14 DAY TRIAL // The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 have been duking it out for supremacy of the hardcore gamer market for quite some time. That is why each of the platforms has focused on getting exclusive franchises for itself, thus making itself much more popular with players who want a great experience.
While the Xbox 360 has Bungie's Halo series, a lot of people have compared it with Guerrilla Games' Killzone franchise, which, when the first game arrived, was dubbed a Halo killer. Now, as the second one was launched a few weeks ago, some analysts have quickly proclaimed it once more the series that will put an end to Halo's dominance of online console shooters.
But its developers aren't very pleased with this name calling, insisting that the Killzone franchise is rooted in its own story and universe, and, most importantly, hasn't been created as an answer to any other title currently present on the market.
“We generally don't mind comparisons, as I can think of worse franchises to be compared to than Halo or Call of Duty,” Managing Director Herman Hulst said. “What I don't like is being labeled as the ‘killer’ of franchise X. We've set up Killzone as a universe and an experience in its own right, without wanting to benchmark it against any one particular game. We're, obviously, gamers ourselves and we play anything from World of Warcraft to LittleBigPlanet to MotorStorn or Guitar Hero, but there isn't one title that has been the biggest influence.”
Killzone 2 has generated some very big sales, managing to move quite a few PlayStation 3 consoles since its launch. This has prompted Sony officials to reveal that it has made Xbox 360 users, a majority of them Halo players, attracted to its console.
With a lot of games present on the market, it is pretty easy to compare some of them with others, but, hopefully, no title will mark the end of another just because various analysts say so.