Killzone is a series of first-person shooter video games for Sony Interactive Entertainment's (SIE) video game consoles. The main series and the PlayStation Portable (PSP) installment were developed by Guerrilla Games, a subsidiary of SIE, and the PlayStation Vita installment was developed by Guerrilla Cambridge. Killzone consists of six games, beginning on the PlayStation 2 in November 2004 with Killzone, and continued on the PlayStation Portable in October 2006 with Killzone: Liberation. Killzone 2 was released for the PlayStation 3 in February 2009, and Killzone 3 was released in February 2011, also for the PlayStation 3. Killzone: Mercenary was released for the PlayStation Vita in September 2013, followed by Killzone: Shadow Fall, a launch title for the PlayStation 4, in November 2013.
Plot synopsis The series is set in the 24th century, showing the galactic war between the Interplanetary Strategic Alliance (ISA) and the Helghan Empire. The Killzone series follows the continuous war between the ISA and Helghast taking place on both ISA Earth colonies and the planet Helghan, the home planet of the Helghast. The series has featured four main protagonists: Cpt/Col. Jan Templar (Killzone and Killzone: Liberation), Sgt. Tomas "Sev" Sevchenko (Killzone 2 and Killzone 3), mercenary Arran Danner (Killzone: Mercenary), and Shadow Marshal Lucas Kellan (Killzone: Shadow Fall). The main antagonist was originally Helghast Autarch Scolar Visari; his death in Killzone 2 brought about the rise of two new antagonists and the hopeful heirs to Visari's throne in Killzone 3: Jorhan Stahl and Admiral Orlock. After Orlock's death and the unknown details of Stahl's death and the destruction of Helghan, now covered in petrusite, the Helghast now live on Vekta with a giant wall dividing them from the Vektans. "The Black Hand", a Helghast paramilitary terrorist group, was formed under Vladko Tyran, who became an antagonist, along with Lady Hera Visari (Scolar Visari's daughter) who has inherited her father's throne. By the end of Killzone: Shadow Fall, it is revealed that the main antagonist is Stahl, who managed to survive the events of Killzone 3, but is dispatched by Vektan Security Agency director Thomas Sinclair.
Gameplay Killzone, Killzone 2, Killzone 3, Killzone: Mercenary, and Killzone: Shadow Fall are first-person shooters. Killzone: Liberation is presented as an isometric twin sticks shooter. The games were developed by Guerrilla Games, except for Killzone: Mercenary, which was developed by Guerrilla Games' sister studio, Guerrilla Cambridge, and published by Sony. Players can carry two different weapons at any given time. Players can either obtain ammo or swap out their current weapons with any weapon dropped by a downed foe or from those scattered around the various maps. In Killzone 3, players can carry up to three weapons, with the third weapon spot reserved for heavy weapons (e.g. machine gun, rocket launcher, etc.). Online competitive multi-player features up to 16 players in Killzone, 32 players in Killzone 2, 24 players in Killzone 3 and Shadow Fall, and up to 8 players in Mercenary. There are various modes of multiplayer. There is an objective based rotation mode, called Warzone (Killzone 2, Killzone 3, and Shadow Fall), where players play all game modes (2 rounds of Assassination, 1 round of Body Count, 1 round of Capture and Hold, 2 rounds of Search and Destroy, and 1 round of Search and Retrieve) one after the other until all modes have been played. Shadow Fall' game modes in Warzone are slightly different. Operations is a new mode for Killzone 3 which is a cinematic mini-campaign for the multiplayer mode. Killzone 3 features a classic Team Deathmatch mode called Guerilla Warfare. Shadow Fall also has a team deathmatch, simply titled Team Deathmatch. Killzone and Killzone 3 are the only games in the series to feature offline split-screen co-op for two players, while Killzone is the only game in the series to feature offline split-screen multiplayer in the Botzone mode (Botzone allows players to play against AI bots and is present in each installment). Liberation features an online co-op campaign as well as a multiplayer mode that supports up to 6 players in ad-hoc and up to 8 players on infrastructure. Shadow Fall features an online co-op survival mode for up to 4 players; however, it can only be accessed by purchasing the Season Pass.
Games
Main series
Killzone
Killzone was released for the PlayStation 2 in 2004. The game is set in 2357, where the Helghast Empire has recovered from its defeat in the First Extrasolar War and launched a blitzkrieg against the outer Interplanetary Strategic Alliance (ISA) colony planet Vekta. Vekta's orbital Strategic Defense (S.D.) platforms failed, due to sabotage by a Helghan "mole", during the initial assault, allowing the Helghast to land swarms of soldiers onto the surface and making it difficult for the outnumbered ISA forces. Captain Jan Templar, the main protagonist, and his squad are ordered back to the base for reassignment, and are sent to find the ISA operative Hakha and the key in his possession. Templar meets other characters who assist him, such as Shadow Marshal Luger (a female special operations assassin), a heavy weapons specialist named Sergeant Rico Velasquez (a Helghast-hating soldier with an itchy trigger finger), and Colonel Hakha, a half-Helghast, half-Human spy.
Killzone 2
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