Home Gaming Why Killzone 2 is better than Metal Gear Solid 4

Why Killzone 2 is better than Metal Gear Solid 4

4 min read
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MGS4vsKZ2.jpg

Ok, so just to make things clear, I mean this from a technical standpoint so please don’t shout at me about stories and deeper meanings.

So this last year saw some amazing games land in our hands and we have been spoilt for choice in this era of next generation gaming. A topic that will never die down as long as videogames are around is that of graphic superiority.

When I first saw MGS4 running in front of me, I was astounded at just how damn good the graphics looked, specifically in the cutscenes. While I was super impressed with MGS4’s visuals and never let down by the high standard of graphics in the Gears of War series, I really can’t say that I have ever seen anything that looks quite as good as Killzone 2.

What has always interested me is how developers hype up fans by talking about all of the technical mumbo jumbo that powers the game, even though most of us really couldn’t care.

Well, developers have been talking and if what they say is true, Killzone 2 has a mighty trick up it’s sleeve that Metal Gear does not.

Question is, who do we believe?

If you remember, a little while ago Hideo Kojima, the creator of the Metal Gear Solid games made a statement that caused quite a stir. What he said was that the PS3 has limitations that stopped them from achieving their original goals.

I’m not interested in any of that, what I am interested is that he states that for MGS4, they pushed the PS3 to it’s limits, saying:

Hideo_Kojima_02.jpg

“I remember saying three years ago that we wanted to create something revolutionary, but in reality we couldn’t really do that because of the CPU. We’re using the Cell engine to its limit, actually.

Please don’t get me wrong, I’m not criticizing the PS3 machine, it’s just that we weren’t really aware of what the full-spec PS3 offered – we were creating something we couldn’t entirely see.”

So then, Kojima reckons that they pushed the PS3 to it’s limits?

images.jpgI find that pretty interesting, mostly because in an interview with Guerrilla games, they said that their title (which in my opinion is the superior looking one) has not yet pushed any of the PS3’s limits and that their next title will look even better and use even more of the PS3’s power.

The interview is from a dutch site called GameKings.tv so we don’t have any direct quotes, although the translation supplied by ps3hype.nl states the following:

CPU, SPU belasting (ze gebruiken de PS3 niet voor 100%)

– (They don’t use 100% of the PlayStation 3 his power)

Guerrilla zegt: ‘We kunnen nog veel meer uit de engine (en uit de PlayStation 3) halen dan we nu al hebben gedaan. En dit zal ook zeker in toekomstige projecten gebeuren’.

– (Guerrilla say’s: ‘We can get more out of the PlayStation 3 then we did with Killzone 2. And this will happend in future Guerilla projects’).

Obviously, translating isn’t really one of their strong points.

The things is, who do we believe here? Was Kojima talking trash just to up the hype on MGS4, just like so many developers do, with their claims of “pushing the limits” or is it Guerrilla Games who are just trying to make themselves look impressive.

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One thing I can say is that we all know that Guerrilla Games once showed us all a pre-rendered clip of what Killzone 2 was going to look like and from the looks of things they are going to deliver, so a couple of brownie points go to them. Hell, to be honest, I don’t think that Killzone 2 would have looked so good if they didn’t have the pressure on them to live up to the pre-rendered scene that caused such a riot, so maybe we should have all game developers release a pre-rendered scene of what their game is going to look like and then force them to live up to it.

screenKZ2.jpg

Is this proof that Kojima is slipping? If there is any company that I expect to know the potential of the Playstation 3, it’s the one that Hideo Kojima is in charge of ( Polyphony and Square should know a thing or two as well). So how could Kojima say that they had pushed the limits with MGS4, when Guerrilla is saying that their amazing visuals can still improve?

We are not that far into this generation and I can see a lot more being pulled out of the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 consoles, so is there any truth in what all of the developers are saying or is it nothing more than some big talk to make their games look more impressive?

Last Updated: January 12, 2009

36 Comments

  1. Hah, there is no way you can compare MGS4 to Killzone2!
    The story in MGS4 is much deeper. Killzone2 is just another shooter with a few shiny bits, so there!
    How’s that Nick?

    Reply

  2. easy

    January 12, 2009 at 12:23

    we’ll have to see when killzone is on the shelves, but as you’ve stated, developers will only get better when they start unlocking the power of each respective console.
    hideo’s statement was maybe true fro them at the time, you never know.
    but mgs4 is visually stunning and i doubt that kz2 will compare… will have to wait and see.

    Reply

  3. Fred

    January 12, 2009 at 12:25

    Killzone is going to make your cell fry . Better up the aircon.

    Reply

  4. Karl

    January 12, 2009 at 12:30

    If Killzone looks better than good for them.

    MGS4 is still the apex of gaming and storytelling

    Reply

  5. easy

    January 12, 2009 at 12:31

    lol… is this what they call ‘setting it to level 360’?

    Reply

  6. Milesh Bhana ZA

    January 12, 2009 at 12:58

    on both the 360 and PS3 (more so with the PS3), understanding what the limit of a multithreaded CPU is very difficult and people will keep leaning new tricks to get more out of the CPUs. So at the time when Kojima said it was the limit, it probably was…

    Reply

  7. SlippyMadFrog

    January 12, 2009 at 13:01

    I hope you are being sarcastic.

    Reply

  8. SlippyMadFrog

    January 12, 2009 at 13:03

    Ok, so the limit keeps on moving around. What about all these devs coming out saying they are only using X percentage of the PS3? On what do they base their X percentage? These estimations are all BS imo.

    Reply

  9. Fred

    January 12, 2009 at 13:20

    A simple process can push the best fastest processor to high utilization , so it depends on the the way the programmers do things.

    Reply

  10. darthdad

    January 12, 2009 at 13:25

    Me? Never!

    Reply

  11. 0rk0

    January 12, 2009 at 13:45

    IMO the x percentage is based on new tricks discovered after the majority of the game is already coded. Techniques learned while programming the game.

    They aren’t going to implement it now, because it will delay the game significantly, but in future titles it will give a performance boost.

    Comparing the current frame rate and graphics VS what can be achieved on the new method of coding , will give you the x percentage.

    That’s one possible answer.

    Reply

  12. Scotty777

    January 12, 2009 at 14:01

    hmmm… well, the hardware limits don’t change… but it’s all in the software my friend… As time goes on, Sony release better developer tools, and the developers use far more advanced software etc… So they begin to cut out and edit the codes used to make everything run better. As they free up some power, they then can allocate it to the graphics and what not… I mean, if you compare a modern game to on old game, the modern game uses hardware faaaaar more efficiently then the older game, thus more “power” harnessed.

    Reply

  13. SlippyMadFrog

    January 12, 2009 at 14:03

    That’s one way of looking at it but it is still an estimation. IMO they should not assign a percentage to the potential performance, it only fuels fanboy arguments.

    Reply

  14. Ace

    January 12, 2009 at 14:36

    Well its not exactly an estimation. There are developer tools which can tell you the processor use – i know the ps2 has this… it does get confusing when you working with multiple cores though.

    Reply

  15. MaxiViper

    January 12, 2009 at 17:34

    darthdad didn’t you read the first two lines in this article that nick wrote, let me quote: “Ok, so just to make things clear, I mean this from a technical standpoint so please don’t shout at me about stories and deeper meanings.”

    Reply

  16. MaxiViper

    January 12, 2009 at 17:41

    This whole article was about graphics and not about the deeper meaning of the storiers ok((darthdad)) and just by looking at those two comparison pics even a stupid person would say that the Killzone 2 pic had better graphics than the MGS4 one.

    And if indeed The final Killzone 2 game’s Graphics are as good as in the Killzone 2 picture above, then its looking pretty bleak for MGS4’s graphic superiority.

    Reply

  17. Wie

    January 12, 2009 at 18:14

    What worries me is the release of DX11 this year, will console games not fall furder behind in the GFX department then?

    Reply

  18. darthdad

    January 12, 2009 at 18:48

    ummmm…….

    Reply

  19. David

    January 12, 2009 at 19:20

    Exactly dude, killzone 2 may have the graphical edge, but that’s it. Mgs4 wins overall.

    Reply

  20. Brian

    January 12, 2009 at 19:31

    I think Kojima made MGS4 more like a movie and maybe Blu-ray limited him more than he thought it would. Wasn’t it a 25GB Blu-ray disc? Maybe if they use a 50GB disc they can make the game Kojima really wants. I bet if they used 50GB and redesigned MGS4 knowing everything they know now about the PS3 that they can make a game Kojima will be happy with.

    I don’t think we’ll see any game max out the PS3 until the PS4 is out at least a year. There will be so many things developers figure out over time that will help their next project.

    Reply

  21. Milesh Bhana

    January 12, 2009 at 20:33

    exactly my point. All this article is really saying is that they’re getting better at understanding how to get the most out of the PS3. Yes, the high profile designers are going to say sensationalist things about their projects. If it’s not Kojima making comments, it’s Cliff Beli, erm blizen, CliffyB saying “bigger better more badass”

    Reply

  22. ben

    January 12, 2009 at 21:36

    killzone doesnt push the ps3 to the limits. it simply uses ALOT of colour and blur filters. without those it looks worse then COD4. its not hard to make a good looking game in which everything is black. it just means less contrast therefore less jaggies. if it had any colour it would not look anywhere near as good as MGS4.

    Reply

  23. Flameboy

    January 12, 2009 at 23:05

    And by that you mean brown looks better than black?

    Reply

  24. harrykid32

    January 13, 2009 at 00:17

    Dumbass.

    Reply

  25. R J

    January 13, 2009 at 00:27

    MGS 4 sucks

    I played 1,2 and 3 and they were good, MGS 4 was just an interactive movie with a cut scene every 4 minutes.

    Kojima is an idiot and a sick fetishist, just always perves on tits, put a female child on a ship with two grown men.

    He is just a disgusting idiot

    Reply

  26. Wolfy

    January 13, 2009 at 09:30

    I think first of all Kojima said that just to keep the X360 fanboys at bay for their hopes that MGS4 might be comming to the xbox obviously. I played MGS4 the past weekend and was impressed, but not blown away. I just think they’re trying to hype up people to buy “next best thing” seeing PS neglecting the advetisement department.

    LBP ring any bells??? And what ever happend to Resistance 2 also being so amazing in the graphical department

    Reply

  27. MGV

    January 13, 2009 at 16:17

    Obviously, darthdad didn’t read the article. He saw the title, which IS misleading, and busted a vein in his brain!

    Reply

  28. MaxiViper

    January 13, 2009 at 18:22

    like I said This article is not about the deeper meaning of the stories of the two games.

    Reply

  29. d4ffyb0y

    January 13, 2009 at 19:02

    metal gear sucks! 8)

    Reply

  30. Salaya

    January 13, 2009 at 19:03

    I think Kojima said that because he meant it, he could have possibly meant the limit of the blu ray disc as well cause MGS4 had to be compressed in some areas to fit it. Furthermore, if you remember the microwave hallway scene, where the cut scene is going on at the top while your actually playing at the bottom as well as the Raiden Vamp fight on the Metal Gear while you take on more Gekkos all of that is something pretty hard to do and pretty hard to render into a game. We must also remember the different tech that each dev was using to creat etheir games and the restrictions they posed towards the ps3 hardware, also considering the budget of each game where MGS4 took around 45 to 75 million dollars to make as opposed to Killzone 2 i remember hearing is 70 yo 90 million. Nevertheless, its obvious that Killzone 2 isnt even half the achievement MGS4 will be considering every aspect about MGS4.

    Reply

  31. darthdad

    January 13, 2009 at 19:32

    Just kidding………….. 😮

    Reply

  32. Wolfy

    January 14, 2009 at 15:51

    Just remember various interviews indicate where hideo stated that there isnt any compression in the audio department that could also be a factor for wasting so much space.

    Well even he said it himself the longer you play around with the PS3’s graphical design the more you get out of it in the end

    Reply

  33. darthdad

    January 14, 2009 at 21:47

    Noob!

    Reply

  34. Ace

    February 6, 2009 at 00:22

    guess u were wrong then cause i just got the killzone 2 demo and it blows mgs4 outta the water in terms of graphics plus its a better game than mgs4 cos no matter how good it is u get bored of it eventually whereas killzone 2 willl have an amazing online that will keep u coming back again and again and don’t even mention MGO cos thats a joke

    Reply

  35. Sal

    February 13, 2009 at 14:35

    No game is better than MGS 4.

    And whoever said about putting a female child on a ship with two grown men – you’re just sick. Sunny is an orphan and was rescued by these people (well Raiden mainly but that’s not the point).

    KOJIMA IS A LEGEND.

    Reply

  36. parasbhanot

    August 27, 2009 at 09:53

    u r such an idiot so wasted half of page :devil: saying that mgs 4 sucks and u call urself a game what a joke u r idiot who is comparing two different games . mgs 4 is tactical espionage action game whereas killzone is a first person shooter . mgs is with us from past 20 years . u cannot compare 2 different games . mgs 4 is clear winner in deep story and deep characters . u don’t understand this u r an idiot

    Reply

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