Killzone
Hands-on with a taste of the final product.
Published: October 18, 2004
We've been spoiled by the early, (usually) full-version builds of games that trickle into the office on a near-daily basis, so when demo discs -- the same short snippets of gameplay in disc form that run on any PS2 that you can usually find at a local games store -- mysteriously arrive at our doorstep, we usually toss them onto the "well get to it when we can get to it" pile and head back to toiling on digesting preview code.
However, when one of those demo discs happens to be Killzone, one of most highly anticipated and ridiculously over-hyped games for the PS2 in recent memory (thanks, European press), we jumped at the opportunity to report back with the first bit of code that has touched our hands since E3. The demo is short (just two levels), and really just tosses gamers into the thick of the storyline with no real setup (a shame, since it certainly seems there's been an effort to include a bit of storyline here, and the truncated cutscenes we're treated to in the demo just don't do justice to the story).
The first level, Helghast Assault, is one not previously seen in public code, a terse vignette involving an approaching Helghast (those would be the glowing-eyed masked bad guys) across a bleak, dusty battlefield. Mines seem to be holding the swarming enemy back, but according to a report from a solider that scampers up and dives into your trench, they've been trying to find a way through for quite a while, and it's only a matter of time before they breach things, so it's quickly decided that a strategic retreat is in order.
This intro level also serves as a bit of a tutorial, though it's not clear yet if this will be the actual start to the game (it certainly seems like it could be a decently paced way to break gamers in). The basics of firing, running, using your rifle's scope, using the rifle's secondary fire (a punchy grenade), movement, close-quarters takedowns, and even cooking off a grenade (the grenades have a handly digital gauge that slowly fills as you cook it to show how much time you have left before you're left with one less hand).
Through the whole level (which, like the second level is woefully short), the game's trademark sense of immersiveness and constant first-person perspective continually pull you deeper into the experience. Somewhere just out of sight, percussive gunfire reminds you of how close the fighting around you is, and if you look up while in the trenches, it's not uncommon to see tracers arcing across the sky.
After trying to hold off the advancing enemy lines, you eventually fall back (the private who first rushed into the trench with you actually pulls aside the barbed wire, a nice show of interaction with the environment, even from non-player characters). After taking up a position just a few dozen yards away, a couple of allies are spotted sprinting across the battlefield. After laying down a little cover fire and reuniting with the men, the four of you fall back further, only to discover an enemy tank firing rounds in your direction.
After a sprint to the relative safety of a bunker, and another suppression of advancing Helghast, your men suggest that you proceed forward further to retake another bunker. After running the trenches a bit, you get a chance to hop on a machine gun and burp a couple hundred rounds into some baddies coming over a hill. The gun has unlimited ammo, but will actually overheat with too much use (a little meter to the right lets you know how hot you're getting, and if it does overheat, you can't fire again until the meter completely drains, leaving you open to incoming fire).
Again, the immersiveness in these sequences is impressive, with your "eyes" always pitching and moving with the "head" of your character. You'll look down at things, or lower your view as you combo into a melee attack when engaging enemies in close-quarters combat. It's a seemingly little thing, but adds to the overall feeling that you're witnessing a massive battle through the eyes of a soldier.
A few more trench runs (complete with a couple sequences where you flush out entrenched Helghast with grenades), and you arrive at the entrance to a city, and the level fades to black. It's a painfully short experience, though you do get a perfect sense of how intense some of the fights in the game are going to be.
The second level, Strange Company, is a snippet of one seen at E3. Three soldiers, which you can choose from at the beginning of the level, are apparently trying to track down An ISA Colonel who's apparently a spy, though this is only revealed at the end of the level, so for the most part, it's just a dash from corridor to corridor as you flush out enemies and proceed to the end of a long, open area first seen in the first batch of screenshots for the game.
While truncated quite a bit from the version we played at E3, this level does show off the game's branching level designs. Each of the chracters; Templar (the same -- and only -- character you can play as in the first level), Luger (a goggled, masked female soldier) and Rico (a burly black heavy gunner with a huge machine gun) all offer something different. Rico's massive ammo stores and ability to lay down bullets like a lead firehose mean you can charge into the fray and decimate entire groups. Templar's rifle offers limited zoom for scouting ahead, a decent sized clip and secondary fire, and Luger actually lets you take a slightly different path by climbing up a bundle of wires to secure a sniper rifle in a section that's normally unavailable for either Templar or Rico.
Overhyped as the game may be, there's no denying that it's one of the most visually stunning PlayStation 2 games available. The texture detail is second to none, especially on the character models. On the character select screen, you're treated to a close-up of the soldier's faces, and the level of realism is striking. Subtle effects like light glinting off the eyes and completely realistic facial movements bring the characters to life in a way the really hasn't been seen yet on the PS2.
The facial detail isn't as impressive in-game, mainly because it appears a lot of information is constantly being streamed in, so at times you can get close to characters only to see a blurry, indistinct void for the face, and then a second or so later, the full detail kicks in. This is presumably how the game manages to stay relatively solid (though the demo certainly wasn't without slowdown), but there are details that are quite constant.
Reloading Templar's clip not only shows that same level of immersion where your view pitches down to look at the clip (the same goes for head bob when hopping over a low wall), but actually reveals the little touch that the rifle is actually sporting two clips taped in opposite directions that can just be spun around for a quick refill. It's a great touch that shows how much detail Guerilla is really trying to pour into this game.
There's still a bit of time before we'll be able to get our hands on the full version of the game, but in the mean time, that doesn't mean there isn't plenty to gawk at. Check out these spankin' new screens that Sony sent over to us below, and keeping checking back for more updates as we get 'em.
However, when one of those demo discs happens to be Killzone, one of most highly anticipated and ridiculously over-hyped games for the PS2 in recent memory (thanks, European press), we jumped at the opportunity to report back with the first bit of code that has touched our hands since E3. The demo is short (just two levels), and really just tosses gamers into the thick of the storyline with no real setup (a shame, since it certainly seems there's been an effort to include a bit of storyline here, and the truncated cutscenes we're treated to in the demo just don't do justice to the story).
The first level, Helghast Assault, is one not previously seen in public code, a terse vignette involving an approaching Helghast (those would be the glowing-eyed masked bad guys) across a bleak, dusty battlefield. Mines seem to be holding the swarming enemy back, but according to a report from a solider that scampers up and dives into your trench, they've been trying to find a way through for quite a while, and it's only a matter of time before they breach things, so it's quickly decided that a strategic retreat is in order.
This intro level also serves as a bit of a tutorial, though it's not clear yet if this will be the actual start to the game (it certainly seems like it could be a decently paced way to break gamers in). The basics of firing, running, using your rifle's scope, using the rifle's secondary fire (a punchy grenade), movement, close-quarters takedowns, and even cooking off a grenade (the grenades have a handly digital gauge that slowly fills as you cook it to show how much time you have left before you're left with one less hand).
Through the whole level (which, like the second level is woefully short), the game's trademark sense of immersiveness and constant first-person perspective continually pull you deeper into the experience. Somewhere just out of sight, percussive gunfire reminds you of how close the fighting around you is, and if you look up while in the trenches, it's not uncommon to see tracers arcing across the sky.
After trying to hold off the advancing enemy lines, you eventually fall back (the private who first rushed into the trench with you actually pulls aside the barbed wire, a nice show of interaction with the environment, even from non-player characters). After taking up a position just a few dozen yards away, a couple of allies are spotted sprinting across the battlefield. After laying down a little cover fire and reuniting with the men, the four of you fall back further, only to discover an enemy tank firing rounds in your direction.
After a sprint to the relative safety of a bunker, and another suppression of advancing Helghast, your men suggest that you proceed forward further to retake another bunker. After running the trenches a bit, you get a chance to hop on a machine gun and burp a couple hundred rounds into some baddies coming over a hill. The gun has unlimited ammo, but will actually overheat with too much use (a little meter to the right lets you know how hot you're getting, and if it does overheat, you can't fire again until the meter completely drains, leaving you open to incoming fire).
Again, the immersiveness in these sequences is impressive, with your "eyes" always pitching and moving with the "head" of your character. You'll look down at things, or lower your view as you combo into a melee attack when engaging enemies in close-quarters combat. It's a seemingly little thing, but adds to the overall feeling that you're witnessing a massive battle through the eyes of a soldier.
A few more trench runs (complete with a couple sequences where you flush out entrenched Helghast with grenades), and you arrive at the entrance to a city, and the level fades to black. It's a painfully short experience, though you do get a perfect sense of how intense some of the fights in the game are going to be.
The second level, Strange Company, is a snippet of one seen at E3. Three soldiers, which you can choose from at the beginning of the level, are apparently trying to track down An ISA Colonel who's apparently a spy, though this is only revealed at the end of the level, so for the most part, it's just a dash from corridor to corridor as you flush out enemies and proceed to the end of a long, open area first seen in the first batch of screenshots for the game.
While truncated quite a bit from the version we played at E3, this level does show off the game's branching level designs. Each of the chracters; Templar (the same -- and only -- character you can play as in the first level), Luger (a goggled, masked female soldier) and Rico (a burly black heavy gunner with a huge machine gun) all offer something different. Rico's massive ammo stores and ability to lay down bullets like a lead firehose mean you can charge into the fray and decimate entire groups. Templar's rifle offers limited zoom for scouting ahead, a decent sized clip and secondary fire, and Luger actually lets you take a slightly different path by climbing up a bundle of wires to secure a sniper rifle in a section that's normally unavailable for either Templar or Rico.
Overhyped as the game may be, there's no denying that it's one of the most visually stunning PlayStation 2 games available. The texture detail is second to none, especially on the character models. On the character select screen, you're treated to a close-up of the soldier's faces, and the level of realism is striking. Subtle effects like light glinting off the eyes and completely realistic facial movements bring the characters to life in a way the really hasn't been seen yet on the PS2.
The facial detail isn't as impressive in-game, mainly because it appears a lot of information is constantly being streamed in, so at times you can get close to characters only to see a blurry, indistinct void for the face, and then a second or so later, the full detail kicks in. This is presumably how the game manages to stay relatively solid (though the demo certainly wasn't without slowdown), but there are details that are quite constant.
Reloading Templar's clip not only shows that same level of immersion where your view pitches down to look at the clip (the same goes for head bob when hopping over a low wall), but actually reveals the little touch that the rifle is actually sporting two clips taped in opposite directions that can just be spun around for a quick refill. It's a great touch that shows how much detail Guerilla is really trying to pour into this game.
There's still a bit of time before we'll be able to get our hands on the full version of the game, but in the mean time, that doesn't mean there isn't plenty to gawk at. Check out these spankin' new screens that Sony sent over to us below, and keeping checking back for more updates as we get 'em.