Some short impressions just for you, my love, my life, my LIC.
I have joined up with Hakka (sp?), the Helghast spy, so now the team consists of four members working their way through the maps.
Anyway, IGN complained about the framerate, sure its 30fps but really, its quite stable! So far I have not seen one place where it hinders the gameplay. If you are wondering, yes it has been improved over the demo.
The LOD engine is buggy yes, one time I ran up to one of the guys fighting on my side, I was standing 1 meter away from him and he had this far away LOD model, so when he talked it looked like he was wearing a hood.. Quite funny, but it changed to the high res one after 1 second. But this has only happened once, you do notice how the Helghast models change though, nothing major but its visible.
The AI, it varies a lot, so far the team mate AI has been nothing to write home about, but I have noticed an improvement in the last level (three episodes). The enemy AI is so so, they are masters at taking cover, they react to gun fire and sound, but they are no Einstein.
The graphics are IMO, excellent for a PS2 FPS. Some maps look better than others, the one I am on now (docks) looks especially good, with lots of grass, open areas and structures. The draw distance is different from map to map, no where close to far cry, but still quite OK.
The weapon design is especially good with good sound (supports surround too, I’ll be able to check that out in a few weeks when I get my 5.1 system
), I wish they had recorded some more comment audio for the friendly bots, as their comments can get tiresome.
I don’t have a NTSC PS2, so I cant check out the Online Multiplayer, I have played it against bots though, from not caring at all about the multiplayer I have moved towards very interested, it seems fun with a lot of modes available.
Those are my highly bias “sucking off Sony” impressions, I hope you enjoyed them.
Right now KZ gets a 8/10 from me. I can grab pictures if anyone wishes to see more of Killzone.