In my excavation of my Playstation 3 library ahead of it officially being two console generations old, I found myself picking up the Killzone Trilogy at a local game store. I had actually already collected Killzone 2 and Killzone 3, but I wanted the full experience. The trilogy had quite the acclaim, and, while I had opted with an Xbox 360 during that generation, I felt it pertinent to get the full PS3 catalog explored.

Killzone HD is touted as a 720p remaster of the 2004 title. Killzone had a lot of hype around it from publications, with emphasis on its visual fidelity, even going so far as to brand it as a “Halo-killer”, much like the ill-fated Haze for PS3. Supermassive Games (Until Dawn, Dark Pictures) handled this remastered version of Killzone, but how does the game hold up in 2020? Especially with it technically being sixteen-years-old from a bygone, developmental era of first-person shooters.

Seeing as the original Killzone had an output of 480p, I can imagine that it was still a visual marvel at the time, as that’s where the acclaim was drawn from. Unfortunately, this isn’t exemplified with the game’s environments. You’re going to be seeing a lot of grey and green, much like Gears of War would stick to in 2006. A game that looks good could really benefit from a varied, colorful set of environments, but this dreary, sad shooter is far from eye candy.

Mechanically, Killzone is a bit drab, as well. Players get the choice of four characters: a standard soldier, an assassin with increased accuracy, a warrior with an insane chaingun, and a double-agent. I stuck to the warrior, Rico, as his gun was so beyond overpowered that I mowed down enemies with ease. The majority of guns have a random weapon spread, so firefights typically consist of hoping for the best at long distance, and unloading at short distance.

I was able to finish Killzone in a day. There are eleven levels, segmented into small pieces to remedy load times. The cutscenes are pulled from the original release, so the lifeless faces and peculiar character models didn’t get any love in the HD version. I found myself stuck in a few places, due to a lack of information or a visual cue that was nigh invisible. Most games had HUD indicators at this point, so this doesn’t get a pass.

When a game gets remastered, I hope that it gets quality-of-life changes, but that really doesn’t seem to be the case here. Supermassive seems to have just copy and pasted the source code, made the textures better, and called it a day. It’s obvious that Killzone 2 and Killzone 3 were more well-received, so for the sake of story absorption, I made my way through this precursor, but it did feel like work at some points.

I’d say Killzone HD is an example of how not to remaster a game. There’s no TLC present for a game that desperately needed it, even in 2012. Killzone is devoid of camaraderie, substance, and barely makes a footprint in the vast realm of sci-fi first-person shooters. A Halo-killer, this game is not. I look forward to reviewing Killzone 2, which got ample time and effort put into it, even with a suspicious E3 outing.

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Killzone HD

$14.99 USD

4.5

Score

4.5/10

Pros

• Great Soundtrack
• Rico is fun to Play

Cons

• Doesn't look good, even in HD
• Poor Sound Quality
• No Bug Fixes
• Annoying combat