Plot: The game picks up immediately after the ending of Killzone 2 and follows the previous games’ main protagonist, Sev, a Special Forces operative fighting for the Interplanetary Strategic Alliance against the Helghast Empire. The game continues shortly after Sev successfully defeated Radec and Rico having killed Visari, the Helghast dictator who leaves them to a fleet of Helghast ships approaching them destroying ISA vessels.
The death of their dictator has left the Helghast Empire in a state of internal struggle. Now, Sev and his comrade Rico are trapped in the cross-fire between the various political factions without any reinforcements and are left to fight alone in order to escape as the ISA struggles to regroup its forces and stop a Helghast invasion of Earth. The game will also give players a deeper look into Helghan culture such as their language and showcase, and also whatever humanity they have left within them.
Impressions: It’s very good. I just question if it’ll finish the story. The pacing is good, although a complaint I’d say is things end too abruptly and are almost segmented. It’s an odd complaint, but basically it’ll insert a cutscene in between those moments. I think it’s more so just me wanting to keep playing! There was this shootout and the dust and clouds from the battle field kept building and I wanted to go into the dust and fight! It was crazy, it felt like a battlefield, very well done. The colors are more vibrant and I was honestly floored by the variety. Vehicle, exo-skeleton suit, sniping, run/gun, infiltrate and freaking sneaking, with silenced kills! I never expected that at all! It made me wonder if this is what it felt like to play an MGS FPS game. It just added another dynamic to the game. A complaint here I have is I didn’t know when or more specifically how an enemy spotted me.
Does it look better than MGS4? Yes. MGS4 today looks like it has a plastic texture wrap on the characters versus the gritty-ness of Killzone. The other thing to consider was how the sneaking suit worked by copying every texture placed in MGS4. They both have their own art direction, I still trust Hideo’s game design more. He thinks bigger picture. I find that Killzone while it establishes a world, the design is confined. While comparatively to 2, 3 does have a more open world feel there is some missing gesture that sells where you are located.
Whether this is narrative transition, a world map or just some way to seemingly understand your progress based on location throughout the game versus new areas or stages. It could be the one thing to push this game over from very good to great.
The sneaking portion was fun, but it wasn’t fine tuned. It seemed like I had to do something specific in order to pass an area. One area I kept dying because I didn’t understand how I kept get spotted and ultimately accepted that it happens based on the game being scripted. So I ran with this theory and ran through the area at the end despite getting shot up and I figured once I passed it, the area would be clear. I was right and it’s here where you still realize games are still based on rules. There isn’t enough consequence. If you script something, it means you are controlling the environment and game as a whole, but more than that, you have to understand that there are players like me who will try to break these rules or basically see how far I can push a boundary. It wasn’t perfect in how it happened, but I was glad to make it through the area. It was highly volatile in the sense one false move and you were dead immediately. I was so surprised that they had me sneaking around, that I definitely felt an sense of anxiety cause I didn’t want to do and slowed my pace. Just really fun is all.
Killzone 2 had it moments, it was fun but 3 is without a doubt better already. They removed the weighted controls based on all the complaints from 2 yrs ago or so. The controllers are more precise, think more COD like too. You can’t fight that I guess, which is kind of sad. But I do think the controls work much better in terms of how quick I want to do things. I’m very much reminded of the jump from Uncharted 1 to 2. I haven’t had that sensation of wanting a game to not end, since then.
what made me start with dual shock rather than just playing with the move?
I picked it up out of habit and maybe fear, because of what was comfortable. I’m a traditional gamer and despite the Move controls being more accurate and there were portions of the game where I wish my accuracy was better because I knew it could be quicker with the Move, I pressed on with the dualshock. I’d say 30-35% of my kills are done by melee. I like going into an area killing 3-4 guys. Then going in to stab the last couple guys. I just like to mix it up and the dualshock is definitely more responsible to my playstyle. Especially the camera. There really is no way to describe it other than playing it yourself, the inherent differences. I am being mindful of how I play, usually when you stab enough people you get trophies. I don’t mind doing stuff like that, slightly aiming for it but not purposefully.
Another 2 hrs and 45min into Killzone 3. Puts me at roughly 6.5 hrs with the cutscenes. I have 2 chapters left and the gameplay continues to be solid. I’ve had to switch to a more tactical play style, a bit of preparedness with constant full ammo and positioning. The swarm of enemies has made it more difficult to sweep in, because once you’re out of position the game has no problems killing you instantly. I find myself dying in dumb spots, more so me not being immediately aware of what’s going on around me. There are a lot of complains from other players about invisible walls, level design and the amount of bullets it takes to kill the enemies. With how linear the game is, the invisible walls problem aka shooting between cracks and such is hit/miss.
There is only a frag grenade as far as I know. Distance of your throw can be effected by wind, I like how the game takes that type physics into account. In COD I find myself a grenadier, I’m more likely to blow you up before I shoot you. In Killzone I’ll save the grenades for groups of people, or overthrow to get the enemies to disperse, then take them out with guns. The Helghast AI are smart enough to move once you throw a grenade at them, unless you cooked it.
What I’m bewildered at is the Helghast weaponry is more advanced. It just seems to me that the “humans” I am playing as are heavily outmatched on all fronts. There is a new plasma gun in the game, there is the lightning gun from last game, there is a bolt gun which is a one hit kill type of machinery tool (love this gun), then your 2 automatic rifles, an SMG, another long range automatic, a sniper, a shotgun, a silenced long range gun, a revolver, a heat seeking gun, turrets which you can remove and serve as mini guns and then your standard missile launcher.
Killzone 2 only allowed you to carry 2 guns I believe, I can’t remember honestly. But in 3, you have your “automatic”, a “hand gun” and then a “heavy gun” that you can carry. So I’ll always lay suppressing fire with the automatic and save my heavy gun for bigger enemies or if I’m pissed off at the horde of enemies coming at me, so I’ll take them out quicker.
I just find it painfully obvious you’re not going to be able to abuse that minuscule crack you can get a bullet through. It’s a game and this is where I was talking about rules. I’m not making an excuse for it, but for me going through and not being able to hit my target when I’m shooting from just means I need to move to a new spot. So while I understand that complaint, I think it’s a pretty nit-picky one given the overall scheme of the game. Other complaints are your AI teammate not healing you when he typically should. Honestly I’ve never expected much from the AI reviving me, there are times where I figure my partner is right beside me and he’s being dumb but more often then not I actually prefer to just die and restart the checkpoint. The game isn’t perfect in this sense, but I only rely on the AI teammates so much and truthfully what game ever has reliable AI? I just got a trophy for 500 kills, so honestly really don’t see what the problem is here. Fact of the matter is, don’t play crappy and don’t die – that’s all there is to it. I’m sure there are people who would chastise that opinion.
I will slightly complain about the amount of bullets it takes to kill an enemy. Sometimes it seems like they’re absorbing bullets, there were a couple instances for me. It was not really a problem, it just meant I had to unload more bullets! I have no problems with that! However when you have a powerful weapon it will take the one hit to kill them. It’s an odd balance, but I suppose it works and doesn’t at the same time. I don’t know, seemingly maybe it’s a complaint that I’m reading from others and it seems more like it’s gamers asking the game to be easier? I find no problem with it and there is always guns around to swap or pick up. While at every saved checkpoint you start with the “good guy” gun, I’m not going to get into technical details of the gun names. There is a point in the game where you have observe what is best and I found it better to just pick up a downed enemy’s gun as you’ll always find yourself with full ammo, because you constantly pick up the gun ammo that is dropped by the enemies that are killed. It’s all relative, plus there is enough gun variety. If the enemies were push overs then it would probably suck more. I found Killzone 2 and 3 to have a methodical approach. As long as you play smart, observe a strategy, a little patience, a little craziness it works.
Vehicles, there is more on-rails stuff in this game and I do think it’s because of Move. A couple of gun turret sections on a flying dropship, your exoskeleton portion of the game, which is like controlling a robot suit, the flying jet pack which is new, then there is a straight up vehicle portion where you drive and are the gunner, then another vehicle portion with you just as the gunner. You gotta remember this game also has co-op. I think it might be meant to be played as co-op, because one of the characters from the second game is your co-op gun, but he’s missing from the single player campaign. Which is another unfortunate thing about the narrative. I don’t know if it’ll be any different if you play co-op and this character is in the narrative at all. Or he’s just that other character in the game.
The level design itself is peculiar, I find myself not really taking the time to stand in awe and look around. While no game really holds a level of realism with level design, when you know a fire fight is about to happen, there will be cover always available. It’s a game for a reason. I like what I’m playing through and enjoying it thoroughly and I think the level design is spot on for what this game needs to be. I’m reminded heavily of Starship Troopers and it feels like I’m playing that type of over the top movie in game form. I still think this game is a step up on level design from the previous game because of the local variety. I remember a lot of buildings in the Killzone 2. Killzone 3 has a more breathable level design, doesn’t feel as suffocated and I like this.
My one definite complaint is the actual transitions of the game. The game almost feels rushed because of the pacing, it’s kinetic and frenetic. To me it seems like Guerilla cut out the fat and made the campaign more easily accessible… you know I wonder if it relates to more so being Move compatible. I’m not saying it’s dumbed down, but the game could’ve easily had a couple more chapters to lengthen it more. Or maybe that’s me foolishly wanting it to be longer. It’s like Vanquish, that game is incredibly short but I compare that to an anime OVA. It’s short and sweet. I think I frankly just don’t want Killzone 3 to end is all. I’m near the end and I suspect at best it’ll take another 2 hrs at most, if that even. Anyway with respect to the transitions, what I’m getting at here is as you jump from section to section, sequences occur to introduce new levels and it’s not as fluid as can be. In fact there is no presentation value for showing what chapter you are on. There is no chapter numeration either. I think it’s more about how the story is being told, it’s not an adventure or a journey. You’re just on a mission. Again I relate it back to Starship Troopers, I’m enjoying the story for what it is and will provide a full retrospect on it when I beat the game.
The art direction and graphics in this game are simply gorgeous. Visually this game is raw and war torn. A lot of details and fine contrast with a sharpness and grain to everything. I like that there is more color in this game and it adds to the value of things visually. I’d have to honestly say, it’s the best looking console game I’ve played to date or maybe I should say in it’s genre for safe measure. However there is just a lot going on effects wise and small detail wise, it’s beautiful. Really feels like a war. The gameplay and presentation is immersive because of this. It’s crazy as I fully expect Uncharted 3 to top this visually.
You know… that Move comment I made above. That might be very spot on. I’ll know more when I finish the game Thursday night. I think Guerilla might have had a some stuff left on the editing room floor. Also unless you’re playing Easy mode and I don’t think it would make a difference then. How the game is playing if you don’t have precise quick movements, you’d be fucked with the Sharpshooter peripheral.
I think it has more guts than Resistance, Killzone 3 definitely gives the title and everything it represents an identity. A majority of the changes, visuals being too bland in 2 and the controls, those were all changes done in response to gamer complaints. Guerilla Games listened. Right now I’m curious if the way the game presents itself is because of the Move controller. Inherently you still identify what’s going on screen with the cursor so they had to make things work for both in terms of how the game is scripted. That’s my theory right now.
It’s still a very very solid game. Visually it’s magnificent, we’ll see how the end game is once I beat it tonight.
As per it being positioned as Sony’s answer to Halo/Gears, I definitely see this as an on-going franchise. I would actually love to be able to play as the supposed villains, the Helghast. Because there are two sides to this war and seemingly, you play as the ISA and you assume cause your home world is Earth that is your connection as a gamer. However the Helghast are humans too who have simply colonized other planets. It’s a human war and that’s what I find compelling about the game. It’s not aliens invading. So there is a grey area and from a story perspective you play as the ISA.
There is an overarching story for Killzone, that is hinted at in 3 but never shown. It’s almost hidden as I had to look online and make connections to figure out what happened at the end of the game. The story… no the narrative of how things are presented in this game are weak. They hired a writer to specifically focus on the story and I think the only thing that was brought out was the character interactions and while those were great, the overall story was not sewn together. At least for this outing of Killzone. This is the best modern day FPS shooter hands down. It’s visually above everything else and it’s disappointing that it lacked the cohesiveness that the second game had. It’s not to say it was bad but there was clearly a better storyboard for the second game than the third.
Honestly because of the transitions it feels like it was pieced together in parts. I’d be really curious about a behind the scenes on this game and sadly I don’t think we’ll ever get the full vision of the game until Killzone 4 and maybe 5 and 6, depending what they have planned. At least the second game had a somewhat enclosed story. The third does a great job about 60-70% of the way through then suddenly just falls apart. The ending was incredibly abrupt and made no sense given the 70 min worth of cutscenes already in the game. Did they not have the budget to have another 2-4 min ending sequence for some relative closure? The world of Killzone, the war, the civil war, the internal conflicts, the back story behind things – it is very intriguing. I think this game suffered in a strange way through the development process.
How much of this game was influenced by Move? How much of the previous complaints from gamers structured the end product? Was this game rushed to market? Did they actually cut things out purposefully? Is there DLC coming aside from multiplayer maps?
A lot of unanswered questions, but despite this I did enjoy this game. Not for what it was worth, but genuinely liked it. It is a very solid shooter and Guerilla did different things to either appease the gamers or try something new. It is very clear that this game was specifically curtailed to Move. There is a lot of on-rails sequences. In fact the ending sequence is all on-rails and it’s what I expected. It’s a break from the slight monotony of gunning through sections and there is enough variety in this game that it keeps up it’s pace. Also this game is short. Unless I did my math wrong it took 4.9 hrs to beat the game, based on the chapter completion times I looked at. Then let’s add the cutscenes on top of that, so with 70 min, the whole experience was a little over 6 hours. I played this on normal, died a few times and in fact I think this game was a lot easier than the second. Considerably so.
Also a lot of my deaths came from advancing too far or on-rails areas where I just didn’t know what was going on. That’s what happens when your screen is confined to your cursor and just moving it around. There was no real indicators on-screen. I think the game relied more so on sound cues and it was the same with the change from sneaking/silenced kills to where the enemy detected you. It was a musical changes. I’m going to go back to what I said earlier about a world map of the sorts to aide in direction of the game. I think since this game is so linear/scripted it should make sense as a way to transition plot points and continue the narrative in a way that works. The cutscenes are welcome and they work to serve in a manner to make the game more cinematic. I honestly have more good things to say about the game then bad, any negative comments I have are more critical questions as to why this worked in a specific way, what was the thought process behind this area, etc. Again it wasn’t the story that was weak, it works incredibly if you know the game you’re playing. I’m sure it works in the same way with the Halo universe. There is a lot of potential here and I think the more intriguing aspect of the game is you’re not dealing with aliens, it’s political connotations and the soldiers who carry out orders, find themselves in situations and trying to fight for the greater good. Or the good for them. It’s a duality and again, I shouldn’t have to ask about why these things weren’t strung together better. It should’ve been noticed. I really do think this game was influenced by a number of things, Move, complaints from the second game, maybe a release date, etc. I really do have confidence that Guerilla Games will continue to deliver.
This game with the musical score and large looming enemies and space cruisers felt like Star Wars. It’s an obscure thing and in the same ways suffers like Star Wars does, having it’s moments but also becomes weak due to certain instances. The transitions just occur and are jarring. I think in some ways this game might’ve been heavily influenced by COD with set pieces, go through an area, then fade to black, cutscene, go through an another area, fade to black, cutscene, on-rails sequence, and so forth. This is literally how the game is. There is no real continuity, it’s not presented well. I really don’t understand it coming from Killzone 2, how does this game make a 180 like this? It’s not that the second game was a masterpiece in this regard, but given the stakes of the third game, it should’ve had some kind cohesion.
I really do think things were either cut out, not ready and/or possibly rushed. It’s a theory. Or it was simply heavily influenced by Move gameplay in a bad way or… a way that never should’ve been, or just in a manner to make the game work best for Move. It goes hand in hand with the overall level design, making it work for the different ways to play this game.
The gameplay and controls were fine tuned, the level design was opened up. Then the inclusion of Move and on-rails areas worked to bring a new experience but also break the monotony or at the very least add something more. The variety of levels and vehicles added to this. It may/not have been for everyone at the end. I think when the fourth game comes out, hopefully there is a better balance of everything in that has been presented to date with the second and third.
Guerilla Games has no problems visually. It’s strange that there was a lack of creative direction as a whole I think. What happens in the game is very important to the overall franchise and if you can believe in the bigger picture. I think there is a plan, but it’s a question of how soon we’ll see it. Could it have been done better from a narrative perspective? Absolutely. Is the gameplay great? You bet.
So with the slight lesser of two evils, Killzone 3 is a very solid game. I think in the end it is the small things that are missed out on, the fine details. For me it’s these small details which carry anything from being really good/great to something fantastic. I was hoping Guerilla Games would work on something new after this, but based on how this game ended. I hope we get a Killzone 4 sooner than later and within this generation. It’d be pretty easy to deliver a couple more games at the very least if that’s what they have planned. I’d want to see things finished on the PS3.
