Killzone/YMMV


 * Alternate Character Interpretation - Based on the back story, one could infer that the ISA and UCN are the villains, for their unfair treatment of the corporations sent to colonize other planets for natural resources, especially to the Helghan Corporation. The Helghast, on the other hand, were trying to break off from the UCN's corruption but fell victim to Peace Through Superior Firepower, which forced them to flee to Helghan, adapt and become the militaristic culture that they are in order to survive and resist the UCN's tyranny.
 * Admittedly, while becoming tyrannical themselves.
 * Given this is a lot like how World War 2 ended up getting started, it's probably safe to say the backstory is an explanation for Helghan's actions, but hardly a justification.
 * The one-sentence description for Killzone 3 on Giant Bomb offers a very anti-ISA interpretation: "Killzone 3 continues the story of the invasion of the planet Helghan by the oppressive forces of the merciless Interplanetary Strategic Alliance."
 * Big Lipped Alligator Moment - In the opening cinematic of Killzone 3, Radec and Stahl shoot a man for no apparent reason. It is never touched on again.
 * This is Radec we're talking about here, the poor guy probably didn't salute properly or was wearing his hat slightly off-center or something.
 * The scene is meant to show that Visari and his other Helghast leader want to keep the nuking of their own soldiers a secret. The soldier Radec shoots is the only one who witnessed the departure of the bomber with the Red Sand bomb. The pilots might just as well be kamikazes or unaware that their ship might blow up with the bomb. Note that Stahl is smiling happily while the ship departs. Also the scene directly afterwards contains artworks changing under the nuclear blast showing the Helghast as symbolic bringing death and pain to their own people.
 * Best Level Ever - Killzone 2 is practically made of them, highlights include:
 * Beating back the assault troops that have attacked the New Sun.
 * Taking control of a small mecha and tearing through the Badlands searching for survivors from the previous level.
 * And the last level where you
 * The entire stage in Killzone 3 when you work to bring down the MAWLR.
 * The final segment of the Jungle level, where hundreds if Higs start swarming you, slowly pushing you back in a massive gunfight.
 * Complete Monster - Jorhan Stahl. The man liked to use prisoners of war as targets to test out the new weapons he was developing,
 * This is pretty much the Helghast leadership's Hat. Exceptions can be counted on two, maybe three fingers, and even those would be bastards by anybody else's barometer.
 * Creator's Pet - Rico, who's a loudmouthed, annoying Jerkass who does a nice job breaking things (see above). In addition, his AI can be summed up as "get shot, and get shot often", and the player is NOT allowed to abandon his injured ass at any point for being stupid, he MUST be revived. He is severely disliked by the fandom as a result. Of course this could be intentional - to offset Sev's measured approach, and ultimately show the futility of aggression for aggression's sake, as well as how blindly running in like an idiot is a poor tactic. Either way, the fans hate him and it doesn't seem that the developers are listening to complaints that Sev should kill him off already. The inclusion of a major role for him in the 3rd game is likely to be a sales deterrent.
 * He gets better about his aggression in the second game, but the first game, he very nearly executes The Mole working for you cursing all the while.
 * He's actually just as bad if not worse about it in 2. While he only came close to doing something stupid in the first game, in the sequel, things break and he's to blame.
 * In the third game, the plot can be almost completely summed up as "Rico is always right." While Captain Narville is trying to save his men from getting killed senselessly by ordering retreats and ceasing of gunfire, Rico instead keeps insisting that they go on the offensive. However, Rico ends up being the one who the team listens to, and Sev even states that Rico's ideas are the only ones that will guarantee a chance of survival. Keep in mind, this is the same Rico that
 * Yeah, but in Killzone 3, Narville is a fish out of the water. True, Rico's a Jerkass in the two first game, but in the third, he's the one who's understanding the kind of conflict they're in. Narville is too much a "by the book" commander. Maybe the writers have too much tried to save him from the Scrappy Heap.
 * Crowning Moment of Awesome - Hate him all you want, but the moment where Rico impales an elite Helghast in between the eyes with a javelin gun from another moving aircraft more than qualifies, the fact that they show the impaling in slow motion and rotating camera definitely amplifies the crowning awesome of the moment.
 * Crowning Moment of Heartwarming - In Killzone 3, Captain Narville finds one of his men, Hooper, too fatigued and depressed from the war to eat with the other soldiers. It is then revealed to the player that Hooper has a little sister back on Vekta whom he cares for. Narville then promises Hooper that as long as he remembers what he's fighting for, that he would bring him back home to his sister.
 * 8.8 - Taken to the next level with G4 copping an insane amount of flack for giving this game a five. Out of five. So intense was the backlash that Adam Sessler spent an entire episode of Sessler's Soapbox railing against the stupidity of it all.
 * Follow the Leader - Killzone 2's mech has exactly the same armament as Quake 4's, save for having four less missiles in the reloadable pod.
 * The first game was dubbed a Halo killer, and failed utterly. The second game, though...
 * Game Breaker - The Helghast Rocket Launcher in the first game (especially in multiplayer) it's secondary fire could easily clear a room.
 * Goddamned Bats - Helghast Shock Troopers in the second game. Jesus fuck, stop running around and take your lead suppository like a man!
 * Hilarious in Hindsight: As the events of Killzone 3 show, the ISA were in no position to safely extract Visari if they had taken him alive, and his death ended up fracturing the Helghan leadership and putting Stahl in a position where he was able to . So in a weird way, Rico shooting Visari actually worked out, although Rico had absolutely no way of knowing that at the time.
 * Hype Backlash - Killzone received a great deal of hype when video game websites released previews and rumours about the game, dubbing it a "Halo-killer". Upon release, the game received average reviews, with frame rate issues, bland enemies (there was a grand total of three enemy types, and four enemy model - one of which is only used in one level), jumpy controls, and glitches being cited as problems.
 * According to the Bungie podcast, the developers at Guerilla told them that they wanted to make Killzone a good game, but never set out with the intent of making a "Halo-killer". A Meddling Marketing Department was responsible for that moniker, which they felt was no better an idea then when Dark Cloud was hyped as a Zelda-killer (and see how well that worked.)
 * Magnificent Bastard - Visari. Nothing more need be said.
 * Stahl has his moments as well.
 * Colonel Radec is supposedly a dark take on Erwin Rommel. Both excelled with tactics, but are merely passable with strategies and both earned the respect of their opponents. They differ, however, in their reasons for committing suicide. Rommel committed suicide to protect his family from the Nazi Party due to allegations of his involvement in Hitler's attempted assassination, while Radec wanted to avoid being captured by the ISA. Also, Rommel was a chivalrous man under whom the Afrika Korps had no war crime to their name and he somewhat opposed Hitler, while Radec would execute his own men at the drop of a hat, possibly punt a baby into a mine field if it got his job done and he supported Visari all the way.
 * The tank schtick is with Cobar, as Radec is an infantry commander.
 * Rommel was an Infantry commander who happened to take a liking to tanks.
 * Narm - The repetitive Helghast dialogue from the first game.
 * Somewhat parodied when you first use the sniper rifle against a Helghast ambush. An infantry soldier's death (the guy on the rooftop) causes an anguished (and somewhat annoyed) "NOOOOOO!!! NOT HIM!! He was just a boy!!"
 * Nightmare Fuel - Radec, just...Radec, especially when you have to face off against him, the signature bang/howling sound of his Predator-esque cloak activating and deactivating does not help, as it means he's right behind you, wielding an instant kill knife.
 * The Glowing eyes of the Helghast as a whole, to a lesser extent.
 * Giant. Fucking. Spiders. Natko was right. Fuck that.
 * Not just any spiders, Electric Spiders, that explode when shot.
 * Rooting for The Empire - The Helghast are way more popular than the ISA for various reasons.
 * Scrappy Mechanic - Opinion was divided on the "weighted weapons" of Killzone 2; some found the acceleration and momentum added a realistic feeling to shooting, while others found it made aiming feel clumsy. It didn't return for the sequel.
 * Straw Man Has a Point: If you read the backstory of the Killzone universe, you'll find out that the Helghast are the way they are becuase of getting royally screwed by the ISA. Taking this into account, all of the Helghans' hatred and spite of the ISA is pretty well justified. This may well be deliberate on the part of Guerilla.
 * Surprisingly Improved Sequel - After months of being hyped up as a "Halo killer" (literally, that's what it was often referred to), a good deal of Hype Backlash set in when Killzone for PS 2 turned out to be an ok-ish shooter with numerous issues (sluggish controls, low enemy variety, repeated voices, graphical issues, inconsistant framerate, etc). The game attracted a devoted fanbase, but in general became almost a byword for hubris in the FPS genre. With the sequel, it aimed to be the Killer App for the PS 3, which was a slightly less lofty goal than dethroning what could be the most popular FPS series of the decade. But this time, they delivered. Critics loved it, as did players.
 * Tear Jerker - A small one, . Damn you, Rico.
 * They Changed It, Now It Sucks - The ISA machine gun. It now needs to reload and doesn't shoot rockets, on the plus side it no longer overheats if you fire it for too long.
 * The Helghast pistol also lost its burst fire mode, the Helghan assault rifle lost its Masterkey-like shotgun attachment, and the Helghast missile launcher was reduced from 3 tubes to one tube, though that's probably in the name of balance as the original ones Secondary Fire modes were a bit over powered.
 * The Helghast machine gun is now extremely inaccurate, quite unlike in the first game, and you can't even aim it at the risk of making it a Game Breaker.
 * The Helghast Assault Rifle in 2 lost it's scope and was downgraded to iron sights, while being generally average. In 3, they added the scope back.