]EDGE Article
KILLZONE
It\'s more than 3 years since it\'s launch, and Playstation 2 is still waiting for a scintillating tactical First-Person Shooter.
Meet the most likely candidate...
One of the most anticipated titles ever, for any platform... and no one even knows what it is yet. Foaming praise on internet forums, faked screenshots, the creation of websites dedicated to disseminating the rumours. The interest in Killzone has caught developer Guerrilla entirely by surprise. After all, this is not a sequel to the most cherished FPS ever made, it\'s a new IP created by a modest Dutch development team.
Formerly known as Lost Boys - you may remember it developed Call of the Dragonfly until publisher Apathy had the project shelved - Guerrilla was hoping to make a big impression with Killzone. But this? "There are pages and pages of speculation on forums," enthuses commercial director, Martic De Ronde. "Our philosophy was to make a FPS that was recognizable, but had innovative twists. Killzone is the result of that."
After seeing substantial parts of the game, and experiencing three playable levels, Edge can confirm that there\'s a very promising game to support the rumour-mill. Killzone is beautifully detailed, the environments provide opportunities for warfare in both claustrophobic and open locales, the weapons are terrific, the setpieces strong, the orchestral score lofty and powerful, and the presentation and frontend up there with anything EA could produce. What are they putting in the tea over there?
After showing Edge the video and playable levels, de Ronde takes us on a tour around the building. *piece of article missing* animation, music, art, level design, programming, AI. Accompanied by three Sony representatives, plus Guerrilla\'s own PR manager, it feels like a big deal. This is Sony\'s own Halo, of course, but that word is not mentioned once throughout the day. Correction: one of the programmers points out that Killzone has three weapon slots as opposed to Halo\'s two. There\'s an uncomfortable pause. It\'s the kind of silence you get when someone cracks a bad joke at a funeral. It spoke volumes..
.Edge\'s theory is that Sony is uneasy with the comparisons because Killzone might never be that good. While it already shows epic scope and a similar premise to Bungie\'s opus, Killzonehas enough to live up to by becoming the greatest FPS title on PS2. In those terms, it\'s got a fighting chance, but Guerrilla\'s game also has its own peculiarities.
As the stately concept art exhibits, there\'s a war on. Set in a time of planetary colonisation, the status quo has been interrupted by a rapacious military faction called the Helghast. Thousands of troops ranged against a small colony - the outcome was inevitable. Videogame need heroes, and as a member of the ISA (a force loyal to the Earth) you have just volunteered to undergo a suicide mission behind enemy lines. As the game takes place in the near future, you won\'t find any laser guns, aliens, or warp holes. "We wanted to come up with our own epic war," says de Ronde. "However, we drew inspiration from many 20-th century conflicts because we wanted everything to be recognizable. To have weapons that fire green blobs may look nice as a special effect, but it takes away from the gratifying aspects of war."
The move away from aliens will make the game more accessible to the masses, and the decision to have four playable characters will add variety. Yes, Killzone is squad-based. Before that sentence strikes fear into your bones, we should point out that your teammates are not under direct control. The idea is that you take one of the four characters through the entire game while your teammates provide cover fire and support. To prevent frustration and tiresome restarts, colleagues that become seriously injured fall back, leaving you with the brunt of the work.
"We had three rules when we decided to have support characters," adds Michiel van der Leeuw, the game\'s lead programmer. "The first is that they will keep up and always find cover; the second,that they won\'t block the player\'s passage through the game; and the third is that they will retire back when on low health." In fact, after concern expressed by Edge, van der Leeuw admits that your team buddies cannot be killed by enemy fire, only weakened.
Only two characters are currently on show: Templar, a mean-looking commando (Edge suspects he\'s the all-rounder) and Luger, a female stealth character with the ability to get to places other volunteers cannot reach. You can play through the game with any character, and as videogame convention dictates, each specializes with certain weapons. Luger has a high accuracy with sniper weapons but struggles to carry and shoot the heavy artillery. Guerrilla says that weapon choice is vital, so going through the game a second, third and forth time with a new character forces the player to think differently about each set-piece.
to be continued....
