Killzone demo

[Rushy]

soon I was headshotting everything with my trusty pistol.

So the game now has body region sensitive kills? As this wasn't present in the beta. Hopefully your right.

[MikeRox]

I must say... What the hell are you all moaning about it not being all that good?

This is ntsc-uk, I'd be surprised if at least half the forum wasn't pissing and moaning about any game unless it's Sega

[Silvergun X]

So the game now has body region sensitive kills? As this wasn't present in the beta. Hopefully your right.

As far as i've been able to tell, yes. I've shot plenty of bullets towards a Helghast's legs and they've taken one hell of a beating, but one or two shots aimed towards their neck or head has sent them crashing to the ground.

[Rushy]

As far as i've been able to tell, yes. I've shot plenty of bullets towards a Helghast's legs and they've taken one hell of a beating, but one or two shots aimed towards their neck or head has sent them crashing to the ground.

Great stuff as this was sorely lacking feature...unless of course the online side of the game can't cope with body hit zones. Guess we won't know till release.

EDIT - Played the demo (someone brought it into work) and I have to say things haven't improved much. Yes things like body zones have been adressed (for single player) and the general frame rate is more consistant, but the single player mode is scripted down to even the smallest event, combined with the fact that the AI are retards, it doesn't look like its going to be anything more than average. But I could still be proved wrong...

[skaffen]

I haven't played the demo, so this is intended as a generalised comment, but I'm increasingly leaning towards the idea that very scripted events and average A.I. is not necessarily a bad thing, for a certain type of game at least.

There has to be a point where not every game needs to be cutting edge in these areas, as long as the overall experience involved is involving and exciting. This might not make the type of game that the 'harcore' player will enjoy (although they'll prbably get enjoyment out of criticising it) but good for a short, intense and, dare I say it, cinematic experience. Sometimes you want an exciting game, but not one that makes too many demands on your level of concentration.

In short: scripted events and average A.I. can still make a satisfying game, as long as it delivers with its pacing, narrative, and style. The feel of an experience can be more important than the mechanics of it. Sometimes I think we can get too caught up in the way things work, rather than what it is they do.

Just a thought.

(disclaimer: and (obviously, I hope) this is not intended as a doctrine all games should follow, just why criticism of these things should be considered in an overall context of what a specific title is trying to do. And the 'we' above is, I guess, people who consider and discuss the merits and flaws of games. Aye thank you...)

[MikeRox]

re: scripting and average AI.

I find that sorta thing is fine for games you're only gonna play through once, can make games like Medal of Honour give you a great buzz the first time u play them. I do think however, predictable games are alot less interesting to play over and over again, so whereas some people on here have played say Halo, 4 to 5 times, and alwayts had a different experience.

If everything is scripted down to the slightest explosion, it can make the game too predictable and so the "whats going to happen next" factor is killed and it jus turns into "3 steps down here and the door behind me will get blown out then 4 marines will come charging thru, after than the ceiling is torn out and there is an apache helicopter waiting for me with mounted miniguns"

however as you say, it is also sometimes damn good fun to just have a blast thru for 10 hours or so. I really loved Everything or Nothing on that side of it, there is absolutely no way I'd ever play it again tho, it was jus a good fun 1 off.

[Zed]

Are we certain everything is scripted? When the enemy appear is, but all details? Just i'm sure the two guys on the right, when you are on the balcony at the start, have moved to different bits of cover depending on where i fire or move to.

eg: stay at RHS and fire, they take cover behind walls by MG emplacement. When i ran straight for the stairs down one ran towards the gulley the other to rubble. I've also had one hide under the stairs.

I guess you could say its scripting (A occours = do B), but thats also what AI is basically... course i havent played it enough times to really confirm that, and am unlikely to as i've given the mag and demo to people at work now.

[macosx]

lookswise and weaponwise it felt good. too linear to be great, from what I've played. Th great thing about Halo was the enemies reacted with intelligence here it's by the numbers. Enemy at the window check, enemy at the car check, just playing by rote and moving forward down a very scripted alley.

[EvilBoris]

i like the front of the mag



DON'T BUY

Grand Theft Auto:
san andreas

[Uli]

i recently played through 2 levels of a promotional copy which was a supplement to the german gamepro magazine last month.

my impressions:

+ great overall design
+ excellent graphics and animation on PS2
+ nice soundeffects in PL2
+ fast-run function
+ good weapon handling & controls
+ different characters with slightly different approach to weapons & tactics

- maps/levels are relatively small
- gameplay is very linear, varies only slightly depending on character selection
- movement is very restricted, many doors and ways are closed or blocked
- dumb and soulless enemies which so far only seem to serve as canonfodder
- the sniper gun sucks (so far)

well, overall i would say it's going to be a very straightforward and enjoyable shooter for the PS2. but Killzone will definitely not be the pre-hyped "Halo-killer", let alone set any new standars in the FPS genre!

[Balou]

Of course Halo has tons of scripted events in it.
The actual combat is not scripted, but most of the time when you approach the enemy something scripted happens. (and I still like Halo very much)

Guess why Halo doesn?t have "Bots" in it?
Because of the difficulties involved in making that kind of A.I. without any scripting? - Probably yes (among other things of course).

[Uli]

Of course Halo has tons of scripted events in it.
The actual combat is not scripted, but most of the time when you approach the enemy something scripted happens. (and I still like Halo very much)

Guess why Halo doesn?t have "Bots" in it?
Because of the difficulties involved in making that kind of A.I. without any scripting? - Probably yes (among other things of course).

sure, and scripting will still remain the essence of any story driven FPS in the near future. what Halo differs from other FPS is that its scripting is done very subtle and therefor is not often obvious. i've played through the games many times now and noticed only very few of such obviously scripted events, let alone scripted enemy actions.

moreover Bungie managed to implement good AI (which even gets better/smarter with higher difficulty level!) and most of all live and soul into the covenants! this makes the game so enjoyable and lifts Halo up from any other FPS on the market!

balou, spielst du XboxLive? falls ja, was ist dein gamertag?

gr??e aus d?sseldorf
uli

[sweetdaddyg]

Killzone was very poor even in finished state

I don't visit the forums but mainly because of SweetDaddyG. That guy does my head in. And I thought Killzone was a right laugh. I didn't pay much attention to fundamental mechanics or elementary design decisions. But I enjoyed it. Especially that exploding shells handgun... KABOOM!

And posting nasty little messages about people on forums they don't read isn't polite. Besides that you aren't meant to discuss anything regarding the Beta's outside the forum.

The graphics were reasonably swish and imaginative, but the gameplay was linear and derivative.

Like dating a member of Girls Aloud and finding she only wants to talk physics.