Prepare for a Killzone assault. As Games Convention 2007 starts winding down, 1UP sat down the folks at Guerilla Games, otherwise known as the developers of Killzone 2. Not only did they run through their E3 2007 demo three times -- once straight through, next with development tools on to better show off their engine and lastly where we went hands-on -- but in our remaining time, we grilled Game Director Mathijs De Jonge and Producer Steven Ter Heide on the game.
1UP: Where does this reflect where you guys are with the game as a whole? Steven Ter Heide: You mean development wise?
1UP: Yeah. Heide: This is one level of the game. This level isn't final yet; this is [a] work in progress. Things like streaming system still has to go in. But, this is an appropriate reflection of what the game's going to be.
1UP: You guys are aiming for a spring release? Heide: We're aiming for a 2008 release. That is the politically correct term. [laughs]
1UP: There was a talk of you guys doing a multiplayer beta? Heide: Of course, a game like Killzone is going to have an extensive multiplayer component yet. We're not going into lots of details about multiplayer just yet. Of course, we're going to be linking to things like Killzone.com and into Home and we're hoping to bring some exciting features to that.
1UP: But, you're still planning to do an online public beta? Heide: Of course, the online [part] needs to be tested, so there's going to be an online beta at some point.
1UP: The original Killzone had an enormous amount of hype behind it, whether it lived up to that critically is debatable. With Killzone 2, that original trailer set up a lot of expectation. Coming out of that trailer, what effect did that have on the team? Heide: It was a mixed effect. I mean, obviously, seeing the trailer, we saw the trailer first, and everybody's looking at it like "that's what we have to make, uh, oookay." And then when we saw the actual feedback people were giving and the first responses were "well, this is what next gen gameplay is going to be about," and secondly, "can they actually pull this off and what will it look like?" It's been a while since we've talked about Killzone and the team's been very anxious to be able to show you what we're capable of, and we think that with what we're showing you today we've come pretty close to our original promise and it's really good to get this out of the way and we're very happy seeing the result of E3 and the response of the people saying "indeed, it's come very close and they're delivering on their promises." That's [a] very important point for the team.
1UP: Did that create unrealistic expectations for yourself? Obviously, that put a lot of pressure on the team. Heide: Of course, but we wouldn't have created the trailer if we didn't think it was possible to create something like that. Of course, the disadvantage it had [was it] set the expectations really early for what Killzone was going to be about and everybody's taking notes -- not just the consumers or the developers, but everyone's looking at what our next gen game's going to do. We hope that we've delivered on this promise so far.
1UP: We see a lot of Sony games pushing user generated content. Are you considering anything like that? Heide: I can't talk about that yet, sorry.
1UP: If you can't talk about what you can do, when you look at user generated content, what is interesting to you? Sony has LittleBigPlanet coming out. If you can't talk about what you're doing specifically with Killzone, can you tell us what you've found personally interesting? Heide: I think the whole being connected all the time and having network available and being able to share content with others, I think that's a very exciting thing to do. You see a lot of sort of social gaming in that respect, people who may not be interested in the game per say, now start working with things like level editors, character alteration -- they're drawn into the game, as well. That just broadens up the entire user base, basically, and as different people play around with different mechanics. It's a very interesting phenomenon to be able to support and I think social gaming with things like Home and LittleBgPlanet is really good at showing that.
1UP: How do you think your game compares to Halo 3? Heide: Um. I don't think, uh. Actually, uh, [smile] that's a difficult question because we don't compare our games to other games. It's kind of difficult because we're aiming for something completely different in terms of play style, in terms of visuals. We're doing something different, and we're more looking at what we've done in the past and what we need to improve on that, rather than to other games, because we do need to find our own special brand of what is Killzone and we need to define that clearly so you guys understand this is not Halo, or Haze or Resistance. They all have to find their specific spots, and we have to make sure you understand what Killzone's about.
1UP: What's the biggest flaw in the first Killzone that you're fixing? Heide: I think the most eye catching thing was performance. We had very high ambitions for the game and I think a lot of people commented on performance drops and that's something we have to address when building a new engine from scratch. Obviously the PS3 allows us to do a lot more and fully realize that ambition, but gameplay-wise we needed to show there's a lot more variety and a lot more possible within the scope of the game. With things like alternative routes, different kinds of weapons that are suited to different kinds of gameplay, we're pushing the life of this game.
1UP: What about vehicles? In this level, there are no vehicles. That is the politically correct answer again. [smile]
1UP: Can we expect any sort of drastic gameplay change from Killzone 2? Mathijs De Jonge: Well, the weather effects are going to play a role in that, but we can't say much about that, unfortunately. I think that and the first person [cover system], I think we're the first to do it in that way, so I think it's a quite innovative feature.
Heide: We're really trying to make a mix of features that compliment each other, so that's really where the game's going to shine. We want you to say "this is something you could never do in any other game" -- finding the right mix and doing those things right.
1UP: It sounds like weather is probably one of the most gameplay unique features. Heide: That's definitely something new.
1UP: When's the next time we're going to hear about the game? Heide: That's a good question!
Sony PR: Uh, we'll let you know. [laughs all around]