In an industry flooded with the same old crap every year, there is still room for special games. The type of game that immediatly upon seeing it, you know it is going to be great. The type of game that is to gaming what LeBron James is to basketball. Chosen ones. The "next big thing". Killzone is one of those games. Right after it was shown to media it instantly got the title "Halo killer". While a lot of titles would buckle under that pressure, Killzone has remained impressive. Has it gotten too much hype already, still over half a year away from release? We all know what happened to Enter the Matrix and Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness. Two games that, while not horrible, were hyped to death only to be released to a disappointed public who were expecting nothing short of a gaming miracle. While EtM was able to survive on license alone, AoD was a complete failure.

So, what makes Killzone so special? I mean, it’s a first person shooter in a time where the genre is already loaded with average titles. There were over 60 of them last year with only a few of them standing out. However, the PS2 is different. The most acclaimed PS2 FPS title of 2003 was XIII, which is saying a lot. 2002’s best was TimeSplitters 2, or Medal of Honor: Frontline if we’re talking strictly conventional FPS’s here. In comparison, XBox’s best of 2003 was Rainbow Six and 2002 was Ghost Recon. The PS2 has a wide variety of quality games across all genres, but the FPS genre is one that lately has been very dry lately with only four releases so far in 2004 and all of them not being the most critically acclaimed titles. So, Killzone being a FPS and being PS2 exclusive is one reason why it’s getting all this hype.

Another reason, and let’s face it, the biggest reason, are the graphics. Games like this are the reason people buy next-gen consoles. While Killzone will definitely not rival something like Doom 3 or Halo 2 in terms of graphics, it’s definitely more then enough ammo for any debate about how the PS2 is incapable of making great looking games. Incredible special affects, brilliant AI, breathtaking animations. Killzone has it all. The levels are huge, all 26 of them, and all of them look and feel different. Some are wide open and take advantage of sniping skills. Others are breach type levels in tight areas with lots of ambushes and obstacles.

Lastly, the setting and gameplay are other reasons everyone is going crazy over the game. Lets face it, games in which your world is under invasion and you must defend it by blowing shit up never gets old. In Killzone, you play as a soldier, a member of an organization called the ISA. Your enemy is the Helghast, a race of people who move from galaxy to galaxy conquering worlds and moving on the the next when they’ve used everything up. Guess what? Earth is next. Unless you can stop them, that is.

You won’t be alone though. Throughout the first couple levels you will meet up with other ISA soldiers, 3 of them in fact, and form your little army. Each soldier plays differently, from how they control, what their strengths and abilities are, and how the level is played out depending on who you choose. The game has 26 levels and with different paths for each soldier, that is a total of atleast 104 different levels. Wow.

The game is set in the future, and it shows in your weaponry. There are 26 total weapons, 21 being mobile and 5 stationary. Each weapon has a secondary mode also, so that adds more depth. Your typical weapons are all here. Knives for melee attacks, grenade launchers, shotguns, sniper rifles, pistols. There’s also heavy machine guns, anti-infantry guns, anti-tank guns and anti-aircraft guns. Sounds like some invasion. Thankfully Guerilla doesn’t look like they’re going overboard with the designs like other developers do with futuristic games. Most of the weapons appear to be based off real life, present weapons with modifications. Should add to the realism.

2 areas where Killzone is expected to excel are animations and AI. In videos around the net you can see the early stages of each and they are very impressive. The only doubt this game has going for it is the framerate. Guerilla has said they are tweaking that as they go, so who knows where it will end up. Most likely not 60fps but you never know. If GT3 could pull it off I’m sure this game can too.

Rounding out the buzz for this game is the online play. Confirmed so far is headset support and broadband only internet play for atleast 12 players and atleast 3 play modes. But there are many rumors about it being 16 players, HDD support planned and more play modes such as CTF. Guess we’ll likely know in just over a week at E3. Expect more on one of 2004’s biggest titles as more info is released.