Not so Killer Killzone 2

I’ve found the missing link between man and ape, and its name is Killzone 2.

Now before the raging/trolling/flaming happens, I wish to have the disclaimer that I’m judging my experience based upon factual things I can point to.  If I delve into much opinion, I hope to give you a heads-up beforehand.

Apes.  Apes is the best description of the characters in KZ2, if looking at both their graphical representations and their motives.  The heavy-browed, frowned-faced, waddling Neanderthals would be some of the ugliest humans around.  Forever in the expression I like to call, “forcing the turtle out,” the protagonists of KZ2 never convey a more complex series of emotions than arrogance and pissed-off.  For a title of this console generation, the lack-luster look (not to mention an absence of speaking animations; it’s creepy as all get-out to have someone grunt at you and see only their doll eyes coming back at you) is almost disrespectful.

Remember your favorite action figure?  Remember the plastic gun it came with?  Well, that nostalgia is brought back in Killzone 2’s armory!  No, not the fun times and imaginative play; what I’m talking about is the cheap plastic fakery behind it all, with little substance in the product as-is.  The guns are just pathetic.  There seems to be such little power behind every shot that you worry if they’ll break if you play with them too hard.  There are some cannons that fill in the rush from rifled fire (aka Electricity Gun – cook a fascist like a home barbeque!), but these weapons don’t see the light-of-day nearly enough to justify the weak nature of standard firearms.

What do apes care about?  They seem to care about food, sex, being more alpha than the next stinking primate, and testosterone.   What do the characters in Killzone 2 care about?  They care about resources (food), lusty scientists (guess), showing their bros whose more bro (alpha), and large, flashy explosions.  Are you getting the connection?  The stories of the game’s individuals would get a serious boost if only they were as deep as the person’s brow.  It isn’t the most cliché performance ever, but KZ2 certainly seems to not be trying to hard not to be.

Killzone 2 seems like it should have a lot going for it; large backstory, valiant techno-savvy heroes, and a planet full of freaky-fascists to wield unending justice on, at the end of a bullet-hose.  But alas, some things cannot come together, no matter how destined they were to workout.  KZ2 was an interesting play, but a return is not going to happen from me.

My Demon’s Souls

After 50 some-odd hours, spread over the course of a month, I’ve done it – I’ve accepted the challenge of one of the hardest games on the market, and beaten it.  But at what cost?

The infamous Demon’s Souls, spiritual sibling of the recent Dark Souls, has been the trial faced by many adventurous gamers’ patience.  When seeking to free the country of Boletaria from the soul-sucking, vile demons that plague the nation, prepare to die a lot.  There were times when I ran through an area, being smashed, blasted, pounded, and ripped-apart, for hours before any progress was made.  For a player, Demon’s Souls develops a sense of careful analysis of any situation, and is brutally punishing of hotheadedness.

However, as I was playing the late-game, I began to doubt the “holy” exorcism that I was enacting upon Boletaria.  Though I was seeing DS in a different light after the down-right amazing presentation from Matt Weise (notes on the showing to come), I could still see the stricken ghouls I slayed as nothing more than play-things for truly monstrous demons, until I met Maiden Astraea.  She was supposed to be a twisted, dark thing that subsisted on the plagued wretches of a leprous chasm, souls that she had once been there to help.  But, once I found her, she was normal, and spoke to me like any person; she told me to go, to leave her and her bodyguard-lover alone in their humble existence, easing the pain of the sick.  Once I massacred the bodyguard, this “demon” didn’t even fight!  She gave up, committing suicide so I could have my “precious demon soul.”  I cannot recall a game that made me feel like such an out-right dick before.

My second revelation that I may not be on the side of Good was when I fought the Old King Allant.  Clad in white, alone atop his dragon-ruined keep, this lord was not the freakish nightmare my guides had promised he would be.  I received no joy in slaying him.

I want to explode right now with all the information Matt Weise conveyed during his talk, but that info is for your reading pleasure later.  I will however say this: I am very uneasy about the means used to bring about worldly salvation, if it can be called that.  If the ghouls I hacked to pieces were soulless automatons, then how-the-hell was I receiving souls from their corpses!?  If I am to save a land from oblivion, why would I possibly damn all those needing saving?  If you play this game, this Demon’s Souls, question what you do.  Question what others tell you.  Like a fog, the truth that the game is conveying is shrouded, hidden, and grey.

Though I told myself I would not go through New Game + (a harder mode of the game), I may just have to, reasoning the true why of what I do, not just because someone told me to.  I highly recommend Demon’s Souls to any lover a deeper meaning behind an already entertaining experience.

Post Nanocon Impression pt.3/3

5:30 am.  Alarm rings.  Dressed and ready to go at 5:45.  Pickup Jacob Butcher at hotel.  Have great conversation on drive to airport.  Wish Jacob a good life.  Leave.  Get text 15 minutes later from Jacob.  His plane has been overbooked, and he volunteered to stay.  I head back, gather him, and head to Nanocon for more speakers.

Great morning, eh?  I decided to miss out on the first two presentations that Sunday morning, and instead took a little of collected personal time.  However, I did make it to Matt Weise’s Skyped discussion of “Demon’s Souls, Horror, and Holistic Design.”  The info conveyed was, if I may say, deep and philosophical to the point where I have to stop and rethink what lies behind what I play.  Matt is a seasoned game player, game designer, and software programmer; these experiences definitely spoke through volumes during his discussion!

Unfortunately, I missed the last talk of IDiG.  Fortunately, I had another drive with Jacob Butcher to catch his renewed flight out of state.  Before leaving, we needed gas, and let me tell you that state credit-cards SUCK.  Hardcore.  The bureaucracy protects a single penny better than protecting their … IDK, health!

The rest of the day was spent in recovery from the load of energy spent chauffeuring persons of importance for the last four days.  In total (though my numbers need a bit of cleanup) I offhandedly pulled +44 hours of on-call volunteer service over the weekend.  So yes, sleep all Sunday was not a bad idea.

Phew – what a weekend!  There were tears, there were laughs, but many principles of game design were learned beyond a doubt.  I’ll share with you my notes (after a little cleanup) real soon.  Expect a busy weekend of blogging, so be sure to read and comment!  See you soon.