Killzone 3 review: Another Take

I’m going to let you in on a little secret: I’ve always been able to judge the level of enjoyment I got out of a single player game once I hit the end. How I feel in that moment I find is a good indication of how I felt about the entire experience. The instant I triggered Killzone 3’s ending cinematic I literally said “Thank ****ing GAWD” out loud. Killzone 3 is like an abusive loved one with deep-seeded issues. There are those moments where you’re having fun with them, moments where you feel sorry for them, and then moments where they make you so angry that you just want to hit them over the head with a baseball bat.

That may seem like a harsh first impression, but there is actually a lot that Killzone 3 does right. The obvious one being that it’s one of the most impressive looking first-person shooters I’ve played on a console. Applying a very distinct gritty-realistic look, it stands out as not only a technically impressive game but an artistic one as well. Different environments and weather effects help to add variety to the already diverse single player campaign.

Guerrilla really seems to have made it their mission to keep the players attention by constantly throwing a different gameplay element at them. Over the course of single player I played in a mech suit, in a jet pack, in a space ship, and in more than one on-rails shooting mission. This variety is more than welcomed as it breaks up the constant frustration I found myself getting into. There are moments in single player where you’ll be held down at a single spot for over 10 minutes trying to progress, only to get killed by an enemy that seemingly appears out of no where. The mech section was singularly annoying as there was a particular checkpoint I must have replayed 15 times. Adding to the infuriation?  I was in a mech suit, yet somehow I felt less powerful and more prone to death – sort of defeating the whole purpose.

Level design doesn’t help matters, as the single player levels are largely straightforward and uninspired. Killzone 3 is about as linear as you can get in a first-person shooter. Even while varying the experience with different gameplay elements, including a mission based around stealth, levels still feel incredibly guided and boring.

Even with these substantial complaints it’s hard to find an argument against the actual shooting mechanics. You feel the weight of your character and the gun in the controls, and the experience of shooting a weapon is uniquely Killzone.  It’s one of the few games that excel at an all encompassing first-person ‘experience’. Unlike many FPS games where you feel like a camera with a gun placed in front of you, Killzone 3 puts you into the body of your character. Diving into cover, pulling your partner over walls, and even climbing ladders all feel authentic to the first-person view.

Even that is not enough to save Killzone 3’s single player from being something I’d recommend you play – and I haven’t even got to the story yet. I get what Guerrilla Games is trying to do but like so many shooters the story in this suffers from heavy handed, jam this dialogue down your throat sort of mentality that I’ve just become so tired of. Call it ‘dude-bro’, call it military drivel, call it what you want, but the dialogue between the ISA is not good.  The only sections of the story I somewhat enjoyed were the Helghast portions which uncover some inner turmoil. Ultimately it all takes a predictable road and culminates in a post-credits scene, which I guess is now on the checklist for every videogame at this point.

But that is really only one-half of the game, as for me multiplayer really stands out as the reason to play Killzone 3. With a variety of classes and different modes of play, there is a lot that online offers. Unlike the many FPS games out there which try to copy the Call of Duty model without any real distinct feel of their own, the online play here is unique and most importantly, it’s fun.

There are three different styles of play,  Guerilla Warfare (typical team deathmatch), Warzone (a variety of modes that cycle through while staying on the same map), and Operations (an objective-based mode with cutescenes where one team is defending and the other is attacking). What really kept me coming back though are the different classes you can play as, which all vary wildly. My personal favourite, for the moment, would be the Tactician, who has the ability to attain new spawn points on the map for his team and also turn on radar allowing you and your team to see where your enemies are in relation to you.

My one and only major issue with the multiplayer is the inclusion of one particular class, the Infiltrator, who is incredibly over-used and for good reason, he can camouflage himself as your teammate. All you really have to do to expose him it point your gun at him at which point your reticule will turn red signifying that he’s actually the enemy, but it’s an inconceivable annoyance to even need to worry that the guy you see in your periphery is not actually your teammate.

Even with that annoyance Killzone 3 really shines as an online game, and it’s one that I find myself coming back to even if it’s just me playing alone while my friends are busy with something else.

Killzone 3 is simply not a game I would recommend if you’re looking for a compelling single player experience, but if you want to try something that’s off the beaten path in terms of online shooters on console, I say give the game a shot. I can only hope that for the next iteration in this franchise Guerilla puts Killzone’s single player into therapy and comes out the other end a brand new game.

[ED Note: You may or may not be wondering “Didn’t I already see a Killzone 3 post?  What gives?”  Indeed we did.  We posted Wesley’s take on the game earlier this week, so head on over to get a second opinion… ]