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RTTP: Killzone 2 - after more than a decade, still one of the GOATs

MrA

Banned
Killzone 2 mp still remains one of my all time favourites. I never touched the campaign. I just couldn’t miss out on the mp whenever I booted it up.

I bought a cross battle adapter and a wired Xbox 360 controller especially for this game. Worth every penny.
I loved the multiplayer, wish the unlocks didn't quite take as long since commander or officer or whatever was almost always controlled by a pinhead that constantly set terrible spawn points. the only gameplay thing I didn't like as radic academy, why is just shooting at each other down one hallway so popular when the game had a bunch of really varied and interesting maps?
 

makaveli60

Member
People like yourself called it's controls "weighty" and as having "momentum" and all that, but it's legitimately unintended input lag due to their engine. It has close to 200ms input lag which is unbearable to many people. The developers admitted that it was an engine problem and couldn't be fixed, it wasn't a design choice. They attempted to remedy it in 3, which toned down the post processing and reduced the lag resulting in a much better playing game. Games like battlefield have "weighty" controls without input lag.

The graphics were impressive in many ways, underwhelming in others. The texture work was terrible for example. As you said, it's basically post processing:the game. What made it look impressive was the over the top lighting/lens flares, and the motion blur. It looks like a Michael Bay film. Like driveclub it benefits a lot from being made into tiny gifs. Its style is the video game equivalent of shaky hand held cam found footage movies - very analogue and effects heavy with film grain galore.

The gameplay, once you got past the horrendous input lag, was just your standard fare imo. The story had potential but was ruined by Rico. That character was poorly written and just ruined the story. Not to mention that your character for some reason is about 3 feet tall. Having ADS mapped to a toggle on clicking in a stick was also just terrible.
I can believe every word you say, but still I like this heavy feeling regardless if it was intended. It’s a part of the game’s identity and adds to its uniqueness
 
Everything was great about the game except the clunky unresponsive controls.

The story was serviceable, and the graphics were great…but those were some of *THE WORST* controls for a console FPS this side of 007 Legends.

Unless all you wanted to do was watch it like a movie (by making someone else suffer with the horrible, s*** controls), there is no way this is a classic FPS or provided any sort of pinnacle gaming experience.

And it’s too bad—the setting was great, but ultimately wasted.
 

MrFunSocks

Banned
How does this game feel on PlayStation Now? I have the sudden urge to play through the Killzone games again, but my PS3 is in storage right now.
I don't think you want to add any more lag to the controls. Probably be looking at half a second of input lag over streaming for most people haha

I played it just the other day on RPCS3 and yeh the controls and POV just suck, no other way of putting it.
 
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Every game nowadays becomes faster and faster. kz2 turned the entire thing on its head by making it so slow. It felt like the revelation that recoil was in counter strike after playing just quake and unreal.

And you know, new game mechanics are discovered through bugs and platform limitations all the time. Like things moving faster and faster in space invaders as you shoot down ships.

Might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I absolutely loved it. It was easily my best MP experience in a console game to date.
 

Kydd BlaZe

Member
I don't think you want to add any more lag to the controls. Probably be looking at half a second of input lag over streaming for most people haha

I played it just the other day on RPCS3 and yeh the controls and POV just suck, no other way of putting it.
Damn. Yeah I’ve heard conflicting things about PlayStation Now. That’s really unfortunate. Even more unfortunate is the fact that Sony can’t/won’t bring back their older games through BC. I’d kill to be able to play all of the Killzone games on PS5 with 60fps/4K updates.
Build a sequel. Make it dark, dirty and visceral. Put Naughty Dog on the case and I'd sacrifice a small goat for a PS5. Cruelty to animals and all that shit but I don't care. That's what real fans do. Blood sacrifice.
Hell yeah (minus the animal cruelty stuff lol). But yeah, I always kinda hated that GG decided to add vibrant colors to Killzone 3 and Shadowfall. I miss the grunge and grittiness of Killzone 1 and 2. Really felt like lived-in, war-torn environments. Loved that muted visual style.
 
Damn. Yeah I’ve heard conflicting things about PlayStation Now. That’s really unfortunate. Even more unfortunate is the fact that Sony can’t/won’t bring back their older games through BC. I’d kill to be able to play all of the Killzone games on PS5 with 60fps/4K updates.

Hell yeah (minus the animal cruelty stuff lol). But yeah, I always kinda hated that GG decided to add vibrant colors to Killzone 3 and Shadowfall. I miss the grunge and grittiness of Killzone 1 and 2. Really felt like lived-in, war-torn environments. Loved that muted visual style.
That killed the franchise for me as well. GG had a chance to setup Killzone as a unique FPS compared to other shooters with the gritty look. I sincerely hope they're building a new Killzone game based off Killzone 2. It's the only entry in the series I would replay again. Shadowfall? Christ on a bike, the less said about that game the better.
 
People like yourself called it's controls "weighty" and as having "momentum" and all that, but it's legitimately unintended input lag due to their engine. It has close to 200ms input lag which is unbearable to many people. The developers admitted that it was an engine problem and couldn't be fixed, it wasn't a design choice. They attempted to remedy it in 3, which toned down the post processing and reduced the lag resulting in a much better playing game. Games like battlefield have "weighty" controls without input lag.

The graphics were impressive in many ways, underwhelming in others. The texture work was terrible for example. As you said, it's basically post processing:the game. What made it look impressive was the over the top lighting/lens flares, and the motion blur. It looks like a Michael Bay film. Like driveclub it benefits a lot from being made into tiny gifs. Its style is the video game equivalent of shaky hand held cam found footage movies - very analogue and effects heavy with film grain galore.

The gameplay, once you got past the horrendous input lag, was just your standard fare imo. The story had potential but was ruined by Rico. That character was poorly written and just ruined the story. Not to mention that your character for some reason is about 3 feet tall. Having ADS mapped to a toggle on clicking in a stick was also just terrible.
Good points Sockman and agree with them but still enjoyed it in its day partly because of the issues it had like the input lag. Some say it added to the charm of the game. For me it didn't matter much because I played it for the single player campaign even though multiplayer was fun as well.
It really had a unique look to it even if it had processing dials turned up to 11.
 

MrFunSocks

Banned
Just recorded this to show how it runs on RPCS3:

That's on a Ryzen 7 5800 + 3070, pretty stable around 30fps at 1080p.

All the input lag is still there unfortunately.
 

01011001

Banned
Also your PoV was for some reason from your crotch so everyone seemed to be 10 feet tall

This weird perspective lasted all the way through Killzone Shadow Fall so I can only conclude that it was an intentional design decision. Thank God that Guerilla went off and started making 3rd person open world titles after that so we were never subjected to the 'crotch PoV' ever again.

well now they make Ubisoft games, and climbing Ubisoft towers in crotch view would be hard!
 

Kurimao

Member
I don't care what everyone says but Blood Gracht was a stupidly fun multiplayer map. The Tactician would lob the spawn grenades inside the enemys HQ then all hell would breaks loose, untill some idiot does a wall hack.
 
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01011001

Banned
People like yourself called it's controls "weighty" and as having "momentum" and all that, but it's legitimately unintended input lag due to their engine. It has close to 200ms input lag which is unbearable to many people. The developers admitted that it was an engine problem and couldn't be fixed, it wasn't a design choice. They attempted to remedy it in 3, which toned down the post processing and reduced the lag resulting in a much better playing game. Games like battlefield have "weighty" controls without input lag.

The graphics were impressive in many ways, underwhelming in others. The texture work was terrible for example. As you said, it's basically post processing:the game. What made it look impressive was the over the top lighting/lens flares, and the motion blur. It looks like a Michael Bay film. Like driveclub it benefits a lot from being made into tiny gifs. Its style is the video game equivalent of shaky hand held cam found footage movies - very analogue and effects heavy with film grain galore.

The gameplay, once you got past the horrendous input lag, was just your standard fare imo. The story had potential but was ruined by Rico. That character was poorly written and just ruined the story. Not to mention that your character for some reason is about 3 feet tall. Having ADS mapped to a toggle on clicking in a stick was also just terrible.

I agree with everything you said, but as a classic Halo player I can't let you defame right stick click Scope-in toggles like that!
 

01011001

Banned
Boooooo left trigger ftw! haha. I hate *anything* important being put on L3/R3. They're the single worst controller input ever.

my brain can't play Halo 3 or Reach any other way tho lol... as soon as I turn on halo my brain flips a switch and refuses to use other control schemes.

I play Apex Legends on a daily basis with ADS on L2, Crouch on R3 and jump on L1... but if I play Halo and try a similar setting my brain just shuts down, even tho you'd think playing a different shooter every day with that button mapping would make me want to play Halo that way too.

it's weird...
 

bender

What time is it?
even more Controversial statement, while Killzone 2 was a bad shooter, Horizon was just a bad Ubisoft game, and Guerilla never made a game that's even remotely above average

Every time I try to get into Horizon, I get past the tutorial section to the open world. As soon as you buy a map and it gets littered Ubisoft style is when I nope out.

Killzone 2 is probably Guerilla's best game but it looks more interesting than it plays.
 

tommib

Member
even more Controversial statement, while Killzone 2 was a bad shooter, Horizon was just a bad Ubisoft game, and Guerilla never made a game that's even remotely above average
I get where you’re coming from but I see Killzone 2 as the exception. Shit tons of atmosphere and an addictive MP make a good game a good game. They fucked up its legacy with Killzone 3. But I hear you.
 

MrFunSocks

Banned
I get where you’re coming from but I see Killzone 2 as the exception. Shit tons of atmosphere and an addictive MP make a good game a good game. They fucked up its legacy with Killzone 3. But I hear you.
When you add in the god awful controls and input lag unfortunately it ruins it. I tried so hard to like the multiplayer because it had a lot of great elements, but those controls were just unplayable. Same reason I can't play GTA or Red Dead tbh.
 
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Ahhh yes, the good old "The controls are unresponsive and laggy because of immersion." excuse thread. The controls are absolute trash and always will be. Still, I bought a cheap ps3 just so that I could play through these Killzone games, 2 was really good, I really can only fault the trash controls, everything else (except maybe the story) was top notch!
 

TheKratos

Member
I remember in MP the revolver having aimbot bug. Basically the second you tap ADS you lock on the head. I feel bad for abusing it.
 
BC and remake/reboot is the same to you?

Come on, mate. You know what I'm suggesting. This re-nonsense is getting ridiculously out of hand and Killzone 2 is one those games that least warrants one. Besides, wouldn't it be more appealing to have it playable via BC? why are some of you so insistent that everything has to be remade in some fashion? Its a waste of money that could go into financing other projects.

Everything seems to "need" some remake, reboot, remaster, reimagining, re-something-else these days. That some of you are aching for this instead of pestering Sony for proper BC in the PS5 boggles my mind.
 
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Dat chirp!


lips lip biting GIF
 
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Fuck this game.

Super salty about this game because when I finally got my hands on the game, I got hit with a stupid segment at the first level where you're forced - I repeat, forced - to use motion controllers to turn a valve wheel.

I was a kid, I had no money, and I was using a off-brand Playstation controller that didnt have motion controls.

I never felt so heartbroken and never played the game since 😔

Wish the game would come out on PC so I can finally play it.
 
To all the haters of the control scheme: Did it ever occure to you that, and want you to hold this thought for a brief moment, this game just might not be your kind of deal?

cole sprouse GIF


I know, shocking, right?

It plays completely fine. Just because its different doesn't make it terrible. It just didn't do anything for you.
 
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MrFunSocks

Banned
To all the haters of the control scheme: Did it ever occure to you that, and want you to hold this thought for a brief moment, this game just might not be your kind of deal?

cole sprouse GIF


I know, shocking, right?

It plays completely fine. Just because its different doesn't make it terrible. It just didn't do anything for you.
That’s just objectively wrong. It has about 200ms of unintentional input lag. For a shooter that’s unforgivable. It’s not the “control scheme”, it’s the input lag.
 
That’s just objectively wrong. It has about 200ms of unintentional input lag. For a shooter that’s unforgivable. It’s not the “control scheme”, it’s the input lag.
We're just going to have to disagree on that, bruv.

For all that you know, it could've been a technical decision to lend it a different kind of gameplay feel. What you define as "objectively wrong" probably differs with someone else. If you feel that this input lag completely ruins it for you then that's fine. But, going around saying its a "bad game" based on that is entirely subjective.
 

MrFunSocks

Banned
We're just going to have to disagree on that, bruv.

For all that you know, it could've been a technical decision to lend it a different kind of gameplay feel. What you define as "objectively wrong" probably differs with someone else. If you feel that this input lag completely ruins it for you then that's fine. But, going around saying its a "bad game" based on that is entirely subjective.
We know it wasn’t though, the killzone devs themselves said it’s a side effect of their engine and the massive amount of post processing etc. They tried to fix it as much as they could through patches and even things like changing the dead zone to try and register movement earlier to reduce the perceived lag.

I’m not saying it’s a bad game, I’m saying the input lag made it unplayable for lots of people - myself included. I slogged through the campaign once and tried to love MP but it was too hard to. Same reason I won’t play GTA or RDR, they have the same terrible input lag.
 

Neolombax

Member
Loved KZ2. Did not like KZ3 or Shadow Fall as much. I loved the atmosphere in KZ2. Really felt and looked like war. Although KZ3 had better set pieces, it didnt pull me in as much as KZ2. Loved the multiplayer too, it was fun having rotating objectives in a single play session.

Disappointing that KZ (and Resistance) as a franchise did not make a return for the PS4 generation, I'm hoping it does for the PS5.
 
S

SpongebobSquaredance

Unconfirmed Member
Fuck this game.

Super salty about this game because when I finally got my hands on the game, I got hit with a stupid segment at the first level where you're forced - I repeat, forced - to use motion controllers to turn a valve wheel.

I was a kid, I had no money, and I was using a off-brand Playstation controller that didnt have motion controls.

I never felt so heartbroken and never played the game since 😔

Wish the game would come out on PC so I can finally play it.
lol I had the exact same experience.
 

[Sigma]

Member
Cool looking game. When it came to the multiplayer, liked the maps and classes. But the terrible laggy ass input of the controls(and no it wasn't the weight of the gun, that's I know when there's just bad input latency) killed the game for me. That's why I preferred Killzone 3 despite 2 having better classes and maps.
 
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NinjaBoiX

Member
I did enjoy it, but even at the time it had some pretty serious flaws. Bad control layout, laggy/sluggish input latency, really restrictive FOV (that was also far too low), etc.

Basically, it played badly on a fundamental level but was still enjoyable because it was technically astonishing. It was like an interactive tech demo.
 

Urban

Member
I remember playing it at the Gamescom before it’s release. It was running on a Devkit and looked so amazing. Next to it was Resistance 2 ( afaik) which looked like a PS2 game compared to it.

i loved it but the last levels were pretty hard
 

ZywyPL

Banned
Damn, this game is a real cult classic and one of the best FPS games ever created

tenor.gif




KZ2 remaster is on top of the list of my gamer's wet dreams, the MP is still one of a kind experience that hasn't been replicated ever since, not by any other KZ title or any other FPS out there, especially with game modes dynamically changing on the fly and spawn points placed by the players, those two were absolutely brilliant ideas. The maps were amazing, so was the flow of the game, the kill chirp, the explosions, everything except the controls was absolutely top-notch and after all those years still unbeaten.
 
We know it wasn’t though, the killzone devs themselves said it’s a side effect of their engine and the massive amount of post processing etc. They tried to fix it as much as they could through patches and even things like changing the dead zone to try and register movement earlier to reduce the perceived lag.

I’m not saying it’s a bad game, I’m saying the input lag made it unplayable for lots of people - myself included. I slogged through the campaign once and tried to love MP but it was too hard to. Same reason I won’t play GTA or RDR, they have the same terrible input lag.
If there's any validity to that, then I honestly consider it a weirdly interesting biproduct.

Like I said, its completely fair if you dislike it. Some folks have their preferences or tolerance thresholds. I can see how it could possibly not be for everyone or could straight up turn some folks right off.
 
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MrFunSocks

Banned
If there's any validity to that, then I honestly consider it a weirdly interesting biproduct.

Like I said, its completely fair if you dislike it. Some folks have their preferences or tolerance thresholds. I can see how it could possibly not be for everyone or could straight up turn some folks right off.
They denied it for a long time, but then when Killzone 3 was announced they started talking about it:

Guerrilla To Fix "Controller Lag" Complaints With Killzone 3 - Push Square

We've recalibrated the dead zone to be more responsive and significantly reduced the input lag, resulting in far better accuracy. Best of all, we've managed to retain that sense of weight that set Killzone 2 apart from other shooters. I can't wait for people to try it out.

There was no design to add 200ms of input lag to a games controls. That would be absolutely absurd and idiotic.
 
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