Why Did Guerilla’s Killzone 2 Force Me To Kill The More Interesting Good Guys? I Hate The ISA! -
Somewhat souring my experience with Killzone 2 was the admittedly weak narrative running throughout the entire single-player campaign. If you’ve played the game, like myself, you probably harbour an underground loathing for Rico that occasionally forces you bolt upright covered in a cold sweat during deep sleeps. The only redeeming factors Killzone 2 has as a story come from the “antagonists”, the Helghast, a mysterious race whom we’re assumed to hate but never quite told why. It’s no wonder; my research concludes that they’re the bloody good guys! A friend of mine recently put me on the trail of the Killzone 2 backstory. Not only was I blown away that Sony’s biggest shooter actually had a deep history, I was actually dumbfounded as to why Guerilla opted not to use any of it. The plot is good and it’s a shame Guerilla didn’t put more into it. The glorious technical feats achieved in Killzone 2 could have been seriously underlined if they’d been given more context. Like the war itself; I just assumed the Helghast were rotten aliens trying to take over the world. I never once questioned the motives behind my foul-mouthed team. I guess that’s for the best given that the ISA are rotten, raging hypocrites. According to Guerilla’s story, the Helghast aren’t bad guys at all. To put it all into simple terms, the Helghast are a corporation formed on Earth; an offshoot of the United Colonial Nations whose objective is to inhabit new planets due to the breakdown of Earth. When six UCN colony ships go missing, financial crisis takes place and the government are forced to auction off two newly discovered planets: Vekta and Helghan. The Helghast buy both of the planets and settle on Vekta. As time progresses, the Helghast find industry by using Vekta as a hub for passing ships - charging for the privilege. Jealous of the Helghans profits, the UCN send the ISA to cope with the problem via force. The Helghans are forced to surrender and are banished from Vekta, leaving their other acquisition - the planet Helghan - the only other habitat for them to live on. Learning of this had a real unexpected effect on me. Throughout the entirety of the two Killzone games we are made to feel like the American stereotype action-hero douches are the good guys. When in fact they are the fucking bad guys. And it got me thinking you know - Guerilla could really make a hook by allowing us to play as the Helghast. It’s very rare that you get to play a war game from the “other point of view”. In the case of Killzone though, the “other point of view” would not only be interesting, it would actually be better. There’s no denying that the Helghast’s brief appearances throughout Killzone 2 are the highlights. Imagine where Guerilla could take that - a video game not only technically pleasing but also narratively convincing too. Here we have a race of people who have been extradited from there own homeland through the jealousy of a bigger corporation. The potential for amazing narrative is high, and it’s something I hope Guerilla will have in mind for the inevitable follow-up of Killzone 2. Please let me play as the Helghast, Guerilla. They’re the people I care about, not fucking Rico.
