Part 5: Multiplayer Classes

Small intermission update. Questions were asked about the character models for Killzone 2, specifically whether or not as much detail was put into the ISA soldiers as the Helghast soldiers. At first I didn't really have an answer, so I dug around and--well, the answer is yes! The ISA soldiers are incredibly detailed, you just don't see them as often. Unless you play multiplayer, as those models appear there as the various classes. In fact, I like how Guerrilla integrated the class models in both single and multiplayer. If you notice it, it really helps sell the idea that multiplayer fights are just skirmishes going on around Helghan outside the vision of Sev and co.

With that all in mind, here's a brief guide to all the classes, where they can be found in single-player and what they're job is in multiplayer:



Rifleman

The bog standard class for the Helghast and ISA. For the Helghast, this is represented in the iconic Helghast soldier--so not necessarily the specific "Rifleman" enemy type we've seen, but Assault enemy type. For the ISA, it's the nameless soldier who will follow us for five feet before dying horribly. They are the most common and you see them all over the place.

In multiplayer, they are the starting class. They lack any special abilities, which may seem like a big drawback, but they are unique in that they are "trained" in nearly every gun. That is to say, once you start unlocking weapons, the rifleman has the ability to use nearly all of them whereas most classes can only use two or three. So really, their versatility is their special ability, it just isn't apparent until you've put in some ranks and unlocked a bunch of guns. Note, this includes assault rifles, sidearms, rocket launchers, submachine guns, shotguns, and light machine guns.



Medic

The medic comes equipped the sweet Visari Corp made revive gun. Sev gets to use it throughout the campaign, but you won't ever see an ally use it (unless you play multiplayer). We see ISA medics here and there, denoted by their white helmet. In the very first video, I pause to glance at one on the beachhead, shortly after being dropped off by the Intruder. They don't play much of a combat role in single-player, and are really just "window dressing", seen attending to injured ISA soldiers.

Helghast medics are not seen during the campaign.

In multiplayer, it is the first class unlocked. The revive gun can be used at any time, though it requires time to recharge between revives. It CAN be used as a weapon, though, and can also revive people from long distances--much longer than what Sev does, though I figure that's okay because if we're going to be all "lore" about it, then Sev isn't a trained medic and probably doesn't know how to handle the gun sufficiently from a distance. Getting enough revives in multiplayer unlocks the second medic badge, which lets you throw out medpacks to heal allies and yourself. Note: enemies can pick up dropped medkits. Also note: Visari Corp also invented the medpacks.



Engineer

In the campaign, ISA engineers tend to only be seen on the ISA Cruiser, New Sun. They sort of mill in the background with canned animations to make it look like they're working on the shit. Standing near them will trigger some incidental dialogue, usually related to fixing something. Eh. Helghast Engineers are never seen fixing anything in the campaign. They instead function as flamethrower units. So if you see a Helghast Engineer in the campaign, kill them quickly! With fire!--for irony.

The can drop sentry turrets (pictured above) in multiplayer. The turrents are super powerful, but they can take a decent amount of damage before dropping and act as great distractions. Also, an engineer can drop multiple turrets, but there's a global cap for the team so that one side doesn't pick only engineer class and spam turrets across a map. The secondary badge for the Engineer allows them to repair specific points around maps, allowing access to bottomless ammunition crates and emplaced machine guns.

Weapon selection is super limited, as they can only use the shotgun and sidearms. The only other class with such a limited weapon selection is the scout.



Tactician

Tacticians do not appear in the singleplayer campaign, though you will hear dialogue of soldiers, ISA and Helghast, referring to their COs. Presumably, these are the tacticians. Do note, though, that (helmet aside) the tactician uniform is the same one that Sev, Natko, and Garza are wearing. So Alpha Squad, being elite soldiers, highly ranked, are basically tacticians.

In multiplayer, the tacticians comes armed with a Spawn Grenade, which is super useful. Allies spawn facing the direction the grenade was thrown. The second ability is the Drone. Which is awesome. The tactician drops a flare, and a drone shows up a short while later to mess things up. Drones can take quite a few hits, and due to their height advantage, make great distractions and are excellent at crowd control.

The ISA drone:



You don't see the ISA drone in single-player, but those of you who have played Shadow Fall know that the ISA will start using drones far more extensively.

The Helghast drone:



aka the Sentry Bot. The upgraded version of the Sentry Bots we dealt with in Killzone 1. These I can deal with. In single-player, they go down with relative ease. They are nothing, absolutely nothing compared to the horrors that are ATACs.



Assault

The heavy weapons guys. The ISA guys wear the same uniform as the tactician, sans helmet, so you can ultimately think of Alpha Squad as combination tactician/assault troops. They DO like blowing stuff up. Interestingly, the Helghast assault model is NOT the same Support Trooper that harasses you with rockets. In the campaign, these models are used by the Grenadiers, who instead harass you with the rotary grenade launcher.

In multiplayer, both their badges come unlocked, one granting a 50% boost to health (but slows movement speed), and one that gives an additional 20% health boost, improved health regen, and a boost to movement speed.



Saboteur

Though they are sort of represented as Special Forces-type characters in multiplayer, they aren't really represented as such in the campaign. In the campaign, they appear as the Miner enemy-type, and only appear in a certain area armed with the Helghast LMG. I have yet to find an ISA saboteur in the campaign at all, though presumably they're all hidden or on special assignment, so it makes sense I guess. After all--

--their multiplayer ability is to disguise themselves as enemy model types. The way you pick up on whether or not your multiplayer actually a disguised saboteur is pretty cool and I like it. Okay, so you know how each faction has a part of them that glows? Like, the Helghast have glowing red eyes, and the ISA have an equipment belt with glowing blue lights? Well, a disguised saboteur will lack that glow. Pretty neat!

The unlockable ability for the saboteur is C4. Good ol'C4 from Killzone: Liberation makes a comeback for multiplayer. They function as proximity mines here.



Scout

The Helghast variant is seen throughout the campaign as the Sniper enemy type. The ISA variant is another one of those models that I've yet to find in singleplayer, though due to their abilities in multiplayer, it's another one of those things you can handwave away as "lore".

In multiplayer, they can cloak to become effectively invisible. When they move, there's a little bit of the whole "Predator ripple", and occasionally bits of armour will pop in and out of existence, but it's otherwise perfect camouflage. Their secondary ability is the Spot & Mark skill. All enemies on the scout's screen will be marked with a white cross for about a minute, which will be visible to all allies. Is limited to only using the sniper rifle and sidearms.

The ISA scout model does appear in other games, interestingly enough. The appear infrequently throughout the Helghan sections of Killzone: Mercenary, spending as much of their time as possible cloaked and giving you grief. As a merc, you have access to sweet tech, though, and can field a detection drone that will disable their cloaking device so you can see them in all their ghillie suit glory.



While we're here, I'm going to throw out a couple of multiplayer-only weapons that don't really fit in in any other update:


C4 Explosive

This isn't the same C4 as in Liberation. Linked to the Saboteur class, this gun functions similar to the Sticky Grenade in Halo; throw it and it will stick to any surface, including your allies and enemies. Unlike the Sticky Grenade, these must be manually detonated with remote. An enemy with full health could potentially survive a blast, so it's often better to be safe and drop several of them. They can be prematurely detonated with gunfire.


M80 Rocket Launcher

Identical to the M404 Missile Launcher from the first game. Probably the same gun, just with a different name. Just as powerful as the VC9 Rocket Launcher employed by the Helghast. However, while the VC9 has iron sights, this gun has a scope. Also, if you target an enemy with the scope until it locks on, the rocket will home into that position. The homing function is great for destroying airborne targets.



IT CAME FROM DEVIANTART