For my first post (hopefully the first of many) I am going to give my first impressions on a couple of video games I find myself playing lately.
Killzone 2 (PlayStation 3) - The sequel to the hailed "Halo-killer" for the PS2 that disappointed many who looked for something to kick Master Chief in the teeth. It should be noted that I never played the first game despite being a PS2 owner and never owned an original Xbox. I believe the Killzone 2 is going to pull off its Halo-killer status, even if it is technically only going up against Halo Wars and/or Halo 3: ODST . Granted, I am only a couple levels into the story, but it has kept me going back even after I get tagged by the Helghast and decide to give it a break. The first-person cover system works incredibly well, and gives a nice change of pace from Gears of War style third-person pop and shoot or even the mostly-first-person Rainbow Six: Vegas series. It is obvious how it competes with the Halo series with its vehicle sections, and the fact that your character is constantly thrown into cut-scenes from a theatrical point of view. The problem with Sergeant Tomas "Sev" Sevchenko, the protagonist of Killzone 2 (notably not the protagonist from the first game) is that he isn't a hugely armored super soldier--he looks just like every other grunt marine you're fighting alongside. I wasn't sure which person I was until nearly the second level. The Sixaxis controls are interesting, but they could easily be better used with good-old button pressing. The control controversies I've heard about are somewhat truthful. The controls do lag a bit, but I didn't sense it hugely impeding my skill at the game except when it came to doing melee attacks when I press the button after sprinting up for the kill and discovering I'm swinging at air and the Helghast has now run behind me and is certainly making feel very bad for what I tried to do to him. Knowing my skill at first-person shooters (which I like to believe is considerable) I humored the idea that I was unwittingly compensating for the controls running about 100ms slower than most games. To test this, I jumped into a multiplayer game as I have heard the lag hurts especially when playing against real people as opposed to AI. Here is where I should probably say this: I am not a huge fan of multiplayer. I will play it, but it is not the driving source behind my buying of games. I played Halo 3 because I wanted to finish the story, not because I wanted to shoot people in customizable Spartan armor with a shotgun after I spawn-camped and I never rose above the rank of Sergeant because I just didn't care enough. I played Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 because...well, that's a bad example. I played that because everyone I worked with said it kicked ass and I wanted to give it a shot. The point is, I actually really liked the story, and I even enjoyed the Terrorist Hunts a whole hell of a lot but never got into the other multiplayer modes. Gears of War multiplayer always bothered me and I never got into it, except for Gears of War 2 had Horde which seemed like reverse T-Hunts, and that was awesome. Metal Gear Solid 4, my pick for best game of 2008, I never played multiplayer. The point is I do not buy games for multiplayer capabilities. The single-player is what sells it, the multiplayer is a bonus, and that's if I even care to try it. The multiplayer for Killzone 2 is so fun I had to stop playing it after three games because I knew that if I didn't, I wouldn't go to class in the morning. Maybe it's because I scored an average of 30 points a game, something I could never do in Halo but I loved playing as the ISA going up against the Helghast being controlled by actual people and playing mini-objectives in each map to be added to the quintessential "shoot dudes"--which was sometimes the mini-objective too. The cover system was taken out of multiplayer, which added the need for creative thinking and more tactics from you and your squad of other PS3 owners, most of whom did not spring for the bluetooth headset. The ones who did, though, were very good about giving useful information about enemy location, objective status, and where the hell those grenades are coming from--a nice change from whiny-voiced kids telling me not to kill them in Halo 3 because their mom is calling them on the phone. And not one person corpse-humped me, which I appreciated. Overall, I think Killzone 2 is going to keep me occupied for a while, both with its story and online multiplayer. I may even play through it a second time if it continues impressing me this first playthrough.
Flower (PlayStation 3) - Only available on the PlayStation Network, Flower is made by thatgamecompany, who also created flOw, another title I never played but still led to a game I have found myself playing as of late. Flower works similarly to Everyday Shooter in that what you are doing directly creates music for the game. It runs completely using the Sixaxis control to speed the wind through the grass picking up flower petals and making flowers bloom. It is currently the number 2 download on the PSN, right behind Noby Noby Boy, so one has to think that it may actually be something special. And it is! Not in the way that Earthbound is special because if you find it at a collector's store, it still costs $150 without the original box or any form of dust-jacket, but in the way that Braid for the Xbox Live Arcade is special. It is unlike anything I've played before, but that may be because I never played flOw. The Sixaxis control is interesting, if not fun but that's because I dislike what the Sixaxis does to most PS3 games. It doesn't hurt Flower, but it would be nice to have the option of using the analog stick. The game is all about introspection and creativity and relaxing--something most games don't endure to, but thatgamecompany is out for something different. I am very much a fan of the games-as-art movement we find ourselves in if you look hard enough, and I believe this game does a good job without being too pretentious. Again, I've only played the first level or so, but how much different can each flower's dream be from the other?That's it for my first post. I'm not sure how long reviews are generally going to read, but the Killzone 2 does seem a bit long. I guess that's to be expected as I try to explain my biases and preferences on the first go of it. Thanks for reading. Hopefully more will be up in time.
-Evan "Dez" O'Connor
PSN: Dark_P0rtal
Xbox Live: DarkP0rtal
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