The title that all First Person Shooter fans have been awaiting since the original E3 2006 teaser trailer, Killzone 2 has arrived. While the original Playstation 2 had plenty of hype leading to its release it fell short of its goal of being a Halo killer. Now the question is since all the hype that started all over again with the E3 2005 trailer, does it deliver this time around?

Starting off with one the most visible part of the original E3 trailer, the graphics. While it doesn’t look quite as good as the original trailer, it still looks spectacular and better than anything else found on any next generation console right now. With that said it still isn’t the best looking game out there, that honor still belongs to Crysis. Regardless, Killzone 2 is a beautiful game and truly shows what the Playstation 3 is capable of. All the environmental models look sharp and crisp and the facial details are truly a sight to see.

The sound effects found Killzone 2 are immersive and help the already outstanding graphics. You hear all the explosions whether they are close by or at distance. The voice acting is fairly good for a video game and about the best you can expect from a First Person Shooter. The soundtrack sounds like it came straight from a Call of Duty game with the generic war sounding music. While it may not sound very special it gets the job done.

The controls for the game are different that what you find in other First Person Shooters. You can’t specify the precise controls that you want; you have to choose from a small array of different presets. There is only one that is remotely like the one you’d find in Call of Duty or Resistance 2 and even then it wouldn’t necessarily  be the optimal setup that you’d want. It would have been nice they let you have a little more control over your controls.

The single player aspect is probably the most disappointing part of the package. One word to describe it is as average. There are definite flaws such as you can’t tell when you’re taking damage while in a turret which makes for some unfair deaths. The story is similar to what you’d find in a Call of Duty but instead of fighting Nazi’s you’re against what’s essentially space Nazis. The game does give a cinematic feel to the generic story giving something that’s run of mill some dramatic flair. The developers included a feature tells you exactly where you have to go move next; a few steps at a time so you’ll probably never get lost in the game. You don’t have to use this feature if you don’t want to if you feel it’ll make it too easy but it’s a nice addition. The single player isn’t going to keep playing for long though, that’s where the multiplayer comes in.

The multiplayer segment is where the game really shines; Killzone 2 may be one of the best multiplayer games on any console. This portion of the game is fairly unique where in any given match there are multiple goals you need to accomplish such as assassinate a specific member of the opposing team or planting an explosive on a given spot. The scale of the battles is more akin to Battlefield 2142 than anything out on the console right now. There is plenty to unlock as you play such different classes like Medic, Engineer and Tactician. You can also unlock bonuses for classes like increased start ammo amounts, class abilities providing a lot of depth to the online experience. Before you go online you can practice against some bots but it’s nothing compared to the actual multiplayer. Where the single player leaves something to be desired, the multiplayer is where it’s at.

Killzone 2 is a mixed package, while the single player is mostly filler, the multiplayer will keep you going for a while to come. You’ll blow through the single player in a matter of hours, but the multiplayer is packed with plenty of unlockables different objectives to keep things interesting. The graphics are beautiful and you won’t find anything that looks this good on this console or any other. This game is definitely worth if you’re the type that’ll play a multiplayer shooter for months.

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