Killzone HD: Adding a jump would "run counter" to shooter's philosophy
KIllzone HD updates the PS2 classic to match the controls of its PlayStation 3 sequels, in all but one regard: Guerrilla won't have any of that jumping nonsense, thank you.
Speaking with the PS Blog, Guerrilla staff said Killzone HD's controls had been tweaked with assistance from Killzone 2 and 3 director Mathijs de Jonge. Although the overhaul was motivated by the differences between the PS2 and PlayStation 3 control pads, Guerrilla took the opportunity to make "something more familiar to players of Killzone 2 and 3".
Despite the opportunity to do so, Guerrilla did not add in the one control found in later games but missing from the original Killzone - a jump button. Senior programmer Frank Compagner noted that adding a jump feature would "equire extensive changes to the levels, to prevent players from climbing out of the geometry", but that wasn't the only reason.
"More importantly, it would run counter to what we were trying to do with Killzone. The omission of the ‘jump’ button was a very deliberate design decision, almost like a statement against other shooters of the time," technical director Michiel van der Leeuw added.
"We wanted players to have a visceral, realistic experience, and that meant preventing them from traversing our game by bunny-hopping or rocket-jumping. Even when we re-introduced jumps for the obstacle-heavy terrains in Killzone 2, they were ‘weighty’ jumps – not perfect parabolic arcs, but the sort of short leaps a heavily packed soldier would make."
"It’s interesting to see how many of the features and design decisions that shaped the sequels – things like weightiness, hit response systems, brutal melee moves, and elaborate reload animations – all evolved from that early desire for visceral realism," Compagner mused.
"Guerrilla always tried its best not to make players feel like disembodied guns floating through a level."
Killzone HD launches as part of the Killzone Trilogy bundle, and as a standalone PSN offering, on October 24.