Pros and Cons: Killzone 3
Pros:
- The visuals are absolutely astounding and easily the best currently on the PS3. While I personally enjoyed the grayed, urban environments of Killzone 2, the ice covered mountains and colorful jungle were a welcome change.
- Some great action sequences, including a surprisingly fun stealth segment.
- Jet-packs added a new dynamic to combat and traversal.
- Multiplayer is fun and much more rewarding than the previous installments. The inclusion of Guerilla Warfare, which is solely Team Deathmatch or bodycount, was a very welcome addition to the multiplayer.
- Thank God for Guerilla deciding to go back to you being able to carry three weapons at a time! Thank you!
- The new brutal melee kills are visceral and satisfying.
- Movement and guns still have that great, realistic weight to them.
Cons:
- While the campaign's gameplay is for the most part epic and satisfying, the narrative and basically everything else is anything but. In fact, it's a complete mess. The pacing, especially towards the end, feels very rushed. There's a part when you go from an on-foot mission to a vehicle mission, and the game doesn't set up a transition between these at all. The only way I could tell what I was driving was the cinematic at the end of the mission showing the vehicle.
- Man, talk about that ending.
- Also, as a note to anyone thinking of writing anything for any media of any kind, cliffhangers are not one-way tickets to a good ending. Not only is this game's cliffhanger somewhat impossible in the grand scheme of things, but it also kills any sense of accomplishment you may have felt at the game's conclusion.
- Incredibly short campaign. I tallied up all the times for the missions and it totaled to less than 5 hours.
- Some technical flaws took me out of the experience.
- Rico still kind of sucks.
Though the single player's narrative is rather disappointing, the total package of exciting set pieces and rewarding multiplayer make Killzone 3 a fun-filled, enjoyable roller coaster ride.