Part 4: Chapter 2 (All Stages)

• Killzone: Liberation - Chapter 2 [All Stages] (with commentary by Blind Sally and nine-gear crow)

Chapter 2 of Liberation is a soft retread of the bullshit seawall chapter from Killzone 1. Though like everything else related to this game, Liberation manages to improve on its presentation greatly so it's not an utter bag of shit this time around.

This chapter is a straight 30-ish minute run through in a single video because Chapter 2 is the odd duck among Killzone: Liberation's five chapters in that its four stages have a wonky pacing to them, where one is fairly short and the other three were rather long. So there was no good place in this video to make a cut. The good news, however, is that as of the end of this video we are now officially halfway through Liberation already. Well, the base game of Liberation, at least. Chapter 5 adds another four stages and ~45 minutes worth of gameplay to the game.

But we're essentially 2/5's of the way there now.





Chapter 2 of Liberation takes us through Rayhoven's local ISA Navy installation and its attached oil rig platform.

There isn't that much happening in Chapter 2 storywise, it's really all about setting up for developments just on the horizon.

STAGE 1: APPROACH



So while we start the mission with Rico, we quickly ditch him again so Templar can storm the beachead alone with Hakha.



Our route takes it up along the beach, which is loaded with rotating trigger trip mines...

STAGE 2: DIVERSION



Through the naval docks...

STAGE 3: ASSAULT



And the Helghast controlled oil rig. On the rig, Luger orders Templar and Hakha to sabotage the pumps to cut the Helghast off from a vital supply of fuel for their operation here in Southern Vekta while leaving the rig's infrastructure intact for when the ISA main force comes along behind them and secures it after the Helghast bug out.







Rico, meanwhile, has made it to the main harbour and is waiting for us up there.



When we arrive in the harbour, a Helghast boat emerges from the fog and pulls up to the docks.



Think about that one for a moment, please. Helghast. ... Boat. On Vekta. This is not just the case of the Helghast hijacking a Vektan boat and appropriating it for their own purposes. This boat is flying Helghast colours, meaning that Metrac specifically brought it and who knows how many other boats just like it to Vekta from Helghan, ON STARSHIPS! Starships which sort of render that whole navy thing kind of useless, because they CAN FLY!

This is a universe where anti-gravity technology exists. Helghast cruisers are capable of atmospheric flight. We've seen that in Killzone 1 and in Killzones 2 and 3.

Metrac had, if not many, then at least one frigate sized trimaran naval vessel loaded into a starship, transported that ship in a cargo bay 1.67 billion KM from Alpha Centauri A to Alpha Centauri B, then made planetfall with it, and dropped in in the ocean, and for what? Like I posit in the video, the only way this makes any sense is if it's just an ego trip for Visari and the Helghast army just to claim they have complete dominion over all frontiers of creation: land, sea, air, and space.

I mean, yeah, the Vektans have their own navy, but it's for planetary defense purposes. IT'S ALREADY ON VEKTA! AND, the Helghast can simply blow up Vektan naval ships with impunity by using their fucking STARSHIPS! And I know we see other Helghast naval vessels in Killzone 1, but they're small troop transports and fast attack skiffs that could easily fit into the cargo bays of Helghast starcruisers, not captal-class vessels. It makes NO FUCKING SENSE

Helghast boats are dumb.



Anyway, the frigate pulls in to dock, and its rear ports open...



And... Uuuhh...



Okaaaaaay... So the left port opens up, and Metrac and Cobar just materialize through the closed right port for no good reason. Oh PSP cutscenes. You can tell Guerrilla put a lot of work into all the non-gameplay related areas of Killzone: Liberation, can't you?



But ANYWAY! This right his is the major development of this chapter, tucked away in a kind of boring, uneventful slough otherwise: there's ANOTHER traitor in the ISA's midst, it would seem. Someone who Metrac is convinced can be made to co-operate with the Helghast completely and turn over the Vektan leadership and the VIPs from the previous chapter to their custody.



Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Cobar...



Templar, Hakha, and Rico then take up positions on the dock after Metrac and Cobar enter the base, intent on sealing them inside and capturing them.



However, it's at this point where Templar learns that the dropship carrying Batton, Milcher, and Stratson has been shot down in the swamps outside of Rayhoven, and the VIPs are in jeopardy once again. So Templar has to bug out with Hakha, and head for the swamps to re-rescue the VIPs from the crash site, and leave Rico and his team to deal with Metrac and Cobar by himself.

Jan is putting his faith and trust in Rico to do the right thing and not fuck everything up for everyone. Let's see how well that turns out...







...what?

STAGE 4: BREAKOUT



Luger points out there's a hovercraft in the harbour which will make getting through the swamps to the dropship easier for Templar and Hakha.





So they swipe it and ride off into the sunset to the tune of this.









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Chapter 2 introduces a couple of new elements to the game, some which are carried over into other chapters, some of which are one-time only affairs, though all of them pretty much only appears in Liberation itself.



The big new addition, or the most prominent for this chapter is the introduction of Spider Mines.



These Helghast-manufactured land mines sit dug in to the surface of a battlefield until their proximity sensor is triggered, at which point they will get up and run towards the closest target on their three legs.



Though when I say "closest target", I literally mean the closest warm body it detects. Spider Mines have no IFF differentiators, so they will more often than not end up chasing down and killing the closest Helghast soldier than they ever will you.



Tricking Spider Mines into killing Helgoons is alarmingly easy in Liberation and can be done in a number of ways, from simply shooting the mine and letting it run into a crowd of approaching Helghast, or just getting the mine's attention, then rope-a-doping it into blowing up a Helghast grunt by luring it right into them. ...Or just waiting around for a Helghast to trip one simply by following its pre-programmed idle patrol route through the stage. Because that's a thing that happens in Liberation.

It is one of the dumbest, most counter-productive weapons in the Killzone franchise, and for that we thank it heartily.



They're also persistant little fuckers, capable of swimming



...And climbing up walls to get to their targets. You'll be able to tell when a Spider Mine is active because it will beep incessantly and make its share of noise as it clatters around on its three little legs trying to blow you up. It only has 7 health, so you can shoot it and blow it up with a few hits from any weapon in your arsenal, though you're more likely to get blown up by it that way, so its better if you just try to steer it into killing a Helghast for you instead.



Chapter 2 also introduces Helghast Communications Officers.



This is where the game starts aping Metal Gear: Solid a little more fully. Comms officers are denoted by the big green lights on their bulky radios and their flashlight eyes. They create an optional stealth element in Liberation, where you can either sneak past them, or quickly kill them...



Because if they call for backup, you will be swamped with Helghast troops almost instantaneously.



Another thing Chapter 2 introduces, at least more integrally to the game is environmental hazards. For example, on the oil rig there are certain exhaust vents you need to deactivate in order to proceed, lest you be immolated by a chamber of fire...




And of course, Killer Steam too. There's Killer Steam in just about every action video game.







Helghast Dog enemies also make their debut in Chapter 2. Previously seen in the intro to Liberation, the Helghast sick their K9 units on Templar and Hakha, and they're probably even tougher to take down than the actual Helghast themselves. The only saving grace of them is that they're melee only enemies, so if you can take them down before they get to you, you shouldn't even take a lick of damage from them.



Blind Sally also tries out the ISA shotgun in this level, since most of it is close quarters corridor combat, especially on the rig itself. The shotgun is a very short range, but very high powered weapon. You practically need to be at point blank range for a shot to hit its target, let along hit with its full power, but when it does its a near one-shot kill on most standard Helgoons.



And at the end of chapter we have a boss battle of sorts. Chapter 2's boss battle is a little unconventional compared to the boss fights later in the game. It's a tower defense boss battle. Your job is to defend this Helghast frigate from a Helghast demo team coming into blow it up with C4 and scuttle whatever intel the ISA might be able to glean out of its captured computers.



There's about three rounds to the fight, and you've got three points of interest you need to defend: the missile battery, the radar dish, and the communications tower. You can win the fight with one of the three still standing, but if all three emplacements are destroyed by the Helghast, it's game over, try again.





The Vektan Dollar

Okay, this one technically falls into "gameplay", but it's also a piece of Vektan culture, so whatever. The Vektan Dollar (VD) is the mode of currency exchanged on Vekta for goods and services, analogous to the American Dollar (USD) and other such currencies. The Vektan economy is built on the strength of its dollar and it, assumably, has a variable exchange rate with the currencies of Earth and the other ISA and UCA colonies elsewhere in the Milky Way. So far there's no known Helghan analog to the Vektan Dollar, though one would assume one exists in the Killzone universe.

In the multiplayer mode of Killzone: Shadow Fall, Vektan Dollars are replaced by Valor points, which is where the above symbol originates from. Valor in these games is earned in online multiplayer matches, and is spendable toward upgrades for weapons and character classes, which we will no doubt be covering once we reach the multiplayer modes for each of these games. Killzone: Mercenary later introduces Valor Cards, which can be traded in for spendable Vektan cash to buy additional weapons or items. Killzones 2 and 3 also use Valor points in their online ranking systems, though their versions of Valor can't be spent on items.

You don't see any of them in this run through, because Blind Sally's collected them all, but there are usually briefcases hidden around each stage containing caches of Vektan dollars which you can then buy upgrades, weapons, and cheats with in a store feature that would normally pop up between stages.

There is a total of $88,000 VD across Chapters 1-4, plus an additional $12,000 in the Chapter 5 DLC for a grand total of $100,000 VD.

The breakdown of Vektan dollars across the game's stages is thus:

• Chapter 1 Stage 1: $8000
  
• Chapter 1 Stage 2: $8000
  
• Chapter 1 Stage 3: $4000
  
• Chapter 1 Stage 4: $5000
  
  
• Chapter 2 Stage 1: $7000
  
• Chapter 2 Stage 2: $6000
  
• Chapter 2 Stage 3: $7000
  
• Chapter 2 Stage 4: $6000
  
  
• Chapter 3 Stage 1: $7000
  
• Chapter 3 Stage 2: $5000
  
• Chapter 3 Stage 3: $6000
  
• Chapter 3 Stage 4: $5000
  
  
• Chapter 4 Stage 1: $4000
  
• Chapter 4 Stage 2: $3000
  
• Chapter 4 Stage 3: $4000
  
• Chapter 4 Stage 4: $3000
  
  
• Chapter 5 Stage 1: $3000
  
• Chapter 5 Stage 2: $4000
  
• Chapter 5 Stage 3: $3000
  
• Chapter 5 Stage 4: $2000

In addition to Vektan Dollars, you can also earn points in Challenge Mission which are unlocked as you clear each chapter. Challenge Missions are timed skill testing minigames. Earning completing each of these minigames will earn you either a Gold, Silver, or Bronze Medal for that mission, and a certain number of points. There are six Challenge Missions per chapter for a total of 30. Earning a Gold on each of the 30 Challenge Missions (including the ones that come with the Chapter 5 DLC) will unlock certain bonuses which I will cover in the Epilogue at the end of the LP.

The points you amass over the game are also spendable on upgrades in Liberation. Here's what you can spend points on and how much each upgrade is worth.

• 150% Health - 300
  
• 200% Co-Op Partner Health - 510 (CHAPTER 5 REQUIRED)
  
• 2x C4 Placement Speed - 100
  
• Carry 3 Grenades - 20
  
• Carry 3 Smoke grenades - 140
  
• Carry 3 Syringes - 60
  
• Carry 4 Pressure Mines - 220
  
• Unlimited Ammo - 480
  
• 2x Melee Damage - 260
  
• 3x Melee Damage - 540 (CHAPTER 5 REQUIRED)
  
• Five Ability Slots - 600 (CHAPTER 5 REQUIRED)
  
• 2x Trip Mines Disarm Speed - 180 Points
  
• 150% Co-Op Partner Health - 340 Points

Spider Mines

Jorhan Stahl's walking troll on his fellow Helghast. Actually, there's no manufacturer listed for the spider mines, though if I had to put real money down on it, I'd wager that Stahl Arms was behind them, because an autonomous target-seeking mine with no IFF system that's far more likely to result in friendly fire casualties purely by accident is something that Stahl would find endlessly amusing, the Malcolm McDowelly motherfucker.

As mentioned earlier, Spider Mines will track and pursue the closest available target when armed, friend or foe, through any manner of terrain, including through water, and subsequently detonate an antipersonnel charge within 1 meter of its target, resulting in fatal injuries from a combination of a close-proximity concussive shockwave, 3rd degree burns from the explosion, and sever shrapnel damage.

The Killzone Wiki suggests that these mines are a homage to the similarly named Spider Mines from StarCraft. In SC, Spider Mines are laid by the Vulture jetbike unit, and lay buried under terrain until an enemy approaches, at which point they spring up and immediately run towards them, exploding and causing great damage to them. Though, unlike the Helghast mines, Confederate Spider Mines do indeed have an IFF differentiator so they don't go blowing up marines randomly like these little bastards do.



M13 Semi-Auto Shotgun

Known as the "Lucky Strike" by ISA soldiers. The M13 is manufactured by the ISA and is the semi-automatic variant of the LS13 pump action shotgun. The M13 fires scattershot bursts of toxic pellets at an enemy designed to inflict illness and eventually death on a wounded enemy should they survive the initial blast. A single shot is capable of immobilizing most Helghast soldiers, allowing for a second killshot before they can recover.

However, M13s suffer from a long reload time, leaving the operator vulnerable in the case of a miss. The M13 is one of the few ISA manufactured weapons used by the Helghast on the battlefield. The two most likely theories on why the Helghast seem to wield them in higher numbers to ISA soldiers is that either the Helghast have picked them off of fallen ISA soldiers, or the Helghast have purchased M13s and LS13s in significant quantities from mercenary organizations, who would then ship them to Helghan for a hefty profit.





ISA Hovercraft

An amphibious vehicle used by the ISA in combat situations on land, sea, or in dense marshland. ISA Hovercrafts are moderately armoured, but highly maneuverable and capable of speeds outpacing any Helghast ground assault vehicle. They are equipped with a roof-mounted machine gun turret and rocket launcher.



Helghast Naval Frigate

I don't even...






This Helgoon heavy weapons "expert" blows his ass up with his own rocket launcher, but firing it into a wall two feet in front of his face.














Also, I don't know what they call that on Vekta, but everywhere else in the galaxy, I'm pretty sure intentionally using poisonous bullets is called A LEGIT FUCKING WAR CRIME!!!

CONCEPT ART

General Armin Metrac

WALLPAPER

Metrac and Cobar


Metrac and Cobar, ver. 2 - Also note how Cobar is looking directly at the viewer in both images. Creepy.

PROPAGANDA

"Driving them back" (Helghast POV)