It's no secret all the pre-release fuss over Killzone 2 stems from the game's graphics. It was showcased at Sony's original Playstation 3 unveiling and it absolutely blew the minds of gamers. Literally brain matter flying out the back of our skulls. Debate was raged on message boards for a long time whether the footage Sony showed was in-game or a pre-rendered cutscene. Sony promised the video to be actual in-game footage and having now played Killzone 2 on my own high definition television I can report they were telling the truth. Killzone 2's graphics are outstanding. To be more precise--the environmental graphics of Killzone 2 are the new standard for next generation gaming. Nothing else even comes close. Everything from the particle effects of dust and debris flying through the air, to the the water at the river front, to the banged up buildings you come across during your invasion of Helghan, it all looks in-f*ckin'-credible. Even the gun models look eerily realistic though they aren't any models we've seen in real life. The only downside to the graphics is the actual character models of Killzone 2. While the real-time lighting on each character in the game is unrivaled, the actual animations for people are a bit stiff. People run like they either have a load in their pants or are going for the gold in Olympic power-walking, and the facial animations don't sync up with the voice acting at all which in turn makes the facial expressions look like something from a original Xbox or PS2 game.

It also doesn't help that anything said by the cast of Killzone 2 isn't worth listening to. It's all bland, generic war speak littered with cuss words to make these soldiers seem more hardened, but they just end up sounding like apes and completely detach the player from the squad he's rolling with. Where the Gears of War franchise gave each of it's Alpha Squad distinct personalities--however outrageous and over-the-top they were--Killzone 2 gives its character nothing besides the mouths of sailors. They are pretty much all assholes with shitty dialogue. The only one that shows a glimmer of humanity is the main character, Sev. Though his story arc isn't developed nearly as much as it should have been. The game is one of those "what is it all for" type of war stories but doesn't dig enough into the heart of the subject to make the single player campaign a worthwhile adventure. Yes, you do get thrown into some kick-ass, epic gunfights and scenarios on your pursuit to arrest the leader of the Helghan forces, Visari, but by the time the credits roll you won't be blown away by the quality of how you got there.

The real reason to pick up Killzone 2 is for its amazingly fun multiplayer. While multiplayer is never my ideal reason to throw down $60 for a game, it's easily the explanation why the Killzone 2 disc continues to spin in my PS3 well past 2 a.m. on a work night. What is so unique about the KZ2 multiplayer is that in the course of one online game you will play every game-type it offers. So don't worry about choosing whether to play secure a location, deathmatch, or a capture the flag variant, because you will play them all at once. The game cycles through each play-type with roughly five minute intervals by default. So you could be slaughtering bitches to earn your team a win in that game-type when the announcer comes over the loudspeaker and says that you now have to defend a set amount of locations from the enemy. It's an awesome dynamic to multiplayer and keeps the game fresh throughout. If you need any more convincing just know that I entered one game the other night and it lasted for over an hour because the creator of the lobby made each play-type 20 minutes and I never got bored once. I played the entire thing and was happy to do so.

The multiplayer is also class based--where new classes are earned by a leveling system much like Call of Duty 4. While there aren't as many levels as Call of Duty, there is just as much incentive to push on and level up because the later classes in the game do indeed kick-ass. While FPS players are no strangers to the medic, engineer, and sniper classes, Killzone 2 gives them all a number of clever twists to spice up the norm. For example, the sniper class, or "scouts" in KZ2, has the ability to wear a cloaking shroud making them invisible as long as they don't move. Once they do start to change position, the cloak begins to reveal the player depending how fast they run. The scout is also able to reach high ground, target a number of enemies and relay their positions back to his entire team via the map. While I haven't reached this rank yet (it's the final one) I do plan to put in the time to unlock it because it sounds like too much fun to pass up. And that's only one of five classes to unlock.

And finally, something definitely worth touching on are the controls for Killzone 2. They are just plain awkward right out of the box. The default look sensitivities just don't give players the comfort levels they should have playing an fps. You pick up a game like Call of Duty 4 and you feel right at home with how it controls, Killzone 2 feels nothing like that. It took me the entire campaign, some researching on the internet, and a lot of practice online to reach a point where I was even comfortable moving, let alone hitting a target. This is probably the area most needing of an update by Guerrilla Games because I'm not the only one that feels this way. Besides the online community, I have a number of friends who all picked up the game and spent a significant amount of time tweaking the controls to something resembling how most fps games control. So get prepared to spend some time in the options menu fixing, testing, and fixing some more.

Final Word:
Even with a sub-par campaign, and controls that require an insane learning curve even for the most experienced fps players, Killzone 2 wins out with its stellar, and addictive online mode. While the lack of a party system is a bummer, making playing with friends a bit of a hassle, the game's fresh take on incorporating all standard fps online game-types into one massive 32 battle is a stroke of genius that keeps the experience fresh every single round. It also helps that the graphics during online play look as crisp as those found in the single player campaign and are sure to make your friends jealous of you owning a PS3 when they walk by you playing this beauty. If you love playing game's with others world-wide, and are a fan of first person shooters, then you owe it to yourself to try out Killzone 2.

CraveOnline Rating: 8.5 out of 10