DISC READ ERROR valiantly tries to save me from the crap heap known as Killzone

Well, I decided to give Killzone more of a chance than the 10 minutes I played it a long time ago. Really, since my Nyko Intelligent 360 remote didn't work with my TV, I just wanted to trade it for a cheap game.

My lovely, high-quality, Sony-powered PS2 decided to think that the game wasn't a PS2 game. "Please insert a Playstation game." I cleaned the disc, and then I got the infamous "Disc Read Error" repeatedly for about ten minutes. The PS2 was seconds away from being thrown out in a busy street when a tenth reboot finally got the game to come up.

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Not that I haven't had this problem before with an Xbox (after playing a burned DVD movie). However, the Xbox is fixable in 5 minutes or less, and is "easy as pie". The PS2 on the other hand, is a long arduous process of disassembly, adjusting, and reassembly...and then possibly repeating those three steps a dozen times. 30 minutes to an hour or more. For what? Crappy graphics on a crappy controller on the slowest loading system on the market? It has the biggest selection! Of games that aren't even worth $5! *shakes head in disdain*

Anyone that wants a PS3 at launch is crazy. Having faith that a Sony Blu-ray drive will be higher quality than the crappy DVD lasers they've been using for 6 years is equivilent to smoking crack. Wait a few months. Trust me.

At the end of the above rant, I finally got to the play the game. Guerilla put forth a valiant effort on this shooter, but even extended play still reveals that this game is far from a Halo-Killer. It's better than say, Geist, but it isn't even in the same class as the typical solid shooters.

While the animation is pretty good on the player's character, the NPC's animation is horrendous, the AI is ridiculously bad, there's only 3 barely-different enemies, and about 4 enemy voice samples (repetitive and annoying). Should I bring up that you automatically cock your gun after ANY action? Whether it's up/down a latter, switching guns, hopping over something....gah...it's really annoying.

I turned the analog stick sensitivity all the way down...to no avail. The damn things are touchy. At least the controls are customizable.

Honestly, Killzone feels more like an advanced homebrew effort than full-fledged monetarily supported video game. While I'm sure it may have amazed those with blinders to non-Playstation consoles, it is actually extremely shoddy to the standards of the last couple of years.

Why exactly...would anyone be excited for Killzone 2? This initial entry was so bad, that it's hard to imagine that anyone would want a sequel.

The best point of the game is the ability of the Shadow Marshall to throw a knife in a Helghast's throat and go retrieve it. Other than that....nothing. Stay away. The only greatest hit of this game was it hitting the bottom of the garbage can.

Note: If you need to know how to fix the "Disc Read Error" problem, or simply don't believe that it's a plague in the PS2 world, here are a few sites to help you rectify you problem: via arstechnica.com, via g4tv.com, via ign.com, via gamefaqs.com, or via tweak3D. Google it for more, and check out wikipedia's little stint on it.