Thu, Oct 04, 2012 | 23:47 BST
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.
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Posted in: PS3, Shooter, Sony
Tags: Guerrilla Games, Killzone HD
9 comments
#1
Takeshi
05/10/12, 12:09 am
Huh, actually didn’t know we were getting a HD treatment of the first game. Only played the second and third game so this is welcome.
#2
Da Man
05/10/12, 8:51 am
There’s a Killzone philosophy?
It’s about as deep as Wolf3d then.
#3
Lord Gremlin
05/10/12, 10:13 am
I’ve played all 3 Killzone games, and first one is best in terms of story and characters. I’d say HD remake is welcome – see, Killzone 1 was very advanced tech by PS2 standards. Very large maps, lots of enemies, physics… As a result a sacrifice been made – internal resolution is low as hell. I’ve played it on SDTV, but on HDTV it looks really, really bad.
Also, I still can’t get a round the idea that Rico and Templar made it into sequel and Luger and Hakha didn’t. Why you keep 2 idiots and lose 2 interesting characters? Unless Hakha comes back in Killzone 4, could make sense. And god I hope they’ll kill Rico. He should have been executed by the end of Killzone 1, really now.
#4
Da Man
05/10/12, 11:14 am
Have you played Black on Ps2? Lots of enemies, even larger maps and physics.
#5
YoungZer0
05/10/12, 1:52 pm
Yep, Black practically shits on Killzone 1.
#6
Gadzooks!
05/10/12, 2:12 pm
Mmmm.. Black. Now that was a spicy meat-a-ball! Quite the technical achievement, and an absolute hoot to play.
The unskippable cutscenes though. My god did they get on my tits. I died a lot in Black. Probably spent as much time watching cutscenes as playing!
#7
Kuwabara
06/10/12, 5:28 am
some parts in kz1 look better than what ive seen in this gen games.
#8
Nath_gamer
17/10/12, 10:12 am
@7 well said, I think this is the way first person shooters should be made, ALL of them, well there still needs to be variety so maybe like most of them should be like killzone in terms of game-play mechanics.
#9
Nath_gamer
17/10/12, 10:13 am
Also, I traded in Black for Killzone, BEST DECISION OF MY ENTIRE LIFE!!!!