Previews// Killzone 2

Also new to Killzone 2 is a jump button. Steven said, “One of the things we wanted to do was make sure jumping still feels realistic. We don't want it to be a shooter where you're just hopping all over the place.” I can report that Guerilla has been successful in that respect. A jump will get you over a low-lying object, but you won't find yourself leaping insanely from one platform to another. In other words, it won't help you navigate across different parts of the level, but it might speed up your progress a bit. You also won't be able to fire your weapon while you're up in the air, meaning that popping up manically from behind cover to take potshots won't be an option.

One enjoyable aspect was the weight that your shots carry. You won't see your enemies take a hit, shower blood yet remain otherwise unaffected. Much as I'm sick of throwing the phrase around, the ragdoll physics was indeed rather impressive. There's a lot to be said for seeing your enemies react painfully to your shot. When Steven said that motion capture was used to get the movements right, I was a bit alarmed, but was reassured, “We didn't actually have to shoot people for that.”

Overall, Killzone 2 is shaping up into a very technically accomplished shooter. It looks stunning, barring a few very minor niggles and achieves the Hollywood feel that Guerilla's gunning for. From the time I actually got to put my own hands on the Sixaxis it controls well and intuitively. Clearly a lot of time and effort has gone into the game and it promises to be a very solid shooter. As to whether it will prove to be the Halo buster Sony is hoping it will, or inspire the kind of zealous fervour of Bungie's shooter... well, the jury remains out.

As I said, it's accomplished, but I found little to get me excited about Killzone 2 in terms of breaking new ground or showing us anything that hasn't been seen before.