Killzone 2

(Sony for PS3)
By Mike Delano

The best way to understand why Killzone 2 is a great game is to list its faults and get them out of the way first. The story is awful, except for the fantastically bleak final ten minutes. The chatter of your squad mates (a nonsensical waterfall of shits and fucks) is the most obnoxious and grating of any shooter ever released. And the predictable single-player campaign doesn’t miss any opportunity to fall back on every FPS cliché imaginable (turrets, exploding barrels, crates, planting explosives). But none of these criticisms can dull the success of its fundamental reason for being: The game is fun to play. The satisfying feedback of shooting your weapons combines the increased realism of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare with the chunky, heavy-machinery approach of Gears of War. It’s a style that fits well with the weighted, slower-than-you’re-used-to character movement, and it creates a unique gameplay style that feels like no other shooter; a vital asset in today’s overcrowded market. Those fundamentals are why you’ll want to come back to the game again and again, and they make the dynamic online multiplayer matches and cutting edge graphics just the icing on the cake.
(www.us.playstation.com)