Killzone 3

By Jay Williams

Killzone 3 is the fourth installment in the Killzone series, developed by Guerrilla Games and is the first game in the series to be presented in 3D and the first to include motion controls using the PlayStation Move.

The game begins in medias res from the point of view of (presumably) two Helghast soldiers who have arrived at Stahl Arms Corporation, Jorhan Stahl's weapons factory. The two are taken to an execution room where the captured Jason Narville's execution is about to be broadcast by Stahl across Helghan. As the two soldiers are about to execute Narville, they reveal themselves as Tomas "Sev" Sevchenko and Rico Velasquez and the scene cuts back six months earlier, immediately following the events of Killzone 2.

Sev and Rico regroup with Captain Jason Narville outside Scolar Visari's palace and they begin their evacuation towards the remaining ISA ships on Helghan, facing heavy resistance from organised Helghan troops led by Admiral Orlock, whose plan is well-received by most of the senate except for Jorhan Stahl, the chairman of Stahl Arms, the largest weapons manufacturer on Helghan. From the outset, the animosity between the two parties is made apparent. Rico separates from the group to rescue a squad who have encountered heavy resistance. All the ISA ships depart or are destroyed by the Helghast, leaving Sev and the rest of the ISA forces marooned on Helghan.

Killzone 3's story jumps around through time and isn't really the strongest point of the game.

As far as gameplay goes, Killzone 3 strongly resembles that of Killzone 2, however, there has been a few tweaks and changes. Similar to the first Killzone, the game takes place in various harsh environments such as Arctic landscapes, a lethal alien jungle, nuclear wastelands as well as space battles rather than only the city-scape environments which were present in Killzone 2. Another notable new feature is the ability to use jet packs in the game, which were also used in Killzone: Liberation, however, these new jet packs will be used in a different manner than that of those in Killzone: Liberation.

The game also features a revamped close combat melee system (called Brutal Melee) which includes new brutal melee attacks as well as the ability to string together multiple attacks in a combo. A new weapon called the WASPS has also been added, which acts as a multi-firing rocket launcher.

Killzone 3 supports offline split-screen co-operation for two players, which means grab a friend and join in on some campaign action offline. This is the only offline split-screen mode available in Killzone 3, and the co-op mode is not available online.

Online mutliplayer is one of the main reasons you'll keep on coming back to Killzone 3. There are three different game modes: Guerilla Warfare, Warzone, and Operations.

Guerilla Warfare - is a classic team death match style game that supports up to 16 players per map for each map that supports this mode.

Warzone - returning from Killzone 2's multiplayer, is an objective based game (seven objectives: "Body Count", "Capture and Hold", "Search and Retrieve", and two rounds of "Assassination" and "Search and Destory" respectively) that supports up to 24 players per map for each map that supports this mode.

Operations - is a new game mode that features cinematic scenes and supports up to 16 players per map for each map that supports this mode. In Operations, the ISA and the Helghast battle for control of specific objectives - the ISA on the offensive and the Helghast on defense. The best players are featured throughout the match in cutscenes depicting their successes.

There is also an offline "Botzone" mode available where players can set up a multiplayer match, but against AI bots only.

Killzone 3 multiplayer also features an updated points system, this awards players 100 points per kill, as opposed to one kill equaling 1 point in Killzone 2. Other updates to the points system include Assist kills (25 points), destroying Bots (50 points), Explosive kills (150 points), objective based points (e.g. 600 points for completely assassinating the assassination target in Assassination), Double and Triple kills and kill streaks and so on.

Cinematically Guerrilla Games has crafted a splendid experience, Killzone 3 is a solid first-person-shooter.

With a fun multiplayer and a few new tweaks to the game Killzone 3 is well worth a look.

Game: Killzone 3
System: Playstation 3
Developer: Guerrilla Games
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment

Rating: 80%

(Ratings Key/Explanation)