Overall Feeling:
The game once dubbed as a Halo killer may still not be perfect or considered an instant masterpiece, but Killzone HD provides some entertainment amongst a consistent technical performance. With a few exceptions such as levels that didn’t age well or dead Helghast still doing their crazy leg dance of death, Killzone HD finally presents us with a game that doesn’t have a painful framerate or other technical issues that chip away at our soul. The game itself may not have aged too well, but fans of the Killzone franchise owe it to themselves to pick the game up as it’s a nice reminder of how the franchise first started out.
The Pros:
+ The technical performance of the game is spot on thanks to a steady framerate.
+ Visually the game may not be amazing, but the HD upgrade that has been given is definitely obvious in the crisp character models and environments.
+ The combat variety offered in the game is still great, especially in the wake of it being absent in future Killzone games.
+ Hearing the voice of Sean Pertwee in any game immediately makes for a pleasing experience.
The Cons:
- Story and dialog is a bit cringe worthy.
- Even though the game looks good there aren’t too many eye-catching levels due to the glut of grey.
- Any kind of supplementary in these PlayStation HD remasters is again an obvious omission. No BTS vids, commentary, trailers?
When a video game finally hits retail shelves that’s usually the only chance it has to make a good impression. After years of development a game is effectively completed, for better or worse, when it’s in the hands of consumers. In a few rare cases a development team may have the chance to fine tune some things via a sizeable patch that may see whole elements completely redone, as was the case with Hydrophobia: Prophecy, but most of the time such a thing doesn’t happen.
