Killzone

The first Killzone came along when I was far too young to reasonably play it, but the second struck at just the right time. Touted as PlayStation’s next big thing, the visually sumptuous shooter represented the very cutting edge of technology, and I took that bait hard. Killzone 2 was the game that taught me about the importance of visual fidelity and it just so happened to be an incredibly weighty and hardcore multiplayer FPS as well. I was forged in the insanity of Resistance’s all-out wars and Killzone’s tight-knit and punchy encounters.

Killzone was probably ultimately brought down by its ridiculously high production values, but some of the stuff in that game is still top tier all these years later. The brutal melee executions of Killzone 3 instilled a love of animation in my friends and I that we still haven’t shaken. I can still recall the satisfying pound of the shotgun in Killzone 2, and the brain-tickling tick that confirmed a kill in it and Killzone: Mercenary. Speaking of, Mercenary is one of the finest adaptations of a series to a handheld platform that I’ve ever played, and a criminally overlooked game in that series and on the PS Vita.

I’m the first person to often bemoan something that feels overproduced, but if I may be self-indulgent, I’d love to see another shot at Killzone sometime in the future. — Moises Taveras