Notorious by the seemingly-impossible glossiness of its E3 2005 pre-rendered ‘graphical target’ demo, Killzone 2’s history to date has been anything but impressive. But at Games Convention 2008, the lengthy demo for the game underlined why Sony has spent so much time and money on the title alternatively labeled a ‘Halo 3-killer’ and/or ‘the most expensive multimedia project ever undertaken in Holland’.

The first thing to point out, however, is that the things people didn’t like about Killzone on PlayStation 2 are still in evidence. The camera wobbles around all over the place whenever you run, reload or throw grenades. The art palette remains a mixture of over-saturated blooms and a thousand different shades of grey. The Helghast are still an impersonal enemy with day-glo orange goggles on their heads.

But these caveats aside, Killzone 2 is perhaps the first game to be worthy of the label PlayStation 3-killer app. Compared to the Resistance 2 demo that’s on the same stand, Killzone 2 is about ten times as long and four times as impressive.

Of course, being a demo, the pace is perhaps overly varied and somewhat exaggerated. You move from tight-in corridor spaces up close and impersonal with Helghast to huge vista battlefields full of the buggers, with your side fighting in the distance and you, plus AI-buddy, fighting your way to get to that action through a series of ambushes and fixed gun-emplacements you must conquer and then use against their erstwhile owners (cue overwhelming firepower and a certain amount of game timing clichés). But the process is worth it. Eventually you get to ride in a rocket-firing tank and blow the hell out of those huge battlefield vistas.

What’s really impressive about the game though are the smaller details, like the solidness of all characters with their chunky body armor and overstated battle-worn animations. Sure it’s motion capture touched up with keyframes, but looking at it you know where a large chunk of Sony’s money went and also know that it was money well spent. These troops are moving through the shattered urban environment with heavy weapons and using the cover as they come.

Perhaps the single best touch though is the reaction you cause when you riddle an enemy with bullets. The solidity of the body remains - and the ragdoll death animations are deathly - but before then, a cloud of black particles detaches itself from the now-dancing figure as if a mist of blood and bodily fluids is being emitted. It’s probably some sort of computationally-cheap special effect linked into the complex deferred rendering technique used in the game but it’s highly effective nevertheless, as are the scarlet rivers that start to run down from the top of your screen when you’re on the receiving end of the punishment. Frankly it feels like you're killing someone (and being killed in turn) and that’s surely one of the few requisites you can ask of a first person shooter.

Update: Thanks for pointing out the addition of jump. You can jump, although you cannot fire and jump at the same time. We've updated the article.

Here at the German Games Convention in Leipzig, I've already had the chance to go hands-on with some hotly-anticipated games, but many PS3 owners have had their eyes glued on Killzone 2 ever since the first controversial trailer hit the Internet(z). Now that we know Guerilla Games' next project looks as good as the trailer, it's all about finding out how the game plays, so I stopped by Sony's booth to check out the latest with Killzone 2.

Unfortunately -- just like with Resistance 2 -- the demo running on the show floor is just about the same demo that Greg discussed at this year's E3, so gamers who missed his in-depth article should definitely check it out. The level on display was the Corinth River and the mission tasked you with traversing a series of warehouses and storerooms while the Helghast -- the now iconic glowing-eyed soldiers of Vekta -- did their best to stop you (that means shooting at you with all sorts of firepower).

Although the level is the same as the E3 showing, the QA manager at Guerilla Games was on hand to tell me that a few minor tweaks have been made to make this the far superior build. He mentioned that the AI is being improved, the controls are slicker and everything is spruced up and optimized, making it look and run even better than before. While I didn't see it as much as Greg did at E3, I have to agree that Killzone is still looking incredible and really demonstrates the power of the system admirably.

What I found myself enjoying the most -- even though it takes some getting used to -- is the weight that the weapons have in your hands. While I can't pinpoint the exact factor that lends to this sensation, the guns have a certain drag or roughness that works extremely well not only in terms of the game mechanics but also with the rugged, gritty tone of the Killzone world. Obviously there's some twitch gameplay involved, but your actions in Killzone 2 feel more deliberate and I enjoyed that change.

Once again, the demo featured the recognizable rifle and a smaller handgun, which is surprisingly fun to use (especially when trying to pick off Helghast soldiers at a distance with skillful shots). But again, this is content that we've talked about before, so I didn't have much else to see.

Fortunately, more Killzone 2 content might hit the German Games Convention in the next few days, so check back with us soon and we'll keep you posted on any additions to the Killzone roster.

It's been a long wait, but I finally had the chance to engage in Killzone 2's much-anticipated online multiplayer at the Leipzig Games Convention in Germany. Teased at E3 in Los Angeles last month, I have been practically foaming at the mouth to give it a go. Here's how it went down.

I was lucky enough to be in the first session at the show, meaning that aside from internal testing, I was first outside of Guerrilla Games' development studio to play multiplayer. Prior to playing, our group of about 8 journalists received some prep, outlining many of the online features that we'd get our hands on. Essentially, it was the same presentation that I saw during E3, with one addition--bots. Eric Boltjes, senior online designer, confirmed that A.I. bots will be available to add in both online and offline games, and that they will excellently mimic human behavior and use all special abilities just as a normal player would. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see them in action today, but I did get to face off against some of the development team back in Amsterdam who were ready to make mince meet out of my inexperienced hide.

Jumping In

I played two games, the first of which was a 16-player match. I started with a grenade launcher and a pistol, as well as hand grenades. This specific map was multi-leveled, with lots of stairways and tunnels, which worked very well for lobbing grenades around corners. And that's how I got my first couple of kills. I was shot down pretty fast after that, prompting me to either wait 10 seconds for a medic to find and revive me, or choose a respawn point. A nice feature lets you view real-time video of each spawn location so you don't end up dropping into a bloodbath. Also cool is being able to change badges (classes) via the respawn menu after dying. So, I switched to the Scout badge to test out the sniper rifle.

It took me a little while to find a good vantage point, but since my team was trouncing the Helghast, there was a good window for me to find a stairwell and a spot on a balcony. The sniper rifle has two zoom modes, but I found I needed quite a bit of open space to use it effectively. I also noticed that sentry guns were littered throughout the map, which were either friend- or enemy-controlled, and were pretty pesky when trying to battle other enemies at the same time. A few shots usually took it out, though.

Second Chance

The next game was a 32-player match, and things were quite a bit more hectic in this King of the Hill-esque (I believe it's called Search & Conquer). I experimented with a few other badges, using the shotgun and one of the game's assault rifles. Different abilities are also mapped to the directional pad, allowing on-the-fly usage of grenades and other items. A handy arrow allows led me to the nearest action, so I never really felt like I was wandering around lost even though I wasn't familiar with these maps (obviously).

Graphically, Killzone 2 is spectacular, emphasizing the gritty, bloody nature of the game universe. I couldn't tell any noticeable degrade in graphical quality from the single-player portion of the game, which is a rarity these days. Perhaps that's why the frame rate seemed a little slow at times, probably the only possibly knock on the game so far. To be a little more specific, it's more like Halo than Resistance, meaning characters move rather slow, which I'm quite a fan of. Not sure if this sluggishness is a specific refresh rate problem or solely a frame rate issue, but it's not that big of a deal and only a minor hitch for the time being.

Killzone 2 is doing so many inventive things on the online side that it's looking like the "kitchen sink" multiplayer experience. It feels like Call of Duty 4 mixed with elements of Halo and Battlefield games. Guerrilla Games really seems to get the online innovation thing, implementing tons of clan and tournament features, not to mention the option to customize each game to play exactly how you want it to. Shooter fans should really start getting excited about it now, though I think many of you have been waiting almost four years for this to drop. We're almost there!