Killzone

Written by Chris Reiter  on June 10, 2004

E3 Hands-On Preview: Is that five-month-old cheese I smell, or did Microsoft just poopie their pants?

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Halo has been Microsoft's most coveted weapon the company has prized since it was first introduced exclusively for the system in the fall of 2001. Like a Zelda, or a Metroid, or a Final Fantasy, Halo had become an instant video game classic as a fan favorite amongst nearly every Xbox owner who's had the pleasure to experience its awesomeness. Then last year Sony came and claimed they had an even better title on the horizon. Code named Killzone: this new First Person Shooter installment from Sony and the recently established development team Guerilla Games, has been dubbed as a "Halo killer" on all fronts. Whether this foresight will be true or not has yet to be decided. But we go hands-on with the game anyway to see just some of the kinds of tricks this puppy can do.

Space: the final frontier. At least that's how a rogue and hostile faction sees it for humanity's rapid growth. Killzone's story starts there, not here, in the future, but not the too distant one. In this unnamed period in time, the people of Earth find that intergalactic colonization is a possibility: one that will lead to chaos. Soon after this newfangled procedure sets in motion, it's from out of nowhere a mysterious new order of people called the Helghast begin to cause pain and suffering to those not of them. To counter this threat, an Earth-loyalist committee arranges for its militant forces, the ISA, to prevent the oncoming disaster. Players specifically will find themselves as one team member in a squadron of four, outnumbered by the looming presence of Helghast surrounded in an abandoned building. It goes without saying, fighting will be the only option from here on out, for your band of brothers are now trapped in what you could call a "kill zone."

For the game that's said to be a "Halo killer," Killzone certainly won't replicate Halo in as many ways as you would think. Yes, Halo is a First Person Shooter, and yes, Killzone will be a First Person Shooter. Think of Killzone more as a squad-based shooter with you only in control of one man at any time. Going with this four-man rule, the rest of your AI-controlled team will be able to aid you with one man supporting cover fire, another backup, and the last giving out aid. While on the other hand, Killzone's familiarities with Halo could be seen as players will automatically regenerate health when not being shot at, and also that the game is being placed in a futuristic setting -- though, one that's more compliant with today's "real world" wars than the ones with laser pistols and energy bombs seen in fictional movies.

The interesting thing about that is Guerilla has studied different wars of history for the last four years -- both real and to an extent, some original types too -- and has combined all that to correlate the gritty existence in Killzone. With the brief opportunity I had a chance to get to know the game a little better and actually play it, the main theme here was a trench battle. Controlling one man on a team of four, the idea was not to watch over your men, but to fight with them and complete your part. Moving from one trench to the next, the objective was to eliminate a heavily amassing army of Helghast from within the limited area, in which to dodge a rain of bullets and then respond with some. Essentially, Killzone will feature 26 epic missions that will contain a "memorable moment" scripted at some point in each level. These highlights will include such dramatic turns of events as a massive melee near a crumbling bridge or fending against multiple Helghast targets repelling downward from dropships. Expect to also see the title go online, with 12 variable modes of play and eight maps to play through with deathmatch styles of play, amongst other things.

Possibly Killzone's largest contribution as to why it has accumulated so much hype is because the game's visual engine is being made from the finest of the fine riches from PlayStation 2's inner workings. Claimed to be a game that will exemplify grittiness to the very T. While I couldn't say whether this was true or not based on my short time playing the game, what I can tell is that Killzone is definitely going to be good stuff. In the one trench level I played around with, there was a dark atmosphere present, as Helghast (the red-goggle persons) stormed out of a number of directions from a foggy distance. Detailed in its composite of density, this level had an effect that it felt like it was almost impossible to escape from this Helghast invasion. Other than in this outdoors setting though, Killzone will also see its stages played out through riverbeds, urban slums, and even to the confines of a shopping mall.