Killzone 2 Demo Impression

The Killzone 2 Deme Impressions.

The Killzone 2 release date is slowly approaching. The hype on Killzone 2 has been enormous and the recent reviews indicate that Killzone 2 won't be a disappointment. We got a chance to download the European Killzone 2 download and actually get our hands on the game. Click Here to find out how to get your copy of the demo.

The demo quickly throws you into a warzone, where you and your fellow soldiers, who are on some kind of hovering aircraft, crash land onto a beach. After everyone evacuates the aircraft, you take control of your character. The first thing noticeable is that this quick little scene was not exactly a cutscene. This is actually what the game looks like, and will look like throughout the rest of the game. After getting over how good the game looked and moving on with the game, a sense of intensity overwhelms the player. Yes the graphics are amazing, but the sounds of explosions and the constant yells of falling soldiers are just as great in creating an immerse experience. Although this demo is very short, about 5 minutes long to be exact, it is very intense on the senses, and will leave players hungry for more.

Killzone 2 has been a hype machine mainly because of it's graphics. Textures are very sharp and all, but where Killzone 2 shines is in it's graphical effects. Motion blurring looks absolutely amazing; every movement you make in your first person view will cause the world and your gun to blur in a very realistic way. The lighting is absolutely amazing; I haven't seen any game come even close. The sunlight causes some nice lense flair effects, your gun actually lights the area around you when shooting, and the Helghast's eyes truly glow and light up things around them. Gunshots to metal objects give off realistic looking, glowing sparks that really bounce off the ground, then stop glowing as the metal pieces cool down. Explosions cause realistic-looking smoke clouds to appear. The list of tiny graphical details is too large to list; it's absolutely overwhelming.

Animations are top-notch. From the first person perspective, your character really feels as if he is carrying the gun, armor, ect. There is a very nice sense of weight; jumping looks as if you have to heave that gun to make a decent jump. Running to full speed takes a short time, as if it takes time to accelerate all the weight. While running, it is difficult to turn quickly, adding on to the feel of weight. What is absolutely bad ass about the helghast is their death animations. Their bodies react realistically to every bullet that hits them, and blood splatters wildly as they go down. Rarely do you see the helghast go down in the same animation twice.

Gameplay is where the big question about Killzone 2 is, and it is great. It is hard to fully analyze this part of the game with such a short demo, but these 5 minutes of gameplay are promising. The cover system works well for the player and for the helghast. Much of the gameplay revolves around this cover system; you will likely be using cover during most of the gunfights, and so will the helghast. This makes both sides of the field equal, because the same features are available to both. This is also where the AI has a chance to shine; helghan will cleverly use their cover, and they will chase you out of your cover if you stay in one spot for too long. This truly creates a feel where you are fighting for your life, not just aiming and shooting at enemies. You will have to use strategy to win fights. Only the equivalent of a normal difficulty was available for the demo, but the harder difficulties will surely be an interesting challenge.

Gameplay cannot shine without great controls, and the controls for Killzone 2 do hold up. The default controls have the crouching button mapped to L2, and a melee attack mapped to L1. You can fire your gun by pressing R1, and you can throw a grenade using R2. Using the gun's sight is mapped to R3. At first, a similar control scheme to that used in the Call of Duty series might be preferable, but players will soon find that because of the cover-based gameplay, the default controls are the best alternative. It will take some time to get used to, but it is easier on the fingers, and makes the gameplay flow at the perfect flow.

This Killzone 2 demo has been impressive, showing off the great graphics, and proving that the gameplay may be just as good. The multiplayer sounds promising and the storyline in the single player campaign seems like it will be an epic one, and the gameplay seems like it will hold up very well, but not much can be said until Killzone 2 is released on February 27th.