't cut it for me.

For those that complained its too grey (And I have to agree), there was a screenshot displayed in their Develop conference pdf that showed a much more interesting color palette, along with some new rendering tech not seen in this demo.

Oh, and really hope they up the weapon count, perhaps showing both ISA and Helghan counterparts much like how Halo 2 has USMC and Covenant versions of guns with the same purpose. They have the same purpose (e.g. long/short range rifle, close in rapid fire, etc...), but have various differences that make them a trade off. For example, an ISA versions of the sniper rifle, chain gun, etc...

And what I really, really, want to see is 4 player co-op (2 per system, or online) with different characters that all have unique properties.
 
Someone wrote this up speaking directly to the criticisms that KZ2 is just going to be KZ1 with prettier graphics.

There are many changes with Killzone 2. It's close to re-visioning the franchise.

KZ1 --- KZ2

Zoom aiming ---> Ironsight
Hud ---> Not so much
Health packs ---> Recharging
Grenade cooking ---> No cooking but you can hold it ready
No jumping ---> (realistic)jumping
Vaulting ---> None
None ---> First person cover system (not required)
Three weapons ---> Two weapons
Connected instant kill melee ---> Free melee
Click to expand...

Plus info we know:

Story driven singleplayer campaign. Urban warfare to vehicle focused levels and more. In between missions return to ISA cruiser ship which function as a hub. You're always co-operating with a tight squad of soldiers. First person cover system. The Helghast take use of their homeworld weather as a weapon. Expect a large and varied lineup of enemies (grunts, droids, dogs..etc) and weapons. Story starts media res (in the middle, invasion of Helghast homeworld already taking place). You're playing only a single character this time (special force 'Legion' trooper named Sev) and there will be returning characters with Rico most notably being your squad leader. Multiplayer currently supports 16 players and will support Killzone.com website & PlayStation Home extensively. Game engine is all covering: Destroyable environment, dynamic lighting & shadows, range of filter effects, motion blur, FSAA, huge scale & highly advanced animation, 7.1 location specific audio and more. Beta later this year, early 2008 release (~March). Much more details to be revealed over time.
Click to expand...
 
When did they say there'd be jumping in KZ2? And no vaulting? I didn't catch that before. Did they say why they did this?

I'll miss the lock on and insta kill melee, but I can see why they'd remove it. I do hope they at least put in some sort of combat melee charge.

Grenade cooking was nice, but it looks like the fuse is shorter on the new grenade, and with the emphasis on cover gameplay, you want to give people time to get away from grenades if one lands behind your cover. This way the grenade is also useful as a way to flush enemies out to be shot, rather than just a killing tool.

One thing I heard that I really liked is that the devs are taking into account the Helghast goggles into the AI. The Helghans can clearly see in the dark while the ISA have a flashlight be default.

I kinda liked the health system for Killzone 1, your health recharged a little after each fight. But I can see why the recharge thing is a good thing, it completely removes the situation where a player simply can't progress in the game because he's too low on health and used up all the health packs. Thus requiring him to play over a large section of the game.

I really hope they put in an asymmetrical multiplayer team game. Something as simple as ISA vs. Heghast with different classes, alongside the standard deathmatch variants of course. That'd really give them an edge over Halo and Gears.

Lastly, any word on co-op or split screen? I suppose I'd be fine if they couldn't do split screen so long as they still had co-op.
 
This game is too good to be true. I hope its good.


[edit] oh yeah, I forgot the reviews aren't worth a dime these days... so I'm definitely going to give this a shot day one. But the game reminds me of Black... beautiful game, great graphics, but when I played it... it felt like it was lacking something.
 
The Killzone website just popped up a message which could be interesting to some of you too.

When I tried to log it it said this:

Killzone.com has joined forces with PLAYSTATION®Network.

To preserve your current Killzone.com profile, and take full advantage of future Killzone.com upgrades, please link your Killzone.com account to your Playstation(r) Network account.

If you don't have a PLAYSTATION®Network account, you can sign up here first.

Do you want to link your account now? It will only take a few seconds!
Click to expand...
No clue if it is got something to do with a beta trial, or the shift that I've been reading about on Sony's part to round up all their external game sites under one umbrella.

VICTORY!
You successfully linked your Killzone.com account to your PLAYSTATION®Network account.
Click to expand...
 
Between this and Resistance 2, it's gonna be a good FPS year for the PS3.

Also, is the original Killzone worth playing? I'm pseudo-intrigued by it but I was in no way impressed by the demo I played.
 
[quote name='CrimsonPaw']Yes it did, and I heard that Halo 3 has actually been RELEASED .[/quote]

Really? Over 750K unique users in the last 24 hours, on a weekday is something to scoff at, right?
 
[quote name='dallow']WTF are you guys talking about?

Why did you even mention Halo?[/quote]

Because the demo was supposed to come out before the beta, so I am asking if it came out.

And it seems as though it hasn't.
 
[quote name='help1']Because the demo was supposed to come out before the beta, so I am asking if it came out.

And it seems as though it hasn't.[/quote]
See, NOW the comment makes sense. I thought you were just puting up some random facts just to fuck with the thread. Dallow, I was there with you.
 
He means there was supposed to be a Killzone 2 demo before the Halo 3 beta was released, and it never arrived.

It's on the very first post of this thread, CheapyD's post.
 
[quote name='zewone']He means there was supposed to be a Killzone 2 demo before the Halo 3 beta was released, and it never arrived.

It's on the very first post of this thread, CheapyD's post.[/quote]

I thought it was pretty obvious, but I guess PS3 owners need everything spelled out for them.

IKIK.
 
Except that the post was made over a year ago based on really old information. In general, regardless of console preference, people don't go back through years of posts unless they want to be smug pricks and try to slap people with useless outdated info based on speculation. Frankly, if you want to make yourself seem smarter than your immature notion of "PS3 fanboys" you'll have to do better than that.

I just don't get the immature need to go around spreading this crap, especially when we're talking about another potentially good game.

As gamers, we should be celebrating any good game's release, not putting it down for no reason than it's on a different console.

As for Killzone 2, it's stuck in media hell right now. They released too much info too early, twice now. Once was the botched 2005 E3 reveal where they didn't clarify that it was a target render. The second was this last E3, where they revealed it just to get people interested in the future of the PS3, but the game was clearly not on track.

I want the game to be good, finished, and with a coherent story rather than something rushed out the door. However, I sure would like it if Guerrilla could match the same production schedule and quality that Insomniac has. There must be a ton a pressure on Guerrilla staff to get this game done, and I imagine quite a few people cracking under the pressure. Sony execs can be right bastards when it comes to developers.
 
[quote name='Vanigan']Except that the post was made over a year ago based on really old information. In general, regardless of console preference, people don't go back through years of posts unless they want to be smug pricks and try to slap people with useless outdated info based on speculation. Frankly, if you want to make yourself seem smarter than your immature notion of "PS3 fanboys" you'll have to do better than that.[/quote]
You pretty much said what I was going to last night but didn't want to get into that argument.

As for the Killzone 2 media flood, they should have taken a nod from Rockstar and started to flood the media a few months before release.
 
[quote name='CrimsonPaw']You pretty much said what I was going to last night but didn't want to get into that argument.

As for the Killzone 2 media flood, they should have taken a nod from Rockstar and started to flood the media a few months before release.[/quote]Well, the game isn't due until Q4 of this year, they have plenty of time.

Rumor of a new trailer this weekend though at an event in the UK.
 
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