Killzone: Liberation Liberated, Killzone 2 Still M.I.A.

Guerilla's Killzone: Liberation for the PlayStation Portable is now available worldwide, as Sony announced over the weekend that the game has also been released in North America. Early reviews are rating the portable version even higher than the original Killzone for PS2, hopefully making this one of the better PSP games to look after this time of the year.

Killzone: Liberation has been designed specifically for the PSP system, creating a third-person shooter that puts the players into 16 intense missions to rescue hostages from the evil Helghast. The game follows two months after the events in Killzone (released on the PlayStation 2 a couple of years ago), and brings several new features for PSP - both offline and online. Among them are multiplayer wi-fi functions (including a gameshare mode where players can share demo levels of the game with other PSP owners), and a "Tactical Command System" that allows players to give orders to an AI buddy during intense combat. Here are some more details about the online and multiplayer features, taken from Sony's press release:

"The multiplayer functionality in Killzone: Liberation includes both ad-hoc and infrastructure mode, taking full advantage of the wireless capabilities of the PSP hardware. There are two distinct styles of gameplay offering the diversity that Killzone and PSP fans are expecting: 1) Two player cooperative gameplay in the single player mission 2) One to six player games over six multiplayer maps including Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Assault and Capture the Flag. The infrastructure mode will be available after the game's launch as a free download at Killzone.com and will allow players to take on competitors from around the globe. Two new multiplayer maps will also be available with this mode."

Well, all seems fine and dandy with Killzone: Liberation. But what about Killzone 2? Guerilla showed off an impressive (albeit pre-rendered) trailer at E3 2005, but has kept quiet ever since. Considering that this was one of the games used to unveil the PlayStation 3 back then, and Sony's next-gen console is just about ready to launch this month, isn't it a wii-bit suspicious that Killzone 2 is still missing in action?

(N.B. Archive text, links removed)