Killzone 3 Review
Killzone 3 is the perfect example of a shooter done right. It is the most engrossing shooter I’ve ever played thanks to it’s compelling story and bestial combat, your heart won’t stop pounding in your chest until you’ve reached the very end!
Killzone 3 is everything I could ask from a perfect shooter. My likes far outnumber the minor dislikes I have for the game. It is more than the typical shooter that places a virtual gun in your hands and tells you to go shoot some stuff. I actually feel like I’m in the boots of my character, as if I am right in the thicket of the battle. It performs exactly like a first person shooter should, to make you feel like you’re apart of the game.
Once again, the people who made it all possible are the great people over at Guerrilla Games. They’re the veterans behind the Killzone franchise. They’ve brought us Killzone 1 and 2, as well as Killzone Liberation on the PSP. They’ve ingeniously captured the effect of savage warfare and placing the player inside of the game. Once again, they’ve nailed it.
Killzone 3’s story kicks off roughly six months after the events of Killzone 2. The ISA has killed the Helghan leader, Visari, throwing them into disarray. That doesn’t necessarily make things any easier on them however, as the senate wants revenge. The small band of ISA soldiers that are left are trying to hightail it out of Pyrrhus. They must reach the extraction zone before they’re overwhelmed by the vast numbers of the Helghan army.
Along the way, much of the ISA army is broken apart thanks to the fierce resistance put up by the Helghast and one of the lead characters, Rico, is lost as he races off to rescue a squad pined down elsewhere in the city. The few that do make it to the extraction zone are slapped across the face by misfortune, as the few remaining ISA ships that should have been there took off before they were blown out of the sky. The ISA forces left on Helghast are now marooned on an alien planet and are forced to fend for themselves.
The game then jumps forward six months where we find the ISA forces still on the run from Orlock, the leader of the Helghan army. The senate is beginning to grow tired of him however and minds begin turning to Stahl to take the initiative and hunt down the remaining ISA soldiers.
Now I don’t want to spoil the rest of the story for you, as it gradually begins to take a large twist in direction at this point. It’s best for you to find out on your own!
Overall, I loved the story Guerilla brought to the table here. It is filled to the brim with set piece moments that I’ll never forget. The battle sequences are more chaotic than anything I’ve seen previously in any game and the story is compelling enough to appease anyone. My only complaint is that the game simply skipped ahead through six months of story that could have easily been centered around the ISA fleeing across the hostile world of Helghast. Other than that, the pacing is perfect, the characters are very likeable, and the setting for everything is simply perfect.
This amazing experience can be enjoyed on your own or with a friend via a local co-op mode. Nothing changes here though, as you’ll earn the same trophies you would have on your own and you’ll be after the same objectives as before. You can’t leap frog back and forth between the two either which is unfortunate. If you complete the first three levels with a friend and come back later to continue what you started on your own, you’ll have to start all over again in the single player campaign and vice versa.
While the story was near perfect, where Killzone 3 shines yet again is the combat. Killzone 3 is the most visceral feeling game I’ve ever played. Everything you do seems to have some force behind it. Firing a weapon feels more real than it could ever get thanks to the weight and swing of the gun. Even little touches such as how you run or slide into cover.
The variation in combat has been nicely spread apart however as you are not just restrained to fighting on foot. You’ll find your self commandeering the gunner of a tank, obliterating everything in your path. In another case, you’ll find yourself soaring through the air in an enemy jetpack! This was perhaps the most enjoyable experience I had while playing the game. Flying through the air with an automatic handgun with and unlimited amount of ammunition brought fun to a new level! I viscously carved a path straight through the enemy. The whole experience was simply awesome, but it was a huge letdown that I only got to enjoy this experience only once in the game.
The AI isn’t stupid either. No matter what difficulty you play on, enemy units seem to work as a team and appear to actually be apart of the environment. They don’t fight in scripted sequences where they perform the same actions and run the same routes each time around, rather them move around the battlefield and duck into cover when they know they should. Sick animations such as enemies falling over railings or cliffs will also occur.
The most remarkable moment I’ve probably ever enjoyed in any first person shooter was when I took down the MAWLR. A MAWLR is a massive Helghast war machine that could take down battalions of enemy forces in a heartbeat. It serves as a boss fight near the end of the game. The scale of the battle was astonishing to say the least. I died several times because I just stood there and stared at the machine in awe. It was massive! I’ve never fought something so big or so cool in any other game up until this point. You have to experience the fight yourself to fully understand what I’m getting at.
On top of the superb story and unmatched combat experience, Killzone 3 only continues to excel in every category. The game is visually stunning. It s easily the most gorgeous game I’ve ever seen on PS3 or any other console. There is detail to be found in every nook and cranny of each and every part of the environment. I never thought I’d enjoy looking at buildings twisted irregularly out of shape or blown away to bits.
The one disappointment I had with the game was the soundtrack. There were a few notable tunes that I enjoyed, but they were all showcased in the predecessor Killzone 2. The few tracks that were new were all lackluster to say the least.
Where the game did succeed in sound outside of music is the sound effects. Gunfire and things blowing up is a sound that with never cease when you’re playing the game, and they’re all perfectly represented both to the eyes and ears. It only adds to the wonderful experience. Your allies and your enemies will also communicate as well. While they don’t say things that would necessarily assist you in the fight, the conversations that sometimes spark up are at least relevant to what is happening.
Although the game’s single player story is very enjoyable, what will keep your hands on the product is the multiplayer. You can play in three different modes, varying between the traditional standard Team Deathmatch, to some more team driven options. The leveling process has also been completely revamped where as you earn points as you level up that can be spend on what you want rather than being restricted to the class based style of Killzone 2 where you used your points to unlock abilities for your specific class.
