Looking back at Killzone 2 and what it did right
2009 has been a year packed full of amazing titles across all platforms, and as the year comes to a close, gamers are starting to make their picks for the “Game of the Year” categories. Early this year, the Playstation 3 was treated to the highly anticipated Killzone 2, a visually stunning and adrenaline fueled First Person Shooter. When KZ2 first came out, it was well received gaining a 91 on Metacritic, and to many fans instantly earned a spot in several GotY categories, such as best PS3 game, best graphics, best FPS and even GOTY.
But as I was glancing over the various categories and nominations across the web, I began to see that KZ2’s competition may be to much, Uncharted 2 and Modern Warfare 2 being the biggest obstacles. Both games are fantastic and certainly deserve any awards given to them, however I wanted to take a moment to look back at one of the years first heavy hitters to see what it did right.
1. It’s beautiful
Ok, so Uncharted 2 is probably better looking and uses a better color pallet, but KZ2 is still the best looking FPS I’ve ever seen on a console. It can even hold its own against Crysis! Brown and gray never looked so good. The lighting and textures are outstanding, and really contribute to pulling players into the experience. The physics are also amazing, with Helghast soldiers reacting to bullets and explosions in dynamic and realistic ways. The gun reloading animations are always fun to watch. Even online, the game still looks amazing. This is an engine that I hope to see put to use in future games.
2. Audio
7.1 surround sound? Yeah, that’s good. But what really matters is what your listening to. KZ2 has a great and memorable sound track that perfectly fits the mood of the game, and makes players hear and feel the tension in every moment. Throw that on top of Brian Cox’s amazing performance as Scholar Visari, as well as some all around great sound effects and your ears will be as happy as your eyes. One of my favorite audio ques happens when your shooting. As you begin to run out of ammo in your clip, a slight *clink* sound lets you know that its time to reload. Something that I hope other games begin to adopt, as it can save you from inconveniently reloading at the wrong time.
3. The cover system
I don’t know for sure if KZ2 is the first game to use cover the way it did. Most FPS’s you can only crouch behind things, or in games like Rainbow Six, when you took cover the camera would zoom out to 3rd person. But Killzone’s cover system kept you in first person letting you latch on to any cover which is very effective, allowing you to peek over and around to pop off some shots. Some people found it difficult to hold the cover button, lean out, use the zoom button and pull the trigger all at the same time (noobs), but with a little practice it could become an effective and necessary skill that will hopefully make it’s way into the next game.
4. Lots of support
Killzone 2 has some amazing community support. If you go to Killzone.com, you can create a profile to display all your statistics from online and the campaign. If you’ve been collecting the intel, you can view the hidden messages (one of which is an entire Hellgan recipe for preparing fish) and download pictures and a screen saver for your computer. You can also view your online history, and a very cool rendition of your previous matches, which lets you study the moves of yourself and your enemies.
5. Clans
I’ve never really been into clans, and they’ve always been kinda pointless to me. But despite that, I have to admit that KZ2’s clan support blows anything else I’ve seen (at least on a console) out of the water. Its simple to create and add members to your clan, and once you get some people you can promote some of them to help add and manage clan members. On your in game clan profile page, you can leave messages for all members, and let them know if there is going to be a tournament soon. You can also arrange to compete with another clan, and wager VP (valor points) which is the games currency. I’ve barely brushed on all the clan system has to offer, so you’ll just have to check it out for yourself.
6. The medic gun
This “gun” met a lot of criticism when the game first came out. Compared to the rest of the game, it was ugly, shooting some blokish ray that was supposed to look like lightning. But in an amazing display of actually listening to what there fans wanted, Guerrilla Games released a patch that changed the look of the ray in both the single player and the multi player, and now it looks real good. Thank you GG! Anyway, the medic gun is actually very useful, and assuming your teammate didn’t get his head blown off, you can revive and get him back in to the fight from a surprising distance with this handy gun. But it can also be used like a pistol, and is strangely satisfying to kill an enemy with.
7. Squads
Squads are tactically useful, allowing you to spawn with your leader to provide him with support. Getting into a squad is easy, and can be done before or during a game. If your in an assassination game and your the target, quickly form a squad before the enemy is alerted to your position, and your squad-mates can all spawn near you to provide support the whole time. Squads also have there own headset channel, letting them communicate no matter how far apart on the map they are.
8.DLC
Killzone 2’s downloadable maps came out in packs of two, each originally priced (in the US) at $5.99. Very reasonable compared to many other games DLC. The maps are actually even cheaper now, and are bundled all together for $10. Now that’s a deal. Each new map brings something compelling, like new environmental threats, or the retro maps which let you visit some of the battlegrounds from the original game with better graphics, or the most recent map pack which is my favorite, and lets you get your hands on the flamethrower and the bolt gun.
9. Cool class system
Each class that you unlock in MP is unique and can change the flow of the battle. With the tactician, you get mobile spawn points which can mean the difference between winning and loosing. Medics can heal and revive team mates, keeping everyone fighting. Saboteurs are sneaky bastards that can disguise themselves as the enemy and can plant C4 that will stay even when they die. Mechanics get the amazing shotgun, and can plant turrets. And of course there is the Sniper class, which is only earned when you reach general. The sniper riffle is an awesome gun which actually makes sixaxis useful by letting you make small adjustments to your aim. One shot, one kill, and if your good you can pop there head off to make sure they stay down.
10. Custom play lists
If you don’t feel like playing by the default settings, you don’t have to. By making your own play list, which you can save multiple for future use, you can select which maps you want to play on in any order, and customize everything from the weapons and classes, to the order of the game types and how long you’ll play each. Make your game open to anyone, or limit it only to friends and clan members, its your choice. As long as you have enough players, you’ll still earn experience points to progress in rank.
Killzone 2 has a lot going for it, and has established its self as a strong franchise that can only gain popularity. There is lots of room for improvement, but its already clear that fans will be sent into a frenzy when Killzone 3 makes its first appearance. I can only hope that such a great game isn’t forgotten next to all the other amazing titles this year, because while it may not win as many awards, Guerilla Games deserves a high five for giving us a fantastic game and for all there continued support.
Filed under: Main
oh well maybe on my second run.
Just been reading it and your spot on, loved the game sure i would of liked more colour, but it would appear games which go for pure graphics fall on colour, ok some might say what about uncharted 2 sure it was beautiful but its not the best looking game,
So maybe some developers have to make a deal (tints of brown for beautiful looking game)…So i dont know im not a developer, but the same can go for gears, and metal gear, thats was quite water washed, but then again these are war games, and well its suits them perfectly, So maybe they do strike it right in certain areas, but i would like to see a little more colour here and there .,
it IS THE BEST fps at the time of writing….and will be ntill killzone 3.
I agree with everything here! BUT! I can never find a game on the DLC Maps! I’ve only ever played them on Skirmish! And I could never agree more about what you said about clans! I joined a clan for Battlefield 2 (PC) and I thought that there wasn’t any point in it to be honest! Then I joined another of my friend nagging me to join his clan on COD4 and yet agian I found it pointless. But when Killzone 2 came along… WOW!
And I think the cover system is being used in (Killzone 2 + Borderlands + Mirrorrs Edge + Team Fortress 2 =) Brink! Which I hope will win GOTY next year even if GoW III will be out and BioShock 2 and Mass Effect 2 and MAG and The Last Guardian and Gran Turismo 5 and Mod Nation Racers (Gran Turismo + LBP)! It will be soooo amazing!!!!
Anyway back to Killzone 2. The graphics are easily better than anything I have ever seen on any console! But Uncharted 2 just had a HUGE variety and they managed to fit almost everything on screen at once without any problems!
Never could get use to the sluggishness of the controls in KZ2 – was totally different from other FPSs such as COD and R2. Therefore the game never appealed to me that much..
What people call “sluggish” controls, are not sluggish. Thay are actually very tight and precise. What you’re calling sluggish, is realism, and weight and momentum to both player movement and weapon handling. It’s realistic, pure and simple. It’s a level of realism in movement and handling that NO FPS on the gaming market has been able to reach. The fact that it’s NOT like CoD is why it’s so great, and why I’ll NEVER go back to CoD in it’s current form.
CoD is probably one of the most UNrealistic games out there. The movement and aiming is SO light and floaty. All the weapons handle identically from the players perspective. The pistol aims just like the LMG which handles just like a sniper rifle and everything in between. No realism what-so-ever. Hence in CoD4, the best sniper rifle was the LMG….yea…cuz THAT’S realistic, lol. In Killzone 2 all the weapons handle and affect the player movement the way their real life counterparts would. In CoD you can aim a rocket launcher as easily and as accurately as you can every other weapon. It’s rediculous. And now with all the rediculous perks in MW2, there’s even LESS balance than the totally unbalanced CoD4, which I didn’t even think was possible. It’s just a completely noob-friendly, easy game, that ANYONE with no real FPS skill can just pick up and perform well…….and that’s why it sells so well, but that’s also why I’ll never go back to it.
And lets not even get INTO the tactical skill CoD takes compared to Killzone 2, because it’s nearly non-existent in CoD4-MW2 aside from in hardcore, and even then it’s questionable.
Until a FPS comes out that compares to Killzone 2’s level of realism, awesome and intense gameplay, unparralelled graphics (aside from Crysis, and even then Killzone has a much better art style compared to just ultra realism), best multi-player on the gaming market, balance, and pure hardcore FPS fun, I’m sticking with Killzone 2 for my FPS fix. I didn’t even consider MW2. AVP looked good until I saw the highly unbalanced MP. Aside from Brink nothing coming down the pipe is even interesting me, nothing with multi-player anyway….RAGE will be mine, but thats single player I believe.
Oh and to the author…… the health gun in Killzone 2 is NOT and never was shooting out what looks like lightning. It’s shooting out a heart monitor lifeline thingy…..I don’t know what it would be called. Like those things that show your heartbeats. The things that go “flatline”.
wow LarryL, you really wanted to waste your breath there didnt you. killzone 2 sucks no matter how you look at it. the clunky HORRIBLE controls will never be on par with COD..face it, COD is million time smoother, funner, and all around better to play.
dude look at all those typos ^^^^ i do agree however. killzone 2 is a horrible game. the textures look very bad as well. just take a look at the water for example. worst water in any game period.
Killzone 2 and what it did WRONG !!!
- gameplay
- boss fights
- hideous characters
- dialog
- the famous american “F” word heard it like a million times in that game
- voice + mo-cap acting
- its an FPS game ” played it JUST because of the hype”
GG if you decided to make another KZ game make it a tps game RE5/gears style !
NO MORE FPS GAMES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LOL, who’s the retard who used COD as an example? Call Of Duty? The same Call Of Duty that has a 10 – minute single – player campaign???
The same Call Of Duty that has a buggered online mode and infinite hacks that allow cheaters who suck at games to abuse glitches and leaderboards???
Call Of Duty is for non – gamers, Killzone is a mans game.
oh i forgot to add :
- enemy variety
and
- weapons
Looks like some super-stupid xbots are here. We need some entertainment. Who doesn’t like watching dancing monkeys?
If you played and thought Killzone 2 sucked for any reason, there is only one explanation: you are a total noob.
Just like LarryL said, MW1&2 both, despite being great games, are too noob friendly.
The author forgot two crucial points in Killzone 2 that no other FPS game has been able to pull off to this day:
- Atmosphere: few games can create an atmosphere that can make you feel you’re there on the battlefield or in that scene. If you have played the game (and you are not a noob), you’d know what I mean.
- A.I.: The smartest artificial intelligence in any FPS game (or any game for that matter). And to think that an xbot website said Halo 3’s A.I. was better than Killzone 2’s at a time when there wasn’t even a playable demo of Killzone 2. Bots keep pwning themselves but fortunately they fail to put an end to their embarrassment (and our amusement).
wow some of these dudes must be serious xbox fanboy fruitcakes!!!! Get over yourself and the denial that you have manifested into your own real reality. The bottom line is that although i love COD and always will its true what ppl say killzone 2 brought a realism that none can touch. After playing killzone 2 for so long (i love it!!) i picked up mw2 and yeah it felt funny bcus your player runs as if he has no gun at all lol like superman thats not real and not to mention that MW2 graphics cant compare to the beauty of killzone 2!!! I own both and i must say killzone 2 as a game is better everyone is just caught up in the hype that follows any new relaease.
Sluggish controls? Bad gameplay? Sounds like someone got their rear kicked online, or you never played the game before.
Sorry if you’re used to COD, which has so many aids to the player it’s ridiculous (auto aim, auto targeting when knifing, inhuman reload speeds, insane sprint speeds). Not to mention all of the ways you can exploit the game (glitches all over).
I’ll take the game with strong gun recoil, realistic movement, no auto aim, slow reload speeds, and a need for teamwork. That game would be Killzone 2.
I wouldn’t even say they are “Xbox fanboy fruitcakes”. I would say they are CoD fanboy noobcakes”. They think those easy, noob-friendly, no skill needed FPSs (aka CoD4-MW2), are good. They;re good for noob-friendly, no skill needed FPSs, but that’s it. I played CoD4 for about 2 months before it got old for me, which was the perfect time to get out since from people on my friend’s list, that’s right when tons of glitches and hacks started kicking in. And I wasn’t looking for any more of that floaty experience with W@W or MW2. Hell, Killzone 2’s beta was enough to keep me away from CoD W@W, nevermind the whole game. Killzone 2 was the only FPS that could pull me away from Unreal Tournament 3 and CounterStrike……Nuff’ Said.
And Magic Carpet…. you are totally right about that. The atmosphere and A.I. in Killzone 2 are both 2nd to NONE.
I like MW2 but I feel it is not worth what I paid. I am regerting that purchase now becuase of the short single player and not so impressive multiplayer. Personally I feel Killzone 2 multiplayer battles just feels more epic than MW2. Maybe it’s because of the 32 opposed to the 12 player max multiplayer.
Killzone 2 just feels better over all, single player and mutiplayer. Personally I have no problems with the controls K2. But if you like run and gun games than games like Halo and MW2 are your games.
I know 8,000,000+ people will disagree with me.:) But this is my opinion.
For the love of God, would you morons learn to spell!?
You’re correct in your (limited) telling of the greatness of this game, but your grammar, spelling, word usage, and construction are TERRIBLE!
Tips:
1. There, Their, and They’re are not interchangeable. Learn the differences, use them properly.
2. Introduce the Medic BEFORE you talk about his gun. ALWAYS assume your reader’s ignorance, and never, ever, assume they know what you’re talking about, except in the most basic sense. IE: They know the sky is blue, but maybe not why.
3. Your and You’re are not interchangeable. Learn the differences, use them properly.
4. Be consistent! You introduce your piece with the idea in mind that you will be arguing for why you believe that Killzone 2 is a strong contender for GOTY, despite such heavy opposition as MW2, and U2. Then, by the end of the so-called “article”, you almost completely abandoned this goal, and simply degenerated your work into a personal praise for the title, barely mentioning the awards.
5. Present a stronger argument. Compare the game you support to the games you don’t. Tell us what you like about the other games, then tell us why Killzone 2 is better, despite these things. Why is the Medic class in KZ2 preferable to just running up to your co-op partners in U2 and holding the Triangle button? Why is the ability to hide behind cover in KZ2 better than just being able to lay prone in MW2? Maybe even detail why the cover system in U2 is more effective in terms of gameplay, but less effective in terms of immersion. The same could be said of the games you mentioned, in that they move the camera to a third-person perspective.
The same goes for all the people posting comments as well.
@SlaughterMeister:
Very good analysis of what the author and the comment posters are doing wrong. You should think about helping all of the other authors who cover gaming news.
CoD4 for singleplayer (a quality 7 hour experience)
Kz2 for multiplayer (most players and most of the above points too, 100 hour experience+)
value for money? Kz2 all the way – gotta admit the singleplayer is the worst since Perfect Dark Zero, but that sweet sweet multiplayer is the absolute mutts nuts.
If KZ3 is multiplayer only, with 40 maps, it would be a legendary game. Ditch the singleplayer ftw!
Hope the above complies with howse rools, bye the waiy.
@SlaughterMeister – great critique, appreciate your taking time to comment. Want to put your writing skills on the line and apply for staff here at ps3vault? Hit me up with an email – dave (@) ps3vault.com.
Well it seems that the popularity of COD games have made its lack of realism the standard in FPS games. Remember most of these kids haven’t seen war or killing in real life….soooo, the exposure to COD games has lead them to believe anything different (especially if the can’t get 60 kills per round) isn’t as good,
Listen up noobies
In real life, there is no auto aim
in real life, there is no auto lock on
There’s an article circulating about real soldiers and their criticism of MW2’s realism
the beta for BF2 is being criticized because its not as fast, doesn’t reload as quickly…is more realistic..lol
now don’t get me wrong, these are video games so they need to be interesting and fun, which MW2 does well, but the argument for which is a mans game and which is a free for all is an easy pick.
KZ2>MW2
Realism? Who cares about that? It’s video games that we’re talking about, not real life. I just want games to be fun. Who wants sluggish controls? We want to have fun!!
@ SlaughterMeister
Thank you for the criticism, you are absolutely right and I have no excuse for the bad spelling and grammar. I had the whole thing spell checked and edited, but things still slip bye.
However, I wasn’t arguing for game of the year. As the title says, I was only looking back at what the game did right, so it wasn’t about comparing and competing with other titles. And technically your right about the medic gun, but you cant look back with out having already played it. its not gonna hurt peoples head if they cant figure that one out.
call of duty blow especially MW2 since it is a total stepdown from MW1…did i mention you guys bought another BETA lol…kz2 is still king
people who say the controls blow…maybe you blow HAHA no skillz u scrubs
@ Limanima – It’s not so much the realism, despite the fact that everyone is talking about realism, that is up for debate. It’s more the challenge which comes WITH the realism that is the real benefit of KZ2 over MW2 et al. In terms of longevity, the simpler, easier games like MW2 may sell more to begin with and they may have a larger fan base, but, like every fashion recently, they will stop being popular far sooner than games like KZ2 because KZ2 offers a type of challenge that can never really be overcome. You don’t start to reload at the speed of light after reaching some “general level” or gaining some “perk” and you can certainly not become a one man army like you can in MW and MW2. You may well kill three or possibly more players in a single life on a regular basis but you will never be able to, unless you’re opposition is allowing you to, take out an entire team in a single life.
You may say “What is the point of having an insurmountable challenge?”. The point is, that you will be forced to adapt and use strategies to survive and, indeed, succeed in games such as KZ2. In MW and MW2, I found that all my ambushes and sneak attacks were being rendered ineffective because players would just whip round and the auto-aim would ensure that they would shoot me when they were just spraying and praying. Hardcore difficulty levels did help but the same difficulties still presented themselves. In KZ2, if you are ambushed, you are dead. It is that simple.
One analogy is the PS3 vs. the Wii. The Wii may have more instant fun games, but the PS3 has many more games that you will still be playing 5 or 6 years down the line. This is the same as KZ2 and MW2. MW2 is an instant gratification game whereas KZ2 is a game that I will go back to several years in the future as it will still be a well engineered and designed game. The popularity of MW2 will fade until there are no longer any players, perhaps barring a few die-hard players.
As for range of colors, (I hate the fact that I am English, yet I have to spell that word the American way. No offense to American’s, it just irritates me.), the developers chose the best possible colors for KZ2. Let’s be honest, you are “waging war” in a heavily industrialized city, on a desert planet that is inhabited by people who have no use for ornamentation or even decoration. There are not going to be bright colors like in Uncharted 2 because there are no environments similar to those in Uncharted 2, (this is arguable but I don’t care
.) therefore there is no use for having an incredibly wide range of colors. The game artists have envisioned this world. They have used, what they felt, were the appropriate colors (that word is still irritating me) and this has led to a dark and gritty world which feels as if a war is actually raging inside of it, rather than a shiny laboratory or a florist.
I started off by directing this post at Limanima and then I wrote an entire dissertation on KZ2. Sorry folks
. Laminima, this whole post was not directed at you, only the first paragraph or so.
@ SlaughterMeister
You’re more than welcome to critique the author but calling people morons is not a appropriate way of commenting.
Killzone 2 was ok… I think all 20 of the people who think it’s the best game ever are probably contained in the text above
@SlaughterMeister
Somehow, I feel sorry for you.
Great article btw!
BTW = by the way,,, Just in case SlaughterMeister doesn’t understand.
Bottom line if you want FPS realism on physics and gameplay go with Killzone 2. If you want weightless running, auto aim assist, LMG sniping weapons, and a camper friendly experience MW2 does the job like no other. Basic terms: GranTurismo vs Mario Cart
KZ2 was the disappointment of the year for me.
gameplay wise it was boring as bat shit, i was expecting them to come out and bring something new to the genre.
i was expecting a new goldeneye.
o boy was i disappointed.
10 things i would like to see changed in KZ3.
1 some enemy variety.
all the enemies are the same, and the technique required to kill them is the same.
where are the ticker type enemies from gears.
2 environment variety.
again the game was to repetitive.
i was constantly asking myself havent i done this?
havent i been here 10 times before?
3 the friendly AI is dumb as bat shit!
last mission just before you fight radec.
i would be sitting behind cover, ricco would be doing the same next to me.
a enemy would be to riccos right shooting him and hes just sitting there doing nothing.
like HELLO!!!! DUMB ASS!!!!!! SOME ONE IS SHOOTING YOU!!!!!!!!
4 your friends die so easily and frequently.
99.9999999999% of the time i died i did so because i had to constantly track out of cover, into danger to save a friend.
for christs sake i remember in the first level i revived a team mate, than 10 seconds later he died AGAIN!
5 some variety in the weapons and more weapons.
theres a million and one different types of machine guns but they practically feel the same.
the standard issue ISA machiene gun feels the same as the standard issue hig machiene gun.
6 more use of cool weapons.
they give you 2 really cool weapons but your only allowed to use them in a few levels.
the bolt gun, restricted to 2 levels.
the electric gun which was so cool and visually stunning was restricted to one weapon.
its like DOOM giving you the BFG but you can only use it for 10 minutes.
WTF?
why create something so cool and restrict its use so much?
7 more versatile cover system.
a cover system mixed between wanted weapons of fate and rainbow six vegas would be perfect for this game.
i want to be able to lean towards a different piece of cover, than hit a button and my character automatically runs to that piece of cover.
also i want to be able to peak out of cover, line up a shot before i leave cover like you can in rainbow six vegas.
8 more squad commands.
your in a war, your Sargent but you have NO control on your unit,
WTF?
there should be a command system like socom.
basic cover fire, go here, kill that guy commands.
also some standard breach and enter commands like the ones in rainbow six vegas would be nice.
9 enemies and you can use your environment to your advantage.
like what rouge warrior has, shoot out the fuse box, or lights than turn on the NV.
turn the battle into your favor.
your enemy taking cover underneath a light?
shoot the light and see it drop down and kill your enemy.
things like that i want to see in not only KZ but all shooters.
10 CO-OP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
a no brainer seriously!
and a skirmish mode like the old KZ game, let me connect 2 controllers to my ps3 and have me and a friend V some bots offline.
Nice one mate!! Spot on!! KZ2 was fucking great, I’m not a fan of FPS’ but KZ2 was fucking brilliant to play, all of it was top class, graphics, story, audio, gameplay 9/10 for me! But please let the next game be a 3 person shooter! AND with story mode co-op
@ name
all of your points are valid, but not to the extreme level you seem to be exaggerating. Yea coop would be nice, yes more enemy types, but the AI was not as bad, the weapons balance was awesome, the atmosphere coupled with great sound design was perfect, the cover system needs improvement, but it was still helpful as it was. Let’s not forget all of the great things it does right.
no the AI was brilliant.
best AI in a game ever, but they need more enemy types.
a enemy lurking around making me change my game style.
something that creaks fear in you, and your constantly looking left,right and center preying he does not appear.
@ name. Your post was probably one of the best here in terms of clarity and what you would like to see. Good constructive criticism rather than just saying it’s shit and leaving it at that. I must disagree on several points though:
1 Enemy variety
Yes most of the enemies were samey barring the few bosses and the snipers. No I don’t want to see enemies from Gears of War in KZ3. New enemies, not enemies from different games. I want to play KZ3 not KZ:Gears of War
2 Environment
Some parts did become very repetitive but not quite to the extent you mention. You should also take into consideration the fact that on many of the missions you are actually fighting through an extended area rather than traveling to a new area altogether. The artists are using appropriate scenery choices for the storyline. I find that there is nothing worse when you are in a particular area, with particular styles attached to it and then you are in somewhere completely different without apparent explanation.
3 AI
Even the best tested AI will have bugs and glitches every now and then. You should also remember that the level of squad AI is decreased on higher difficulties to make the game more of a challenge.
4 Friends dying
They only die that often on harder difficulties and you can just leave them if you want. The point about them always dying in the worst possible place is more than valid though.
5 Weapons
The basic Hig and ISA machine guns handle very similarly because they are both assault rifles and as such they would have the same feel to them. I do agree that a few more interesting weapons wouldn’t go amiss. The assault rifles also need to be powered up a bit. I found that from full ammo for a rifle I was having to shoot enemies so many times that I was always short of ammo. Might just be me though.
6 Weapon use
Like your point about the bolt gun and the electric gun although they probably restricted the electric gun because it was almost game breaking powerful so it would have made the rest of the game boring. The Hig pistol should be more widely available though. I got more use out of it than out the assault rifles.
7 Versatile cover system
One of the biggest pros about KZ2 is that it doesn’t play itself for you. One tap cover swapping should only be used as in the instance of the Metal Gear series where you can jump and roll to the next piece of cover. This game is you actually being in control of the character, not you giving a soldier commands and watching him take care of it. People seem to be missing this point.
8 Squad Commands
Your rank might be that of seargent but you are not actually in command of the squad. Rico is in command of the squad, that’s why you have to follow his orders (on a story level). On the subject of Rico; he is an ass and they should take his shoddy voice actor and never give him a part again. He sounded like my younger brother when he is trying to make his voice deeper. There are one or two moments of acceptable or even good voice acting from him but overall his performance was poor.
9 Using environments to your advantage
Can’t argue with this one. Very good point.
10 Co-op
I am 100% behind you on this one. KZ2 needs a co-op mode both offline and online.
Said I would disagree with a few points. Picked a whole in most of them. One day I will do what I say I am going to do.
agreed.
though the friendly AI is a joke.
in the seccond wave of enemies just before you fight visari,
take cover right next to ricco and watch him just sit there and do nothing as enemies keep shooting him.
i remember i was wodering why he kept dying.
i would revive him and 2 seconds later he would be dead again, so i sat next to him and just watched him and thats how i noticed.
i did that for like half a hour just to see if it was a glitch but nope, for half a hour straight ricco would sit there and do nothing while enemies shoot him.
KZ2 is a war game, it needs to feel more like that.
to me it feels like just another FPS like maybe a secret agent game.
it does not feel like your at war.
KZ2 did some things great and it’s a beautiful game. But some things are incredibly aggravating, especially in the online experience. The single player mode was pretty fun. It would be awesome to be able to play split screen with your friends instead of online only which leads to the next few bits.
Definitely not the ‘best game’. The maps basically turn into a campfest, which is tons of fun when you get killed the second you respawn.
There was a problem originally giving shotgun users auto lock on. I think a lot of them just haven’t updated or something, because it’s amazing how often someone is crouching or running one way and you shoot them from behind and they manage to turn, lock on and 1 shot kill you in half a second.
Which also leads to the people glitching or something that are able to get 5 headshots in half a second on people all over the place. It’s pretty funny when you play a game and you see one person getting perfect headshots every single shot, even while running and jumping. Or the ones lagging so you shoot them in the head a few times, they don’t take any damage then jump and kill you.