Killzone 2 Notes

Well here it is, the game I have been hearing so much about for four odd years, the game that will make all other games look bad. Let's see.
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We see our heroes watching a propaganda video showing the Helghan leader Visari ranting on.
The two heroes meet a commander and walk out onto the surface of Vekta and we see huge battle ships launching like rockets from gantries into space.
We follow the battleships into space and through a space battle onto the short hop to Helghan. Helghan ships are blown apart in space and Vektan ships blown apart by planetary defences.
The fight then goes to the surface and we see vektan troops being torn apart by Helghan forces as the beachhead is established.

Now we can choose our controls and select a new campaign, I chose Veteran, there is an unlockable elite difficulty.

Mission 1 : Corinth river
We see our character Sev in the mirror and Garza comes to tell him to come on.
We meet Rico and Evelyn and are told that we are on a special mission to capture Visari the Helghan leader.
mention is made of someone called Radec.
We go through a door and meet Natko.
Then a small cut scene shows the Commander Templar sending us off. We watch as the gang get into their little air transports.
Now we are into the demo.
our transport crashes onto the beach.
I have chosen the Call of duty controls as they do feel more intuitive.
Usual analogue sticks
R1 to shoot
L1 to zoom
Square is reload.
Triangle to change weapons
X to jump
R2 for grenade
If you press up on the dpad you get a waypoint indicator which handily tells you where to go.
Lots of exploding barrels and peripheral activity, things flying past overhead, explosions in the distance.
Lot of light flare from the sun.
we go along the beach a little way fighting as we go and then have to deal with two apc's that come out and give us trouble. Once they are dealt with we split up from the main sqaud and I get a punt up to a ledge from another soldier.
We are trying to get the closed floodgates open.
We go into a warehouse and have to clear it out, then defend Garza while he unlocks a door.
Out in the next area we have to open the floodgates using the fucking sixaxis shit, this is fucking unacceptable to die four or five times trying to turn a fucking wheel in a game.
Once I kill the guys shooting at me I can't even get the stupid thing to work well when I have all the time in the world. Can you turn this off.
We go back through the same area again and then out onto the floodgate top where we see the convoy coming through.
Little freezes as new areas load.
Next area is again somewhere I have seen in gameplay video I downloaded from the net.
we flank the attackers that are pinning down the convoy and taking control of an emplaced gun shoot up all the Helghast allowing them to proceed.
Them some close quarters combat in narrow tunnels of a sewer like area.
We meet up with a squad on one of the flying sleds.
There is an ambush from the adjacent building and loads of Helghast appear at the windows, we get on an emplaced gun and shoot the building and helghast so hard that most of the front of it collapses.
We now go through a small corridor and fight some helghast and pick up a rocket launcher, seems you can only carry one weapon and a pistol at a time. We are told to shoot a weak point on a wall and make an hole to go through.
We come out into a large open area where Helghast are attacking our convoy with rockets from a bridge. We flank the Helghast and kill them all getting down onto the ground near our convoy.
We then have to defend against a tank using rockets. Next we get to drive the tank and attack another tank.
We are told that an airstrike is coming in and Helghast flood the area, a shootout ensues.
After a time the mission is over.

Mission 2 : Blood Meridian
We are told that we Captain Narville needs assistance in Visari square and a transport comes in to take us.
This is similar or probably the same video that was first shown last year at E3.
We are nearly hit by arc lightning fire from Helghast ground emplacements.
First objective is to find Captain Narville.
He is right in front of us and tells us to take the right flank while he keeps them occupied from the front.
We have to use a detonation charge on a door, using sixaxis again, thankfully it's much easier this time than the wheel earlier.
We fight our way through buildings that feel like some sort of city shanty town.
We come to the bigger boss Helghast, it is heavily armoured and fires a gattling gun type weapon.
We have to shoot it in the gas tanks on it's back.
Shooting it in the head makes it stumble and show it's back to us and then shooting the gas tanks enough blows it up.
I go up through a corridor and we come to an area, a bridge above an empty canal. There are loads of Helghast pouring through a door in what seems to be a never ending stream.
No, there isn't a never ending stream it just feels like it, eventually I manage to kill them all.
We now have to go upstairs in the building.
where we have a fight or two with emplaced guns pinning us down, until we can get up stairs to them and take them out.
We take an elevator up the building.
We see the arc tower now and are making our approach when we are joined by more soldiers.
We fight our way through many Helghast soldiers to the tower.
The tower opens up after we press a button and we can shoot two coils as it charges, Helghast interfere as we do so.
When we shoot it it explodes and a flying robot comes after us. We are chased by it and narrowly avoid getting killed by it by hiding.

Mission 3 Visari Square
Garza tells us that a piece of equipment he found is useful for the science teams, part of the arc weapon. He is told to take it back, we are told to go back to Rico our squad leader.
We have a wander through some corridors fighting as we go, noticable is alternate routes to the same place, nothing fancy just ways to go to the side to flank enemies that would be troublesome if you met them head on. There is some office and bunk type rooms with sliding doors that prove a pain in the ass as you think you are safe from the rear or flank and suddenly the doors slide open and the Helghast are flanking you.
I like how the barbed wire blows in the wind, pity bullets don't move it though.
eventually I meet up with Alpha sqaud, who are pinned down and we have to survive waves of Helghast.
I think I see why this game looks better than most, it's the grain filter, the wind and particle effects, the light flare, the smoke and the flare from lights, gunfire and explosions.
It's all smoke and mirrors really.
When you look at the actual geometry and textures up close there is nothing special, but take all the nice lights and grime and it makes it look great.
After surviving the waves we move through a door that opens up and through some buildings out onto the square where Narville is pinned down. We flank the enemies and now have to defend their position as more Helghast come at us.
There are around three waves from the front, then one from the rear, then another wave of Helghast and two of the heavies.
and that is the square taken.
Narville tells us he has sent the piece of arc tower up to high command for analysis.

Mission 4 Salamun district
We watch goings on accross the river and see Radec, one of the Helghan top brass. The flying robots are taking out lots of ISA troops. As we watch we are obviously being watched and mortar fire comes in fast. Sev is almost killed and escapes by jumping off the bridge as napalm and mortar fire wreck it.
Separated from the convoy Sev must rejoin the Convoy.
Shooting out the electric field protecting a pipe entrance we enter the sewers.
Climbing through the pipe we overhear two Helghast talking about Radec executing troops for uniform violations.
We are told that Garza is coming to help us back to the convoy.
I get the flamethrower which is actually quite fun, it sprays around like liquid and burns Helghast up a treat.
I find Garza at the top of a cube with three layers of gantry balcony around it and rooms off it. Basically we have to ascend the balconies and kill Helghast getting to Garza.
Next objective is to destroy the artillery that is pounding at the convoy.
These are column like items of machinery tended to and guarded by Helghast soldiers and some emplaced guns. You attack the soldiers and then place a charge on the guns themselves to blow them up.
Then we have to head back to the convoy.
Evelyn the scientist tells us by radio that the piece of arc tower we sent her shows that it is powered by an unknown compound. We overhear Radec talking about a defense system that is coming online, we tell Evelyn about that too.
We move into a shanty town area and are ambushed when we find a lone wounded ISA trooper.
This is another long firefight with extra helghast coming in by dropship, there is also rocket launcher wielding helghast here.
Laser trip mines are introduced, they can be shot from a distance to get them out of the way.
We meet up with the convoy guys again, and they are being attacked from a rooftop we can get to so off we go. We have to breach into the building using c4 and then attack the helghast infected two story building.
We get inside annd find there is no way up to the roof so we use our c4 on four pillars inside the building. Once all the charges are set we have to exit the building and then trigger the bombs bringing down the building spectacularly.


Mission 5 Salamun Bridge
The convoy has to get accross the bridge, though the Helghast are of course opposed to that idea.
This is a Call of duty style mission where standing still seems to produce a never ending stream of Helghast to defend the bridge, pushing forward stops the Helghast and allows your squad to take the area. Pity they decided to do this as I am not a fan, it makes for a reckless play style which is at odds with the cover system they have provided so far. Anyway maybe it's only for this one section. We shall see.
As we get halfway across the bridge the Helghast raise one half of it stopping the convoy from getting across.
Garza and Sev are sent to lower it.
On the way we have to take out an aa gun which is making life hard.
Then we us said aa gun to attack the Helghast after we have taken it.
We then climb inside the bridge and fight our way up to a control, and yes you guessed it one of those wheel things. However I kill the enemies that are running interference first and manage it without throwing the controller around this time.
The bridge lowers and the convoy can make it accross.
We have to take every inch from the Helghast with blood however. When we reach the end of the bridge it's the end of the mission.
Radec is holed up at a place called the academy and we are off to get him.
thought it was funny that I got ran down by one of my own men in a buggy while idly standing around looking at the scenery while the mission objective was explained over the radio.
We get in the buggy and drive to the academy in cut scene. On the way we see a power conduit ripped open by an explosion, there is that strange arc electricity power flying about loose. We decide to tell Evelyn when we get the chance.
Arriving at the academy we are going after Radec.
Inside the academy we are ambushed.
I am getting sick of running into a.i. characters, I have lost count of the amount of times now under fire in small areas and corridors that I have been bumping up against them unable to get past and getting killed as a result. I have taken to just meleeing them.
Inside the academy we have a huge rectangular room with balconies around the top, There are loads of helghast and rocket helghast to deal with.
We go through some inner sanctum type offices and find Radec's office. When we get in though it's empty. The Atac turns up, the flying remote a.i. robot that seems to be well armed and deadly. We go out to the roof running from it and Sev is separated from the rest.
It seems that there are electricity pylons on the edge of the roof, shooting them looses electrical activity. When the atac flies into it it gets stuck and we can shoot at it easily with rockets.
Problem is staying alive long enough to do so.
As the convoy approaches Visari's palace huge tower like mechanical objects rise out of the ground and shoot out electricity destroying men and vehicles like a man crushing ants.
Whoops looks like the assault on the palace is going nowhere.

Mission 6 Suljeva village
Evelyn thinks that the stuff that powers the arc towers is coming from a refinery out of the city. We are sent with Evelyn to investigate.
The mineral is called Petrucite.
We enter a helghast refinery and Evelyn busies herself with a computer we go down in an elevator to investigate.
We run around looking for an advance team which seems to have gotten itself lost.
The lift down further won't work so we go looking for controls. Inside a building we find the advance team dead. Although their commander is missing. I find a bolt gun as well.
A switch opens the lift door. When we go out into the previously deserted area there are now loads of Helghast to kill. We go into the newly opened lift area.
There have been little bugs running around in the sewers in earlier areas, but now they are getting bigger and seem to be filled with this petrucite stuff which makes them explode when shot.
Canisters of petrucite blow up with arcs of electricity everywhere.
The spiders also attack with taser like jaws.
The Helghast snipers are introduced, like most games you can see a laser sight playing around the area which lets you know where they are and also that you are about to get your head blown off.
Fighting past them we reach the antenna and try to get it working?
The controls are shot so we have to go up the gantry to the antenna itself.
Little versions of the ATAC start flying around making a nuisance of themselves.
Another crappy sixxaxis wheel turns on the antenna.
The antenna is on but suddenly hundreds of small petrucite signatures appear on the scanner.
Evelyn radio to us and tells us that she is under attack, we must come to her assistance.
However there are loads of Helghast between us and them. By the time we get there the three of them have been captured, we see a cut scene of them being led away and beaten by Helghast.
We decide to follow. Fighting Helghast and sentry drones through the building we see a train pulling off. There is another train and our objective now is to secure the train.
Rocket launcher soldiers and loads of normal soldiers do their best to stop us.
We manage to jump on top of the train as it leaves in cut scene.

Mission 7 : Tharsis Refinery
Now on top of the moving train we have to get to the engine.
Huge glitch here are Rico fights as normal although he is up to his chest in the metal of the train.
We run along the train fighting on open cargo trasporter carrigage and living carriages. We take the opportunity to use mounted guns on tanks that are sitting on the decks.
he helghast get the same idea and a tank must be taken out to progress. Eventually we reach the drivers cab and threaten the civilian driver. He stops the train and we let him go.
Now we are at the refinery.
We decide to split up to make searching quicker, with us helping boost rico over a fence to go a different route.
We shoot up some more Helghast, fall down through a dogdgy floorplate and have to puzzle some electrical traps, shooting the control box is always the solution, however sometimes finding the box can be hard. With you having to follow the cables to the box.
We take a large cargo elevator down, as we are on It Rico tells us that he has taken over a security station and can see us by cctv.
We come to a boss battle with a huge robotic Helghast, it fires an electrical gun at us.
There are overhead cargo pods with petrusite in them, if we shoot them down close to the boss he stumbles and stays still as he is electrified. This gives you a chance to shoot the gas tanks on his back.
Around two clips into his tanks blows him up.
we can pick up and use his electricity gun.
We then take a ride in a bucket as it passes through the refinery, shooting at Helghast on the gantries as we go.
Rico tells us to take an elevator up to his postion, why, I thought we were looking for Evelynn and the guys?
Has he found them? some info would be nice.
Rico has found out that all the petrusite refinerys feed power into a main node which then powers the city. taking out the node should stop power getting to the palace defences.
The electricity gun is great fun, makes things far too eeasy however.
We meet up with the other's Radec has them and is executing people trying to persuade Evelynn to give him some bomb launch codes, which may be a reference to the first game, though I wouldn't know having not played it.
Rico wants to go in all guns blazing, Sev says he will flank them. Rico does not wait and a fight ensues. The outcome is mostly satisfactory as Radec makes his escape and the gang are all reunited, the only fly in the ointment is that Garza is badly wounded.
We fight our way up to the surface and secure the landing zone as Radec makes his getaway.
We fight a few waves of soldiers in the open landing zone and then are told to get up to the comms tower and escort Evelynn to make a call for evacuation. We do that and handily a sniper rifle assists us in sniping at the Helghast below until the ship comes for us.
Garza does not make it however and Dies in Sev's arms. I think we are meant to care, but the character hasn't been seen enough for us to register even a passing emotion. Still Sev seems pretty cut up about it.

Mission 8 :The cruiser
Back on the ISA ship we see Garza's coffin. Sev is angry with Rico for going in early against his plan. It is fifty fifty wether or not Garza would be a corpse either way. Still Sev needs to be angry and someone.
The cruiser is rocked with what sounds like incoming fire and Rico orders us to take an elevator to the bridge and find out what is going on.
The elevator ride is illuminating as it shows that the Helghast have used small ships to invade our crusier.
We have to fight our way past some Helghast to get to the bridge where Templar tells us that the warhead firing system is shot due to trouble with the doors. We have to go to the gun deck and keep the Helghast at bay to buy Templar and Evelynn time to short things out.
We go down to the gun deck and have a shoot out with loads of Helghast soldiers, some flame troops and a heavy machine gunner.
Then we go to an aa gun and shoot up incoming ships. The battle does not look like it's going the ISA's way though with many of the huge crusiers being blown up or dropping out of the sky.
We are told that our ammo is dry after a while shooting and then we meet up with Natko and are told that the ship is being evacuated.
We have to fight our way through the exploding ship until we get to the dropship launch bays. Sev opens a comms channel to the bridge and is in time to See Radec arrive on the bridge and demand the launch codes from Templar. Templar does not comply and Evelynn is trying to delete things from the computer when she is shot. Templar fights with Radec and is shot.
Rico, Sev and Natko get away in a dropship. Templar shuts off the crusiers thrusters and it drops like a knife onto the target of the petrusite grid main node.


Mission 9 : Maelstra barrens
We are told to secure the crash site.
At the crash site we meet another trooper and he has an EXO which is a mech tank type walker. The guy is going to take it back to his base, but Rico is obnoxious to him and tells us to take control of it.
We meet up with Rico and Natko again, Rico beats the shit out of the guy for speaking his mind about the whole invasion being derailed. He was being personal about his friend but Rico is not winning loveable character of the year here.
Natko and Rico get in a buggy and tell Narville they are on the way to him.
We meet up with some Helgahst and I find that the EXO is fairly fragile.
we shoot up APC's, tanks and buggies and loads of Helghast troops.
We meet up with Narvilles convoy again and take out a bunch of tanks to end the mission.
As we are about to head into the city a nuke goes off.
Rather than have his palace attacked Visari has nuked his own city and a good percentage of the ISA army in the process.


Mission 10 : Visari Palace
Moral is shot, the cruisers are wrecked, a large swathe of the invasion force just got vapourised and some very pissed of Helghast are on their way to kill every ISA soldier left on Helghan. Sev and the Gang decide to take the fight to the palace, it may be suicide but there is little alternative.
We have to make it across an open courtyard and into the palace, take out a tank with a rocket launcher and then place some demolition charges on some aa towers.
There are four towers to be destroyed.
There are heavy soldiers guarding some of the towers.
Once the four towers have been blown we have to fight our way to an elevator which takes us up to the palace.
We watch as the aa towerless arc battery is blown to bits by an airstrike.
We now make our way along a long approachway to the palace itself. An awful lot of Helghast don't want you to get to the place.
The final appraoch to the palace doors is fought every step of the way.
As we get to the palace Rico and Sev go inside and the rest stay outside holding off the Helghast.
Inside the Palce we meet up with Radec
You are in a huge rectangular room. Waves of troops and flamethrower troops come at you and then doors open to the balcony above, where yet more waves come.
You get two waves of soldiers, then the lightly aarmoured troops that rush you, then a wave of soldiers and rocket troops.
Finally a cut scene plays where a transport crashes through the window and opens the way up t where Radec is standing. Once all the troops are killed then a cut scene shows Radec coming for you personally.
He cloaks himself, and tries to knife you from behind. You basically have to shoot him enough times until he goes up on an emplaced gun, shooting him off it ends the battle. You see a cut scene of him blowing his own brains out rather than be captured.
Rico and Sev go up the stairs to Visari's office.
Visari is alone in his office, he lectures Sev and Rico that on the moment of their triumph what have they really accomplished, if they kill Visari he will become a Martyr and the Helghast will rise up in anger like never before.
Rico can't take it a shoots Visari dead. As Sev walks from the palace huge Helghast ships appear in the air, spaceships that dwarf the huge ISA crusiers. Looks like the war machine of Helghan is rising from some kind of self imposed strategic hiding.
Looks like Kilzone 3 will be back to Vekta.

I don't get it, if Visari ruled absolutely and the Helghast loved him, did they really need him to die a martyrs death to spur them on to take the war further. I don't know the politics of the game. Maybe Visari had a government that would have questioned him taking the war back to Vekta. I don't know, what I do know is that the story seemed to have little flow or sense to it. Sure I grasp that the ISA was out to capture Visari alive so he could stand trial. They were the good guys and weren't out just to conquer Helghast. I just don't get the reason for the Helghan hiding their military might?