Welcome to Helghan...

Considering the current gaming vogue for co-op play, the first thing that strikes you with Killzone 2 is the lack of any such mode. It's a rather odd oversight for a shooter which, in every other way, proves to be the PS3's answer to Gears of War.

If that sounds like a rather negative start, then bear in mind that Gears 2 was by far our favourite shooter of 2008. The fact that Killzone 2 holds its own against such stiff competition bodes well for PS3 owners. Co-op or not, this is one helluva game.

Remarkable

The original Killzone didn't fare quite so well. Hyped as a 'Halo killer' by the PS2 press pre-release, the final game delivered an atmospheric, but on-the-whole average shooter experience that failed to knock the Xbox off its FPS perch. And then there was the whole E3 2005 debacle, where Sony showed a pre-rendered Killzone 2 video – instead of, y'know, actual in-game footage.

Carrying such a chip on its shoulder, it's remarkable how well PS3 Killzone 2 delivers. Not only does it represent a new standard for in-game graphics, but it also presents gameplay to match, with gritty, hell-for-leather gunplay up there with any top-tier shooter of recent years.

In fact, 'gritty' doesn't do it justice. The planet Helghan is a desolate place, ravaged by extreme weather and electrical storms. Its capital city Pyrrhus is a tattered, crumbling concrete jungle that makes Blackpool look like the Bahamas. Dropped right into this nightmare, you're soon in the thick of things. Low to the ground, sluggish of foot and boasting a far narrower field of vision than most typical FPSs, your steely soldier Sev is soon pinned down by Helghast shrapnel. Blood spews across the screen; vision darkens; gunfire and radio chatter litter the air; and a close-knit claustrophobia makes you cling to cover. Never has being a single grunt within a full-tilt warfield felt more harrowingly real.

Nerve-jangling

In the great pantheon of videogame shooters, Killzone 2 sits somewhere between Gears and Call of Duty. It's sci-fi space marines meets slow-paced first-person shooting, where inching into enemy territory takes precedence over gung-ho assaults, and taking the time to line up headshots down your gunsight gets better results than spraying bullets with the haphazard free aim. It's a shame the controls aren't fully customisable, but Killzone 2's six selections should proffer solutions for Resistance, CoD and Halo players alike.

Killzone 2's Nazi-like, orange-eyed Helghast are as iconic and devious an enemy as any on PS3. They flank, blindfire, take cover and flee just like you'd expect, and level design makes the most of it. While Killzone 2's D-Day Landings-style opening may have a slight feel of a shooting gallery, later areas are more freeform and visually diverse, offering open-plan desert battlegrounds and a dank industrial refinery packed with vantage points – plus vehicle sections adding variety to the already nerve-jangling action.

Which just makes Killzone 2's decision to give you one real weapon at a time all the more frustrating. Your fallback, a pistol, is nigh-on useless, and the melee attack, while satisfyingly meaty, is only ever a last resort. So you end up moving from one weapons cache to the next, taking your pick from whatever's there; always feeling like you're being guided by the level designer instead of having the opportunity to experiment.

Killzone 2's weapons also don't offer as much variety as other big-name shooters, featuring lots of automatics that appear to do just about the same thing. There is one gun though which shoots what can only be described as Force Lightning; which is as awesome as it is ridiculous.

Sadly, your fellow members of Alpha Squad aren't a whole lot of help. Oddly, you can revive them with a short electric zap, but they can't do the same for you. They also add little character to Killzone 2; their expletive-laden language is about as mature as your typical teenager, and in general they feel like a poor imitation of Gears' Delta Squad – all of the profane machismo; little of the charm.

Must-have

Killzone 2's multiplayer mode however would give Gears and anything else on Xbox Live a run for its money. Named Warzone, it pits human ISA armies against Helghast forces in up to 32 player battles, where objectives switch every five minutes. Pleasingly, there's an in-depth levelling system akin to Call of Duty 4, and matches can last anywhere up to half an hour. If it takes off, Killzone 2 could be the PS3's standout online title.

There are times when Killzone 2 feels like the most tightly designed, tense, atmospheric FPS in existence. There are others where it feels rather derivative. In truth, it's just a very good shooter which is proud to be a shooter. And that brings us back to the opening line. Because Killzone 2's high points will repeatedly remind you how it could have been even better with a friend at your side. Still, for all its flaws, there's no denying the quality of Killzone 2. It's another bona fide must-have in the PS3's ever-growing arsenal of triple-A titles.

GAME's Verdict

• Incredibly atmospheric: the most techically accomplished game around.
• Gritty, intense war-torn gunplay with super-smart enemies.
• Warzone could make Killzone 2 the PS3's best online game yet.

• Co-op is a massive omission - Killzone 2 seems designed for it, yet it's not there.
  
• The weapon quota feels a little unbalanced.
• Slightly derivative of other big-name shooters.

Review by: Mark 'Scolar' Scott
Version Tested: PS3
Review Published: 03.02.09