Killzone: Liberation is one of the most anticipated PSP titles to be showcased at this week's E3 in Los Angeles. In an interview with the Games director of Guerilla, Mathjis De Jonge answers some of the questions regarding this third-person shooter for the PSP.
The first Killzone: Liberation title was made for the PS2 and was a first-person shooter. Although this version for the PSP is based on its predecessor, De Jonge says this is very different from the PS2 version, including the story.
De Jonge: Killzone Liberation is an action-packed tactical shooter that has been developed from the ground-up specifically for PSP. The game's story continues 2 months after the end of the original Killzone for PS2. The fleet has arrived but the Helghast troops, led by General Metrac, are still gaining ground in the southern provinces and Captain Templar is sent there to stop Metrac.
De Jonge also notes that the change from a first-person POV to a third-person POV was necessary as it would give players the best view of the action and of the entire Killzone world. The intelligent camera system would give gamers a new viewpoint that would provide them with “with many interesting options such as a more tactical overview, more graphical details and nice parallax effects.”
The development team also made sure that Killzone: Liberation's players would not experience the same issues the PS2 version had like the repetitive speech and sloppy death animations. Weapons, visual style, storyline and enemy types were also improved. New weapons were added to the PSP game such as a crossbow with explosive tips, a flame-thrower, a rocket-launcher and remote detonated mines. Some weapons can be driven simultaneously by two players to crush obstacles.
The Tactical Command System in the game is also one great attraction for gamers.
The new third person camera provides the player with a good overview of the battlefield and allows them to play the game tactical. But the really cool new feature is the ability to command a buddy in some of the missions using the Tactical Command System. New enemies and encounters have been designed so that the player is encouraged to make good use of the TCS. We still leave it up to the player how he prefers to play the game, some people like to plan their actions while others simply rush in, the buddies are programmed to assist in both situations.
Games Director Mathjis De Jonge believes that gamers will enjoy Killzone: Liberation for the PSP because of the multiplayer mode with up to six players via Ad Hoc, new weapons and gadgets, and the game's mobile-friendly feature (“the game is divided in chunks of 15 minutes and... is designed to be played in quick short bursts").
Source: IGN/PSPUpdates