E3 06: Killzone: Liberation hands-on

It's no secret that first-person shooters are tough to do properly on PSP, thanks to a rather limited control scheme. So we're not surprised that developer Guerilla thought long and hard about how best to recreate its fps hit Killzone, originally a PS2 title, for the PSP. What did surprise us, in a very pleasant way, was the solution Guerilla came up with - switching to an isometric, third-person view - and how well the resulting game plays after such a drastic overhaul.

The controls, thanks to this new view, are explosively easy to grasp. Square shoots, circle tosses a grenade, triangle reloads, and X is an all-purpose action button, good for opening chests, activating instrument panels, taking command of turret guns, and so on. You can also kneel to give yourself better aim, though that obviously affects your mobility.

In the ad-hoc multiplayer sessions we enjoyed (infrastructure modes are planned as well), we found ourselves hunting one another in what seemed to be a junkyard, or possibly just a very heavily bombed-out neighborhood. The keys to the match were the footlockers, storage chests randomly placed about the level and which both sides can use to replenish health and ammo or obtain new weapons.

Moving into the single-player mode, we discovered a remarkably tactical experience. Infiltrating a warehouse filled with glowy-eyed Helghast baddies, we noticed multiple routes and admirably intelligent enemies - you can't just run and gun here.

We'll have more on Killzone: Liberation as we get closer to its Holiday 2006 release. It looks like solid proof that first-person shooters can be done well on PSP ... sort of.

May 12, 2006

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I was the founding Executive Editor/Editor in Chief here at GR, charged with making sure we published great stories every day without burning down the building or getting sued. Which isn't nearly as easy as you might imagine. I don't work for GR any longer, but I still come here - why wouldn't I? It's awesome. I'm a fairly average person who has nursed an above average love of video games since I first played Pong just over 30 years ago. I entered the games journalism world as a freelancer and have since been on staff at the magazines Next Generation and PSM before coming over to GamesRadar. Outside of gaming, I also love music (especially classic metal and hard rock), my lovely wife, my pet pig Bacon, Japanese monster movies, and my dented, now dearly departed '89 Ranger pickup truck. I pray sincerely. I cheer for the Bears, Bulls, and White Sox. And behind Tyler Nagata, I am probably the GR staffer least likely to get arrested... again.