It's been four years since the gaming world watched in rapt wonderment as a preview clip of Killzone 2 played at the annual E3 event.
Gamers gasped and technological buffs hugged themselves in delight as the futuristic first-person shooter promised to make a massive splash on the next-generation market.
Two full years later, actual gameplay footage was screened at E3 and excitement was mixed with just a little bit of frustration at the glacial pace of the game's development.
Another two years have passed and finally Killzone 2 has completed its long and winding route to the PlayStation3, with a worldwide release (February 26) at a time of year when not many new games are around.
K2 is actually the third installment - go figure - in a franchise that began on the PS2 five years ago and continued on the PSP with Killzone: Liberation.
The game follows the events of the earlier titles and takes place on the fictional planet Helghan, home to the Helghast, a race of evil-doers.
Years before, the Helghast invaded an Interplanetary Strategic Alliance colony - the good guys - and now it's time for revenge.
You play Sergeant Tomas "Sev" Sevchenko, who is a typically grizzled virtual soldier with some confidence issues but is kind of likeable.
He's part of a crack squad of soldiers who head in to sort out the Helghast.
In a gaming era in which graphics are so important, it's fair to point out Killzone 2 looks astonishingly good.
It's getting tiresome to say that about next-gen games but this one really is out of the box.
The textures, the colours, the splashes of alien blood, the backgrounds . . . all are gorgeous.
The gameplay is smooth, generally.
First-person shooters are a dime a dozen these days but the best stand out, and Killzone 2 is among the best.
It's not perfect, though.
There are moments of frustration, normally mid-combat, when the controls don't seem quite as responsive as they should.
Much has been made of the game's reliance on using cover during battle.
But I don't think the developers have done as good a job as, say, the Gears of War games.
Rookie gamers get turned off the more intense shooters but Killzone 2 does a really nice job of making it simple, with a press of the button showing the spot you should move to next, while not sacrificing the realism.
Weapons are many and varied, levels are well spaced and the game generally flows really nicely.
I suppose my summation is that Killzone 2 is really good but not really great.
Next to Gears of War 2 or Resistance 2, it does not quite stack up, though I suspect the pure first-person shooter fans will feel it is already the game of the year.
Killzone 2 is a muscular, aggressive shooter.
Whether it is all it is cracked up to be is in the eye of the beholder, but generally it's a very polished game.
