Part 1: Introduction

Welcome to Killzone 2! Same as the first LP, before we go anywhere, we need to take a look at the brilliant opening cinematic. With the first game, it was easy to point to the opening cinematic and say "there, that's the best part of this whole experience". It's harder to do this time around, since Killzone 2 is such an improved game. Harder, I say, but not impossible, because the opening cinematic here is probably the best in the entire series.

Don't take my word for it, though, watch it:

Killzone 2 Introduction Video

The above link is from Machinima, because for whatever reason, someone keeps flagging content for a sound effect, causing the audio to be stripped from the video. Whoever they are, they aren't Guerrilla Games, but there's no "The person filing the claim doesn't own the content" option to dispute it, so c'est la vie. In case Machinima's version gets flagged as well, here's my own workaround video with the audio pitch shifted up. It sounds funny, if nothing else:

• Introduction, without commentary

Anyways, if you didn't pick up on it right away, the opening cinematic is essentially done in a single-take. It's easier to accomplish this with CGI, than it is real film, but it's still a breath-taking effect, seen more recently used at the hands of director Alfonso Cuarón, who is known for doing it in Children Of Men and Gravity. It's effect helps demonstrate the scale of the war between Vekta and Helghan, as well as show the players that despite the distance between the two planets, the game's societies have reached a point of technology that allows them to bridge the gap relatively quickly.



The game opens with a shot of Visari's face. This is different from the first game, which began with the imagery of the Helghast Triad.



The importance of Visari to the Helghast transcends mere symbols. Really, 'Visari = Helghast'. The inhabitants of Helghan as they are in this game is a product of Visari and his power. The term 'Helghast' was one coined by him. If Visari were to keel over of a heart-attack partway through that speech, he would be deified and his teachings would live on. It makes perfect sense that the enemy's leader, a wonderful amalgamation of Mussolini, Hitler, and Stalin, would be the first image to greet our eyes.



Fittingly, Visari is also the first thing our player character, Tomas Sevchenko, sees in the game. This is a great shot, and foreshadowing of what's to come with the 'Good Guy' facing off against the 'Bad Guy'. Our mission is to invade Helghan and end the war. To do this, the Vektan ISA need to break through the capitol city's defense, storm the royal palace, and capture Visari. One guess as to which Vektan soldier gets to do the storming.

Following that, more ISA soldiers appear on screen. In these opening moments, we are introduced to the most important characters in the game (that's including Visari):



(This shot is great at establishing relationships. Rico and Jan are clearly old friends, whereas the relationship with the 'new guy' is very much on professional terms.)

In this shot, we have a lot going on. On the surface, Templar wishes Rico, his friend, and Sevchenko "good luck" before they leave for Helghan. What's really happening is a passing of the torch. Jan Templar was the protagonist of Killzone 1 and Killzone: Liberation. In those games, he played the trope of 'ACTION HERO'. He was clean-shaven, young, honest, earnest, loyal, brave, and all that other good stuff. He fought for what he believed in, kicked butt, and saved the day. Unfortunately for Jan, he's run his course. His experience has matured him, literally and metaphorically. Templar has been promoted to Colonel and put in charge of leading the invasion, but as you can see he appears to have also physically aged compared to the first game. Jan is a 'good guy', and the brutality of the war has weighed heavily on him. Having seen what he's seen, he presumably now has the wisdom to order troops to their deaths rather than doing the killing himself. That honour passes on to Rico (who, unlike Jan, was passed over for promotions and commendations (for reasons we will see in Liberation), despite being involved in the same missions) and Sevchenko.

Thus, when Templar shakes Sev's hand:



He is in effect 'passing on' the mantle of 'ACTION HERO' to Sev, much like when Arnie passed on that duty to The Rock.

Now, remember how Killzone 1 ended on the note of 'Hope'? Observe Sev and Rico:



The skies are bright and they're smiling in wonder and excitement. Things are looking up for our heroes, and accordingly, they are literally looking upwards. That sentiment follows us as we blast off with the ISA Crusiers on route to Helghan, leaving behind the beautiful Earth-like Eden that is Vekta. Note that Rico is smiling. Take a picture, because Rico Velasquez is not a man who smiles very often. In fact, I don't think he smiled once in the first game. This is a STRANGE sight to see!



Fun bit of visuals here:



The ISA logo is a circle, a welcoming, protective shape, sometimes even rendered as a sun to suggest their nature as the heroes of the universe.



Note that their cruisers travel in a circular formation!

Anyways, at this point in the cutscene, we're still confident in ISA superiority. We watch as their cruisers swat their Helghast equivalents like flies. (A quick aside on starship sizes in the Killzone universe: the Earth Fleet's cruisers are twice the size of the Vektan cruisers, so that they may ensure their military superiority over their colonies. The Vektan ISA Cruisers are twice the size of the Helghast Cruisers, due to the building restrictions put upon Helghan in the wake of the First Extrasolar War--the events of these games are known as the Second Extrasolar War, in a nod to WWI and WWII).



This confidence begins to waver as we approach Helghan.



The planet looms before us, spilling beyond the screen, hovering dark and ominously. The music quiets and there is the feeling of the calm before the storm. With the word "smite", a bolt of lighting shoots from the planet's surface, as if thrown by Zeus, eradicating an ISA Cruiser in a single blow--the same ISA Cruiser we saw only moments ago that was capable of wiping out a cluster of Helghast Cruisers with a single cluster of missiles.



Truly, a weapon of mythic proportions awaits on Helghan. The Helghast are not about to roll over and surrender that easily, nor would we, the player, have it be that way. This is Killzone, not Play-Nice-Zone.



And so, the ISA dropships, fittingly called Intruders, land on the planets surface, releasing their cargo of soldiers, who are quickly eaten alive by the Helghast war machine. That hope we felt at the end of the first game, that we felt at the beginning of this cutscene, is gone. As we change planets, so does the nature of the war change. On Vekta, the fight was for freedom, and that feeling of hope, underscored by that being the name of the final chapter, was an undercurrent throughout. Here on Helghan, the fight is for total annihilation. The only hope to be found here is the dream that you might survive the onslaught.



Just as the cutscene began with Visari leering at the player, so too does it end that way. Autarch Scolar Visari is the Alpha and the Omega, not only of this cutscene, but of this game, the Helghast, and this entire conflict.




Woo! It's been a while since we've had a chance to look at lore for this game, but here we go. Once again, a lot of the really meaty stuff happened off screen. If you were here for Killzone 1, you'll notice some information is a bit old, but has had some of the redacted names added back in. General Adams was indeed a traitor, and since that fact is common knowledge, it has been added back in. The other redacted information is from Killzone: Liberation. It's not critical to the plot of Killzone 2, and I also don't feel like spoiling needlessly even if this LP will be pretty relaxed about spoilers--we'll get to that info soon enough:



Hooray! So that's all a bit of a refresher of the events of Killzone 1. If you're interested in seeing the full history and politics up to this point, it's available in the first few chapters of the first game's LP.

The following gives us a brief summation of Killzone: Liberation. Since we're doing it concurrently with Killzone 2, we'll be seeing all of this unfold ourselves in forthcoming updates. Until then, a bit of backstory will help explain Vekta's persistence for a retaliatory invasion:



So, yeah. Some genius wanted to go ahead with the development of a SECOND orbital defense platform system after the first one did so well. Thankfully, the ISA council stopped that. However, the alternative winds up being 'nukes'. It's not mentioned here, but here's the skinny on these nukes: codenamed 'Red Dust', the bombs developed at Rayhoven are of a 'high yield, low radiation' variety. What that means is that they're going to cause all the destruction of a futuristic nuclear bomb, while producing minimal amounts of radiation. Note, it's not radiationless, but it produces less radiation. The idea is that this slightly 'friendlier' bomb will allow for faster reconstruction of bombed areas.

General Metrac, the guy that replaced Lente, was a far more competent leader. He actually succeeded in his goals, which basically consisted of 1) fight a tactical retreat while causing as much damage as possible, and 2) steal the ISA's nukes. However, as he was left with the remains of Lente's forces, he didn't have the strength to take Vekta and was eventually defeated, the few surviving Helghast fleeing with the Red Dust bombs. With Metrac, Lente, and Adams all defeated, that accounted for all Helghast forces on Vekta. The UCA, Earth's strong arm in the region, felt its job was done. Note at the very end that the Earth Fleet packs up and leaves! Earth's final orders to Vekta are to set up a blockage against Helghan and wait for a neutral party to arrive and investigate the matter.

Ha!

Politics!

I love it!

Of course, the Vektan authority isn't too pleased with that. Given that if you're reading this you've probably already at least watched the opening cutscene, we know that Vekta doesn't sit idle, and in fact launches a counterattack.



Here we get the mission objectives for the game, clearly laid out for us in a three point plan. You'll notice the mention of Battle Group Mandrake? That's us. (Named after General Mandrake, who is in Killzone: Liberation). Colonel Templar, decorated war hero, is given the pleasure of leading Battle Group Mandrake to Helghan's capital city, Pyrrhus. With that in mind, the objective of 'capture Visari' is clearly first and foremost in the minds of our Battle Group. Easy, right? Given this whole invasion is in direct conflict with Earth's orders, as well as the warm welcome received on the surface of the planet, you better prepare yourself for a whole lot of disappointment.




_{Returning characters:}

Most of the faces we see in this opening are familiar to us. Captain Jan Templar, now a Colonel, is the plucky hero from the first two games. The stereotypical action hero, he's also a bit of a love-sick doofus--but hey, he gets over that. He is such a plain and generic action hero that it hurts. He even loses his father figure early on in the series to provide himself a fridged character as motivation! Can't stay mad at him, though, as he at least has the decency to bow out of this game.
Templar is voiced by Kal Webber in the first game. In Liberation he is voiced by Nigel Whitmey. Here, he is voiced by Qarie Marshall. Truly, Templar is the generic action every-man as evidenced by the fact that it seems he can be voiced by any man.


Sergeant Rico Velasquez is another story. The 'tough guy' trope, Rico is a unrepentant scumbag. He's rude, vulgar, and violent. He's also a space-racist. He hates everything Helghast, and isn't afraid to let you now--much to the annoyance of everyone. Still, the Rico we knew in the first game was just kind of an annoyance. The Rico of this game is now in charge. He is our protagonist's Commanding Officer. The opens up all sorts of possibilities for abuse of power.
Tom Clark Hill provided his voice in the first two games, but he is voiced by Charles Everett here.

Autarch Scolar Visari is played by none other than Brian Cox. The enigmatic and charismatic leader of the Helghast has made his presence felt since the beginning moments of the PS2 classic, Killzone The First. We finally have an opportunity to get face-to-face with him here. There's nothing else I can say at the moment, other than Cox absolutely owns this role.


Voiced by Demetri Goritsas, who has had small parts in films such as Saving Private Ryan, X-Men First Class, and The Bourne Identity.

Sergeant Tomas 'Sev' Sevchenko is the first truly new character to the series, and is our playable character for the duration. That's right, singular on that one. Though we are once again in a four-person squad, Guerrilla wisely decided not to stretch themselves thin, and limit you to Sev's POV. Sev was born to a fairly affluent family on Vekta. Against his parents' wishes, he enlisted in the military. Originally out of boredom, it's galvanized into true desire to protect his homeland when the Heghast invade Vekta. In the attack, his mother and father are killed. His sister, Amy, survives, but is so traumatized by having witnessed the death of her family, that she is rendered catatonic. Read all about this in more in the novelization of Killzone 3, by Sam "No, we're not related" Bradbury! (Why did I subject myself to that horror).

Anyways, there's more to be said about Sevchenko, but I won't do it here. All I'm going to say is that he is 'a new breed of action hero', somewhat grittier and realistic compared to what Templar represented.




ISA Cruiser

Unlike the Helghast and UCN Cruisers, which are built along a horizontal axis, the ISA Cruiser is built along a vertical one--not that it really matters in zero-g. At approximately 700 meters in length, it's half the size of a UCN Cruiser, but twice the size of a Helghast Cruiser. It's the most advanced vessel in the ISA fleets, with enough firepower to level cities several times over. These include missile barrages, as seen in the cutscene, quad-cannon turrets for defensive purposes, and nuclear-powered laser weapon technology akin to what we saw on the ISA's SD Platforms in Killzone 1. They feature a type of dispersive armour, which allows them to 'tank' multiple direct hits. The also have an automated deployment system which allows them to rapidly launch aerial assaults. The ISA on Vekta don't own as many of these as they'd like, since they were largely phased out in favour of the ill-fated SD Platform program. Still, what they have is more than enough to get them to Helghan.


ISA Intruder

Small, lightweight, maneuverable, fast, and modular in design. It's a rather reliable craft, despite the reputation it gets as a junker--though that's more likely due to the fact that it is lightly armoured and provides no cover or comfort to passengers. It was originally designed to be an ammo lift, but during a historical conflict, it was serviced into use as an evacuation craft for wounded soldiers. From there, its use as a troop transport was inevitable. It's armament is light, with twin-mounted rockets and a single front-mounted turret--though the nature of the craft allow for passengers to carry whatever they'd like onboard.

The interesting thing about the Intruder, apart from its suggestive name, is how starkly it contrasts with the Helghast dropship design. For reference:



It's effectively a flying tank. There's a lot more to be said about the Intruder vs. the Helghast Dropship, but this post is already quite lengthy, so I'll leave it at that.



Visari concept art:



Intruder and ISA Cruiser concept art:



ISA first wave attack concept art: