» first person shooter

So I’ve been playing Killzone 2 since it came out and I want to write about my thoughts on this game, compare to Call of Duty 4. The reason why I’m comparing KZ2 with COD4 is because of how much time I spent on both of these first person shooter online, obviously with COD 4 having more time logged.

Although Killzone 2 is a great game, intense game play and graphics, I am starting to see myself getting bored of it as oppose to keep on playing and playing for as long as I can see in the case of COD4. The levelling system is great for Killzone 2, until you have maxed out your level and unlocked all the badges (engineer, medic, scout, saboteur, assault and tactician). Then there are badge specific ribbons such as getting 5 kills using turrets you deployed, repairing objects or reviving your teammates and you will gain other power-ups or unlock abilities for each completion.

So far, I have only completed the engineer badge and have the other 5 plus the default rifleman’s ribbons to complete. Don’t get me wrong, I will continue to play Killzone 2. But it just isn’t able to capture my interest level as much as when I first started playing it. On the other hand, Call of Duty 4 has managed to keep my interest level constant if not higher, and I have to admit I am starting to miss COD4. One reason I know is that you can keep grinding your level for a long time, I have yet to reach the max prestige level. And also the fact that I prefer modern weaponry over any other weapons.

This is just my thoughts after playing Killzone 2 for a while, and for those that are still debating whether to buy this game or not or if this is better than Call of Duty 4 (not sure about World at War, that’s a different story), hope this will help you out a little. Its definitely a game worth buying but just not as good as Call of Duty 4. Again, that is only my opinion though!

After watching all the trailers of The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena from Gametrailers.com I was really impressed by the game and without hesitation, I downloaded the demo on PlayStation Network tonight. And after playing the rather short demo, I was left with a huge disappointment. Maybe its just me but this game for sure isn’t for me.

The weapons, specifically the guns, look basic to me, although the clip-popping-reload is pretty awesome to watch every time you reload.

While this game supports 1080p full HD and I do have to say the ship’s interior, lighting as well as character’s facial details are all impressive, I give them that. But during the demo I noticed Riddick had jagged shoulders as oppose to smooth round ones. As I said the lighting is great but Riddick’s shadow was way too sharp in my opinion, I would think shadows would be a little blurry.

You get 4 blocks of health but I don’t like the fact that once you completely deplete one or more blocks, even if you rest, you won’t gain back the lost blocks. So say you lost two and a half blocks of health, even if you rested you would only regain the half block’s health and you would have 2 blocks all together. I also don’t understand why when you die, which is rather easy because of the way you heal, I once died and when I restarted from the checkpoint, I was left with 1 block of health. After dying for a couple more times, I got 2 blocks of health instead. Why is that? Isn’t it common sense that you restart with full health?

The stealth feature is “ok” but no where near Metal Gear Solid level. Finally I also don’t like the iPod-styled weapon select screen where you select weapons by rotating the right analog stick which I found a bit too unresponsive.

All and all, The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena might not live up to the hype it has generated thus far. I guess download the demo and see for yourselves. I know this game isn’t for me, I’m pretty sure.

So finally I finished the single player side of Killzone 2, let me tell you, I have never played a first person shooter so intense for a long time. I can even say its more intense than Call of Duty 4 (sorry didn’t buy World at War). Then again COD 4 came out more than a year ago so its not fair to compare directly.

It took me roughly 7 hours and 15 minutes (3 days span) to complete the single player. The game gets really difficult and frustrating towards the end even in Trooper mode (which is for those with some FPS experience). There are four in total Recruit, Trooper, Veteran and Elite. I can’t really imagine myself playing anything harder than Trooper as it was hard enough, for me at least. The AIs are so random I had trouble fighting them and again a job well done to the developers. Sometimes they hide behind and wait for you, sometimes they will just rush you from different directions and sometimes throwing grenades at you to flush you out just to mention a few “moves” that us human players do.

Right after I finished the game, I immediately jumped into the Skirmish mode, which is basically the multiplayer game but instead you are playing with all AIs, or bots. I like this feature because I can practice on my shooting skills as well as getting familiar with the maps that you will be playing.

Killzone 2 has done a great job on the multiplayer side of the game. It incorporates similar leveling structure as COD with the experience points, you will unlock more weapons and such as you level your way up. I had my first run of the “real” multiplayer last night and I sucked big time with barely a 1:1 kill/death ratio or negative ratio. Mainly because I am still not use to the controls, the zoom/melee buttons still mess me up once in a while. Before you actually start playing, you can pick the games based on which type of missions you want such as Body Count which is really team deathmatch, search and destroy, protect VIP etc. What Killzone 2 offers differently instead of joining games that only play one of the mission types. You can join games that will play all of the mission types (I believe there are 5 in total) on a best out of three basis. The transition between missions are seamless, once the current one is done, you will immediately be playing the next mission with clear objectives.

You can also pick the games you like to join based on how many people per game. Up to 32 people can play in a single game which is extremely fun because more people equates to more killing and making it more of a battle than a mere gun fight with only a few people. Although the battles are not as intense as the single player due to the large map size but nevertheless its still extremely fun. I also did not notice ANY lag at all when playing the 32 player game which is an extra plus.

[Update @ March 9th]
I have also unlocked 2 badge abilities, which are basically different job classes. I have unlocked the medic and engineer class. The medic will let you revive your friendly by “zapping” them, at a distance. While this is very useful, it is can also be annoying. As greatful as I am for those reviving me I really prefer you leave me alone and let me rot instead of reviving me in the middle of the battle field where grenades and bullets are raining down like crazy. Chances are, 90% of the time I will get hit again and die right away AGAIN. Ammo is pretty scarce in this game if you don’t have an engineer capable of reparing the ammo crate, takes a lot of ammo to take one guy down if using sub machine guns, unless you can do headshots all the time. The ammo problem is even more obvious when you first started without the ammo bonus. You really have to think before you shoot. So therefore, sometimes I prefer to die and get me some fresh ammo instead of returning to the battle with an empty gun and potentially die again while looking / picking up a gun.

Engineer is pretty fun in my opinion, you get to build turrets (there is a timer before you can build another one) that will shoot at any enemies, though not as strong and quick as you they are still capable of giving you a few kills through out the game. Placement is important, you don’t want to just place them anywhere but rather at choke points or places where you need to defend, specially when you are playing Search and Destroy, or Capture and Hold. I can’t wait until I level up to be able to repair the ammo grate because I really hate having so little ammo. Then again if you play as an Engineer, you start out with a shotgun with full ammo. Its also a good way to practice your shotgun skills, something I majorly lack, because either you kill or be killed if you miss your first shot.

After finishing the single player and starting my online multiplayer quest to be the best (near impossible!) for Killzone 2. I highly recommend this game to anyone that are into first person shooter, more so for the sci-fi fans because this is the Halo killer, or at least on par with Halo, for the PlayStation 3. It is definitely worth the $59.99+ tax price tag consider it comes with a long-lasting multiplayer game that will keep you busy for a long time, and this is coming out from a guy that doesn’t just go out there and buy any games.

I actually downloaded the demo for Killzone 2 last night just to make sure this game was worth it, and I was right about getting this game. Finally, another worthy PlayStation 3 exclusive added to my collection. I will divide the review into two parts, the single player which I will cover today and the multiplayer part at a later date. I think its a good idea to get used to the game play first before going online against the “pros”. Oh, and for those who have never heard of Killzone 2, its a sci-fi first person shooter first appeared on the PlayStation 2 and a sequel, Killzone: Liberation on the PlayStation Portable PSP.

Game play and story
The story takes place in a planet called Helghan, the Helghast invaded Interplanetary Strategic Alliance (ISA) colony. Two years later, the ISA launched a counter attack on Helghast’s homeworld Helghan and in an attempt to capture the Helghast leader to bring the war to an end. Its a pretty straight forward bad vs evil scenario. That’s the “crash” version of the story. For more info on Killzone, visit the wiki for the game.

  

The control scheme is one of my “minor” complaints for this otherwise perfect sci-fi first person shooter. Probably because I’ve spent too much time playing Call of Duty 4 and got used to the COD 4 controls, after about 2 hours of intense battles I am still having trouble getting used to the controls. Although there are different schemes to choose from, there isn’t really one that fits me perfect like Call of Duty 4 and there is no customization at all which forces players to adapt to one of the preset control schemes. For example, the crouch and take cover is now L2 as oppose to circle in COD 4 which is, in my opinion, much more convenient. L1 is now your close combat which is another inconvenient setup. As a result I constantly mix up the zoom and close combat buttons during gun fights which are mostly intense. I guess I just have to get used to it, its just a matter of time.

Initially I thought the AIs in Killzone 2 were pretty dumb based on the trailers I’ve seen. But I was wrong, the AIs are actually pretty competitive, they will hide, or even camp a bit and wait for you. When in groups, one will throw a grenade at you and the other will charge towards you. They will also take cover and perform blind shots at you. You can take cover as well but I find it a little bit slow, you have to hold L2 to stay covered and you need to move your aim outward so that you can shoot while staying partially covered. You can also zoom in while in this mode but its easy to mess this up. So don’t think about going all Rambo at the AIs because chances are you won’t be able to last long, specially when there is no auto aim like COD. Also one thing to point out is that your movements are much slower compare to COD even if you max out the x and y axis sensitivity, in COD you are much more agile, even with the light machine gun. I guess its because you are wearing all these sci-fi gears so it makes sense that you move slower.

Just like COD, you can cook your grenades by holding down the throw button, what Killzone 2 does better than COD is that there is an indicator on the grenade that will tell you how “cooked” the grenade is.

  

Beside the grenades, there are also your standard rifles, rocket launcher, mounted machine guns (MG) which you can take cover behind as well as driving a tank. I don’t like the way they name the rifles though which consist of a bunch of letters and numbers which makes it hard, at least for me, to know which gun I have currently. By the way, you can only have one primary gun and a secondary hand gun which has unlimited ammo, but pretty weak.

  

There are instances where you will have to utilize the SIXAXIS controller to perform operations like rotating a valve or planting a bomb on the door. These little things add up and make the game more interesting and so you are not just running and shooting all the time.

I have finished 2 levels so far, and in between levels, the loading screen can also be tilted like a hologram with your SIXAXIS controller. Its pretty neat because you can do “something” while waiting for it to load. I have no problem with the loading screen between levels but I really hate the sudden lag cause by the load between sections within the same level.

Graphics and audio
The graphics are simply amazing and jaw dropping. Although the game only runs on 720p as oppose to full HD 1080p at max, the details of the characters (specially the Helghast), the buildings, landscapes and vehicles are all very detailed. I particularly love blowing up air tanks or gas barrels, watch the explosions and the enemies fly in all directions.

In the audio department, nothing has impressed me yet so far. In my opinion, the conversations between your comrades and enemies feel “lively” with all the F and S words flying all over the place, but not overly used. Your enemies will also “talk” to you during gun fights so again you are not just running around and shooting things.

Final verdict
Killzone 2, a near perfect sci-fi first person shoot will not disappoint existing Killzone fans as well as fans of first person shooter. If you are looking for something different from the COD or Halo series, Killzone 2 will be your perfect alternative. By no means I am not saying Killzone 2 is superior compare to the two series but its a nice change of style, more so when comparing to the COD series. If you are still debating, stop waiting and download the demo!
9/10

The original F.E.A.R was such a great game because it combined first person shooter with horror, perfect for survival horror game fan like me. And I am not talking about cheap scare, the original game did in fact make me jump a few times and so did F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin. I can assure you all the Japanese horror movies I have watched have trained me to the point where I am pretty immune to scary moments.

  

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, is the sequel of the original F.E.A.R, once again puts you as one of the members of the F.E.A.R team and the demo starts you off outside of a school right after a helicopter crash. The controls are a bit different than Call of Duty which took me a while to get used to. There were a few annoying moments when I mixed up the controls such as pressing down by accident and wasting medic kits (which you can only carry three at any time) or throwing grenades instead of firing the gun because the functions for R1 and R2 are different for COD and F.E.A.R. Then again its not the game’s fault, its just me, just wanted to rant.

You can carry up to four weapons and four different types of grenades at a time. The demo lets you experience with quite a few weapons. The weapons are the usual sub machine gun, assault rifle, rocket launcher, sniper, shotgun and laser gun. Which is not a bad thing really. Again you can carry up to three medic kits with you at a time. One thing I like and haven’t seen before is the option to kick down a table or open a car door for some extra cover. The AIs are actually pretty fast and smart (or maybe I just getting old and slow), but nothing too hard to take out. Another neat feature is the slow motion, while its not anything new, its been around since the Max Payne time. It never gets old blowing up enemies up close and personal while in slow mo!

  

I’m sure most of you have seen trailers of the ass-kicking Elite Powered Armor Suits in action. And guess what? The last part of the demo lets you pilot this ass-kicking suit and you get to spray some machine gun bullets (the twin gun overheat if you spray non-stop!) plus firing four missiles together which will self reload. I don’t like the fact that you have to fire all four at the same time instead of one at a time. Other than that, the suit fight is the most enjoyable part of the entire demo.

The game also managed to give me a few scared jumps, which is a good sign because that means the game is pretty scary. Like I said I don’t get scared easily.

In the graphics department, compare to Dead Space, which is another great horror shooter (third person), in my opinion, Dead Space has better textures. The lighting is pretty nicely rendered though.

I actually want to point out the special effects are impressive. One that impressed me the most was when you are walking along the school’s hallway, all of a sudden all light bulbs pop and lockers flapping violently. The effects really help create a scary atmosphere. And Alma, well, she’s back and doing a good job scaring us when we least expect!

Overall I think the game is decent, I can’t say its good enough that is worth buying as soon as it comes out. For those haven’t tried the demo, go get it and see for yourself.

Gametrailers.com has released several jaw-dropping trailers for Killzone 2, the long awaited first person shooter that will be, based on both Gametrailers.com and EBGames.com, released on Feb 27th. If all goes well, this will be the first game to get in 2009 for PlayStation 3.

This trailer shows off some amazing game plays as well as giving us a glimpse of piloting a walking tank with rocket launcher and machine gun for some crazy destruction. Although its a “cam” version, you can still no doubt see this game is pretty high quality. From the, in my opinion, realistic enemy deaths, to extremely detailed environments. But one question still haunts me is how good the AIs are going to respond to you and the environments, from what I can remember from previous trailers, the AIs are somewhat dull and stupid. I certainly hope I am wrong!

This one called Ballet of Death, also a “cam” version shows off how enemies die in a very artistic way with classy background music. You can see the death animations are nicely designed in slow motion.

And finally the amazing cinematic intro

There are many people saying Killzone 2 is going to be the Halo killer. While I believe this game is going to be blockbuster, unless something goes wrong….again, where a game cannot live up to the hype it generates. Either way, I won’t quite call it a Halo killer, since Halo its just as amazing and so its more like the PlayStation 3 version of Halo. Come to think of it, then it becomes somewhat insulting to all the PS3 fans in my opinion if I put it that way. Therefore I’m going to simply leave it as PlayStation 3′s own blockbuster and exclusive first person shooter. Can this be one of the signature games for PS3? I guess we will have to wait and find out when the full version comes out or if Guerrilla decides to release the rumored demo.

Movie source: Gametrailers.com

Fallout 3 has been released for almost a month now and having just finished the game last night I thought I would write my thoughts about this game instead of an actual review. Oh by the way I actually finished the game a little too fast, I still have tons of unexplored places and quests to check out I just didn’t expect to end so fast. Still, I would say I have spent more than 20 hours by going through some of the sub quests along the way.

Developed by Bethesda Game Studios, Fallout 3 is really similar to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion except this time the story takes place in a post-apocalyptic United States in the year 2277 instead of in the medieval time. So you will be fighting your way through using guns most of the time and occasionally melee weapons like swords, sledgehammer and baseball bats. Graphicwise, while Oblivion looked amazing I think its safe to say that Fallout 3 looks even better because I can really feel I’m in a post-apocalyptic world with almost everything in rubbles, ashes and more than 50% of the time you will be exploring underground places. I don’t see why it shouldn’t be anyway given one was released more than 2 years ago.

  

Let’s forget about the graphics for a second, I still prefer Fallout 3 over Oblivion because of the time period the story takes place. I much prefer modern to future than going back in time and also prefer guns over magic. So if you don’t have these preferences and you have played Oblivion before then its pretty safe to say you will like Fallout 3 for sure. What I also like about Fallout 3 is the fact that there’s a VAT System which allows you to aim at specific body parts, it also tells you the percentage of success. At first when I saw the trailers demonstrating this system I thought it was going to be an overpowered feature. I can assure you its not because using the system will drain your AP (Action Points) so you can’t really use it again and again over a short period of time without replenishing your AP by using AP healing items. Normally you will have to wait for AP to naturally replenish itself. It might be a bit of an overpowered feature if you are playing on very easy to easy mode. When you are playing in harder difficulties you will need this feature when fighting against multiple enemies.

  

So I guess my point really boils down to whether you are into this time period or not, provided you played and actually liked Oblivion. Fallout 3 is a must for you if you liked it and either have no preference or are into modern-future time period and/or you prefer guns over magic.

  

I hope this little article will help you in deciding whether to get this game or not. And I always wonder if there will be a MMO version of either Oblivion or Fallout in the future.

I just checked out two trailers from Gametrailers and I must say I am disappointed at the game play and graphics of the co-op and head to head trailers. It just doesn’t feel as intense and fun as Call of Duty: World at War, not even Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare to be honest. If I had to choose between the two, I would most likely pick Call of Duty: World at War over Resistance 2. I don’t care if R2 is exclusive, speaking of exclusive, this is just sad for the PS3 if this turns out not too positive. Gears of War 2 on the other hand looks promising for both single and multiplayer campaigns, no I’m not an xbox360 fanboy, as a matter of fact I don’t even own an xbox, only a PS3, but I am sharing with you guys with my honest opinions. And I didn’t like these two trailers that much, they were nothing more than machine gun spamming 80% of the time.

But if I remember correctly, the single player campaign looked good though. As a side note, I SHOULD be getting my copy of Little Big Planet anytime soon now. Stay tuned for my review!

This is from the single player campaign posted a while ago: