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Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Killzone 3 Review - PS3

Killzone 3 


Overall Killzone 3 is one of the most visually stunning shooter to date.When I first turned it on I was blown away by the smooth realistic graphics. The games graphics unquestionably make it one of the best looking shooters I have ever played or seen. I thought that the movie scenes were well done, everything had that smooth polished look. I read a few reviews for Killzone 3 that said that the story was a little weak, maybe that is a comparison to Killzone or Killzone 2 but for a shooter the story is pretty good. Admittedly the only reason I played the campaign as long as I did was to get used to the controls but the campaign is still good. I have just grazed the online play but I was actually pleasantly surprised, I am a Battlefield addict so I tend to think “There is no way I will enjoy this as much as Bad Company 2” before I even start to play a shooter but this is a good shooter overall and now playing it I am glad I bought it.

While none of the characters actually stood out to me aside from Rico who tends to do his own thing, disobey direct orders and just generally get into trouble. I thought that the two side were divided well enough that I didn't need to have a star character. Admittedly I am an action guy so if you are really into the back stories it may not be appealing to you but it was more than enough for me.

The campaign mode is a graphic master piece and overall just fun to play. I thought that the story pulled together the action of the campaign despite what others have said. There were a few minor downsides to me but honestly they are almost not worth mentioning. The first thing was while moving from one area to another I noticed a one second hesitation while it is loading up the upcoming action but with the graphics in the game I would think it is to be expected also it is only about a second pause and with the overall look of the game well worth it. The second thing actually was fairly frustrating to me, shooting someone in the head should kill them, right? Well don't count on it, one of three things will happen you score a head shot the enemies helmet goes flying off and they are still alive like nothing happened, two they are hit and they just look around like you were throwing rocks at them or the least likely to happen they actually die from the head shot and while I realize this may seem like a pretty petty thing it is actually fairly frustrating when you are the one shooting. Overall though I did like the campaign mode, I can't say that I would go back and play it over and over again but should I ever get a 3D TV I definitely would play it again just to see what I was missing, I'm sure it would be nothing less than mind blowing.

Well, had I decided to stop playing after the first day online I wouldn't have much good to say but I'm glad I didn't. The first day I played online my first few matches went great I was on a good team and I imagine the other team was pretty bad because with no unlocks I averaged a K/D (kill to death ratio) of 2.0 which for a shooter is pretty good and great for a first day. I ending up getting off for a few hours and coming back to a team that seemed to play together a lot, everyone had mics and I thought great another winning team at least I'll rack up some wins. Well I was in for a surprise we did win but during the second match one of them started with F this F'n guy he's blowing my F'n cover and this continued for probably about 3 minutes or so. In the beginning it was kind of funny because I have been there during Bad Company 2 matches, a medic would stand next to me and not revive me and I would yell at them with my mic. However to my surprise this guy actually said my name at the end of the 3 minute rant. It was pretty shocking to me as I was running around to different parts of the street we were fighting on and not really camping in one spot like he was complaining about I did later see him were I had put a turret but I would think reason would say first come first serve. If someone sets up a turret where you would normally snipe from just find another spot. Sure if someone is following you around blasting a machine gun while you are trying to hide and snipe complain. So that team left and came back later this time on the enemy side and it just kept going. You can talk to everyone while waiting for the next match and it just became a trash talking contest between one guy on our team and a few guys on theirs. Lots of F you, F this, some talk about I bet you have a busted old PS3, which I don't even get but okay? Some Call of Duty fanboy talk, just as a side thing here, where did “fanboy” come from I think everyone sounds really stupid just saying it? It started to make me wonder if this was going to be a frequent occurrence when I hit the Killzone 3 multiplayer. I did go on to play another day and luckily for my sanity I didn't run into anything like it again. People with mics are far and few between which is usually not a good thing but if every loosing team is going to talk trash to the winning team then yeah it's a good thing.

Overall online gameplay is good there aren't near as many unlockable weapons as Bad Company 2 but Killzone 3 the level up system is a lot slower and points can be put into any class you want. So you could max all classes just playing your favorite class if you wanted and the slow points system keeps you hooked trying to get than next unlock. The maps are a lot smaller than Battlefield games but you have far less players players on the map so it works out ok. I didn't play one map with vehicles so I assume there aren't any which makes sense with smaller maps. The bots that you can build/call are pretty cool and the stealth mode for snipers is also a nice feature. Overall the multiplayer mode somewhat pushes you to camp but you can successfully run and gun if you are good at it. There is not much team work with most players unless you are camping to defend one spot. However, the multiplayer was still exciting and fun so much so that I think I will be opting to get all the added maps.

Pros:
  • Graphics are some of the best among any shooter I've played
  • Online gameplay has things you don't get in a regular shooter(bots,cloaking,etc)
  • Level up system is a spend where you want kind of system
  • Maps are all quite different from each other
  • Limited weapons somewhat make it easier for the beginner on multiplayer

Cons:
  • Controls are not that customizable
  • Maps are fairly small online
  • No vehicle that I saw online
  • Not a lot of team work from the average online player (which is the norm really)
  • Lots of camping
  • Limited weapons could be somewhat disappointing for hardcore online players

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