It wasn’t long ago that Killzone 2 was a video game punch line, the sort of thing you talked about when referencing a game that could never live up to the hype. The first title in the series failed to be the “Halo killer” many believed it could become, and an ambitious “visual target” trailer shown at E3 a couple years back nearly doomed the project from the start, when it couldn’t replicate the same details in-game. All of that is about to change though, as Guerrilla Games has Killzone 2 primed and ready to fight, and the joke will soon be on all those who dismissed this title too soon.

Tucked quietly away in a corner of Sony’s E3 booth was a playable demo for Killzone, one that we knew we simply had to get our hands on. After waiting in line and watching those ahead of us get picked off time and time again, it was our turn to step into the shoes of new protagonist Sev and take the fight to those goggle-eyed freaks. After just ten minutes with the game, I knew this was a must-buy, and Sony is priming a killer app to launch right in that post-holiday lull where they can vacuum up the cash.

The first thing that strikes you about Killzone is it looks almost as good as the tech demo that has caused the game so much grief. The game was running in pre-alpha code, but the characters and landscapes were still some of the most detailed I’ve seen yet on the PS3 (or any next-gen system for that matter), easily on par with the visuals of Metal Gear Solid 4.

A couple things that really bring to light just how graphically impressive this game has become are destructible cover and enemy reactions to getting shot. Much like every other shooter out there, Killzone has adopted a cover system to allow you to survive a bit longer in firefights and work the strategy element some more. Obviously, anything you can do, the baddies can do as well, and you can bet Helghast troopers will be laying low behind walls, sandbags, or any other fortification they can find. However, you don’t have to be satisfied with a simple game of stop-and-pop, as directing fire into cover will break it down and force them to find new hiding places. Perhaps the best example of this in the demo was a section where a whole bunch of Helghast were taking cover in a bombed-out building, using their height advantage and superior numbers to make life hard. We quickly jumped onto a machine gun emplacement and started raining fire on the house. As we sprayed, pieces of the floor and chunks of the wall came ripping out, and our AI buddies were able to take care of business once we flushed the bad guys out into the open. Watching the dust and debris fly with every shot really gave you the impression that you were pounding bullets into an actual building, and the whole experience was just incredibly real.