Killzone: Sony’s Forced Halo Killer - Retrospective┃History and Analysis

[@radioactivodka1199]

This game blew me away when I first played it. The characters, environment, weapons, and setting were fresh and unique amid an age of predominantly WW2 shooters. It was by no means a halo killer but watching the series grow like it did throughout the ps3 era was amazing and likely something we will never see again

[@lutherheggs451]

There weren't marketing materials that were calling it a Halo killer, Sony never once called it that either. The only people who called it that were the gaming media, who for some reason couldn't manage to gasp that it was just guerilla making a shooter for PS2

[@XenithflareGaming]

One could argue the frequency with which print and online gaming media were calling it a "halo killer" pointed to targeted script suggestion by Sony. It wasn't uncommon for reviews to be entirely paid even in 2003-2004. Their actual marketing materials weren't quite so obvious about it, no.

[@SpanishArmadaProd]

It didn't have to we all knew what they were really saying

[@ssjalpha6593]

​@@XenithflareGamingove your tinfoil hat

[@DrFrogglePhD]

@@ssjalpha6593 Tinfoil hat? That is an extremely common tactic. Games journalism is the bottom of the barrel. Below clickbait Forbes articles. Gamers are the worst demographic of low IQ, low impulse control individuals that are easily manipulated and rightfully disrespected as consumers. All these terrible monetization and development trends are a direct result of consumers being potatoes and predatory companies just taking advantage of what's available.

[@TalexTheLich]

I just looked it up and got: "Killzone was originally slated as a Halo Killer by Sony. However, the developers have stated that they never intended it to be a Halo Killer, but merely as a good game" lol I'm not saying anyone is wrong just pointing out that it seems to be a pretty common opinion :>

[@ZetZatar]

Did everyone forget about Killzone HD? It was on the PS3 trilogy disc, and is still (as of today) available for purchase on the PS3 store. It addresses literally all of the technical issues.

[@87GNX]

Nope, it's hard to find and when you do it's not super cheap. The cheapest I've ever seen it is like 30 bucks.

[@ZetZatar]

@@87GNX , as of today (Oct 25, 2024), it's still available for download on the PS3 Playstation store for $14.98.

[@Viper1Zero]

Killzone Remastered is sorely needed.

[@kamilciura7953]

They did one for PS3 and frankly speaking, it looks bad. Without that CRT softness graphics design just doesn't work that well (problems with majority of 5 and 6 gen 3D games) - environmental detail is very low, you can see they've tried to put polygon budget into models, but it doesn't "glue" together in sharp 1080p resolution.

[@mickael486]

​. That's why we need a Remaster.... A Super Duper Remaster.

[@Mike0193Azul]

We need more Killzone and Resistance

[@phrozac]

I thought Killzone looked great at the time considering the limitations of the PS2. I would absolutely love for the Killzone franchise to resume. With today's tech and Guerrilla's AAA expertise, I think a Killzone 4, or 5 depending on how you count Shadow Fall, could seriously rock some socks. For those missing the signature look of Killzone, look no further than The Forever Winter, a 3rd-person PVE, co-op extraction shooter set in a grimdark post-apocalyptic future and looks amazing to mine eyes. Several key environment artists from the Killzone and Horizon series are on it and doing an incredible job.

[@Alex-ip1dn]

I appreciate how you talked about the game using silence as a thematic element. It's something I really enjoy when done well. Hotline Miami is a great example. When you walk back through the map in silence witnessing your carnage. Awesome video, Evan. Thank you.

[@mrcatchablecactus3376]

Whilst I never played Killzone on the PS2, I do recall playing the PSVita game. I remember being impressed by it back in the day, but never getting far in the campaign. Great video, and thank you to who ever gave me the membership!

[@packpock4369]

The original Killzone was really the start it was running on limited hardware not up to the standards they would wind up setting. Because 2 and on was some of the best looking games PlayStation ever put out. Killzone Mercenaries on the PS Vita was better than you would think a handheld could pull off what they accomplished. It was fun as hell especially the multiplayer.

[@Gravinus]

So, the issues with accuracy might depend on the character you're using. Certain characters are better with certain weapons and have other advantages. One of the reasons I like to use Hakkah is that he is much more accurate with Helghast weapons (and can carry more ammo for them) and can walk through the helghast laser mines. If a character is using a weapon they're not familiar with, they will be less accurate with it.

[@hollowatelier]

I'd like to see Killzone ported to PC. The whole series would be interesting to play through again. A PC remaster would be great! I feel the opinion on game Dev's not being experienced when looking at older games is an unfair comment. Of course they're going to be less experienced when you look at older games: they have less experience at the time. I believe the hardware is a fairer comment to make. Frame-rate, draw distance, and other technical limitations being more emblematic of the problems. You can only really work within the confines of the system's specs after all. I remember the guns being junk in this for accuracy and I found myself gravitating towards the surprisingly accurate SMG and the weird control scheme, but highly functional Sniper Rifle at the time. I got to the introduction of Hakka and then giving up on it. I liked the visual style of the game, but the inaccurate weapons was such a detraction from the whole experience. I do remember the sequel addressing that. Looking forward to your next video!

[@evprince]

Killzone 2 vid coming here super shortly

[@hollowatelier]

@@evprince Looking forward to it!

[@Guciom]

4:00 WRONG!!! The Helghan Corporation already owned the planet Vekta and Helgan as they bought out the colony rights from Earth Gov as there original colonization project failed miserably.

[@kborton99]

The killzone trilogy are some of my favorite fps games!

[@KylePhantomK94]

I've never played Killzone but I do have the collection ready for me to play! Good to see a nice retrospective sir, amazing as always! You should consider doing the Resistance Fall Of man game next, one of my favs for the PS3.

[@PIMPTD]

I really enjoyed this game when I played it. I thought it looked cool and always loved the enemy designs. Was excited to play as one cause the box art then learned when playing it you’re on the other side lol. Idk if they fixed anything but I played this on the hd trilogy for ps3 and don’t remember having issues but could be remembering wrong. Excited to see rest of the series. The vita game is my favorite and I spent hours on that one’s multiplayer. I liked killzone 4 but didn’t enjoy it as much as vita one sadly.

[@lastgengamers1137]

2004 KZ wasnt built with a game engine like unreal so to speak. It was all coded and built in house. But that helped and shaped one for KZ2 which has gone on to be used in horizon zero dawn

[@cropathfinder]

I feel like a lot of people hate on "turret sections" and to degree defense sections just because its the meme to hate on em. Turret sections can be done really well especially if you make the weapon satisfying , add some degree of destruction you can cause with it ,etc. Scenarios where u get to turn an enemy turret on them are also really good, and first game i can recall doing that was half life opposing force where it nailed it in a primitive way. Defense sections are definitely a lost art in gaming, nowdays they are a joke, usually taking just a couple of minute (often with a visible countdown) and incoming enemies are a joke with ubisoft being the biggest offender in some of their games where they send like waves of 1-2 dudes slowly from 2-3 directions and often staggered so they can't even swarm the player. COD especially the first few i feel really had these sections nailed along with some other games of the time with last time they were sort of good being the original MW 1 and 2(ofc with the occasional exception like the last stand of metro last light).

[@bloodysimile4893]

Cod waw with blackcat plane is a great turret section.

[@LuxAurorae]

I actually really liked the first killzone though it has certainly not aged gracefully. Some of that is looking past a few of the flaws you mentioned- the controls (shocking, but I didn’t have much PC experience at the time), the frame rate, the level design- but some of the things you mentioned were actually selling points for me. I really liked that kind of neo world war grunge aesthetic they had going, it contrasted nicely with more traditional sci-fi settings for me, and some of the weapon designs were actually pretty interesting. I also feel like for the time the game had a sort of weight and presence that wasn’t common for shooters of the period. The tankiness of the controls might have contributed to it, but the game was loud, the gunfights were oppressive, and somewhat like FEAR the enemy chatter helped sell engagements just that little bit better. KZ2 is definitely a step up in every way, though the controls are still… not good.

[@XenithflareGaming]

Killzone had so much potential that was wasted with the sequels. Same with Resistance. It's a shame Black only had one game, it was incredible.

[@FIDEL_CASHFLOW_]

In regards to the useless squad mates, I agree with you 99% of the way but as I found out during some of the more hard parts, if you sit back long enough and don't do anything, your squad mates will eventually kill all the enemies. There was a few times where I would try four or five times to clear an area and then getting so aggravated that I would restart, hide behind cover, and go do something else for 15 or 20 minutes! And then come back to find that the area had been cleared of all enemies.

[@kosfriendly_3577]

The ISA Rifle, Sub, and Pistol are accurate for about the first three rounds. Most of the other guns are stormtrooper blasters.

[@packpock4369]

They always try to act as if Killzone was mediocre the series. Their shooter's were ahead of for the time. Halo is different you can't really compare them because it's not the same. Sony didn't say it or market Killzone to Halo. You just claimed Sony marketed it that way, no they didn't actually. Guerilla Games developed their own engine, I use to be able to remember the engine.

[@felman87]

Awesome stuff, I love it. Oh, I think that cutscene where you confront (the traitor) actually has different variations depending on who you choose to play as. Not that the speech he gives changes but whatever. Neat to see the different takes (though I recommend just looking them up on youtube rather than replaying it all.)

[@ThomasRoiloup]

The only FPS I liked on the PS2 was Medal of Honor Frontline. I actually kind of liked it more than Halo, for a lot of complicated and bizarre reasons that I won't bother getting into.

[@Browneyedbakedpotato]

Yooo hell yeah dude, new video!!

[@Kousaburo]

That there is no Killzone Trilogy for PS4/5 is a crime. Killzone: Mercenary is one of the best games on the Vita. On the Making Of feature the lead programmer said they didn't want to use middleware but make an engine that was made specifically for Killzone.

[@ARIXANDRE]

Sony had Killzone AND Resistance...and still fumbled it.

[@LateNightHalo]

Tbh that says more about the quality of Killzone and resistance more than anything. The two franchises just weren’t interesting enough to become juggernauts. Killzone was consistently mediocre and Resistance had too much of an identity crisis from game to game.

[@tacos4419]

​@@LateNightHalo"Killzone was consistently mediocre" is bs. Killzone 2 and especially Killzone 3 were nowhere near mediocre and are actually still unmatched by some aspects even by games out today.

[@lVlonkeyman]

These games looked so cool in the Xplay reviews. Now we can enjoy them for the oddities they are. Would love to see a reboot of the series. We need a cod killer rn

[@evprince]

Absolutely man. With a good writer and a dedicated dev team on this franchise the potential is IMMENSE.

[@Area51UFOGynaecology]

why does it look so blurred? is it the video or the game? strange thing is that its not always blurry, can be sharp even when moving around, its like the devs put in some mechanic where its becomes blurry when the hardware is heavily taxed in order to lower texture quality without it being visible in order to conserve framerate

[@evprince]

It's the game actually, it is legit just mad blurry sometimes in game I assume for the reasons you listed.

[@Elim1986]

I did play this game ages ago. I wasn’t aware of the intent for it to topple Halo. It really doesn’t commit to the future war setting in the way that Halo did yet it had potential. Other actual squad games did squad AI better with and without squad commands. The game had some interesting points which you comment upon.

[@donovanfaust3227]

That's because it wasn't designed to topple Halo, just marketed to be that. Sony being the publisher was in charge of marketing while Guerrilla was the developer. They probably had no thought in mind of trying to out do Halo when making this game, Sony had other ideas.

[@lastgengamers1137]

I remember when people where like its gonna go toe to toe with halo and ended up not being as successful. That was the age of game genre killers. The big one being the world of warcraft killers that never really did.

[@Elim1986]

@@donovanfaust3227 yes they weren’t on the same page about its marketing to the gaming community. Graphically it seemed on par with other PS2 FPS games of the time to me. Halo benefitted from being more in accord between developers and console marketing.

[@Rich135i]

I’ve never played the main console games, but I did play the PSP Killzone title way back. It was a pretty solid top-down shooter for being a handheld iteration of the series, so yeah :)

[@shreksnow1918]

That was definitely interesting. That’s too bad that the game is so underdeveloped. There’s a lot of really cool ideas that could’ve greatly enhanced the game if it was more refined and running on better hardware. I agree wholeheartedly that modders would be able to fix so many of the games issues, and a good chunk of those fixes happened in 2/3. Why Sony and other companies haven’t made MCC style collections of their older games to put on current consoles/PC is beyond me. That would basically print money. I know the chances of this are really slim, but if there were to be a Dead Space/Resident Evil style remake I’d want them to do stuff like adding weapons, vehicles, and enemies from future titles to make the gameplay more fleshed out. Make it handle like 2/3, but keeping the original health system. Making your squad mates actually useful, changing up the level design so their play throughs are more distinct, and making them function like different classes. To make the planet actually feel like a sci-fi setting you’d have ambient life that fill analogous roles to what we have here, include Shadowfall buildings in the background, and make the art style look like it did in 2/3. Throw in some vehicle sections to break up the normal gameplay. Doing more with the characters. And other similar things. It will be interesting to hear your thoughts on the sequels. Also, if you haven’t already you should do videos about Resistance. That series is definitely interesting and NEEDS a PS5/PC collection.

[@evprince]

Working on KZ2 videos and 3 right now! Resistance maybe later.

[@shreksnow1918]

That’s great news. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing those.

[@orange-g2g]

I'm only an emerald member but I can watch this even though it says that crimson members get early access to videos is that intentional?

[@evprince]

It should be available to all members!

[@evprince]

Early access applies to any member of the channel

[@evprince]

Early access applies to any member of the channel

[@Str8outta604]

Its awesome that Mercenaries is the best in the series..love the Vita.

[@87GNX]

Loved the 1st 3 Killzone games.

[@vRyanXOXO]

genuinely how are you churning out this long of content this quickly 😭😭

[@evprince]

It's my full time job

[@nathanielhaven3453]

@@evprincebe careful, don’t be afraid to pace yourself. We all love your content and would hate to see you burn out, don’t forget to take care of Evan too lol

[@hazanko5875]

The helghast soldier design (even though it's more or less a jin-roh rip off) really carried the look of this game. Just about the only thing I remember from it.

[@francoisbeaune3289]

Appreciate your work very much Evan, but FFS, please use the correct aspect ratio!

[@evprince]

I prefer stretchy wetchy

[@francoisbeaune3289]

@@evprince Ahah ok, fair enough ^^

[@tomhibbert6486]

Awesome video! I presume the budokai tenchaichi video will be available for everyone soon?

[@evprince]

Yes! June 20 7 PM EST

[@GradoFun]

What happened to your image? Why it is divided into layers? Also it is stretched from 4:3 to 16:9. PS2 game doesn't have that issue neither on original hardware nor on emulator

[@koiofokinawa]

Evan the 🐐

[@leb2048]

Killzone was really refreshing Title in the PS2 library, the game clearly has performance issues, but aesthetically, it was a very outstanding game. The gunplay is Heavy, it has some inertia when you move your gun, you have to place your shots carefully to hit the target, the sound design is great, especially for the lack of game radar, you depend on the sound to know the direction of the enemy shots, you can hear the bullets buzzing passing near you or hitting the ground.

[@packpock4369]

Decima is the name of the engine they most recently used. Kojima used the engine for Death Stranding. To me GG were always ahead in terms of technology because when you look at Shadowfall all the way back to KZ2 they were doing stuff no one else was able to in terms of how you could utilize the consoles power and push it as far as you could. I think out of every development team they were able to do that. Sony Santa Monica same thing they are very good with hardware power and making ideas work without really compromising the game. Look at Shadowfall that game is over a decade old and it looks better if not as good against today's shooter's. COD made the mistake of getting stale without ever actually improving much of anything. They're games pretty much always look the same. The only time it was impressive is when Modern Warfare came out in 2007 that was a talented group of people. Everyone wanted a piece of that pie and now it's ruined what made it special and stand out over other fps. It finally started to put a dent into Halo because they have never been the same since Modern Warfare took off and Bungie knew you couldn't keep going to the well the same every time. Destiny has been very successful maybe not as big as Halo when it first came.

[@evprince]

I haven't played Shadow Fall yet. I'm very excited to try that one out!

[@CynicalRaptor]

The devs might have wanted to make a warhammer game. Feels very warhammer

[@TechnoCocoa]

I love the Killzone series... minus 1. 1 is REALLY hard to recommend to people. I generally tell people to skip straight to 2. That being said, Liberation is the next installment; play that before 2.

[@evprince]

Played it and finished the script for it. It will be covered in the full series video rather than getting its own full retrospective.

[@tical2399]

Killzone 1 was a great looking game. Fuk this dude talkin about?

[@elizaofelia1881]

28:55 HOW TF DID YOU HAD THAT TURET THERE.. I HAVE THE PS 2 GAME TO AND IT NOT THERE

[@SIGNOR-G]

I played the ps3 remake and i had the turret too. Maybe it has been added (?)

[@Underratedcomedi]

Rico lowkey sound like Hoss Delgado

[@nicknight1728]

Why don't you show the HD version, you don't own a PS3? Also why does it look like that? Are you playing it on a emulator? Cause I own both PS2 & PS3 versions & I can confirm that it doesn't look like that.

[@evprince]

It is, I compared to ps2 classic though, and it looked very similar to me

[@nicknight1728]

@@evprince oh, ok. I kinda figured it out due to that crazy pop in with objects covered in mustard yellow & the snow levels having what looks like yellow colored smoke in the air & I remember KZ1 not having that.

[@Inuzumi]

I remember this game feeing bad compared to other PS2 FPS like BLACK. But somehow I kinda managed to get used to its controls and aiming. That was until I knew the full extent of its horrible checkpoint system. I know I kinda sucked at the game and all that but it felt extremely punishing for no reason dying near the end of the game.

[@nickmoranis2865]

I played a demo of this before launch. Couldn’t stand it. Black was my favourite FPS of that era.

[@RumblesBettr]

Halo is so overrated…

[@SaraphDarklaw]

At the time, it wasn’t. There wasn’t anything as good as halo until modern warfare came out in 2007.

[@RumblesBettr]

@@SaraphDarklaw i was a tribes 2 player and when i played Halo for the first time i just went ehh. Different games of course Mp vs SP but just the general feel of combat seems pretty bland comparatively

[@charless1145]

Honestly, it really isn't. Think what you will of it as its own thing, but i really changed the landscape of FPS games; the ripples of which are still being felt to this day. The importance of Halo:CE cannot be overstated, alongside Halflife, Counterstrike, Doom, and Quake. There hasn't been a monolithic shooter that really changed the field the way Halo:CE did since.