Kill.Switch review (PS2)

Interactive movies were a genre of game that fortunately didn’t last too long, as soon as the gaming masses realised that there was nothing in them other than showing off the new technology of the CD-ROM. Kill.Switch however feels very much like how a gaming novice would expect an interactive movie to feel, which is by no means a bad thing. The game features fast paced tactical action, coupled with an initially ambiguous plot that quickly develops into a rather clever twisty story that wouldn’t be out of place in a Van Damme movie. Unfortunately, the film similarities extend to the length of the game.

Before we get sucked into the fine details, the game centres around Bishop, an incredibly talented one man army of a soldier whose memory has been erased to make him a more effective ‘remote controlled weapon’. While your missions progress your memories will resurface, throwing proverbial spanners into the works and providing bite size story treats in the format of cinematics (some of which are plainly vague and confusing, and the odd one that is profoundly cool).

Don’t judge me for hiding

The game is played in a classic third person chase cam style, with controls that seem to fit beautifully to the PS2’s pad. Before too long you’ll be diving for cover while filling an exposed enemy with lead, which is where the game’s most important feature surfaces. (No, not the guns and ammunition; what self respecting military shooter would leave them out?) Taking cover is one of the best aspects of the game, because without it you probably won’t make it past the first level.

Running up to a wall or a crate or some kind of flat surface and holding L1 makes Bishop lean up against it, shielding him from attacks from that direction, and by moving the left analogue stick, you can move around while flattened against it. If you reach an edge, the view will become stationary and let you aim at an enemy around the corner. Once you’re confident that you’ve got an enemy in your sights you can move towards the edge and swiftly stick your head round, and with a well timed hit of the R1 button, take out the enemy. That’s not all, because if there are far too many enemies to risk sticking your neck out, you can merely hit R1 and blind fire around the corner, which is much less accurate but doesn’t risk your own hide. It really works superbly and gives you some kind of chance against the rather clever AI.

AI, the sound of pain

Even the lowest of the two difficulty settings will clear up any misconceptions you may have of your PS2 not having a brain of its own. The game’s AI is very impressive, with enemies taking cover themselves (normally), moving round to flank you and generally making your life as difficult as possible. While taking cover can protect you from gunfire from one side, if an enemy sneaks up on you, taking you unawares, you might as well kiss your remote link goodbye. The damage system in Kill.Switch is incredibly harsh, with one hit kills dispatching most enemies if you get a good hit on them, while a few good hits on you will do the same (making the cover especially important).

The odd hit when sticking your head out from behind cover isn’t generally too much of a problem. Your health works quite simply, with a light and a dark bar of health. When hit, both bars decrease, the light one a lot faster than the dark one, and if the light bar reaches zero, you’ll be forced to restart from the start of the level. Fortunately, if you stay out of sight and don’t get hit for a few seconds, your light bar will raise back up to the level of the dark bar, so careful hiding can also replenish much of your health bar, which is also generously refilled by regular health packs around the level. The damage system is certainly harsh but generally fair.

Generally…

Later on in the game, you may find yourself up against some enemies that do seem a little unfairly kitted out. These enemies hold rocket launchers and one hit from them will kill you instantly. Considering that the game’s checkpoints only occur at the start of each of the fifteen odd levels, it gets rather infuriating when the same rocket wielding punk manages to get a shot off each time you play through. Certainly the difficulty curve takes a horrific rise around 75% through the game, perhaps to pad out the final levels, which raises another issue.

The length of the game is certainly an issue that causes problems. Having only around five hours of play time instantly cuts down the potential score for the game and even though most of the game is a very fun original experience, playing through the game is only encouraged by a different difficulty level to try. Having only six missions (split into smaller levels) was the most questionable design choice.

The aesthetics of battle

Graphically the game is perfectly fine. Levels generally are sparsely detailed, but do manage to look impressive and atmospheric at certain points. The characters within the game are nicely detailed however and some gorgeous shadowing begins the high quality range of effects. Music too is of a very high standard, and while the sound effects are of an equally high quality, the soundscape is rather plain because of the few sounds that there are.

Decent enough voice acting rounds off the game, quite literally as playing it through will leave you with nothing more than a satisfying ending to inspire a replay. While it is incredibly fun raising a hellish bodycount, I would certainly recommend renting the game to see if you’ll want to play through multiple times before purchase or at least waiting until it comes down in price. It’s difficult to avoid recommending the game, when I honestly had fun, but £30 to £40 is too much to pay for such a short game.