In a very honest and appealing look at the whole KillZone 2 hype and review fiasco, Lawrence Sontag takes the time out to look at why KZ2 has been receiving high scores and specifically how the game itself relates to those scores. A word of warning, if you’re a fanboy you might not want to read any further than this.

Sontag writes that, (in regards to KillZone 2) “I feel like it’s too big of a game not to play. On some level, I believe that to stay abreast with modern gaming, I am required to play every big release.” He continues on to say, “It’s sort of like the Star Wars prequels – they may not have been as epic as they should have been but god dammit, it’s new Star Wars, so you have to go see it or your nerd license would be revoked.”

It’s interesting that the author ventures to point out that reviews for the game have consistently pointed out graphics and superfluous amounts of shootable objects litter the game, but nothing else noteworthy is stapling what’s supposed to be the biggest game ever. The real question, though, is simplistic gameplay necessary to make this game worthy of the attention it’s receiving?

Back in 2006, I’ll admit that I wasn’t really for Gears of War after a while. The press releases came in the form of spam; Microsoft promoted it more than our own Haze Hype campaign for Free Radical’s failed shooter and regardless of what individual writers felt for the game, Gears turned out to be more popular than what it was worth.

In a way, I understand what TheGameReview’s Lawrence Sontag is explaining…it’s more like Reviewer’s Fatigue. The industry can wear you down with so much news on one game that it almost makes the game feel like the chore Sontag explains it to be.

In all honesty, a review for a game like KillZone 2 almost looks like overkill for some of us within the industry. The countless screenshot (and screenshot comparisons), the hands-on previews, the trailers, the beta testing, the demo coverage the trophy listings, etc., etc., etc. What’s left of the game to know, to cover or even to review? Yes, the game has good graphics, the gameplay isn’t sparkling but entertainingly adequate, and the game doesn’t evolve the industry forward in any other way but the visuals. So what else is there to say?

In a way, fanboys want to know that KZ2 is not equivalent to the underwhelming Episode 1, 2 and 3 for Star Wars…that it somehow will surpass all and will conquer all. And that’s fine…every fanboy for Gears of War felt the same way. But in all honesty, neither game is the end-all of gaming that they have been (unintentionally?) promoted to be.

Hopefully writers within the industry will spark some creativity to help get games like Prototype further into the spotlight, as well as Heavy Rain, Borderlands and inFamous. For titles such as that, coverage looks less like a chore and more like a privilege…especially when they actually offer something new to the industry.

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