Kotaku
I just got back from Sony's private Killzone 2 party. It was held at a little sushi place on Ocean Avenue called Sushi Roku. The good news is that Killzone 2 was playable, the bad news is that the only ones allowed to play it were the developers.
The game presentation started with a very familiar cut scene that showed a group of men being flown in to take on the Helghast. The trailer's graphics were amazing. It's probably some of the best facial animation I've seen in a console game. I did find the mouth movements to be a bit uncanny, but otherwise it was some pretty impressive stuff.
After what we thought was a short trailer, the game dropped straight into actual, live gameplay. And I do mean live, the game was actually being played by one of the developers as we watched.
The developer proceeded to play through an entire level of the game as we looked on in stunned silence. There was a lot to take in during the lengthy gameplay session. First, the game appears to not feature a HUD, in fact the only time I saw anything on the screen that was hud like was when the developer fired or switched weapons.
The game's look was the most stunning thing about it. Much like Resistance Fall of Man, it wasn't anyone thing that really stood out (though the lighting effects were just plain stunning) but rather the combination of everything you were seeing. There was so much detail, so much activity that it was hard for you to take it all in as it happened. Instead the game's intense action and detailed graphics helped to create what the developers called a violent theater of war.
The little things I did notice about the game included destructible environments, enemies that not only reacted to being shot, but to where they were shot, impressive weather, fire, and lightning effects and a world that was abuzz with activity.
The game seemed to have some pretty significant muzzle drift when a weapon was fired and the AI looked fairly intelligent, though I couldn't tell just how clever they were being because the developer ran through it so quickly.
After the gameplay session the developers told us that that one single level (which was played on a Playstation 3) had taken up 2GB of data. They said the game, which takes place on the Helghast planet, will have you taking on enemies armed with weather-based weapons. The game itself will also require you to pay attention to weather.
The game will include multiplayer that will have "links to" home and Killzone 2.com, but the developers said they couldn't yet go more into that. Oh, they also made a big deal out of the fact that their trailer did feature in-game, real-time cut scenes. In fact, they ran through the beginning of it a second time, pausing in the middle to move the camera around and zoom in and out, just to prove there was nothing up their sleeves.
I think Killzone 2 is probably the most impressive game I've seen so far at E3. Granted it's early in the show, but I think the game has a good chance to retaining that title. But don't trust me. Starting at 3 p.m. Pacific time Wednesday, Sony will have the new Killzone 2 trailer up on the Playstation Store. Go check it out and report what you think of the trailer back here.
Comments
Well, it's nice to hear good things about KZ2. The first screenshot, "Pre-alphaalphabetagammadelta" or whatever others proclaimed it to be, was uninspiring to say the most.
However, that said, it was only of a generic soldier. I guess the only thing to wait for now, is to see if the gameplay matches the hype? KZ1 received loads of hype, 'Halo killer' etc etc, and turned out to be subpar at best. Hopefully KZ2 won't fall into the subpar category and will excel.
I need a game that appeals to me on ps3 to justify me buying one, maybe this will be it?
Holy shit :P
Nice. IGN and 1UP both have pics. 3 of them that I can see. Looks good but we need to see the trailer!
Wow.
"I think Killzone 2 is probably the most impressive game I've seen so far at E3."
?!:O
Now the fanboys will place a price on your head large enough to buy an 80GB PS3 AND an ipone!!!
holy shit.
Nice, Im glad to hear that maybe this time it might live up to the hype.
Although, Im gonna hold any further comments until I see a gameplay video for myself.
Cheers Crecente for the small window into what might be an excellent PS3 shooter. :)
Score...
Yeah, I just got done posting my impressions of Roper's article about it at IGN. Holy fuck. I think I'll just copy and paste my impressions here, because I really don't think my hands can handle repeating that.
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Well first off, it should go without saying (but I will anyway) that the game sounds graphically impressive (we won't know until tomorrow). I thought for sure this game wouldn't come remotely close. Gears of War is a fantastic looking game, and really pushed the graphical boundaries. Yet it could, by no means, match that CG trailer from years past. However, Chris Roper seems to think Killzone 2 comes pretty damn close. That alone surprises me. I guess I'm a tad skeptical, but not nearly as much as I was before. Gameplay will be the big question mark. It sounds like it does everything right. In other words, taking what works in existing games, much like Call of Duty. GG claims that the first level took-up 2GB of space. Could this be the first game to push Blu-ray? If this game really does play without mid-stage loading, I think so. Good luck on that, GG. And to think, just yesterday I was talking about Haze being a potential "Killzone killer", but I may have been sorely mistaken.
I feel very stupid right now.
I'm so glad it doesn't suck.
This is the reason why i am buying a Ps3 next friday, a-freaking-mazing.
Come on, trailer!! And a PAL price-drop. I'm so sold on a PS3 at the moment. @_@
woooooooooooooooo now show us the trailer and give us Online details
Still the game will look even better than it does now surely, if this is only a demo?
Maybe sony do have there 'halo beater'
Certainly surprising to see such a dramatic change from the initial impressions of the image we saw earlier.
Not so much in texture detail, but moreso that the game is more inclined to poetry in motion than captures of individual moments in time. What's more is that it seems to have a Call of Duty style of gameplay, which few people have ever complained about.
It seems un-Halo like, though. The only comparison is in the genre. It's more like a 'Black' killer, or a 'FEAR' killer, or perhaps even a 'Resistance' killer than a Halo killer.
Will it move consoles? More than Resistance, probably. It's funny how much Sony fans insult the FPS genre, yet their first, and seemingly next flagship titles fall into that genre.
I'm interested in the multiplayer details, though, as well as Hands-On impressions. Until then, I'll tip my hat, though I remain cautiously skeptical.
Yea this is very surprizing and I actually cant believe it got this close to the trailer.
So the 2005 trailer was real afterall? Damn, I didn't see that coming:)
again wow.
[uk.media.ps3.ign.com]
Screen shots at IGN. In game!
Looks great.
In terms of graphics this Beats Halo 3. Easy.
I am ecstatic.
I don't think words can describe it.
There's that little bit of doubt clinging in the dark, dank recesses of my psyche, but that's currently being beaten away by the angry fan boy that I harbor.
This is possibly the best news I've had all year.
I just want to know what's up with the Home feature. I know it won't happen, but I'd like to run around as a Helghast.
that statue really reminded me of "Jin Roh" anime.
PS3 FTW?
You're fucking right.
Best comment of the whole story was that it has been the MOST IMPRESSIVE GAME SO FAR. The only people left are Nintendo and Sony, so this looks like a sure fire near winner for best game of E3, right?
But great games for all is definitely what this is all about.
OMG!!!!!
You all have to see the screenshots. This game will own all games for many, many years guaranteed. Forget Gears of War, this is the new bar for gaming.
Check it out.
PS3 FOR The WIN!!!
Here's the 1UP summary
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What we like: The presentation and attention to detail are key. The game doesn't look as good as the 2005 trailer, naturally, but it looks close to as good as any other console shooter. We'd say that currently Gears of War tops it, and a few other titles are on the same visual level, but the game looks extremely nice.
What we dislike: There doesn't seem to be much big picture stuff in here we haven't seen yet in other games. This likely has more to do with Sony being very secretive about the features at the moment than a lack of innovation in the game, given its importance to Sony and the company's hints at online features, but at this point it's hard to pick out one or two big things that will help separate the gameplay from what we've seen in other war shooters.
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Game looks good. Doesn't hold up to the 2005 trailer, but it doesn't have to. Great start from Sony, but sadly won't help much since it looks like this game is a long ways away.
Not that we couldn't figure this out anyway, but SCEA stated that the game will indeed come out in 2008.
@Shachihoko:
Haha yea it does remind me of Jin Roh.
@utorrent: The pics are amazing. God i can't wait to see this game in action.
Do we know a release date for this one? At least a guess?
No it wasn't real. They just had time to catch up to it. I'm sure they had more help at developing than other standard developers of the PS3 to get the game at that level.
They had something to prove and it gave them the motivation to work harder at it.
Incidentally, the Joystiq guys are abit more critical than Brian about what they saw.
Best of E3? I dont think so. But they had 3 years to work on it, so i wont be surprised if its good.
[www.1up.com]
Trailer is up.
damn! and brian was pretty frank about his game day experience, too..i think this is gonna shut a lot of mouths. I bet the devs got a special kick out of showing that trailer to have featured real-time graphics after the tremendous amount of online shit-talking.
props to them for all their hard work, good job proving that all the bashing and shit was just talk.
@djblackice:
Unless Smash Bros gets online or Mario has a trick up his sleeve, sure Killzone may get Game of the Show... It also has Starcraft against it. When's the release date?
Did spit flying out of people's mouths have anything to do with "uncanny mouth movements?"
So, will this be the Halo 3 Killer?
Only time will tell, but from articles from here and ign, it's pretty darn positive.
P.S. I love how they utiised the dystopian theme to create a unique lighting and atmosphere in the game.
[au.media.ps3.ign.com]
No one said Halo 3 had the best graphics even Gears has better graphics.Hmmm I wonder if they'll make a Killzone-PS3 bundle like MS is doing now with Halo if not the price drop sure comes in handy right now.
The most firstening thing is that the comments echo so closely the ressistance comments. It was only when real people got hold of the game that they noticed the muddy textures, the everything is brown type of detail etc. etc.
The impressions you are able to convey on someone in a crowed room where everyone is feeding off of everyone elses emotions is great. It leads to hype for products that when seen in isolation would only normally get a meh response.
This game looks no better or worse than COD4. Not a bad thing but, hardly the second coming!
Sounds very very impressive.
I'm not a Halo fan, but I'm not sure any FPS will be a "Halo killer" any year soon..
Now that KZ2 looks able to actually meet some of the hype it created in 2005, my biggest hope for KZ2 is that it will be an amazing game in its own right (not graded as "better than X, Y or Z").
Tomorrow's gonna be interesting.
Nice. Well, to put it in perspective, Killzone 2 (is it still 2?) is the most expensive media project the Netherlands ever took, costing $20 million.
I imagine we should get a Halo-killer easily for that kind of money, time, and effort.
In my opinion, Sony is going to come up aces tomorrow at their conference... it's not that hard to beat Microsoft who had a lackluster conference (at best).
Great read Crecente. Holy f*cking hell.
@djblackice:
Wow...
Good thing my girlfriend has a PS3 XD
@penhalion: Resistance does have great graphics. It's probably the second best looking shooter out after Gears.
I know Sushi Roku...and that place is really not that good...but for some reason a lot of people go there. It's one of the worst quality (for the price) sushi's I've ever had
@Boxelder:
Not trying to put down KZ2 as I'll probably buy it. What annoys me (and I hope it annoys you too) is how journalists buy into the hype when at these events. I've wasted money in the past due to this type of overhyping. I tend not to trust what journalists say anymore and go for the real persons oppinion every time.
@lotkrota:
only problem is that we're not in korea are we?
Great news. Now I have two must-have titles to justify the purchase of a PS3. Thank's GG.
Although I'll probably never buy this game, it's nice to hear that Sony might have a winner on their hands.
meh
That's right, I said MEH.
I can't help but notice that they made a specific point of making sure people realized the cutscenes were in game. I'm sure I'm not the only one that recalls the E3 2005 Killzone 2 "real time" gameplay video, which was quite obviously a pre-rendered fmv sequence made by an animation studio is Glasgow. But not this time, no siree!
Either way, was there ever any doubt that the game would be impressive? No, there really wasn't any. If there was, Sony would be a laughing stock. AGAIN. They would dump as much money as it took into the development of their "Halo Killer" to avoid that situation.
Is it probably going to be a good game? Of course. Will it sell enough copies to put even a scratch into the Halo franchise's sales figures? No way in hell. You see, for most gamers, this would be a purchase of $570. You see, they would have to buy the console first. Are there really people out there that are stupid enough to buy a console for one game?
Don't answer that.
Joystiq has the trailer... holy hell, look at the animations on the enemy soldiers... look at THEM! Fucking wow.
@Boxelder: QFT. Play resistance or even the demo and you'll see.
@penhalion: Eh, I enjoy a little hype. Who wants to here Santa isn't real on Xmass morning?
Just got the Press release. out in 2008 and with 7.1 sound too! :)
And PS3 cements its lead in the graphics' department (as expected -- the console has better tech and is a year newer). I personally thought Resistance had the best graphics available prior to Killzone 2. Gears was close, but Fall of Man overtook it when all was said and done. If Crecente's impressions are correct, Killzone 2 is going to up the ante. I'm predicting to the point where the 360 will not be able to match.
You get what you pay for. So on and so forth.
@joncoffee: you saw it? cause brian did, that's not what he's saying.
@Atheist Jew:
no, but there are people smart enough to buy a console for 15 exclusive games coming out this year.
Just wait 'till they add bloom effects... 'nuff said.
@Boxelder:
A little hype yes but, not the crap we usually get. Remember the Halo 2 train? The game turned out to be seven shades of turd and only multi-player is still alive and kicking.
Resistance was an ok shooter but, again looking good is onyl half the pie as it were. Gameplay MUST make up the other half and in most cases it doesn't
@joncoffee: What game do you think is better, pray-tell?
Hmm. This is a good start, I just hope there's some variety to the environments. A jungle setting or a volcanic crater would be nice as far as non-brown levels go but I'm glad to hear it looks good. Now, let's hope the gameplay is a big improvement over the original Killzone
Being a Halo fan I would comment differently, but Wow. Looks awesome. Let's just hope the gameplay is on par. Kudos to Sony =]
@joncoffee: And don't you dare say Halo 3
Real fast, can you pass 7.1 through optical or does it have to be HDMI? Cause if it is HDMI my 499 buy just went to a grand. Not that its a bad thing though i needed a new receiver anyway.
@penhalion: so uh, watch the trailers, play the (hopefully) demo/enter the beta, read reviews & decide for yourself. Hell, you can prolly rent it by then.
@