PS3 Review: Killzone 3

Killzone 3 is a direct sequel to Killzone 2, picking up directly where it left off. The story features the two main protagonists of the game, Tomas “Sev” Sevchenko and Rico Velasquez as they go save Captain Narville from the Helghast and eventually save the world from Chairman Stahl’s plans to destroy Earth.

Narrative and Fluidity (8/10)
By half way, I realize that Killzone 3 runs almost exactly like Final Fantasy XIII. If any of you have played FFXIII, then you’ll understand what I mean when I say that all you do is run straight, fight, save, and then watch a cutscene with some popcorn on the side. The narrative itself isn’t bad, in fact, although it seems really cheesy and predictable at some points, it is nothing short of epic. For example, Call of Duty: Black Ops approached war as a very intimate and personal thing– how Vietnam affected the main character and all the crap it puts him through. Homefront approaches war also as a very intimate and personal thing, but instead to a country and its people. The narrative is slightly richer in those games because it’s very individualistic. However, the fact that this is lacking in Killzone 3 is not a flaw (in my opinion).

In fact, it’s a stellar aspect of Killzone 3. The story is just incredibly epic, almost iconic in some aspects. Sure the script may include the “we’re all gonna die but let’s go off with a damn good bang” speech, but the guys at Guerilla Games pulled it off well. It fits Killzone 3. It’s Killzone’s thing, you know with the epic war between the ISA and the Helghast.

The only issue I had was the fact that it wasn’t so much a complete story, but that it was kind of detached from the story. For instance, you fight waves of enemies, and then a cutscene. And then it’s back to waves of enemy. More fluidity from narrative into gameplay would make this narrative even more enriching.

Audio and Soundtrack (10/10)
The songs in Killzone 3 are nothing short of stellar. Of course that’s when you actually hear it. I actually can’t recall what the background music is in combat. When there’s epic music you do hear the orchestrated music. Otherwise you usually just hear the bass in the background to get your heart racing veiled by gunfire.

Though actually it’s both gunfire and screaming from both the Helghast and the soldiers on your side. And I mean a lot of gunfire. In the beginning it’s not too much (especially when you have that stealth mission) but later on, it’s really like a battlefield out there. Gunfire, grenades, missiles, and anything explosive everywhere. Killzone 3 really caught the essence of the battlefield. Gunfire practically becomes ambiance noise.

Gameplay and Combat (10/10)
Controls: For Sharpshooter: trigger to fire, manual reload by cocking the Sharpshooter, and then just point and shoot. The Dualshock controller is a little more complicated.

It’ll take a while to get used to (like maybe the first two missions), but the Sharpshooter is a blessing. I kid you not, it just changes the the dynamic of the game. It feels so right with the Sharpshooter because you actually have a gun in your hands. You hold it, feel the weight, and feel the burden of the gun. My left arm pretty much died out of fatigue so I had to use my leg as a prop for it to lean on while I was sitting. The camera moves once you turn your Sharpshooter to the sides of the TV screen and that can get a little annoying, but you can change the speed of the change and how much you have to move to change the camera angle under Options. So it’s all customizable.

The combat in the game can actually be difficult at times. When you’re on a machine of some sort, it’s not really difficult, but it’s really fun. Those segments are the best in Killzone 3. You’re in the air and just unleashing all mayhem underneath you. But when you’re on the ground, the battlefield is not kind. There is hardly a good “cover” area. Any place you are in the battlefield, you are always exposed to some form of gunfire. With the Sharpshooter you also get the difficulty of having a steady hand and aiming. It’s not as precise as using a DualShock controller, since it involves some hand-eye coordination. But it’s a good challenge and it’s really fun. Also, there is a variety of enemies that will come after you. Notably the Capture Troopers– they charge at you. Get too close and they’ll kill you in one hit. Then there are guys who carry around flamethrowers or some electricity zapper gun that are the most annoying things in the world.

I’d also like to mention that although the battlefield is great, you don’t really get a variety of weapons. In essence, don’t expect weird guns except for the Arc Gun which basically sends a green ball of energy and vaporizes enemies. So if you like some really strange and fantastical guns like in Halo, it’s not in this game. Also, it’s a double edged sword this way too. I only used the sniper rifle for one battle. So some guns like that aren’t frequently available. The reason why I say this is a double edged sword is that it’s life-like this way. You don’t use Sniper Rifles for every casual battle. Chances are you’ll be using different types of assault rifles or heavier guns. I can’t say that this is a flaw since it did not diminish the fun of this game at all. In addition, it kept the fighting “real”.

Gameplay and Environment (10/10)
Controls are same as above.

In terms of the map design, it’s brilliant. You do have areas to run to for cover, but all the areas that you can cover under are not safe. It’s more real this way and presents a challenge. It was brilliant that no matter what, there were different ground levels that could either give you or the Helghast advantage.

You also get very interesting environments to be in– for instance the beginning was getting out of the city, and then you’re in a forest and then later in a winter-y landscape. In the forest there were plants that can explode. In addition to get annoying Helghast spiders that like to attack you. Yeah fun times. There is a lot of interaction with the environment in this game.

I’m not sure on this, but I think every object that is placed on a map is destructible. I didn’t notice it in the earlier stages, but once I had to fight the MAWLR, everything on the map was getting destroyed or somehow, wrecked. Like the bunkers were just breaking down until it was basically roofless and burned. Anything electrical (like a board or whatever) would malfunction and send off sparks that hurt you so you couldn’t cover behind it. In addition, once I got into the space station, I accidentally threw a grenade at the wall (poor aiming on my part) and it exploded on impact.

And the circuit board on the wall malfunctioned. It was sending off electricity. I was impressed by that level of detail the team must’ve put into for the game.

Graphics and Visuals (9.5/10)
Okay, so everyone is saying how Killzone 3 looks spectacular. Let me correct you on that– the environment looks spectacular. Everything man-made also looks spectacular (the mechs, tanks, armaments), but the character models are a little sub-par. The facial features are spectacular, but the models themselves are not as detailed as the rocks in the background. It’s that inconsistency that bothers me. In addition, Killzone 3 looks like it improved Black Ops’ graphics. But definitely not as beautiful as Crysis 2. Maybe my graphics standards are high, but like I said again, it’s that inconsistency that I saw that bothered me. (Or maybe I was just highly disturbed by Stahl’s animations.)

Multiplayer Value: 9/10 - The maps are really fun, it’s impressive. I don’t do much online playing, but this sure was better then Metal Gear Online.

Replay Value: 8/10 - Not really much to the story but if you want to beat the game on the hardest level possible. That is spectacular.

This game has earned The Wirebot Big Wup Award for excellence and awesomeness! We recommend this game to you many times over. Try it and let us know what you think of it!