Table of Contents:
- > Days 1 & 2 - Killzone (PS2) <
- Days 3-5 - Killzone (PS3 Remaster): L1-5
- Days 6-8 - Killzone (PS3 remaster): L6-11 (KZ1 Finale)
if you saw me make this post, you'll know that i'm attempting to make my way through the killzone franchise b/c my brain's got the worms real bad. so i'm writing up some of my notes and sharing them casually with the internet b/c why not
i did take quite a bit of time between my first two days of this project and day 3, so this will probably explain why!
- Days 1 & 2 - 7 & 8 Nov 2022
- Game covered: Killzone (PS2)
- Levels covered: 1 & 2
so i started off by playing the PS2 version! released in 2004, it...absolutely feels like what i expected of console shooters at the time in terms of performance
i run into a major problem right away, which is: the framerate. the game looks fine if not a bit dark/muddy for a PS2 title in stills, but in motion (esp. frantic firefights) the framerate dips a lot. this wouldn't be so bad if the head-bob wasn't intense while moving and the shooting controls didn't feel so sluggish and heavy at first. all of this combines to a very frantic aiming system that feels stiff & rough, and I died...a lot on the first level and my first attempt at level 2
on the subject of the weight of guns though: right stick sensitivity can be adjusted so that solves my main problem with the gunplay itself, because otherwise it's weirdly satisfying? guns have a realistic weight and recoil to them when you aim/shoot, and thus you have to compensate for that when actually lining up your shots. it takes a bit of getting used to given my limited FPS experience, but it's easy to compensate for!
the intro level plays out a lot like a standard WW2 movie, with cutscenes at the beginning barely explaining where we are (on a planet that some giant coalition has as a colony) while dropping Nazi imagery with regards to the Helghast's speech (on the nose but hey). this lack of term defining probably gets cleared up more later on but i def had to look at the manual to get some context as to what the situation is. all the first chapter really does is add an intergalactic sci-fi sheen to what is essentially WW2. not like that's a problem, it's just interesting given what i typically have experienced in AAA game narratives at this point in my life
i attempted to play as much of this as i could on the PS2 original version over these two days. i kept dying on the first stage of level 2 even with me taking into account that this is a lot more tactically-minded of a game rather than a rushdown run & gun, and a lot of it was due to the performance issues combined with its blurry head-bobby presentation making me feel a little bit of motion sickness.
it's a good intro to the game on a gameplay front, as it does establish that you're not doing things alone (always surrounded by others, but they can also die) and that you can't rush in expecting to have good results. but those performance issues convinced me to give the PS3 remaster included in the Killzone Trilogy Collection a shot
after one level on the PS3, i've made the switch. starting with day 3 notes will be on the PS3 version of Killzone 1!