R emember that moment in Police Squad, the much-loved TV show that spawned the Naked Gun films, where Lieutenant Frank Drebin and some goon are trying to shoot each other from behind cover… despite only being about six-feet apart? Imagine if someone took that moment and made a game out of it. Killzone: Liberation is that game. There’s more to it than that of course – but at its core Liberation isn’t much different. And, much like the TV show, it’s also tremendous fun.

Despite being billed as a direct sequel to the PS2’s Killzone (and continuing the story of the laughably-named Jan Templar), Liberation is actually a different kind of game. Killzone was a PS2 FPS that pushed the console to its limits, but the franchise’s first entry on the PSP is a top-down third-person shooter with a heavy emphasis on action and stealth. The new psuedo-isometric camera also gives the game a more tactical edge.

Gameplay mostly consists of finding cover, crouching by holding the right shoulder button, and hitting Square every time you want to quickly pop a shot or two off at the enemy. The entire game is built around this concept and, surprisingly, it never gets old. Sure, the controls are certainly on the fiddly side (to lock onto an enemy you have to face their general direction – with all movement mapped to the analogue nub this doesn’t always work) and can’t be remapped (right trigger should have been shoot and Square should have been crouch), but once you get to grips with it things get better instantly.

You start to see how diverse it actually is. The game suddenly gives you more grenades, more weapons, incredibly powerful vehicles to pilot, buddies to give orders to, and areas where you have to use stealth. Despite its relatively short campaign, Guerrilla Games has ensured the player flits back and forth between gameplay types. The pacing is also wonderful: nothing outstays its welcome and just as you begin to fear it might, suddenly you have new elements to contend with.

Take the buddy system. Every now and then Jan is partnered up with Rico to take out enemies together. He follows you without any pathfinding problems, and you get to deliver specific commands to him with the D-pad. By pressing 8 the game slows to a crawl (meaning the Helghast can still attack, but slowly) and several markers appear – each pointing at specific interactive areas on the screen. You can move Rico to a specific spot, order him to man a turret, have him plant a C4 charge or use him to assault an enemy while you flank them.

Areas like this only appear several times throughout the 16 levels and never outstay their welcome. The action during these situations is usually where the game is hitting its highest highs. Weapons play a certain role in that too – and it goes without saying that Liberation has one of the best shotguns we’ve used in a game. Every opportunity we had to use it, we took – and felt like surgeons carving the Helghast a new arsehole.

Unfortunately our time spent with the shotgun highlights one of several idiosyncrasies keeping Liberation from getting top marks. Any weapons you pick up during a level won’t likely be with you when you start the next. Each time you start a level you’re faced with a weapon select screen. You unlock weapons by collecting Vekta cash from briefcases scattered throughout levels, and unless you have enough cash to unlock a certain weapon you’ll begin with something less powerful. It doesn’t matter if you finished the previous level with a shotgun – it won’t be with you when you start the next.

Liberation’s cover-orientated combat works an absolute treat, but there are situations that betray that and force you to get up close. These areas make for much less enjoyable encounters. The camera also has some problems catching up with you – thus blinding you sometimes to an oncoming enemy attack. Despite the colour palette being mostly brown and grey, Liberation is a great looking game – however there are tearing problems, and the physics tend to go nuts every now and then.

Finally, the idea of a checkpoints save system will likely annoy anyone who has to repeat larger sections again. Liberation isn’t easy and loses points for a number of situations where we had to repeatedly tackle the same swathes of enemies.

You get the impression Killzone is a franchise Sony is pushing too hard, what with the supposedly in-game PS3 footage of a new Killzone and the amount of press put into the first. But here’s the interesting thing: Killzone: Liberation shows that it does have something to offer. Not only is it the best game in the franchise thus far, it’s also one hell of a PSP game. So put your thoughts on the marmitelike PlayStation 2 game aside and give it a look… if only to pretend you’re Lieutenant Frank Drebin, Police Squad.

Craig Gilmore