IGN Preview NYCC: Killzone Hasn’t Aged Very Well

IGN - Can the gloss of HD save it?

Sometimes, the illustrious Greg Miller – my boss on IGN PlayStation – says “old game is old,” and I often take issue with him when he does. There are plenty of bygone titles (like River Raid, for instance) that will always be awesome regardless of how much gaming has evolved. And my favorite game of all-time, Mega Man 3, is 22 years old. So Greg and I don’t really see eye to eye here.

[NastyLeftHook0]

Can the gloss of HD save it?

its a PS2 game! lol. save it...

[jerethdagryphon]

1 its a fps they generlly dont age well after 6 ish years

2 its a console fps

[Haha123]

Plus its a fps that got fairly average ratings to begin with..

[NastyLeftHook0]

when i first seen it, it blew me away. best shooting game ever made.

[DasTier]

"1 its a fps they generlly dont age well after 6 ish years ".

Hmmn, the almost 11 year old Halo:CE begs to differ.

[jerethdagryphon]

really look closer basic bump mapping and texture tricks cant counter a very low geometry engine.

halo looks nice because the texture artist dis amazing work with flare bloom and procedurals

interior work however is quite lacking basic and well boring

[Larry L]

Personally, Killzone 1 is my favorite of the series. I loved the rediculous amount of kickback and muzzle lift. It made me better at all FPSs. I remember playing BF2 online on PS2, and totally sucking. I would get like 1 kill for every 10 deaths if I was having a good game. Killzone came out and it was FAR more hard, but with the dark tone, awesome weapons all with secondary fire, and 3 or 4 of my favorite MP maps of all time (beach head, park terminal, canyon crossing and core), it kept me hooked for YEARS.

It was really the only FPS I played until CoD4 came out Nov 2007. I got REALLY good at it too. Just before CoD4 came out, I went back to the PS2 BF2 just to get another taste of a more "realistic" style FPS, and I was no longer 1 kill for 15 deaths.....I had turned that ratio completely around. I credit the amazing but fun difficulty of Killzone 1 with that. It was SO hard to be good, that it made ALL other FPSs child's play in comparison.

This HD remaster fixes the few issues I had with the game, which was all the audio dropouts, framerate drops, and even freeze ups the game had durring the campaign on PS2 (oddly enough, it ran perfectly online).

The author of this preview does get it wrong on a couple things. The controls are mappable like he eventually said after bashing the default set-up. But what he obviously missed in the options was the toggle for turning zoom (and also crouch) between "hold" and "toggle". So you can make it exactly like CoD's controls if you please.

He's also right that there is absolutely no aim assists on Killzone 1 (neither did Killzone 2) which I find to be a good thing, and is probably the reason the game made me so much batter than I was at FPSs pre-killzone 1. That along with the huge kickback on weapons is what makes the controls seems so "finicky" as he put it. Killzone 2 took most of it out but it still had some, and no aim assists, which is why gamers bashed the controls imo....because they were so used to the comparitively EASY CoD4.

Another hit against the original controls is the sensitivity. My PS3 has BC, so I can still play my original disc, and just like I had to originally, the sensitivity needs to be turned down quite a bit to make up for there being no aim assist. This is likely still the case with the HD remaster.

Luckily this author didn't get his hands on a sniper rifle, he'd REALLY be crying about that I'm sure. Because if you move your character while zoomed in with it you come out of zoom unlike just about every other FPS which allows you to move all you want while zoomed in with sniper rifles.

Killzone 1 is THE # 1 hardest FPS of all time imo when it comes to actually being good at the game due to the kickback, muzzle drift, no aim assists, and enemies taking alot of bullets to drop (in MP).
I expect most reviews to bash the game just like this previewer did because of all these things. But all those things are why for me Killzone 1 is still my favorite console FPS ever. I'll miss the online, I'd gladly pay more to have it. But at least the offline version with split-screen is still in which is just as good since you don't have whole teams spamming 203s and pull-sniping like the original's online was plagued with.

[Eyeco]

Half-Life 2 is almost 10 years old yet that game can still hold its own , especially in comparison to modern shooters with its suprisingly long campaign and innovative level design and physics.

Killzone was a decent game if you looked past the horrible framerate, bugs, glitches and dated look, you would notice some nice level design, but even then, the game was no classic so obviously it isn't gonna age well.

[TheFirstClassic]

@ujean69 Key word is "generally". Halo will always age well.

[NarooN]

@Larry L

I haven't logged in here in ages and I just decided to login JUST to tell you that you win the internets for that post. I agree with everything you just said 1000%.

KZ1 is easily the most difficulty console-exclusive FPS ever created. The game didn't hold your hand at all. No aim-assist, no auto-aim, none of that crap. You had to learn how to aim and learn the eccentricities with each of the weapons in order to be good. The campaign was difficult enough with the relentless intelligent AI, but online was a completely different chapter.

Online was insane. I played that game online from Feb. 2005 up until about March. 2008. Why did I stop playing? I snapped my disc. Why'd I do that? Because I had just got my PS3 in Feb. 2008, and all I was playing on it was KZ1. I decided I had to destroy the disc just to actually PLAY the few PS3 games I had (CoD4 being one of them, which I quickly grew bored of since it was not only easy, but the so-called revolutionary things it brought didn't really blow my mind that much.)

That's kinda extreme but I did it. I bought a new KZ1 disc in early 2011 before they shut the PS2 online servers down for KZ1 just to go back with a few friends; still had about 20+ people playing it at all times.

But man, what a great game imo. Most people who cried about it only hated it because it didn't hold your hand, it wasn't a Halo clone, or they never even actually played it to begin with. I'll miss the 60 minute 'Park Terminal' Assault matches, the 'Core' Supply Drop matches, the Beachhead 60-minute Deathmatches, and the crazy-instantly-overheat-your- PS2 effects generated by the Slums map. Game only had 8 maps, but somehow the game remained fun for ages on end anyway.

Too bad they didn't include online with the HD remaster, though I'll probably pick this up anyway. The framerate drops and audio glitches were the ONLY issues I had with the game, besides the M203 spam in the multiplayer which never got patched, but damn... Still think it's the best in the series as well. Way better story than both of it's successors as well (Liberaton was actually pretty good, too.)

[jerethdagryphon]

i must point out that when i speak of ageing im not talking combat mechanics that have become an institution.

or story or gameplay or even ai.

i refer only to visual assets
textures geometry and liglighting

[pixelsword]

"2 its a console fps"

Old PC FPS don't age very well either, just so you know.

[humbleopinion]

@ujean69
Perhaps Halo aged better, but it was a much better game to begin with. So was the first Riddick game (Butcher bay, remastered in a new engine as part of Dark Athena - it was actually better than the new game), and so has the first Half Life (as can be witnessed in the new Black Mesa release).

To age well you need a solid game to begin with. Guerrilla put much more effort into Killzone 2, and I believe it will fare better if it is also remastered sometime during the next gen.

[t0mmyb0y]

I didn't even like it when it first came out so pass for me.

[guitarded77]

I'm not saying it has or hasn't aged well, I'll find out for myself when I download day 1, but I do question whether IGN's staff is capable of fully understanding a game from any generation past. From looking at their overall body of reviews, list, etc... many of the writers seem very young and little understanding of what makes a game good or bad. I think they need some older editors in house to hold the hands of the younger staff when looking at HD remakes, or a series making a return after many years. Just my 2 cents. I'm not being defensive of Killzone HD, just something I noticed from IGN over the years.

[SilentNegotiator]

It was the only average title in the series. I don't think "aging" is the worst of its problems.

But hey, if you're getting the series pack, whatever. One average game with 2 spectacular games, and you really don't have to play the first one if you don't want to and understand the story.

[Nicaragua]

your right there - Killzone 2 was awesome and Killzone 3 was total shite, so saying Killzone 1 is the average of the series is a fair comment.

[Bowzabub]

People will not be playing this for aesthetics but for the story. Thanks Sony & GG.

[Pandamobile]

@Pixelsword

False, you can still crank up a 12 year old PC game to 1080p, or higher.

As long as I can play my old PC games at the default res of my monitor, they'll look fine.

[KUV1977]

Because resolution was the only problem with playing a ten year old game. Thank god the poly count and texture/effect levels back then were just as good as they are today.

[Pandamobile]

Resolution is a huge factor in the overall presentation of a game.

[ChunkyLover53]

Killzone 1 never looked that great and had a ton of frame rate issues, why would people expect something so much different now?
An HD upgraded Killzone is still going to be the same game that people hated back when it released. Unless they went and actually remade the game, its going to have some issues.

[NastyLeftHook0]

Killzone is still going to be the same game that people hated back when it released.

and it will be the same game people loved when it was released.

[Larry L]

Yup, but it's actually better since there are no longer those framerate drops and other issues.

And chunky said
"Killzone 1 never looked that good to begin with"

I couldn't disagree more. When PS2's lifecycle was all said and done, Killzone 1 was the best looking FPS on the console except for 1 other game, and that was BLACK.

[DigitalRaptor]

BLACK was an amazing game, and really pushed the visual boundaries for last gen.

[TheFirstClassic]

Supposedly they fixed all the technical issues, so many of the complaints back when it released might not be relevant anymore.

[NastyLeftHook0]

good news!

[Syntax-Error]

You do know he reviewed KZHD, so what technical issues are you referring to? He clearly stated that the game is total garbage and he didnt want to complete it because it THAT bad

[cannon8800]

Killzone 1 had poor frame rates because the ps2 couldn't handle it. And just so everybody knows, the whole killzone game being the "halo killer" had nothing to do with Guerrilla Games. It was a bunch of douche bags who said it and then people blamed the developers.

http://news.softpedia.com/n...

[Shikoro]

It's always the people and the media. It can't be helped, unfortunately. :(

[wages of sin]

I don't remember anyone saying GG said that, rather Sony and their more "vocal" fans. It's just like any other Sony exclusive; it got hyped to the sky.

Sony was fully aware how their game was being pegged and they let it ride because they needed to generate the hype. Halo was on everyone's mouth and Sony didn't have an answer. It's not like they had people were coming out of the wood work to refute the claims either. Can you provide links to prove there was an effor to change that perception? Nope.

Nice try.

[otherZinc]

@ChunkyLovers53,

Exactly!

How do people expect something to change when it was terrible years ago?

If you put a fresh coat of wax on a car thats been in the junkyard for years, would one expect it to run better all of a sudden? No.

Killzone got hyped because it was the 1st proposed "Halo Killer". It never lived up to it.

However, I'm going to beat Killzone 1 again, just to remember what it was like to experience such an overrated game.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

Meh.

Not sure why people cant just let others enjoy what they want.

Obviously the HD upgrade is for those that enjoyed the game back then and/or what to try the game out now. I'm not sure why people feel the need claim that people supposedly hated the game, I wonder if it could be because they're a bit insecure about the games they like in comparison?

[ziggurcat]

typically an HD remake involves more than just sprucing up the visuals.

i believe the god of war HD collection had improved visuals as well as getting the frame rate bumped up to 60 since the extra power on the newer system would allow that.

i would imagine that any performance issues in the PS2 version would be ironed out on the HD version.

[ritsuka666]

" Killzone was never that good to begin with."

Greg is an idiot.. IGN needs to make Craig their poster child.

[xPhearR3dx]

Killzone one was decent at best. Killzone 2 was bad ass though. Loved that game when I had my PS3.

[Syntax-Error]

So he's an idiot because he didnt like the game you liked? That game fell short even when it was new. They laughed at it when it was considered as a Halo killer. Even now with KZ3 it still cant compete with Halo. Then they thought Resistance was going to compete with Halo and Gears and that fell short too. NO PS FPS exclusive can compete with Halo or Gears. It's already been proven. Resistance has been shelved indefinitely because of sales and we don't know the future of KZ yet. The clunky controls are still there and the game never has stellar reviews.

Why pay $15 for a game that cost $5? You guys are sheep. Isn't that the same as slapping lipstick on a pig?

[GrahamGolden]

first of resistance is a FPS,gears is a TPS

second you want to compared genres ? then compare gears against uncharted....from story,graphics,sound and ofc story wich gears had zero to begin with,nominations-awards-goty uncharted OWNS gears either u like it or not admit it or not end of story.

as for the KZ halo killer its stupid ppl like you who goes to the net and post sh!ts like this

[MattyG]

I'll still probably play it just to have the whole series completed.

[hennessey86]

I was big into halo at the time as well, didn't buy into all the halo killer BS I just enjoyed it for what it was

[cannon8800]

Guerrilla games had nothing to do with the halo killer bs just so you know.

[Bathyj]

omg. you can do that?

ditto btw

[pupa]

You mean Hollow? There now is even an Hallow4. (wink)

I would love to play Halo but then again it would mean enriching M$ by buying an eXbox.

[MrDead]

"Killzone Hasn’t Aged Very Well".... I'll be the judge of that, I still enjoy playing it on my PS2.

[GammaSix]

if they fixed the framerate and the gfx issues it would be a damn near perfect game

[Haha123]

Damn now Im confused, should I agree with his comment because he says Killzone is near perfect, or disagree cause he said Killzone has flaws... :S

[soundslike]

You would disagree with the truth?

You just openly admitted to being an ignorant fanboy

[TheFirstClassic]

I'm not totally sure on whether I want to buy this. Wish there was a demo coming out or something, would like to try before I buy.

[Gridloc]

It's only gonna cost 15 bucks...no online multiplayer though...

[BigStef71]

"Aiming your assault rifle, pistol and especially your sniper rifle is finicky. Movement is heavy. The animation of your squad and the enemies is wonky. Nothing I saw or played in the little time I had with Killzone HD made me excited to see the full product. If anything, it made me wary of it, not because the upscale of the game is badly done, but because it’s clear to me now that perhaps Killzone was never that good to begin with."
I thought they said they fixed all the technical errors from the ps2 version. Do you guys think the version that was previewed will be the same build as when its released in 10 days?

[Larry L]

The movement being heavy wasn't a technical error. They were specifically going for that. And they proved that when Killzone 2 still had that weighty movement. My only disappointment with GG over the years was when they were developing Killzone 3, they gave in to all the CoD zombies crying about that weighty movement. I wished they kept it like Killzone 2. In fact, I'd go as far as to say I wish they'd kept all the weight and kickback from Killzone 1 in Killzone 2. K2 was MUCH easier than Killzone 1 when it comes to that. But K2 still had most of that Killzone "feel", K3 was missing most of that feel imo.

[BigStef71]

I personally liked KZ3 more but I will agree with you about that the weighted feel was kinda missing in it

[jerethdagryphon]

modern shooters lack the weighty feel that made them 'real' there all whip arouind twitch fests

[Skate-AK]

Yeah I'm sure they previewed the final code. It's been completed but they need to print discs for the trilogy.

[BigStef71]

Thanks for the info

[Siren30]

I was actually looking forward to playing this again. I love how it began and that you play as different characters It will also be nice to play multiplayer with the bots and see if I can remeber the layout of the maps

[Straightupbeastly]

Killzone has always been average. It was hyped before this gen when that fake trailer released. It's crazy what one trailer can do, look at battleshit 3 too

[pupa]

Straightup your a$$ Beasty. (wink) You are not a gamer what you said is what losers say that cannot appreciate any game. Go play hamsterball or patience (cards).

[Skate-AK]

This is on two discs right?

[dcortz2027]

Wrong console bro.

[Skate-AK]

Was just a question. Seeing as how Killzone 3 is 41.5 GB i dont see how it can fit KZ1&2 on that same disc. Don't see how I get disagrees.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

Looks like IGN could be getting tired of previewing/reviewing collection games.

Collection game reviews does get tired and stale after a while.

[r21]

Whatever, Im still getting KZ1 HD, I played the hell out of that game when it was on PS2 and will do the same on PS3 :D

[arbitor365]

alot of people love to hate on killzone 1. i think it was pretty good for the time.

on of the most annoying parts were the frame rate drops. hopefully that will be fixed here. please be in 60FPS.

[Pandamobile]

Killzone came out around the same time as Half-Life 2.

Half-Life 2 was good for the time; Killzone was "okay" for the time.

[taquito]

Half life 2 in 1080p with 16x aa and af still looks better than all console games ever made to me, at least it has zero jaggies and no artifacting shadows all over

it came out in 2004 as well, killzone 2 looks worse than half life 2 on pc, part 1 looks like a pc game from 2000

[timemuffin]

I'm not saying anything about the game itself. It could have previewed awfully for all I know. This is what I'm getting at. The point of my post.
WHO OVER THE AGE OF TWELVE CARES AT ALL ABOUT WHAT COLIN OR GREG AT IGN THINK ABOUT ANYTHING WHATSOEVER!
Apologies for my tone but these two are the worst. Or the second worst if you throw Arthur Gies and Anthony Gallegos into the mix.

[Neo-Axl]

Anybody took the time recently to re-play Timesplitters 1, 2 or 3?

I don't care how old it is, Those games are still seriously mental fun, I never got around to play Killzone 1.. But that will change when it's on the PSN Store.

When you play these older games, You MUST remember it came out a long time ago, & appreciate it for what it was back in the day, Even though I will be playing KZ1 for the first time, I will know that this game came out in the PS2 era, & Enjoy it regardless of it's original debut.

Being harsh towards these older games proves your a spoiled current-gen brat 'Cough' Greg 'Cough' & shouldn't be taken very seriously, especially when those of us that enjoy any game, be it from the Game-Boy era upto the PS2 era appreciate the Good times these games provided & STILL provide too this day.

Can't wait to give this game a spin! Articles like this annoy me, But force me to comment regardless.

Damn Internet :P

[TheFirstClassic]

Well said. My favorite games this gen are the souls games, but other than those I prefer mario 64, banjo kazooie, metal gear solid, and many others more than most every game that has come out this gen.

Greg says old game is old.

I say timeless game is timeless.

Some games will always be good, and if you refuse to play them because of age or graphics, than its your loss.

[Neo-Axl]

I totally agree, I have the luck of having my original 60GB PS3 still running, So very often I play absolutley any game from the old days,

I know I'm not alone on this one where I must admit, Some of these older games just destroy most games we see today,

Like you said dude, Timeless game is Timeless.

[monkey nuts]

110% agree with you brother. I still fire my snes up from time to time, whenever I get the urge to scractch an itch. They simply don't make games like they used to. When you actually needed some skill and intelligence to get through to the end of a game. Most games nowadays hold your hand all the way through, and have just enough replayability so that your finished with it just in time for the payed DLC or game of the year edition. Super Ghosts and Goblins and Flashback would have most of todays gamers looking for another hobby XD.

[Drainage]

this guy is complaining about no aim assist and button mapping is too hard. He also says the control feels heavy which is something GG did purposely but shouldnt have because the original was fine. I bet he misses his radar too. At the end of the day, no one plays single player story mode anyways so who cares (unless its Timeplitters,etc).

It was all about the online which they omitted because sony or GG is too cheap. May as well make a socom 2 HD and keep it offline if they are gonna be like that//

[SOULJER]

LOL. The same can be said about his mother, but we still love her.

[braydox21]

killzone 1 was/is a great game, being able to playthrough the game as four different people each with their own style and path they can take in the game. (luger can climb ropes while hacker can control droes and pass through laser mines) and i don't know anything about frame rate issue cause i never experianced any, however i did experiance some bugs ( no helghast ran into the courtyard during the retrieval of the space weopen key so i could not progress) the secondary option was great, and since i did not play online at the time versing the bots was great fun and they are not gun fodder like the combat training bots in black ops or any cod bot

[chukamachine]

Never had a PS2, so i never played it.

I enjoyed KZ2 alot, although slowdown and such ruined mp for me.

KZ3 was better in many ways, but i prefered the dark grittyness of KZ2.

I would like to see KZ4 for PS4, But it needs to be 60fps.

[pupa]

Speak for yourself buddy, Killzone is one of the most realistic FPS out there. Not as gimmicky as other IP's.

[Rageanitus]

Well, ODST sucked pretty hard in terms of graphics and that was an current gen title.

[Frodosmugins]

KZ1 came out when socom was out.. I can remmber all my socom buddies jumping from Socom to KZ to try something new and imidietly jumped back to socom..

KZ series to me have allways been overshadowed by better games..

It does fps good but nothing new!

[ZILLA]

KZ3 online knifing is second to none.the only game that is close is BF3.

[Saturne3]

I play PS1 games and i think many did aged very well but that´s only my perspective.

I advise the author to not glue his eyes to his tv/monitor.

[IQUITN4G]

A good game remains just that and Killzone1 wasn't very good to begin with. This didn't however stop me enjoying the experience mostly I guess because it felt very atmospheric.

I liked the franchise to begin with because of this first quirky yet still enjoyable combat feel and highly atmospheric atmosphere, but it was basically a bit crap in lots of ways outside of technical failings. The sequels's much grander scale also exposed GG's lack of understanding for greatly realised characters or story telling

[Magic_Spatula]

I want an HD remake of Black. Make it happen Criterion.