I just finished reading the latest issue of Official Playstation Magazine. I picked it up because it had a picture of one of the bad guys from Killzone on the cover along with the promise of an "exclusive first look". Sony is doing a really nice job of keeping this title very mysterious. We really haven't heard much about Killzone and maybe that's why I'm so interested in it.
The article in OPM covers quite a bit of territory, from the unique graphics engine and level design to the enemy and NPC A.I. It's certainly more information than I've seen to date and it comes after what sounds like a very lengthy play test. Each new screen shot I see for Killzone totally mystifies me. I remember when the first shots came out I actually didn't believe they were real. I figured it was one of those cases were the screenshots for a game get worse and worse the closer it gets to the games actual launch. I figured what I was seeing was some kind of pre-rendered mock up of what they hoped to accomplish. Then they released that trailer a few months back and it looked liked they had really pulled it off. The shit they're doing with the PS2 had to have cost someone at Guerrilla their soul.
I'd say the magazine is probably worth picking up just for the Killzone article but as I thumbed through the rest of it I found some really good stuff. There is a nice little interview with Craig Sullivan (Lead Designer at Criterion) about their upcoming first person shooter, Black. These are the guys responsible for the highly acclaimed Burnout games and they seem to have a really interesting take on the FPS genre. He has a great quote in the article that I'll just post for you here. He says: "In Black, the guns are the characters, and the dialogue starts when you pull the trigger." Craig talks about how in an FPS game all you really see is the gun so they need to become the stars of the show. It's a good read and certainly has me interested to see more of the game.
Then there is a little preview of Second Sight from Free Radical. These are the guys that gave us Time Splitters and TS 2. I still have a special place in my heart for TS2. I think it's one of the best FPS games ever made for any platform. You can imagine how excited I was to discover that they are working on a new FPS. Second Sight looks to be much more serious than the TS games but at this point I'm willing to follow them wherever they want to go.
I also read a page long article on a game called Siren that I discovered afterwards was actually an advertisement. It's a big two page spread that is laid out and designed so that it looks just like a feature written by the magazine. In really small letters at the top it says "Advertorial" but I didn't see that until I read the entire thing. On one had I was sort of pissed and felt like I had been tricked. On the other hand I have to give them some credit. I had never even heard of the game before I read the ad and when I was done I actually thought to myself "hmmm, that sounds kind of interesting." Of course that's before I found out it was written by a copywriter instead of a game journalist.
I forgot a couple of Splinter Cell tips in my recent posts and I wanted to share them with you.
Mercs
-If your teammate gets laid out by gas you can walk over to him and press "A" to kick him and wake him up.
Spys
-You can grab a merc in a choke hold and then drag him to a security door. The door will open as you approach with the merc and then you can snap his neck once you're inside.
-Gabe out
