From GameCentral, a UK teletext based gaming area... to be honest I was afraid to post the Killzone 2 one given they scored it 7/10, but this 6/10 for Halo Wars evens things out a bit.... Personally I feel they were harsh on both (not talking about the score because I take no notice of scores) but then it is often I read reviews where something dissapoints the reviewer, and they therefore mention other bad points that may have gone unnoticed in other games.
Anyhow. I will bold some important bits. (bare in mind this is done in very short paragraphs because it has to fit on teletext)
Killzone 2 (PS3)
Review by David Jenkins – We were there the day that infamous trailer was first shown at E3 2005, when Sony's marketing muscle looked like it would dreamcast the 360 with contemptuous ease.
A lot has obviously changed since then.
The most surprising is that although in the end this does look almost as good as that original fake footage, it's nowhere near enough to elevate the game to the classic status it so craves.
The sad fact is that if you've played any first person shooter in the last ten years then you've played this.
To be specific its relatively slow movement, realistic damaging modelling (i.e. one or two shots and you're dead) and an emphasis on cover is most reminiscent of Black or F.E.A.R.
Despite the sci-fi style story the weapons and situations are purposefully reminiscent of World War II.
The game tells a surprisingly small scale story, that assumes an optimistically detailed knowledge of the previous PS2 and PSP games.
It's as devoid of personality as the bald space marine you play – an avatar so characterless we kept forgetting which one we were in the cut scenes.
But the story mode's real problem is that the missions have not so much been designed as traced from other games.
A mission where you have to blow up an artillery piece? Check. A showdown against a squad of snipers? Check. A siege with you in a turret? Check. An annoyingly short bit in a tank? Check. (This is the main bit I think he has started to pick on it for thing basically expected)
Ally artificial intelligence is dire, constantly getting in your way, dying and then demanding you rejuvenate them with what looks like a cattle prod – despite never doing the same for you.
The whole game is a cliche magnet.
What's particularly bizarre about the poor ally AI is that the enemy's is very good and almost at the same technical level as the graphics.
But as impressive as the visuals undoubtedly are, with a laudable attention to detail, it's all of things we've seen a hundred times before.
To waste such incredible technology on better looking grey corridors is proof of a criminal lack of imagination.
As is so often the case with a first person shooter the multiplayer is a saving grace and the only thing that saves this from an even lower score.
It doesn't do anything new but the rock solid controls and basic gunplay are a great foundation. It does have you wishing for a co-op mode though.
Admittedly expectations since 2005 have been impossibly high, but this never really comes close to meeting them.
IN SHORT: One of the best looking games ever, but also one of the least ambitious in terms of anything else.
PROS: On a technical level the graphics are some of the best ever seen. Solid controls make for a fun multiplayer.
CONS: Not a single new idea but instead an infinity of cliches. Weak plot, no co-op mode and annoying ally AI.
SCORE: 7/10 Out: Now (UK)
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Halo Wars (360)
Review by David Jenkins – It's a little known fact that Halo was originally conceived as a real-time strategy game.
Although given how obsessive most Halo fans are, maybe it's a very well known fact - we're not entirely sure.
What we do know is that this attempt to do for real-time strategy games on consoles what the original did for first-person shooters is most certainly not strategy evolved.
Although it's generally frowned upon to speak ill of the dead (Microsoft closed developer Ensemble Studios before this game was finished) we've never been big fans of the Age Of Empires series.
The focus on resource management and endless preparation always outweighed any need for actual military tactics.
Ensemble has tried to change things for its console debut but the game it has created is a dry, empty one.
Despite all the talk of a ground-breaking new control system to replace the keyboard and mouse, this works much the same as EA's real-time strategies.
Selecting irregular groups of units is easier thanks to a pop-up cursor but most of the time you'll use the right button to select all on-screen units.
There's no way to create groups or select objects not on screen though, so everything still feels too fiddly.
The game's more significant problems though lay in its almost complete lack of pace, particularly in campaign mode.
There's never any real impetus to keep moving, as you instead find yourself turtling under back at base.
The levels are very small, with a very low number of total units allowed in each. Because of the maps' size and design, and because you can't move your bases, progress is forced and linear.
To add to the story mode's woes it's incredibly short, you only get to play as the humans and it's patronisingly easy on the default difficulty.
It's not a mind of military genius you need to beat it but a bean counting accountant, as you sit at home waiting until you can churn out the best units.
Not that there are many and even when you do play as the Covenant in Skirmish mode they're not much different.
Not even the multiplayer mode can truly save the game, since the maps are still too small to allow for clever strategy.
The co-op mode is fun if you want to tackle the Legendary difficulty mode but the other options are surprisingly limited, with really only one game mode and a maximum of two teams of three.
It's a disappointing package that ultimately does little for either Halo or the console real-time strategy.
IN SHORT: Halo's attempt to re-imagine real-time strategy for consoles is simplistic and surprisingly drab.
PROS: Well thought out, if still obviously limited, control system. Lots of fan service for committed Haloites.
CONS: Small maps and reliance on base building limits the strategy. Mediocre online and very short story mode.
SCORE: 6/10 Out: 27/2 (UK)
