Killzone 2 was one of the first of the PS3's graphical juggernauts, it was to be a showcase of what the PS3 was truly capable of, and the culmination of many gamers hopes and future aspirations for the system.

It also had critics in droves, many posters who claimed it was not possible for GG to make a decent game, and with the long dev time and rumours of a massive budget circulating before launch, many people were skeptical as to how it was going to turn out. On the flip side, there were posters who had far too lofty goals set for the title, and believed it was going to be the be all and end all of FPS games.

The countless arguments and flame threads I think had a huge portion of the internet, regardless of what console they owned,  facinated by how the game was going to look/ be recieved in the end.

Killzone 2 sort of settled between the two extremes, it recieved high critical praise, the graphics turned out to be fantastic, but it's controls pushed away a large pocket of gamers and it fell short of many peoples sales hopes. Many considered it a love/hate type of game.

So while the hardcore who loved the original highly anticipated the sequel (Killzone 3), there was no longer anything to prove in regards to the graphical fidelity or the potential quality of the title. There is also a quantifiable measure on the sales potential and hardware pushing power of the series, so the mystery of that aspect no longer remains.  

With a far bigger games library also now available on the PS3 (almost an over saturation of shooters), and with a critical consensus that didn't skyrocket up from the last game, I get the feeling that it's "more of the same" in many gamers mind's. 

I agree with some, I will also add that K2 was a straight up challenge to which console can produce the best graphics. In all honesty (if I remeber corectly) that was what most of the fuss was about.

@BHR-3

What you consider as "popular" is subjective but K2 was one of the most discussed games I can remember on VGCharts. The arguments over it's graphics in comparison to the other HD console was a main feature of this site for weeks.

And as far as the PS3 goes (and that is what we are talking about here) it sales were pretty impressive.

Tell me how many PS3 exclusives sold better by a huge margin?

^^Uncharted 1 and 2, LBP 1, MGS4, Resistance 1, Motorstorm, Gran Turismo 5, God of War 3, ect.

Along with much of what has been said earlier in this thread,  for what was left of K2's audience, the K3 beta has them split down the middle in terms of whether or not they enjoy the changes from the previous game. 

The first Killzone is actually a pretty decent game....

Yeah, but the common belief by people now is that it was buggy and did not play particularly well. I'm not saying that, but once an impression, false or not, catches on, it's hard to sway people.

Let's hope the declining forum hype has translated into real world hype as Sony is hoping.

Buggy =/= not fun and fun is what games are supposed to be.

Killzone 2 was in development for 4 years and after that 2005 fake trailer the hype was gigantic.

I think that Killzone 2 was overhyped and it left a bad taste in many people's mouths. Eventhough it was a good game, it was not groundbreaking at all.

Those whose hype heart was once broken are now a bit more precautious and less impressionable.

Metacritic kick ass ??????'

Wasn't that Metal Gear Solid 4?