Killzone: Liberation
Taking a popular console game and pushing it in a bold new direction is always a risky endeavour. The original Killzone released for PS2 in 2004 as a fairly by-the-numbers first-person shooter. For Killzone: Liberation, which was being released on PSP, Guerilla wisely decided to tailor the action to the strengths of Sony’s first portable console.
Picking up roughly two months after the end of the first Killzone, Liberation is a smaller, more personal episode in the gritty future war between the ISA and Helghast forces, and sees returning protagonist Jan Templar away from the battlefield on a mission to rescue captives. Instead of playing in first person as Templar with his eye firmly behind the gun, you view proceedings from a god’s-eye perspective that allows action to take place in a top-down isometric plane.
Whereas other iconic PlayStation franchises such as Ratchet & Clank,
Jak And Daxter, and God Of War (to name just three) made the jump from PS2 to PSP in fairly direct fashion, Killzone: Liberation saves you the hassle of wrestling with a console
FPS on a handheld boasting a single analogue stick. Templar can crouch, shoot, and lob grenades as needed, and hiding behind cover and shooting still feels satisfying, only it all plays out like intricate chess movements on a 3D diorama. The tactical options are a welcome addition, and despite the stark change in perspective Killzone: Liberation feels just as much a part of the Killzone canon as every subsequent sequel on PlayStation does.
2006 may have been a time when developers presented players with a less-than-mouthwatering colour buffet of grey, black, and brown, but Liberation still managed to make us hungry to play by serving up numerous set-piece spectacles. The end of the first chapter, for instance, requires you to pilot a tank from one end of a dam to the other amid the surrounding chaos.
Every mission that makes up Killzone: Liberation’s four bombastic chapters lasts no longer than 15 minutes, further demonstrating Guerrilla Games’ understanding of how PSP games should be designed to be played in short bursts, not extended play sessions. That didn’t stop the dev lacing fresh mechanics into Templar’s second outing, however. For example, certain scenarios see you buddy up with partners Rico and Luger, who you can tell where to go and who to shoot by just tapping 8.
PSP POWERHOUSE
In many ways it’s a shame that
Guerrilla didn’t feel the need to return to Liberation’s more pared-back style of play for 2013 PS Vita spinoff Mercenary, because while a fully featured first-person shooter played on handheld sounds like a good idea, you’ll always have an inferior experience to the same thing on home console. PSP’s limitations forced Guerrilla Games to make Killzone: Liberation a unique spin-off game designed specifically for playing on the go. As different as it was from the mainline games, it nonetheless played its part in solidifying the series’ status as a longstanding PlayStation staple, and it’s by far the series’ best portable entry. It also cemented PSP’s reputation as a home for great consolequality experiences.
The Killzone series has been put on ice (though there is an easter egg hidden in Guerrilla Games’ exceptional Horizon Zero Dawn), but the foundations are there for it to be revived, a new game telling a sidestory within the existing lore or one set after it. Here’s hoping that, if we do get another Killzone, the dev will consider bringing it back in the spirit of Liberation’s top-down versatility as opposed to just another rugged FPS.
GUERRILLA GAMES DECIDED TO TAILOR THE ACTION TO THE STRENGTHS OF PSP.