I must confess: until now, I have only had a passing interest inKillzone 2. The immense hype for the title, along with Guerrilla’s admissions oftouching up their game’s screenshots— twice — has made me extremely suspicious, and the apparent lack of any palpable story screams “just another good-looking gray/brown FPS.” However, the “Helghan” trailer above finally provides me with a reason to give a damn.
In addition to all the graphically-intensive fighting on display, we’re finally given some semblance of a story — and unless I’m reading into it too much, it sounds a lot like subtle political commentary on the Iraq War. I was reminded ofAnthony’s brilliant articlefrom last year regardingCall of Duty 4; I highly recommend checking it out. The voice-over talks about how the army’s commanding officers told the foot soldiers that their superior weaponry would quickly blow away an already-demoralized enemy, one who could only put up “moderate to low resistance.” Sound familiar? RememberOperation: Shock and Awe? How about the woefully premature “Mission Accomplished” banner?
Well, “someone forgot to tell the Helghast.” The trailer also features some inspiring oration from a man that I assume is the Helghan leader, Scolar Visari. He was voiced byBrian Coxin the original game, but I can’t quite tell if Cox is reprising his role this time around, or if Guerrilla has merely hired someone who sounds a lot like him. Either way,Killzone 2is now officially on my radar — it looks likeResident Evil 5is going to have some tough competition for shooter sales next February. Head over to the game’sofficial Web sitefor more.
As an aside, Guerrilla is currently running a closed beta forKillzone 2, and I’m in on it. I can’t say anything, though; they’re super cereal about confidentiality. So for now, I’ll just hold it over you folks.
