The early alpha preview build that I played was somewhat limited: the introduction movie as well as some transitions seemed to be missing, as did optimization with load times and other areas. It also only featured about five of the missions from the game, but it definitely managed to provide a sense of action and intensity that players will expect from the game. The first mission, Corinth River, was the exact same one that was shown at E3 this year, with Sev and his squad descending (or more accurately, crash landing) on their Intruder and launching into battle. This brought to mind something that Mathijs said about the pacing of the game and the speed they want to impart to the player. "The pacing is really important, especially in the first half of the game. We wanted to give the player the feeling that he's jumping onto a roller coaster that's already moving," he said. The landing was a hectic segment of battle, as Intruders around us were being blown from the skies thanks to flak bursts and anti-aircraft fire. In fact, one Intruder that was hit to the right of us sent unfortunate ISA soldiers tumbling directly past our heads, forcing us to duck. Blasting through Helghast that were eagerly awaiting to cut down our forces where we stood, I tried to lead the rest of the group through the rubble strewn streets and oft shelled drainage ditches.
Eventually, after destroying a bridge and clearing out two Helghan APCs, Rico sent me and Garza to secure a floodgate to allow a convoy of troops and equipment to advance. This, of course, was easier said than done, because the Helghast troops actively used cover, sought out better firing positions, and attempted to flank me in different areas. Mathijs pointed out that there were about 15 different kinds of Helghast troops, not counting end bosses, all of which have different kinds of tactics that they'll use in battle. "You might have a character that first throws a smoke grenade to cover his approach, then comes rushing through the smoke, using a submachine gun to attack the player and his buddies. When he gets really close, he'll draw a knife and start slashing at the player, which is a totally different enemy than, say, an assault trooper, who uses a lot of cover and tries to stay at a certain distance, trying to take careful shots from behind whatever cover he's in." What's more, the squads of enemies won't always be comprised of the same kinds of forces; frequently, they'll be a mix of different kinds of forces that you'll take on at once.
Expect to travel to a variety of locations in Killzone 2.Rob Heald, an AI designer on the project, pointed out that the AI has really grown from the previous Killzone games to provide a much more dynamic AI that is much more threatening. Thanks to the PS3 and the processing power of the console, the AI can perform many more actions and consider multiple different options for their actions on the battlefield based on a situation. "What's going to be more apparent to players is a much greater range of animations and actions that the AI will be able to perform. That ranges from anything from being able to deal with the environment, like jumping over cover or opening doors to dealing with a much more dynamic and destructible environment, like cover that can be destroyed and how they respond to that," Rob said. This means that the game's AI will make intelligent decisions on where an enemy happens to be instead of standing around, including scanning for locations where an enemy has disappeared behind cover and where he might reappear, and will make decisions on whether they'll attempt to flank you or toss grenades, as well as communicate to their allies about where threats are located.
Fortunately, this will extend over to the ISA troops as well, and will primarily be based around the weapon styles that each character has. Generic troops will perform specific actions and will engage the enemy based on what they see, akin to the Helghast, but named characters will act more in character with their firearm. "You'll see Rico being very rash – he's all about laying down suppression fire and shooting from the hip, and on the other end there's Natko, who's the shotgun guy, so he's all about staying in cover and approaching enemy for close quarter combat," Heald mentioned. This weapon focus was intentionally designed by the team to give your secondary allies more of an impact within the game instead of just being there. "They respond to how you're playing – if you get several headshots in a row, they'll comment on it. My favorite one is that if there's an enemy behind you that's targeting you and they spot it, they'll call out and say, 'Hey, he's behind you!' So that really imparts that you're playing with a team of guys," Rob said.
Sev and Alpha Team goes on Recon.One of the other elements with the AI that Rob highlighted was the focus on dynamic levels of AI. He highlighted this by pointing out a segment that occurs within the third mission of the game, in a section known as Visari Square. At one point, players will have to take the square away from the Helghast that are stationed there, but will quickly have to rearm themselves to defend their positions as the Helghast attempt to capture the location back. Rob pointed out that battles like this will feature a large amount of your AI getting dynamically pushed back if the Helghast start to gain a foothold on one side of the plaza or another, forcing the player to attempt to respond to the threats if they want to lock down the route and cut off enemy advances. On the other hand, if you effectively clear out segments of the Helghast with accurate shots, your allies will push forward, re-establish positions on turrets and behind barricades, and force their targets to seek fire. Devices like this will keep the action of the game much more fluid and realistic
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