As with any FPS, one of the major rules of Killzone is that -if you die, game over, you must restart the level and try to fail less. At least, this is the case for the story mode. There are several non-story modes where, if you die, you respawn in just a few seconds and are ready to go at it again.
In the non-story modes, such as Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch, the player has a lot of control over some of the in-game rules and properties for the upcoming battle. You can:
Select the amount of NPCs on your side
Select the amount of NPCs on the enemy's side
Determine the AI difficulty (easy, normal, hard)
Select if you want friendly fire on or off
Select which of several maps you'll be playing in
Determine how a match ends (either a time limit, first to 100, 200 kills...)
Choose whether or not NPC names will be under them when in a certain range.
In Killzone, as in many an FPS, the character(s) have health and armor. When you or anyone is hit, their armor decreases, if they have no armor, their health decreases, when they have no health, they are dead. Some weapons, or hits are enough to kill someone with one blow even when they have max armor and health, say from a rocket from a rocket launcher. An important to know feature in Killzone is that you can kill yourself if you aren't careful (or any number of reasons) and do something such as shooting a rocket into a wall 4 feet away from you. You will die, and if in the story mode, must restart the level from start, or if in the Battlegrounds missions, will respawn, but your awesome rocket launcher will be gone.
When the PS2 and XBox came out, there was an altering in interaction. At least in FPS's, and maybe not all, but certainly the ones I play. They make use of the shoulder buttons -- L1, L2, R1, R2. In Killzone, R1 and R2 are your weapon fire/use buttons, and most weapons have 2 fire modes, a primary and a secondary. Some examples:
ISA standard assault rifle- Primary:machine gun-ish. Secondary:Grendae laucher(holds 1 until used)
Helghast assault rifle- Primary:machine gun. Secondary:shot gun shell (holds 1 until used)
Shotgun- Primary:shoot one shell. Secondary:shoot two shells. The shotgun is interesting, as the player can hit R1 and R2 at the same time and manage to shoot 3 shells from the gun at once when theres only two barrel holes. Shooting 3 shells at once is essentially guaranteed to kill you target if they all hit, but the shotgun only holds 8 shells before needing to be reloaded, so thats nearly half your ammo used. (You can store more ammo on you though, this is the case with all the weapons, save a select few, such as the knives.)
ISA rocket launcher- Primary: Shoot a rocket. Secondary: Shoot a laser guided rocket.
Helghast rocket launcher- Primary:Shoot a rocet. Secondary: Shoot ALL THREE rockets!!!
There is an interesting mechanic in the game... In the story mode, you can play as one of four characters, three being humans and one being half-human, half-helghast. The humans can use their weapons just fine, but when they pick up a Helghast assault weapon from a fallen foe and start using it, they will experience significat recoil. When Hakha (the half n' half guy) uses this weapon, he gets very little recoil, but when using the other weapons, experiences more recoil than the others. Missions can be rather long, so you are bound to run out of ammo.. you would be forced to pick up the dead enemies' weapons and use them, but there tends to be a few deposits of ISA weaponry and ammo on the various maps/missions, often next to dead comrades. So, for the most part, the player can choose which weapon will be their primary weapon- the ISA or the Helghast machine guns, or the chaingun or semi-silent half-sniper rifle gun... until those two run out of ammo, and they have significantly less pickups than the assault rifles.
The characters each have their own strengths and weaknesses creating a good game balance.
Jan- the every-guy. He can run a decent amount of time, climb ladders, crawl through vents and some other tight spots.
Luger- the small, flexible assassin- can run the longest, climb ladders and rope (while holding a gun..), fit into the smallest spots.
Rico- he is the slowest of them all. he can not climb ladders, and certainly not rope or wires. He can not even crouch down and go through some vents or any small openings. But he can hold a lot more ammo than the others and is the best at using the heavy artillery, such as his chain/rocket gun.
Hahka- also a middle road kinda guy. He's the best at using Helghast weaponry but is slightly worse with human weapons. He can also bypass Helghast security thingies, such as trip-lasers rigged to bombs that will kill anyone who sets them off. He also regenerates his health faster than the others, while in down-time (not running around shooting up the place)
The story is a 1player mode. The battlegrounds is 1-2players, locally. If you have your PS2 connected to the interwebs, you can play with / against other people online, something I have never done with this game. 2 Player mode splits the screen, making it semi-harder to tell what is going on in your section, as is the way with nearly all FPSs.
One of my favorite things to do in the Battles mode is to grab me up the Sniper rifle and head up several stories of the biggest building on a particular map- I come out on a little balcony like area and can see something like 60-70% of the entire map from one position. Zoom in with the sniper rifle and you can see very, very far, with great detail. Sniping is fun.. foes have no idea where you are (if they are NPCs) and die with a single hit. Now, since this would be too easy, they made the sniper rifle one of the hardest guns to use. Its actually a Helghan weapon in this game, and therefore has an orange tint on the scope that matches their little goggles. Aiming is very difficult to do, especially at first, and I'm not even sure how to describe it. ...The crosshairs lag.. and you won't move them for a little bit, and then all of a sudden you've overshot your target, aiming at one side of them to the other. It takes a bit getting used to, but once you are, is oh so lethal. You can shoot 6 bullets before needing to reload and can only hold about 18 on you, so it can go rather fast, luckily, there is a sniper rifle bullet pickup mere feet from the location I like to use.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Killzone: Characters. That's the best I could come up with.
There are 4 main characters in the story and 3 lesser main ones.. and they all make their contributions.
Playables (main) -- (Jan's Crew)
-----
Captain Jan Templar - the leader of the pack. He is essentially asked to save the world and along his trip runs into an old friend and they continue on the mission (the friend is Luger who is now playable) Jan is given orders to rescue a spy with Luger and while on their way to the captive's location run across a tank and several soldiers, the two hide realizng their weapons are useless against tanks and all of a sudden some guy starts yelling and shooting at the Helghans. He blows up the tank, and shortly thereafter joins Jan and Luger, Rico is now a playable character. The three go on to rescue the spy who turns out to be the half-human, half-helghast Hakha much to their surprise and displeasure. Jan tries to keep things smooth between Rico and Hakha (he doesn't hate Hakha and knows that this group is going to have to work together if they are to succeed.) When it is revealed that one of the human generals is a traitor, Jan fears for his friend, the general who sent him on his mission as well as a good friend.) Jan decides what his crew is going to do and how, for the most part, and after realizing his friend is dead, heads up into space to stop the traitor.
Shadow Marshal Luger - a cold and calculating female assassin / spy. It is revealed that Jan and her once had a semi-romantic relationship, but that ended awhile ago when she went for her training and lost many of the more human emotions. Rico notices tension between Luger and Jan, and Hakha explains what most likely happened - she was "trained to act, not feel." There does not seem to be much chance of rekindling a relationship between her and Janm but they do work well together on the battlefield.
Sergeant Rico Velasquez - the big "tough" one, he carries a large chain gun capable of destroying tanks.. He hates the Helghast more than anyone (on the crew at least). For this reason, he dislikes and distrusts Hakha, often threatening to kill or maim him, and the two constantly exchange insults throughout the game. However, as the game continues, the hatred/distrust between the two fades a little, but not entirely- they are both valuable and essential components in the team, it is only 4 people after all.
Colonel Hakha - Half human and half Helghast and a spy; for these reasons, but mainly the first, the rest of the team does not entirely trust or like him, especially Rico. Over the course of the game he proves his loyalty, from shooting a Helghast soldier when the other 3 playables find him, to figureing out who the traitor in the Human military is, and eventually killing a major Helghan general after he (the general) reveals that he personally killedHakha's brother for his pro-human ideals.
Non-playables
-----
General Bradley Vaughton - A human and friend of Jan Templar. Vaughton orders Templar and Luger to find and rescue an important person(who turns out to be Hakha.) He is betrayed by General Adams and then executed.
General Stuart Adams - Another human general, he turns out to be a traitor and hands the human's space-based weapons platform over to Helghast control and gives the order to execute General Vaughton. This of course causes some tension and overall hatred between Jan and his crew, but especially Jan.
At the end of the game, whichever of the characters you are playing will be the one to have a part in his death(although, the player doesn't kill Adams, falling debris does.)
General Joseph Lente - A general and Commander-in-chief of the Helghan army under direct command of the Helghast leader. He loathes humans and Earth and leads many of the major assaults on Vetka. After he is defeated by Jan's crew, he reveals to them (mostly Hakha) how he killed Hakha's brother. When Hakha puts a bullet in his head, his loyalties seem pretty clear to the others.
Shapes
---
There is no character triangle for romantic relationships, just a line that is faded between Jan and Luger. As there are 4 main characters, there would be mostly character squares.
One triangle would/could be Hakha-Hakha's brother(we never see)-Lente.
Hakha is a half-human half-Helghast individual, so he could belong to either side.
His brother was a pro-human idealist.
Lente, a Helghan with major human-hating qualities personally kills Hakha's brother.
Hakha now (even more so) hates Lente and the Helghast, sides with the humans, and eventually kills his brother's killer.
Jan-Vaughton-Adams
Jan and General Vaughton were friends
General Vaughton and General Adams were friends
General Adams betrays the humans and has Vaugthon murdered
Jan does not like General Adams, and goes on a mission to stop / kill the traitor.
Some of the major character developments included Hakha proving his loyalty and value to the pure humans as the game went on and Rico's hatred for Hakha lessening as Hakha proved himself, and Hakha's dislike of Rico lessening as Rico's dislike for him lessened.
The relationship between Jan and Luger is revealed a bit more as the story moves foward, as is how/why it eneded and how the two changed since then (particularly Luger).
Each of the playable characters has their own distinct weapon(s).
Jan uses a standard ISA machine gun
Luger uses a silent semi-automatic-ish semi-sniper rifle.. it is very quiet, has a good scope, shoots single rounds or can shoot several (becoming louder). She also wields a knife.
Rico uses a chain gun that holds something like 8,000 bullets as well as rockets. It is loud and big and can overheat after too much use (stopping the player from just shooting all 8,000 bullets in a minute)
Hahka uses the standard Helghast machine gun, its a little slower than Jan's gun but hits harder and holds more bullets. Like Luger, he also has a knife, though his looks more Helghany.
Playables (main) -- (Jan's Crew)
-----
Captain Jan Templar - the leader of the pack. He is essentially asked to save the world and along his trip runs into an old friend and they continue on the mission (the friend is Luger who is now playable) Jan is given orders to rescue a spy with Luger and while on their way to the captive's location run across a tank and several soldiers, the two hide realizng their weapons are useless against tanks and all of a sudden some guy starts yelling and shooting at the Helghans. He blows up the tank, and shortly thereafter joins Jan and Luger, Rico is now a playable character. The three go on to rescue the spy who turns out to be the half-human, half-helghast Hakha much to their surprise and displeasure. Jan tries to keep things smooth between Rico and Hakha (he doesn't hate Hakha and knows that this group is going to have to work together if they are to succeed.) When it is revealed that one of the human generals is a traitor, Jan fears for his friend, the general who sent him on his mission as well as a good friend.) Jan decides what his crew is going to do and how, for the most part, and after realizing his friend is dead, heads up into space to stop the traitor.
Shadow Marshal Luger - a cold and calculating female assassin / spy. It is revealed that Jan and her once had a semi-romantic relationship, but that ended awhile ago when she went for her training and lost many of the more human emotions. Rico notices tension between Luger and Jan, and Hakha explains what most likely happened - she was "trained to act, not feel." There does not seem to be much chance of rekindling a relationship between her and Janm but they do work well together on the battlefield.
Sergeant Rico Velasquez - the big "tough" one, he carries a large chain gun capable of destroying tanks.. He hates the Helghast more than anyone (on the crew at least). For this reason, he dislikes and distrusts Hakha, often threatening to kill or maim him, and the two constantly exchange insults throughout the game. However, as the game continues, the hatred/distrust between the two fades a little, but not entirely- they are both valuable and essential components in the team, it is only 4 people after all.
Colonel Hakha - Half human and half Helghast and a spy; for these reasons, but mainly the first, the rest of the team does not entirely trust or like him, especially Rico. Over the course of the game he proves his loyalty, from shooting a Helghast soldier when the other 3 playables find him, to figureing out who the traitor in the Human military is, and eventually killing a major Helghan general after he (the general) reveals that he personally killedHakha's brother for his pro-human ideals.
Non-playables
-----
General Bradley Vaughton - A human and friend of Jan Templar. Vaughton orders Templar and Luger to find and rescue an important person(who turns out to be Hakha.) He is betrayed by General Adams and then executed.
General Stuart Adams - Another human general, he turns out to be a traitor and hands the human's space-based weapons platform over to Helghast control and gives the order to execute General Vaughton. This of course causes some tension and overall hatred between Jan and his crew, but especially Jan.
At the end of the game, whichever of the characters you are playing will be the one to have a part in his death(although, the player doesn't kill Adams, falling debris does.)
General Joseph Lente - A general and Commander-in-chief of the Helghan army under direct command of the Helghast leader. He loathes humans and Earth and leads many of the major assaults on Vetka. After he is defeated by Jan's crew, he reveals to them (mostly Hakha) how he killed Hakha's brother. When Hakha puts a bullet in his head, his loyalties seem pretty clear to the others.
Shapes
---
There is no character triangle for romantic relationships, just a line that is faded between Jan and Luger. As there are 4 main characters, there would be mostly character squares.
One triangle would/could be Hakha-Hakha's brother(we never see)-Lente.
Hakha is a half-human half-Helghast individual, so he could belong to either side.
His brother was a pro-human idealist.
Lente, a Helghan with major human-hating qualities personally kills Hakha's brother.
Hakha now (even more so) hates Lente and the Helghast, sides with the humans, and eventually kills his brother's killer.
Jan-Vaughton-Adams
Jan and General Vaughton were friends
General Vaughton and General Adams were friends
General Adams betrays the humans and has Vaugthon murdered
Jan does not like General Adams, and goes on a mission to stop / kill the traitor.
Some of the major character developments included Hakha proving his loyalty and value to the pure humans as the game went on and Rico's hatred for Hakha lessening as Hakha proved himself, and Hakha's dislike of Rico lessening as Rico's dislike for him lessened.
The relationship between Jan and Luger is revealed a bit more as the story moves foward, as is how/why it eneded and how the two changed since then (particularly Luger).
Each of the playable characters has their own distinct weapon(s).
Jan uses a standard ISA machine gun
Luger uses a silent semi-automatic-ish semi-sniper rifle.. it is very quiet, has a good scope, shoots single rounds or can shoot several (becoming louder). She also wields a knife.
Rico uses a chain gun that holds something like 8,000 bullets as well as rockets. It is loud and big and can overheat after too much use (stopping the player from just shooting all 8,000 bullets in a minute)
Hahka uses the standard Helghast machine gun, its a little slower than Jan's gun but hits harder and holds more bullets. Like Luger, he also has a knife, though his looks more Helghany.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Killzone: A Story of Shooting Everything in Sight.
As it's been requested I ~not~ do everything about Guild Wars, I shall go back in time, for now, until I can achieve more time on other such things as new games on the new consoles... Though I continue to wait for the release of the PS4...
-----------------------
Killzone is a first person shooter that takes place pretty far in the future, the year not exactly known, but humans have begun space colonization. And that little bit of info is what feeds the game. Humans had colonized the planet Helghan, which features very harsh conditions, and the people living there had to adapt and evolve in order to survive on such a planet. They eventually became the Helghast, a human-like race with better stats and abilities. This is all well and good, except for their deep hatred towards humanity...
The humans and the Helghast are at war, and after recovering from their defeat in the First Helghan War, the Helghast launch an attack on Vetka, a human colony-planet. Jan Templar is a captain in the ISA, a human military organization and it is his task to stop this invasion and prevent the Helghast from taking over Vetka and eventually Earth. This is a pretty big job for one man, so help is working in along the way. Jan meets a former lover, Luger, now turned deadly Shadow-Marshal assassin and Rico Velasquez, a big, heavy-gun toating soldier whose entire platoon was killed. Together they kill off many a Helghast in the quest to rescue a spy, who turns out to be a half-human, half-helghast colonel with no love of the Helghast. Rico harbors a deep hatred off the Helghast, only made worse by the fact that they had just recently killed his company, so this leads to a lot of tension between the two.
Almost every game has a plot-twist or a whatchacallit, and this one is no different. To defend the Earth colonies, the military makes use of a spaced-based weapons platform. This platform requires that two human generals work together to activate it (think Goldeneye in the movie, Goldeneye). Turns out, one of the generals is a traitor, who, as soon as the controls for the weapoons platform become operational, kills the other general, a good friend of Jan Templar, and turns the weapons towards Vetka and the fleet of Earth spaceships. It is then up to Jan and his crew to get onboard the platform and put an end to General Adams (the murderous traitor) and destroy the weapons platform (or at least get it to stop killing the humans).
-----------------------
Killzone is a first person shooter that takes place pretty far in the future, the year not exactly known, but humans have begun space colonization. And that little bit of info is what feeds the game. Humans had colonized the planet Helghan, which features very harsh conditions, and the people living there had to adapt and evolve in order to survive on such a planet. They eventually became the Helghast, a human-like race with better stats and abilities. This is all well and good, except for their deep hatred towards humanity...
The humans and the Helghast are at war, and after recovering from their defeat in the First Helghan War, the Helghast launch an attack on Vetka, a human colony-planet. Jan Templar is a captain in the ISA, a human military organization and it is his task to stop this invasion and prevent the Helghast from taking over Vetka and eventually Earth. This is a pretty big job for one man, so help is working in along the way. Jan meets a former lover, Luger, now turned deadly Shadow-Marshal assassin and Rico Velasquez, a big, heavy-gun toating soldier whose entire platoon was killed. Together they kill off many a Helghast in the quest to rescue a spy, who turns out to be a half-human, half-helghast colonel with no love of the Helghast. Rico harbors a deep hatred off the Helghast, only made worse by the fact that they had just recently killed his company, so this leads to a lot of tension between the two.
Almost every game has a plot-twist or a whatchacallit, and this one is no different. To defend the Earth colonies, the military makes use of a spaced-based weapons platform. This platform requires that two human generals work together to activate it (think Goldeneye in the movie, Goldeneye). Turns out, one of the generals is a traitor, who, as soon as the controls for the weapoons platform become operational, kills the other general, a good friend of Jan Templar, and turns the weapons towards Vetka and the fleet of Earth spaceships. It is then up to Jan and his crew to get onboard the platform and put an end to General Adams (the murderous traitor) and destroy the weapons platform (or at least get it to stop killing the humans).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)