Cons: ...but most are useless; hit detection problems when meleeing
I think that I thought Killzone Liberation was a different game when I first bought it. I had purchased a PSP last year and was pretty enthused to pick up a variety of games for the system, and so I bought this and Every Extend Extra at the same time. Unfortunately, I believe I was thinking of SOCOM when I purchased Killzone Liberation and I was under the bizarre impression Every Extend Extra was as well regarded as Lumines, so the entire trip seemed to be a wash, as I went home and read the reviews for each game and any enthusiasm I had evaporated. As a result, both games were set aside as I focused on Jeanne D'arc and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. I tried to play Killzone Liberation earlier this year but got stuck on the fourth level. Unfortunately, I wasn't willing to show any patience when playing the game, and after playing the same section four times I put it aside, assuming I would never come back. This ended up having the opposite effect, however, as I wanted to beat it more than ever after starting Mission: Backlog because of the difficulty I had had with the game. Killzone Liberation is a better game than I initially gave it credit for and is an all around decent action game, but it doesn't quite do enough to make it a game everyone must play.
Killzone Liberation is about the ongoing war against the Helghast, which is all the information one really needs to know. I've never been much of one for reading screens of text in an action game, and as a result Killzone Liberation's backstory was more or less lost on me. However, even without the overarching story, the missions themselves did a good job of stringing together the narrative of Templar, a soldier pitted against one particular Helghast general. Along the way, he'll be helped by a few teammates, but for the most part it's a solo mission. While the story isn't incredibly compelling, it really doesn't need to be in this type of game. At the same time, I'm not sure if the screens of text that pop up at the end of every set of missions would be more interesting to those that played the original Killzone, but I can't really make that call since I didn't have an interest in the PS2 original.
You fight from a third person isometric view in Killzone Liberation, much like in the early Zelda games or, more accurately, Smash TV. There are 20 levels in all, and the game should take about 5-7 hours to complete total. The levels feature different objectives that keep you from just going from point A to point B, but you'll never really feel lost as the objectives are presented in a logical progression and you have a map that will show you where objectives are located. You start out with a standard three shot burst rifle, but can swap it out for any weapon you find on the battlefield. Additionally, as you collect cash boxes hidden throughout each level, you'll be able to choose new weapons at the beginning of the fight. There are eight weapons in all, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, but you'll probably end up playing most of the game with one of the two assault rifles as every other weapon in the game has a drawback that makes it almost useless in certain types of combat. You can only carry one weapons at a time, so you'll be faced with the decision to pick up a weapon that could make a certain section easy but another near impossible. A little further weapon balancing would have been appreciated, or perhaps the developers could have given the simple option to carry two different weapons, but as the game stands most of the weapons just aren't feasible options for any stretch of time.
You're also given a melee attack that will knock down most enemies, leaving them wide open to massacre, but unfortunately the melee just doesn't always seem to connect when it needs to, leading to some moments of frustration as you swear that you hit someone, only to have them knock you down and kill you. The other combat option you'll have are grenades. These can usually take an enemy out in a hit and are invaluable for taking out entrenched or hard to reach enemies. Oddly, the game gives you the option to swap these out for smoke grenades, but these only seemed to serve to keep you from being able to lock on to enemies and seemed to have no effect on the enemies themselves, making them more detrimental than helpful.
Perhaps the two most invaluable tactics you'll have in Killzone Liberation are the cover mechanic and the lock on mechanic, both of which are handled incredibly well. I very seldomly locked on to the wrong enemy, even when several were standing in the same direction away from Templar. In order to cover behind an object, all you have to do is hold the right trigger and Templar will crouch behind the object. Firing you're weapon will cause him to pop out, but the section you stop firing he'll crouch back down. Coupled with the targeting system (that actually works), combat in Killzone Liberation feels intuitive.
Every five levels, you'll unlock a new set of challenges related to those five levels. These challenges range from target shooting to item collecting to killing off waves of enemies. At first, there doesn't seem to be much call for completing these challenges, but in fact you'll unlock perks that can be used in the single player campaign, giving a nice little incentive to actually play the optional material. I'm really surprised more games haven't done this in order to make optional content seem more worthwhile, but I also have to acknowledge that the challenges really aren't an absolute pain to complete, unlike a lot of bonus material in games. You can take three perks in to any mission, and these can be anything from carrying more grenades to a health boost at the beginning of a level.
Killzone Liberation is a fun action game that more perfects mechanics that most games screw up than it presents anything innovative. While it might not revolutionize the genre, it was surprisingly refreshing to see a game on the PSP that actually does the cover mechanic well, especially after playing so many games on home consoles that can't seem to get it right. Killzone Liberation is one of the better action options that exist on the PSP and should at least be considered by anyone that enjoys a decent arcade style shooter done right.
Overall Score: 8.0
Recommended Price: 6.99
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