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

Ultra Donny

Member
I liked it when I played it but had forgotten that the game even existed before seeing this thread, so I can understand that it is a personal GOAT, but it's a stretch proclaiming it as a universal.
 
Killzone 2 is an awesome shooter. So is KZ3.

The only thing that comes to mind that I didn't like about it was the final boss, which was really frustrating. Also the Sixaxis implementations were unnecessary.

PS5 remake with 60 fps and full Dualsense support including trigger recoil would make the game superb.

This game also needs to be on PC.

It makes me wonder how the game's "heavy" feel would change though, if they would remake it with 60 fps or even higher framerate.
 

makaveli60

Member
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.
I bitch and moan about Sony all the time, and I would like them to do proper BC but it’s not about that. While on the one hand it’s not ideal that instead of new experiences the industry remasters/remakes games, but on the other hand I love experiencing my favorites with modern tech.
 

LimanimaPT

Member
I had totally forgot about this game! Truly amazing what GG managed to do in a PS3. Unfortunately I don't own the game anymore, but I checked some you tube videos. Amazing, really.
What a blast of a game.
I see too much complaining about the controls, just because it didn't play like the other 1000 fps out there...
The cinematic intro is one of the best I've seen. Epic.
 

JoeBudden

Member
but Sony wants them to die I guess.

I know it seems like that because they decommissioned Killzone.com, but they did also do the same to the God of War site before the 2018 soft reboot came out.

But, yeah, it's still very likely the franchise has been put on ice though.

I really do hope the franchise comes back in the future though. They never truly did the lore justice so I would prefer a reboot. But, even a Killzone 2 Multiplayer Remaster alone would be great.
 

tommib

Member
Also, the critics got it right:

OhpiWX1.jpg
 

GymWolf

Member
After playing kz2 is even more mindblowing how both kz4 and horizon had kinda shitty human combat.

It was decent in kz4 but far less weighty and with worst enemy reactions.

Horizon was absolutely fucking horrible in that sense.
 

nowhat

Member
Horizon was absolutely fucking horrible in that sense.
Apparently the human enemies were a somewhat late addition to the game because of feedback from playtesting. So they didn't get nearly as much attention as the dinobots.

But agreed, the human AI in HZD absolutely sucks balls and not in a pleasant way.
 

GymWolf

Member
Apparently the human enemies were a somewhat late addition to the game because of feedback from playtesting. So they didn't get nearly as much attention as the dinobots.

But agreed, the human AI in HZD absolutely sucks balls and not in a pleasant way.
I'm not even talking about the ia, on ultra hard they have simple patterns but they are aggressive and do a lot of damage, the problem is when you hit them with arrows, absolutely horrible enemy hit reactions and lack of ragdoll, the stiffness was fucking real.

It was like playing a ps2 title but you had fucking max payne 2 on ps2 so even lower than that.

That game was my gotg but i still have nightmares about fighting humans...
 
S

SpongebobSquaredance

Unconfirmed Member
It was like playing a ps2 title but you had fucking max payne 2 on ps2 so even lower than that.
Max Payne 2 shits on 90 percent of all games, so that's not surprising at all. At least the PC version does.
 

nerdface

Banned
I never got into the MP in this game, but the single player was so boring. I had a new shooter, a badass new console and I wanted to like it. Forced myself to play it. Hated every boring minute.

Thankfully Destiny1 washed the taste of kz out of my mouth forever. I will never trust that franchise again.
 

0neAnd0nly

Gold Member
The only FPS had ever fun playing on a console. And probably the only one that wouldnt feel "like its meant to be played" on mouse and keyboard

yep, it was so darn good as a console shooter different than anything else. Controller players didn’t have to worry about being wiped in servers with keyboard/ mouse players. Good times. Shame this doesn’t really exist anymore.
The online mode where it cycled different game types was a Lot of fun. I wish more games tried something like that. The multi in general was just really fun.

lots of unique and innovative touches in MP. Class choices could heavily influence winning / losing and it really pushed you into working as a team compared to most shooters. Mobile spawn points were amazing too, as it completely destroyed spawn camping. This game was so darn good. Don’t forget you could host weapon specific servers, and you could review your online matches on the website (it would replay them with dots and give you the score / show movements, etc.) and also access a hub for your team where you could strategize on map layouts on the site.

Did they bring out an update that reduces the input latency or am I mistaken? I seem to remember an update that helped the latency (but didn't fix it).

Not sure what people here are talking about, you are completely correct. I was a 1% player, and pretty involved in the PS boards back then. It was major news, and unfortunately I actually wasn’t a huge fan. I preferred the slower control weight. It was different. They absolutely tweaked the controls in an update.



I tried demo some time ago, it's bad.



Not for KZ2 IIRC, KZ3 had big improvements in this department.

refer to above. They did make controller updates, it was actually pretty big news at the time especially for people like myself that were more serious KZ2 players.

I enjoyed this game greatly. Too bad my disk was stolen.

This and Halo 2 have been the only MP in FPS games that I have enjoyed on console.

That satisfying headshot chirp. Amazing I can still remember that more than 10 years later.
The chirp!!! That was actually my text tone back in the late 00s! Hah.
This is a game that needs a Bluepoint treatment (and it would blow away anything, since it's basically a corridor shooter).

But Sony has its head too far up its ass to understand (yep, still mad about Driveclub xD).

Sony is far removed from KZ, as is I believe Guerrilla. I think the political climate has a good bit to do with it, and they seem to not want to focus on gun/ war games, especially the type of characters KZ had. Shame. Pretty disappointed in Sony lately, but then shutting down the KZ site has to be far up there for me. JR isn’t making it easy for me to be a fan, and I have been loyal to PS for most of my life.

For me, Killzone 2 was how the franchise should've been - dark and quite bleak.

Apparently, Guerrilla weren't overly fond of this in the end, which is while Killzone 3 was lighter in tone.
it was so perfectly atmospheric! I don’t think it was GG that didn’t like it, the consensus from most casual gamers was “more CoD” type shooters and they reaponded
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.

To my knowledge, GG never said it was a “problem”. Their engine was designed with the weighty controls. They did tweak the controls (reference the articles I linked above). This was actually big news at the time, and I wasn’t a fan because it eliminated the equal playing field of everyone having the same physics and a fresh take on the controls. I went something like 65-1 in a match once, so I didn’t seem to suffer from said input lag, nor did many others in the game who also achieved high ranks in KZ2 MP. The truth was, people wanted a CoD light weight shooter and GG ended up responding. Individuality doesn’t seem to be cherished in FPS, unfortunately.

The atmosphere and destruction is better than most current gen games. The game looks more next in some aspects then any current game.
100%. So good. Wish it would make a comeback.
 
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Fond memories of this game. Whilst the single player campaign wasn't anything to write home about (particularly against some of the GOAT-level COD campaigns of the time), multiplayer was the shit, though. Nice map diversity and game play modes and the whole thing was extremely entertaining.

IMO KZ2 was the first (and only, sadly) game that made me think... Sony's onto something here with their 'Halo killer app"'. Shame KZ3 and Shadow Fall missed the mark.
 
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Sleepwalker

Gold Member
I never got into the MP in this game, but the single player was so boring. I had a new shooter, a badass new console and I wanted to like it. Forced myself to play it. Hated every boring minute.

Thankfully Destiny1 washed the taste of kz out of my mouth forever. I will never trust that franchise again.

It's okay, the franchise is dead and buried.


As for KZ2 I tried to like it but couldn't, something felt way off about this game so i traded it in. I learned way later that it was input lag, meh.
 

chaseroni

Member
Alright the "Death Chirp" sound was brought up like 4 times in this thread does anyone have a video of it?
I wanna hear what's so great about it
 

Dr. Claus

Vincit qui se vincit
I never got into the MP in this game, but the single player was so boring. I had a new shooter, a badass new console and I wanted to like it. Forced myself to play it. Hated every boring minute.

Thankfully Destiny1 washed the taste of kz out of my mouth forever. I will never trust that franchise again.

Wait, so you thought Killzone 2 was boring, but loved Destiny 1?

giphy.gif
 

0neAnd0nly

Gold Member
Just want to add to my last comment.

I have never to this day, or before KZ2, played a game with better gunplay. It is and was absolutely extraordinary.

Most companies / devs pump out such generic crap knowing people will buy it anyway. That game - each gun had a feel to it, the shot felt like it actually punched.

So, so good. And completely ruined me for everything I play even now within the FPS sphere. Halo, Destiny, CoD and BF don’t hold a candle to a pube of KZ2 gunplay. It was absolutely next level.
 

Flutta

Banned
Loved both the SP and MP in Killzone 2. What a game, and F#¤%& Sony for not remaking this masterpiece of a game. Woke ass trash company!
 

Fbh

Member
Killer OST too



KZ2 and 3 were great, really enjoyed the Single player and multiplayer in both. They also have a really cool atmosphere and a great backstory that they sadly never took advantage of.
It's a shame Shadowfall and the success of Horizon probably killed the franchise.

I also always wanted to see a spin off based on the mech sections:
qmEKVI.gif
 

Kokoloko85

Member
It was a great SP campaign. I loved the heavy fee of it. One of my favourite 1st person shooters.

One think that needs change is the button layout. R2 needs to be shoot while L2 is zoom/aim. Which the game didnt give you the option for both at the same time.
 

MrFunSocks

Banned
To my knowledge, GG never said it was a “problem”. Their engine was designed with the weighty controls. They did tweak the controls (reference the articles I linked above). This was actually big news at the time, and I wasn’t a fan because it eliminated the equal playing field of everyone having the same physics and a fresh take on the controls. I went something like 65-1 in a match once, so I didn’t seem to suffer from said input lag, nor did many others in the game who also achieved high ranks in KZ2 MP. The truth was, people wanted a CoD light weight shooter and GG ended up responding. Individuality doesn’t seem to be cherished in FPS, unfortunately.
200ms input lag is literally never a design decision. No developer has ever artificially introduced input lag into their game on purpose.

Going 65-1 proves nothing. Everyone has the input lag, not just you.

Also no spawn camping? Are you serious? Did you never actually play MP? The classes were also seriously unbalanced. The assault class I believe it was with the rocket launcher was abused massively.
 

S0ULZB0URNE

Member
Killzone 3 was better.

Would like to have a new Killzone that took the best from both or even a proper Killzone 2 mixed with Killzone 3 remaster in one big game and of course multiplayer is a must.
 

CitizenZ

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.

Sony never seems to realize when they have a good MP game. It was late after release before i got into the MP for KZ2(one of my all time favorites) but the community was still strong...and continued even after KZ3 released. LoU MP was lit, great MP strong community again that was easy to get into matches 2 yrs + after release and same goes for Uncharted. And as bad as KZ:SF single player was boring as all fck, the MP was also strong for a long time. They really have no clue. Always said if KZ at the time was on PC it would have been up there with CoDs and CSGOs of the world. It checks all the right boxes but hey , you are getting another Horizon game. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
 

MrFunSocks

Banned
Always said if KZ at the time was on PC it would have been up there with CoDs and CSGOs of the world. It checks all the right boxes but hey , you are getting another Horizon game. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Not with that input lag it wouldn't. People playing at 100+ fps with 200ms+ of input lag would absolutely hate it.
 

Vtecomega

Banned
Best fps ever made. Without question. Too bad Sony and Guerrila have turned into a bunch of woke tards that would consider this game far too misogynistic and manly for this day and age to even consider a remake or remaster.

Nope you will now enjoy playing as a ginger butch looking Blake Griffin as you tackle robotic dinosaurs.
 

Dr. Claus

Vincit qui se vincit
Best fps ever made. Without question. Too bad Sony and Guerrila have turned into a bunch of woke tards that would consider this game far too misogynistic and manly for this day and age to even consider a remake or remaster.

Nope you will now enjoy playing as a ginger butch looking Blake Griffin as you tackle robotic dinosaurs.

Best FPS? You seriously just going to ignore DOOM Eternal? DOOM 2016? DOOM 64? DOOM 2? DOOM? Wolfenstein: The New Order? Battlefield: Bad Company 2? Blood? Half Life? Half Life 2? Halo? Halo 2? Halo 3?

Killzone 2 is a great game, but it is by no means one of the best. Not even during its hey day.
 

ethomaz

Banned
200ms input lag is literally never a design decision. No developer has ever artificially introduced input lag into their game on purpose.

Going 65-1 proves nothing. Everyone has the input lag, not just you.

Also no spawn camping? Are you serious? Did you never actually play MP? The classes were also seriously unbalanced. The assault class I believe it was with the rocket launcher was abused massively.
I agree with him.

All classes were viable and none was really more used than other… it was very balanced.

BTW the “low latency” patches did break the gunplay because it was not designed for that.

K2 original gunplay > K2 patched gunplay > K3 gunplay
 
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Kurimao

Member
I don't know why so much bitchin against the final boss Radec? All you have to do was put your back against the corner walls then Radec has no choice but to port out infront of you then shotgun the hell out of him. This tactic also works on the hardest settings.
 

makaveli60

Member
Best FPS? You seriously just going to ignore DOOM Eternal? DOOM 2016? DOOM 64? DOOM 2? DOOM? Wolfenstein: The New Order? Battlefield: Bad Company 2? Blood? Half Life? Half Life 2? Halo? Halo 2? Halo 3?

Killzone 2 is a great game, but it is by no means one of the best. Not even during its hey day.
It’s clearly just an opinion, not an objective truth... For him this is the best, no problem with that IMO.
 
Nice to see so much love for KZ2 here. Sony, are you listening?
Hopefully, they aren't.

rob-ford-protest-1.jpg


This quote clearly says the weight is by design…

Yeah, skimming that article now, no where does it state, explicitly, something in the vein of "yeah guys, we admit the input lag was totally a bad idea and we're sorry for it". It just comments on how they changed it due to feedback. Mr. Funny socks probably caught the words "input lag", which triggered his confirmation bias, and he drew his own conclusion from it since he has a beef with that sort of thing.

Varying degrees of Input lag/delay can be a design choice and it seems be the case originally for the game. Whether it resonates with some or all gamers is a completely different issue. The community generally should be more open minded and adjust themselves to new gameplay mechanics/ideas rather than cry foul because it goes beyond their comfort zone imo. We'd probably be getting more innovation in gameplay mechanics that way. Gameplay innovation has generally gotten really stale in current times.
 
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