Killzone 2 is a game that really benefits from a patient approach to combat, the now standard cover system adapted so that pushing forward on the left stick allows you to quickly duck out and fire before snapping back into place. This careful, grinding approach is somewhat at odds with the machismo that dominates practically everywhere else (from the name itself to the expletive-ridden script, Killzone 2 is the sort of game straight from the nightmares of Daily Mail readers), and is an example of contrasts and opposites that also extends to the campaign mode’s excellent structure. The flashpoints dotted throughout are certainly memorable, if only for their physicality, but they’re buffeted by some wonderful stretches of languor and isolation that significantly help the pacing. Prior to Suljeva Village the repetition of industrial environments threatens to become suffocating, but from Suljeva on, the game soars to a superbly judged climax; the intervening hours full of incident, tension and no little excitement. It’s clear that the last four years weren’t simply spent on pushing the PS3 hardware as far as possible, but in creating a world so cohesive that every successive mission feels like a natural progression from the last. Inconsequential narrative be damned (there are frequent pathetic attempts at investing the story with ‘emotion’ that make the Gears sequel look like Final Fantasy 7); Killzone 2 may have the most derivative campaign mode of the last few years, but it also has one of the very, very best.

One significant component of Killzone 2 that has yet to scale these aforementioned heights is the online multiplayer, though only for the simple reason that at the time of writing lobbies lie empty and arenas stand barren. For many online play will be the determining factor of Killzone 2’s success and failure; reassuringly it’s clear that Guerrilla’s understanding of what makes for a compulsive multiplayer mode is as assured as their knack of cherry-picking ideas for the single-player game, a view also supported by our experience testing the November 2008 beta and hours spent in simulating with bots. Judging by the number of clans already being formed in anticipation, Killzone 2 appears to have captured the imagination of the wider PS3 community.

Again taking the template established by the usual FPS suspects, Killzone 2’s online play rewards perseverance and dedication, as more and more options are made available to the player, the more games, kills and points are racked up. Some will be intent on simply climbing up the promotional ladder (a gold trophy awaits future Generals), while others will relish the opportunity for personalisation that exists further down the line. Such a system ensures that there remains a motivation for returning to the game, should the promise of the tightest, most immersive online games since Modern Warfare not be enough. Expect this to dominate PSN for the remainder of 2009.

The irony here is that whereas Sony introduced the first, deeply disappointing, Killzone whilst in a position of unparalleled dominance (even five years on the PS2 is still a going sales concern), Killzone 2, this strangely beautiful testament to the industry as it stands today arrives at a moment when the Japanese electronics giant has everything to prove within gaming. Countless lauded exclusives have spectacularly flopped since the PS3’s launch and the console’s market share is still less than glowing; there’s a sense that for history to repeat itself twice with another Killzone debacle, given the expectations, the jaw-dropping preview footage and the hordes of illiterate fanboys chomping at the bit, would have been catastrophic. Instead, the end result is nothing short of triumphant.

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