Tuesday 10 July 2007
With the first ever in-game shot of PS3 Killzone hitting the internet today, we thought it would be a good time to give you a swift bio of one of the most important games in the console's library.
Currently rumoured to have a budget of around £20 million, it's also believed to be the most ambitious multimedia undertaking that Holland has ever seen. Not to mention some of the most potent fanboy fuel for forum flame wars. First-person shooters are like that, you see.
How do you do?
Killzone is no stranger to expectation. The PS2 original arrived under a seismic weight of expectation - while Halo was seemingly single-handedly establishing the Xbox, Killzone was the supposed counter-killer app that would stop PS2 owners migrating.
As for PS3 Killzone, that pressure's on once again, for it to convince the world that Sony's console is capable of achieving dominance in one of the most important genres around. Of course, all this attention is, in some ways, its own fault...
Above: E3 2005's footage shot itself in the foot. We'll see just howmuch damage was doneas E3 2007 begins to unfold
E3 2005: That trailer
Almost as significant a debut as the PS3 itself, the first 'footage' of next-gen Killzone was incredible, to the point that many thought it un-credible. While Sony maintains that the footage was created to spec for what PS3 is capable of, many saw the whole thing as an attention-grabbing sham.
What do we know?
There will be vehicles and destructible environments, as revealed in a less fantastical trailer shown behind closed doors at GDC 2007. The iconic, gas-mask-wearing Hellghast troops will be returning, of course, aggressive invaders that make up the game's enemy force. As with the original, there will be multiplayer, but it'll hopefully make more of a splash this time around; there's going to be a Halo 3-style beta appearing, too, but no-one knows when. And a release date for the game itself? Possibly September but, once again, E3 should blow the fog from that particular detail.
