You must have heard about it by now. Killzone, the so called "Halo Killer". And by that I don't mean they finally went and released the Garth Ennis DC/Vertigo title Preacher in video game form.
Released shortly after Halo 2 (Xbox) came out, Killzone is supposed to go head to head against the Xbox juggernaut and counter it on level playing ground (as a sort of revenge by Sony for Microsoft hogging up the original Halo for Xbox only release), but how does it do?

It all starts on the planet Helghast, home of a bunch of people who seemingly don't get along well with their neighbors (or with hair since they seem quite bald). After landing on this hostile planet years ago, and adapting to the harsh "life" on this world, they've become a power to be feared once again (or just an out of control dictatorship needing to be knocked down a lot of notches) and has decided to go out amongst their "neighbors" and lay down the whupass on them. As the game starts they are invading your homeworld and it's up to you to deliver the counterpunch and drive them off.

At first, when I saw footage of the game, I thought it was a "redressed" shooter which took place in a post terrorist invaded America, or the ruins of Iran or some other country that somebody nixed as being too sensitive to portray in this "format", later redressing it as some future war epic... but after playing the game I have to admit that

my first assessment of the game was in error.

The story is solid enough (though since I never played Halo or Halo 2 I can‘t draw any comparision between these games and the "Halo Killer" Killzone), the animation is downright beautiful (even at it's "ugliest" and bloodiest) and there some tight talent here doing the voices including Ronny Cox (who you should remember from Robocop and Total Recall) as one of the generals on the side of good.
But the place this game truly shines in is the gameplay which is just plain good.

Unlike Resident Evil : Dead Aim which failed on all parts from story to gameplay, Killzone earns it's moniker as "Halo Killer" (at least in my opinion in anycase) by delivering a solid shooter that works good as well as look good. You are armed with a few weapons, not much by Punisher standards, and yet these weapons work wonders on your enemies and are a breeze to work -- EXCEPT THE SNIPER RIFLE!
The most troublesome rifle I ever had the misfortune to use, the sniper rifle of Killzone is a pain since (the moment you enter "sniping" mode) you'll notice the "sight" on the gun wavers back and forth... what the... and the only way you can hold it still is to exert some pressure on the R3 controller stick to get it to steady... of course if you apply too much pressure you'll go out of sniping mode, so that's a royal pain!

Of course once your past the whole sniping mode thing

then gunning and shooting down enemies is quite easy, and even abit addictive. You can even get a closer look on the shooting with some of the rifles which makes it easier to knock down enemies at a short distance, and unlike the sniper rifle the "crosshairs" don't dance about as your trying to get a bead on the bodies.

The one thing I was abit down on was the total lack of enemies to fight against which is a little bit of a downer. The game is filled with pretty much the same soldiers and stuff, which varies little if at all and kind of makes the experience a tad dull with the endless repetitive-ness of your enemies. Without any variety to the shooting I soon found myself to be a little bored, but thankfully the solid gameplay kept me playing.

It has everything you need... except maybe an auto-lock, but that seems to be covered too.
It has mapping, which is good so you don't get lost. You also have a way to know when your enemies are close... which just so happens to be your commlink that you communicate over! It seems you can pick up their transmissions, which shows just how close your people are to the Helghasts since your technology seems very similar in so many ways.

It's a straightforward shooter. No puzzles or deep things to solve. Just wade through your enemies, complete objectives, and repeat. Simple as that.
The game is solid, the action is good, and while it won't test your brainpower

it's still a fun game well worth your time and effort to play even without that.
Oh-kay, breakdown time.

Killzone the Breakdown
What's Hot? - Touted as the so-called "Halo Killer", this game was made specifically to go toe-to-toe with Halo (and Halo 2) and prove it's tough enough to stand against the major juggernaut.
Now I haven't played Halo or Halo 2, so I have no idea how it fared against them, but for me I have to say I liked Killzone and it was a solid enough game. And with the extras this game holds? (Not much but fairly decent if I do say so myself) it's just a good game worth owning.

What's Not? - The way the sniper rifle is set up is such pain! If the sights could have just not wavered so much I could have plowed through a few things better. Otherwise there's not much to complain about.

Moments to Remember? - The cutscenes, as well as the beautifully rendered animation just worth raving about (in my opinion).

What to Ignore? - Nothing of any big significance worth mentioning here.

Overall? - It's a solid little game that works for me. Once again I couldn't review either Halo or Halo 2 but somehow I have a feeling this game at least gives the Halo franchaise a run for it's credits.
When it comes right down to it I have lots of praise for this game, and I hope you will have praise for it too after you play it for the first time! Highly recommended!