And the winner is…
GameSpot's Best Games of 2009 Editors' Choice Winner
When you first dive into Killzone 2's competitive warzone, you don't have much in the way of options. Limited weapons, ammo, and grenades make you feel like a new recruit, and the battlefield can be a deadly place. Gloomy lighting, thick smoke, and harsh industrial environments create an oppressive atmosphere, and the sound of battle often grows to a cacophony that few other shooters can match. This intensity is further heightened by Killzone 2's innovative match structure. You don't choose Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, or Assault and Defend before going to war (though you can, if you want). Instead, each match seamlessly transitions between game types, creating an ever-shifting battlefield that demands awareness, adaptability, and aggressiveness.
Embrace these virtues, and you are rewarded. As you kill enemies and complete objectives, you advance in rank and unlock new weapons and new badges. These badges function like classes, giving you strategically powerful skills, such as the ability to revive teammates, to place turrets, or to disguise yourself as an enemy. You can also earn ribbons and medals for commendable battlefield actions. This feat-based stream of rewards bestows valuable bonuses, the most powerful of which actually improve the potency of your badges by granting you another ability. You can then earn the power to mix and match these abilities and create custom classes that will make you more unpredictable and more deadly. The two reward systems make you feel like you are constantly achieving something on the battlefield, and together, they offer a uniquely engaging array of powerful combinations.
With these strategic abilities constantly in play, there is a lot more happening on the battlefield than just soldiers shooting each other. Skirmishes can play out in virtually any part of Killzone's superbly designed multiplayer maps, each of which can accommodate up to 32 players at a time. The sheer scope of these conflicts, the strategic clash of different abilities, the dynamic shifting of battlefield objectives, and the flat-out satisfying movement and shooting mechanics make Killzone 2 the best competitive multiplayer game of 2009.
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