The article you are currently reading will cost you around $0.00, but in the spirit of inflation, you may have to pay a whopping $10.00 for copy like this in the near future. That is if Microsoft’s decision to raise it’s Xbox Live membership fee has set a new pricing trend. That’s right folks, Microsoft has increased it’s 12 month XBL service fee from $49.99 to $59.99 with additional hikes to the one month and three month plans, now $9.99 and $24.99 respectively. These price changes will effect North America as well as the United Kingdom, Canada and Mexico.

  The increases are said to be in part due to inflation, as well as the newly added features of the XBL service. Electronic Entertainment Design and Research analyst Jesse Divnich had this to say about the November 1st price change, “When originally launched in 2002, a Gold subscription cost the same as an AAA video game, $49.99. When taking into account for inflation ($50 in 2002 is roughly $60 in 2010) and the additional services available to Gold subscribers in 2010, such as ESPN, Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, Last.fm and Video Kinect, a $10 price increase still represents an incredible value to consumers”. Never fear loyal XBL account holders, existing customers can “lock in” their current price by renewing before the scheduled change goes into effect. Will you renew?

  The community’s response has been understandably negative. Considering the state of the economy, this is a risky move. People are faced with foreclosures, rising gas prices and an ever growing cost of basic living. Video gaming is a passion for some, an occupation for a select few, but for the vast majority it’s just a hobby. In tough times non-necessities are the first things to go and we all know that gaming is an expensive hobby. The flip-side to that coin is the cost to produce the product. The good people at Microsoft are made up of families just like ours, people who are trying to survive while eeking out a bit of entertainment here and there themselves. Sure, the increase could be due to inflation, could be development costs and might just be old fashioned greed. Regardless of the culprit the increase is coming, whether or not it is a mistake on the part of Microsoft is yet to be seen. Thanks for reading, that will be $10.00.

Leave your comments below, give us your thoughts on the price hike and if you intend to renew your XBL subscription.

For those who may not know what the OnLive service is, it’s a pretty radical innovation in delivering games to your home. No this isn’t another mail order system where you have to wait for your game to arrive via snail mail and then hope that the crevasse ridden disc doesn’t start skipping right at the final boss battle. Nor is it some direct to your drive download site that hogs up hard drive space with games and patches. No, OnLive is a revolutionary vehicle to provide gaming experiences to Core, Casual and Non-Gamers with the ease of pick and play instant gratification. 

Imagine if you could play a game demo on your PC without having to download anything, imagine if you could then purchase the full retail version of the game and start playing within seconds. Now imagine being able to do this with no internet connection from your TV while sitting on the couch. Soak that in for a moment. PC gaming without any memory eating installations, no patches to worry about, no more light wallets from trying to keep your system requirements up, just you and the game. Skipping the PC, imagine gaming from your Television without the need of anything but a “MicroConsole” that directly connects to the OnLive service so as to not even require an internet connection to access your games. “The stuff of the future”, you say? I’m doing it now!

A couple weeks back I entered my information with OnLive.com in the hopes of possibly getting chosen for the Founding Members program. This program grants you a year subscription with OnLive free, plus a redeemable code good for one full game. After I entered my information I sort of moved on and didn’t think much about it figuring I wouldn’t be selected anyway. Low and behold if there wasn’t a congratulations email sitting in my inbox this morning. 

My experience with the PC interface of the OnLive service has been more than enjoyable to say the least. Keep in mind, I’m probably what you would call a Core Gamer. I own a Xbox 360, PS3 as well as a Wii and do a fare amount of PC gaming to boot. I spend a good amount of time gaming and keep up with the industry so I can annoy my girlfriend with bits and pieces of news she cares nothing about, haha. You can imagine how surprised I was at how legit this service is once I tried it first hand. I’m more interested in OnLive than I am about anything announced at E3.

After a one click run of an application found on OnLive.com, I had the launch button ready to go on my desktop. I signed in and was greeted by a rather impressive boot up splash, think of the Xbox 360 or PS3 start up animations. It made me feel like, “Ok, this is an actual gaming system I’ve logged into”. Once in, I explored a bit. The interface has large title buttons and is very user friendly. I had no trouble navigating at all. There seems to be a “friend” system integrated much like you would find on next gen consoles, just a bit more indepth. You have a menu of games to choose from complete with gameplay videos and what I would call a “jump in and play” demo, ready to go. Mind you, these are current titles that you would find on the shelf at any GameStop. There is nothing comparable to OnLive’s ability to allow the user to jump in and instantly try a game the way they have it setup. Normally you would be in for a lengthy wait while you downloaded and installed the demo, assuming you had the Hard Drive space. Not to mention how long you have to wait to download and install the full version if you actually liked the game. Of course you’d need to do the same for any updates, patches and hope your system was par to run the game. Instead of all that, I checked out OnLive’s “Arena” feature. I can only describe this as pure genius in connectivity.

Picture a giant wall of HD displays running different games being played by actual users from all over the world (full motion in thumbnail). Now click on any individual stream and get a full screen view of some one’s current game perspective. They’ll receive a notification that you and whomever else is currently spectating. You can then rate their gameplay with OnLive’s Cheer or Jeer options (think Facebook thumb). You may add that player as a friend if you’d like to keep in touch, jump into a multiplayer session with them or just move on checking out other play styles and games. Just think, you could be sitting on the couch watching your buddy play Splinter Cell: Conviction in HD from a different country, laugh at their mishaps, then take over and show them how it’s really done! Not to mention the ability to find new friends with similar tastes in games and game play styles. Good times.

For me the “Arena” feature helped me decide where I wanted to spend that redeemable voucher code. I was watching someone play a bit of 2K’s “Borderlands”, a FPS/RPG title that I had previously overlooked. Seeing the user’s extended gameplay had sparked my interest, but I still wanted to try it first hand and see how the controls felt. This is when I experienced just how amazing OnLive’s service is. I literally clicked the demo button and was instantly in the game trying it out. No long drawn out tedious wait, just instant gratification. Yes sir, the American Dream. After trying the game out and deciding to unlock the full version, I was still taken back by how nice it was to click “Play Pass” and be ready to jump in game. I can’t stress the liberating feeling of this leap in development enough, we’re talking literally seconds from starting up OnLive to playing a full current title you’ve been wanting to play!

None of this convenience would matter if the actual gaming experience wasn’t on par with what we are used to on current consoles and PCs. My hands on time with Borderlands has been identical to gaming on my PS3, Xbox 360, etc. The graphic quality was in high definition, the sound was full and there was absolutely no delay or lag in control response time. So how do they do it? Here is a diagram and wiki explanation:

The service is a gaming equivalent of cloud computing: the game is synchronized, rendered, and stored on a remote server and delivered online. The service was announced to be compatible with any Windows PC running Windows XP or Windows Vista, or any Intel-based Mac running Mac OS X and on smartphones. A low-end computer, as long as it can play video, may be used to play any kind of game since the game is computed on the OnLive server. For that reason, the service is being seen as a strong competitor for the console market. Steve Perlman states that a 1.5 Mbps connection will be needed to display games in SDTV resolution (typical output of Wii and previous generation console titles) while 4-5 Mbps will be needed for HDTV resolution, such as those output by the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The average broadband connection speed in the US at the end of 2008 was 3.9 Mbps, while 25% of US broadband connections were rated faster than 5 Mbps.

Of course there are some concerns about the quality of connection, any issue with connection quality will hinder your game experience. The fact that you don’t physically own the games you purchase has alerted some, if the system goes away, so do your games. Additionally, the mod community has pointed out that you can’t modify any of your games because they are hosted on the OnLive server. These issues have brought about a fair amount of skepticism from game journalists and up till recently all that could be done was wait and see. With snobby-picky gamers such as myself happily jumping on board I think it’s safe to say that OnLive is the real deal. It may not satisfy the modders and the collectors out there, but for those gamers who want to connect with the community and game as fast and as hassle free as possible, this will be a slam dunk. For the casual gamers and those who don’t game because they’d rather not invest in something they might not like, this is a dream come true.

How much does it cost? OnLive’s console, controller and subscription will cost less then the cheapest console on the market according to OnLive CEO Steve Perlman. If your gaming on your PC all you need is the subscription. You can rent a “Play Pass” or  purchase the full game for unlimited play. There is a subscription model with tiered levels of access, but as of right now the only service available is the Founding Members offer which is open until July 15th, 2010 at 11:59 PM PDT. Here is a link to send in your request for participation: http://www.onlive.com/signup 

There is a good deal more that I haven’t even covered, such as OnLive’s Brag Clip section, the Showcase section, the User Created Profile sections, etc. If you are serious about your gaming and want an easier way to access games, you really need to try it for yourself.

I can honestly say that I have never played a single second of any Halo game and to be honest I never really had the desire to. The series has always looked a bit “safe” for me, space soldiers jumping all around with sub par graphics and orange blood. The vast majority do not share my opinion on the game as Halo is one the most popular FPS titles to date. Because of that fact I just figured something was wrong with me, that I just didn’t get it.

All of this has possibly changed with the upcoming installment…

From what I have seen thus far the game seems much more polished, dare I say edgier and almost as if it has taken a page out of  the current shooter model and become decidedly more appealing to an adult audience.

I lean more towards the simulation shooter or ones, though far fetched and technically unrealistic, at least have their feet ground in some level of reality. That being said, I still love an Unreal Tournament styled FPS. The recently released Tranformers: War for Cybertron has renewed my interest in these over-the-top arcade-esque experiences. As for Halo, I think it was just a matter of Bungie (Halo Developer) to find a way to get gamers like myself signed on to this otherwise over looked franchise, but how do they do that? They merge with Activision.

Much like World of Warcraft developer Blizzard, Bungie has signed on to a 10 year publishing deal with corporate giant Activision. Activision is the machine behind the Call of Duty series, Rock Band and a slew of other top name titles. So how does this matter in the grand scheme of things, well it comes down to QA. Quality Assurance, Activision has a long standing relationship with consumers (damaged as it may be with the recent quarrel with IW studio heads) simply put Activision publishes some of the best gaming titles period. They are a marketing machine and as such, they know what will sell. With Modern Warfare 2 outselling Halo by a staggering margin it wasn’t much of a shock to me that Bungie has jumped on the Acti-Wagon and tightened up their Halo experience to make it a bit more appealing to Core Gamers. Myself included, coincidence? I think not.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Let’s get right to it. EA has gone on the record as saying that their current title, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 as well as their soon to be released Medal of Honor (reboot) will be Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 “killers”. So, this will be the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 review/Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 comparison.

Has EA’s first salvo struck a blow to Activison’s giant? Well, it’s a little hard to hit something that’s currently in the process of punching it’self silly.

Right as BFBC2 was hitting shelves across the globe, Activision was shelving the two heads of Infinity Ward (development team for Modern Warfare 1 & 2) Jason West and Vince Zampella, allegedly for a breach of contract. This added to the steady decline in online satisfaction due to glitchers, hackers, connection issues etc., as well as the recent announcement that the new Map Pack DLC for MW2 will cost 50% more than MW1’s content even thought it’s lacking in new map content comparatively. Needless to say, this news is not going over well with the masses.

If you ask me, EA doesn’t need to worry about publishing games that “kill” Call of Duty, Activision is doing a good enough job of that on their own. They just need to concentrate on making great FPS experiences that add a little something to the already over saturated market. 

They haven’t quite done that with Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Though it is a top notch game, all things considered.

Single Player:

The single player campaign in BFBC2 is forgettable. There is nothing interesting or new going on here. The dialog is boring, humorless and uninspired. The gameplay is linear, you travel down the set path and kill the enemy while your NPC squad mates crack jokes and lend you a hand. Much is borrowed from other FPS games especially Modern Warfare titles, blatantly so. The NPC characters even have dialog set aside specifically to nudge joke comparisons between BFBC2 and MW in game features. I’ll let you play through to hear and experience them for yourself.

Your squad mates, made up of the original cast from Battlefield: Bad Company are back and on point tactically more so than ever before. They do an incredible job of spotting enemies and laying down cover fire so you can maneuver to a flanking position and take out your targets, all while never stepping into your line of site. This makes them a welcome addition to the game despite the fact that they can speak.

The mechanics of the game play are solid and you can change the control layout to the original Bad Company if you prefer. The one they are running with in BFBC2 is the COD control scheme with the exception of crouch and melee. Everything feels good, the weapons are vast and you can pick up “collectibles” on each map as you play through. These collected weapons are stored for you and are accessible at any ammo drop you may find conveniently placed throughout each level. At these drops you can change your load out how you see fit provided you have found the weapon somewhere out there on your travels. This adds a bit of exploration to the game as you go off the beaten path a bit, crashing through abandoned houses looking for new hardware. It’s a slightly improved element found in the original Bad Company. All in all a sound single player experience that was basically tacked on to a multiplayer game, it’s something to do when the servers are down and it justifies the price of the product.

Multiplayer:

Multiplayer is the reason why anyone purchases a Battlefield title and this game is no exception to the rule.

The maps are huge, levels are broken up into 3-5 subsections with each section varying in size but averaging one full size map in COD for example. Almost everything is destructible, so yes, certain buildings can be completely leveled. Your environment is constantly changing so you have to be aware at all times, this is also a great feature for canceling out any camping. Dynamic weather effects will block out your view of a distant explosion as a gust of wind throws sand in front of your sites. The sound of that explosion delayed as the boom travels to your location, just as the building behind you let’s out a roar of folding steel as it topples onto a pile of what used to be your M-COM station. It’s amazing.

There are a wide variety of vehicles to choose from depending on the map and game type you are playing. UAV is an addition to the game in the form of a remote controlled helicopter drone. You can unlock upgrades to allow your UAV to fire rounds in addition to the standard missile strike you can call in between intervals of rearm. While operating the drone you will be vulnerable to attack at the drone terminal, which is located at a designated base. The UAV is a bit over powered in my opinion so he who controls the UAV is the law.

This forces a bit of squad tactical play which is the theme of BFBC2’s online experience, for better or worse. Better because now teams are broken up into squads of 4 with the idea being that players will mix their class types to complement each other and work together to spread out and conquer objectives simultaneously. Worse because DICE has failed to program in the ability to speak to anyone other than your squad. So you are often stuck doing everything you can whilst the “fuckin blue guys” (other squads) all choose the Recon Class and camp on a hill four thousand miles away from any game objective, thus forcing you to team kill until you lose. If you could simply speak to other squads in some tiered chat com fashion, you would be able to coordinate much better. This would greatly improve game play and solve a lot of the issues players are currently having.

I mean, imagine you’re standing by a player from a different squad and you see an enemy sniper on a hill or a enemy about to flank, you have no way of telling him before he takes a bullet. You can use the in game “spotting” feature by pressing select (PSN) or the B button (360) to mark the target, sure. This works great a lot of the time, but there are too many situations where this communication tool is just too primitive. You need to be able to speak to everyone on the battlefield.

Weapon customization is limited and it seems as though the option to have camouflage patterns for your hardware as well as alternate uniforms has been monetized. You can purchase them as DLC at a later date. Yikes.

None of BFBC2’s downfalls don’t come even close to hindering the rock solid fun you will have while fighting your way though epically challenging matches. Make no mistake, this game is 3-4 times harder than any Call of Duty match and you will realize this as soon as you take a Sniper’s bullet to the head every single time you sit still. This is pushed even further with the addition of “hardcore mode”. A much needed addition to the otherwise bullet sponge-a-thon from the previous title. Not as sensitive as COD’s version of hardcore where you can die from shot to the pinkie toe, but still very affective with one or two shots putting you face down. You will need to use lots of tactics, bait and switch, marking targets, communication, suppressive fire, diversions, traps and a ton of luck. If you can fight passed your anger to get some items unlocked and some hours under your belt, you will love what this game has to offer. Just don’t approach it like you would Modern Warfare.

A side note is that the uniforms for the characters in these Battlefield: Bad Company games make no sense to me, at least the American ones. Am I the only one? The US Military doesn’t wear anything like that in any branch to my knowledge. Also, some work needs to be put into making the characters look different than each other. At times it’s hard to tell who the enemy is, we need some sort of diversity that we can latch onto and say, “that’s a bad guy.” All the Medics look the same on your team, all the Engineers, etc. This would have been a great place to get a leg up on the others in the market. The details really count.

The ranking system is much improved, it takes a great deal of doing to actually move up in rank. Unfortunately, all of the unlock-ables will be done long before you are anywhere near being done ranking so there is no incentive to finish ranking up. You just will with continued game play.

Head to Head Comparison

Let’s get into some side by side comparisons (since that seems to be the goal set by EA): Modern Warfare 2 vs Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Single Player Campaign:

MW2 is better. Neither is all that original, but Modern Warfare wins over with it’s authentic military feel, serious acting approach and attention to detail.

Online Multiplayer:

-Gun detail goes to MW2

-Character detail goes to MW2

-Map and layout goes to BFBC2

-Sound goes to BFBC2

-Overall scale of action goes to BFBC2

-Community and connectivity goes to MW2

Summary and Rating:

So, there you have it. Where one lacks the other exceeds. My suggestion is to get them both and play them for their strengths and enjoy them for the unique experiences they both have to offer individually. It’s important not approach either with the same set of game plan you use in the other and you will find yourself at the top of the leader boards in no time. Riiiiiiiiight. MY RATING: 8/10

Very cool idea. Every single time someone mentions anything game related on twitter, it is automatically loaded onto this streaming feed of posts. Check it out.

Myspace - Dan Bull - This is just solid gold dope.

Killzone 2:

I’ve played my fair share of FPS [first person shooter] games, starting with DOOM and Duke Nukem in the mid 90’s. Duke Nukem was dope because it was the first game that really had me digging into the Map Editor and created my own levels. It was also the last game I did that with though, haha. Most FPS games share the same premise of load-in, shoot-to-clear and then move on. The only variables that have really any change are gun weight, control maneuverability and proportion. Other then these things they are all based on pointing and shooting your way to victory…even if it’s a D&D styled game like Heretic where you are using magic and what not…you are still pointing and clicking (or button tapping if console gaming).

[left: Duke Nukem] [right: Heretic]

What gives any FPS it’s ability to stand apart is that nitch game play, such as competent AI in single player modes or unique match types in multiplayer online gaming. Outside of these things developers have to pay attention to environment textures and physics. If your passing the same exact copy pasted building or you are seemingly ice skating around levels when you should be marching like a soldier, you are going to end up being removed from your immersion into the world.

Few games are able to provide the atmosphere as well as the features to keep a title from having a short expiration date. There is definitely a mold that most FPS games fit into and most don’t even fill that it out. Killzone 2 has successfully cracked…but not broken this mold.

Controls:

To go ahead and say it, I don’t believe there has ever been a better control scheme then the COD4 [Call of Duty] layout. I understand some like sprint and zoom set to other buttons, but for me melee and sprint set to tapping the analog left and right sticks inward is genius. It allows for instinct to kick in and respond to confrontation with the appropriate action by default. If someone pops out at you from around a corner you may clench the controller and thus melee perfectly or sprint away and out of danger due to the fact that your thumbs are already on the analog sticks. The triggering being set to R1 is perfect in the sense of simulating the actual handling of a gun. The shape of your hand when pulling the trigger is almost the same and at best the most similar to actual weapon handling. Deviating from this perfect layout is pointless. I don’t believe that having FPS control layouts different from game to game adds anything to the game. Of course every game needs alternate layouts to satisfy everyone. Luckily this is the case in Killzone 2, only in the reverse sense.

The default layout in KZ2 is a disaster in my opinion, however if you set the scheme to “alternative 2” and toggle crouch to tap on and zoom hold you will find yourself as close to COD4 & 5 as possible. Make sure to bump your X&Y sensitivity up one notch each as well. The movement in KZ2 differs greatly from COD in the sense that when you pull your point of view around you have to add the weight of your helmet, torso, arms and gun to it. COD’s right analog stick controls your neck and eyes only, without any inertia to be considered. Your gun and arms are weightless so when you whip around to line up a shot, you will be able to do so without over compensating.

As you pull your right analog stick around in KZ2, you will notice a continuation of your arms and gun. At first this is aggravating because you will probably be so used to the absolute aim of COD. You will also notice an extreme kick with guns and heavy head bob as you walk and run as well as with the melee and reload animations. The key to adjusting for this is to go easy on the L&R analog sticks. The less you throw yourself around the field, the less you will feel like you have a canteen full of whiskey. Go half force on your movements and make sure to duck & cover as you reload so you wont take fire due to your vision suffering while doing so. Once you grasp the controls and feel in this game, you will love it and more then likely find COD a bit too easy. Killzone 2 is more of a simulator then anything. Shooting, running and negotiating a battlefield is extremely hard to do in real life…they’ve made this apparent in this game.

[picture: ISA fighting Helghast]

Single Player:

The Killzone 2 campaign is something you can really grab onto. This is not a casual FPS by any means and if your looking for a simple shootemup to play through for a few hours your money is better spent on something like F.E.A.R. 2. You won’t be able to slow down the constant onslaught of Halghast, you won’t be able to Rambo through any section of the game and run straight to an objective. Played on Veteran mode it seems as though every Helghan is an actual user controlled enemy in multiplayer mode. This will detour a lot of gamers after the first few deaths on the first level.

The story in Killzone 2 is good enough to keep you going, but nothing ground breaking here. If you haven’t played the first edition of this series on PS2 or the follow up on psp you may be a little lost on why this conflict is taking place. Killzone 2 resumes action as if you just finished playing Killzone: Liberation. I recommend taking a wiki for all the story facts. A quick touch on the over all is…”In the game, the Helghast are a faction of human descendants who colonized the planet Helghan many generations ago. The planet’s harsh environment forced the Helghast to adapt and mutate so much that they can no longer be considered human. They are stronger, faster and more resilient than their human cousins, and possess a burning hatred for humanity.” -wikipedia It’s a pretty dope concept if you think about it. Humans colonizing out in space, adapting, then eventually waging war on humans back on Earth.

Throughout the game you will foot from shootouts to various vehicles and back to foot again disabling weapons systems and clearing paths for convoys and ISA. There is no co-op mode in single player which would have put this game into a classic category a long side the 360’s Gears of War. It’s unfortunate that there are only NPC [non playable characters] accompanying you along through difficult battles in which their AI just doesn’t meet the skill of the Helghan. You’ll find yourself dying quite a bit due to stupid team AI or trying to save them because they ran out into fire. You’ll need to rely on yourself and your guns to get your team through.

The weapons in Killzone 2 are varied enough to keep you excited about the change ups, but not interesting enough to really go on to long about. The basics are here, light assault and full assault, hand gun with infinite ammo, RPG and so on. A lot of the guns reminded me of Far Cry 2. The “green dot” scope on your main assault rifle is best used if the target is really far away. In COD4 & 5 you can iron site or dot scope close range and stay effective, here you will find yourself better off hip firing to maintain any accuracy. For me this is a bit of a disappointment as I like to site in as much as possible when attacking and choose my area of damage. Headshots are a must in KZ2, especially in MP [multiplayer] otherwise it takes way too much damage to put anyone down. The difficulty in a FPS should be in being able to hit your target, not trying to keep tons of fire on one soldier to put him down. This would keep with the realistic feel of the rest of the game, instead the tank like enemy soldiers just feel out of place after a while.

It’s a mistake these days to not have a co-op option in addition to not having a voice command option for your NPCs. If you could command your NPC team mates with your voice activated commands to attack certain targets or provide cover, dumping tons of fire on a single soldier would be a bit more manageable.

Killzone 2 is the best looking FPS game I have ever seen. It’s better looking then a lot of other genre’s games for that matter. It’s almost a shame that you can barely appreciate it as you are battling through level after level. I almost want to just let a friend play so I can check it all out. Smoke from explosions pulls along the ground and through the air with the direction of the wind. Fire a RPG and the smoke trail will react with the environment. Crumbling pillars mixed up with runny liquidy spilling blood after a cascade of fire makes for an epic show and keeps you wanting to do it again and again. The red eyes of the Helghast will glare off walls if they are close enough or glimmer in the distance as you size up a headshot through thick dusty wind.

The sound in the game (multiplayer and single player) will fully envelope you into the war experience. Communication and reactions to the battle from the Helghast can be heard all while your team mates are yelling at you to take cover as a frag beeps just before the deafening explosion. This all makes for a crashing symphony of destruction and mayhem that keeps you right on the edge of your seat. The weapons sound amazing, cracking off in the distance and thumping with the clanks of metal shells dropping all around. Chunky reloading sounds over top of the wurr of mechanical turrets and flying technician bots. It’s something you really have to hear.

The whole campaign will take you 8-9 hours to complete depending on your skill level. The quality of the levels will definitely have you replaying them to see if you can handle them a bit better each time.

Multiplayer:

Assuming you’ve read through the previous section, I’ll just cover the MP game modes, classes, clans and ranking.

Killzone 2 has your basic multiplayer game modes with only minor adjustments. There are five game types including Assassination, Search & Retrieve [capture the flag], Search & Destroy, Bodycount [team death match] and Capture & Hold [domination]. In search and retrieve you will be finding enemy propaganda and bringing it back to a secure location while the enemy is trying to do the same. All the rest of the game types are your basic multiplayer game modes.

The game gets interesting online with the class system. There are 7 classes all together with the ability to combine them according to how you like to play. These classes and abilities are all unlocked by completing challenges and receiving ribbons. You need a total of 8 of any ribbon to unlock addition features by obtaining a medal and so on.

Some notable classes are the Technician and the Engineer. The Engineer can set up an automated turret which targets the enemy, he can also repair ammo dispensers, mounted weapons, and automated turrets. Turrets really add a whole new level to the game play. Turrets are relatively weak when attacked but are very effective when built to protect an opening or hallway. The Technician has the ability to open up new spawn points throughout the map by tossing out a green smoke grenade. The spawn point is only open as long as the grenade is still kicking out smoke, once it runs out a Tech must then toss out another up to two at a time. A Technician can also throw out a beacon that calls for air support from a sentry bot which targets the enemy. These flying sentry bots will dodge enemy fire but are also relatively weak.

[picture left to right: ISA - turret, medic, technician, engineer, assault]

SOCOM: Confrontation’s promised clan system was a complete and utter failure. Luckily the same can’t be said here. You register your unique clan, assign officers, manage communication and challenge other clans for valor points. Board ranking can be broken down player individually into best all time, best of the day, week and month. The servers are stable and handle very well with virtually no problems with lag or disconnection.

Ranking up is rewarding enough with all the different classes and weapons that come along with each level. Points are given out sparingly so it will take you a bit to finish out your rank and then of course comes the class combining and obtaining all of your medals and ribbons.

Summary and rating:

All in all, Killzone 2 is one of the best FPS games out there. With only minor flaws like single player team AI, maybe a bit too much head bob and control layout issues (which can be fixed) it’s easy to see how the unbelievable graphics, epic single and multiplayer battles full of class strategy and steady hardcore simulated warfare will keep you spinning this game in your PS3. MY RATING: 9/10