1UP has got to grips with KillZone 2 as part of an exclusive preview. They claim it is one of the most impressive showcases to date and they were surprised that the game felt so accessible and engaging as they say in their own words.
"Honestly, we were somewhat surprised that Killzone 2 felt so accessible and engaging. We were less shocked to find ourselves gawking at the game's audiovisual splendor, however. While it's not quite up to the level of that E3 trailer yet, this game looks choice. Even though you spend most of the game staring down a gun barrel, Guerrilla has put tremendous effort into creating characters that look, move, and act naturally. Motion-captured animation lends obvious realism to both the cut-scenes and in-game content, and just as in Heavenly Sword, the same actor who's delivering the lines is also running, jumping, and leaping while covered in ping-pong balls. "Being able to simultaneously capture the dramatic line reading, actual lip sync, and physical mo-cap session makes a far more believable final performance," says Cinematic Lead Jonathan Kray.
Once you look past the stellar animation, much of the game's beauty lies in complex special effects that give everything a stylized edge. In the demo level we played, we constantly felt like we were in a colossal, unpredictable firefight -- frequent airstrikes, grenades, and heavy-artillery assaults make for a chaotic battlefield. "There are tons of effects going on that you may not even notice," says Technical Director Michiel van der Leeuw. "We try to get it to a point where you don't even see polygons.... You should be so immersed in the game, it should be so dense around you, that you forget it's only a game."
The developers are quick to reveal the man -- or, rather, the machine -- behind the curtain, boasting about the benefits of deferred rendering techniques and how they've maxed out four-and-a-half of the six cores powering the PS3's Cell chip, but they're also quick to give shout-outs to other Sony teams that have shared invaluable tools, tech, and info. "Sony basically has an international forum for sharing character technology, animation tools, and graphic shaders," says van der Leeuw. "We've taken a few tricks directly from the Resistance guys at Insomniac, and we've even been talking directly to the God of War guys in Santa Monica." Guerrilla obviously isn't afraid to ask for help, and they've already bolstered their 130-man team by enlisting various outside contractors and even "borrowing" several key members of Sony Europe's Studio Cambridge (Primal).
That effort to delve deep into the PS3's graphical well has paid off: During our hands-on demo, we spied one of gaming's most impressive visual showcases to date. Midlevel, you pause to destroy an enemy-infested building with a rail gun, aiming for explosive-rigged supports. When the structure finally collapses, the resulting effect is positively eerie -- huge chunks of wall tumble down, followed by billowing smoke clouds that realistically cascade, solemnly settling over the battlefield. Then, look up and you see leftover airborne debris glinting in the shafts of light streaming through the clouds. At this point, you're probably not hunting for seams in the polygons."
Source: 1UP
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