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From the semi-realistic, semi-futuristic designs of the weapons, to the lip movements of your high poly teammates, to the worn posters and littered debris of bombed out cities, Killzone comes loaded with eye candy. A haze of fog hides the draw distance, but it feels natural amidst the smoke and fire of battle. It's also never so close to prevent you from sniping away a distant enemy, even if all you can see are the orange of their goggles. Sounds are equally impressive, from the chink of reloading heavy weapons to the thwump of a grenade launcher. Voice acting of both allies and enemies are driven with emotion, but a little too repetitious on the battlefield, where you'll hear the same phrases over and over and over. I know he's trying to be supportive, but I really don't need Hakha to shout 'impressive' after my every tenth kill.
Actually, repetition sums up Killzone's most notable flaws. I wasn't bothered by the hordes of similar-looking enemies, being too busy mowing them down to admire them for long, but it's hard to ignore how often environment elements are repeated. One mission required me to cross a park in one piece. When I got to the end, there was another identical park before me, and when I got to the end of that, a third park with only slight variations awaited. It starts making all this fighting feel pointless, especially when most of the time your goal is simply be kill everyone in sight and reach the exit alive. There are slight variations, like using laser targeting to direct an artillery barrage, but these breaks from the sea of semi-mindless bloodshed are all too few.
Once you've had your fill alone, there's always multiplayer to turn to. Online with headset support, offline split screen, and alone with bots, Killzone has you covered. Though with only eight maps based on areas from the single player portion, the surroundings become too familiar a little too quickly. Besides the standard Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch play modes, there's Domination, Supply Drop, Assault, and Defend & Destroy to keep you busy. Supply Drop was definitely my favorite, where you have to collect five supply containers from the battlefield and bring them to your base, but the enemy can steal them right from your base if you're not careful. An inventive twist to the now stale capture the flag formula.
"Defenders of the Helghast dream, now is our time!" the leader of the Helghast declares at the end of his speech. In this sea of FPS releases, especially with some big name sequels dominating store shelves, is Killzone worth your time? I'd say that if you're looking for a immersive frag fest wrapped in a sci-fi war story that's a blast with friends or alone, then it's time for you to reach for your wallet.
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