Review by Nathan Hardisty
UK Certification 18 | UK RRP £51.99 | Region PAL | Developer Guerrilla Games | Publisher Sony Computer Entertainment
Killzone 3 is the third title in the long-lasting first-person shooter series from Guerrilla Games, based on the completion of a story arc that originated from the original Killzone back on the PlayStation 2. The game is set around following the exploits of a group of characters, carrying on from the previous game, as they try and escape Helghan, a planet that houses the military superpower that is the Helghast Empire. At the end of Killzone 2, Rico, one of the focus characters, killed the Helghast dictator and left the planet in a state of utter chaos. Now trapped without a hope in the world, the ISA forces (Earth lads) must battle to survive.
The story never truly reaches its potential with the political warfare only serving as a backdrop to the main plot of Sev and his allies trying to survive. These characters are general uninteresting compared to Stahl and Orlock’s war of words, voiced by Malcolm MacDowell and Ray Winstone respectively. The writing is often terrible and I was promised a story not so reliant on swear words and the language of 12-year-olds, but that promise seems to have been broken here as every five minutes I was hearing profanity for the sake of ‘being mature’.
The single-player campaign consists of shooting people, running through corridors, flying with jetpacks, taking part in on-the-rails minigun action and shooting more people. Its pacing is great but the shooting people parts feel a little weak on their own. They often turn into frustrating sequences where a Helghast comes around the corner and blasts you with a one-hit-kill shotgun. When the single-player hits its mark, however, it really does become a thrill ride on the level of, for example, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.
We’re not really here for the single-player at the end of the day, which is fulfilling and all that jazz, but nothing special. Instead, we’re here for the multiplayer. I joined the Killzone 2 bandwagon way too late to ever fully enjoy it but I got a taste for what I could salvage from the dying game. Now after some extensive time with Killzone 3’s multiplayer package (from the betas, demos and now the full release) I can safely say that this is the multiplayer shooter to beat.
I am being dead honest when I say that I’ve never experienced such a rewarding, fulfilling, compelling and downright fun multiplayer mode. I’ve been blasting my way through the levels and devouring weapons and abilities, eating more and more XP to level up, and get points in order to unlock said weaponry and abilities. The balancing issues from the betas have been fixed and now the game truly stands out as not only the potentially-best multiplayer experience, but the number one multiplayer experience.
The map design is probably one of the most intricate yet brilliant I’ve ever seen. I took some time to explore them in the offline mode, Botzone, and they’re massive. Not huge in sheer size, but in the minute details you can find, such as the chipping of paint on walls, the angles of the girders and cover. It’s all finely tuned to create an experience that is unparalleled by the likes of Call of Duty and Halo.
Killzone 3 stutters, falls and then leaps into the place in the trophy cabinet that it so rightfully deserves. The single-player lacks the punch that it could so easily have delivered. The story meanders with the political struggle being an interesting but diminished part of the narrative, but the multiplayer however has evolved from its humble potential into the greatest multiplayer shooter on the market. Killzone 3 is now not only one of the many reasons to invest in a PlayStation 3, but if there were no other exclusives worth buying, the multiplayer mode alone would be worth its pricetag.
• Killzone 3 is also available in an HMV-exclusive and limited Helghast Special Edition Pack (UK RRP £99.99), which includes an authentic Helghast helmet that opens up to reveal an art book containing imagery from the Killzone universe, Super Voucher, which when redeemed unlocks the Killzone 3 soundtrack, PS3 Dynamic Theme, retro map pack with two of Killzone 2's most popular maps, Double XP and full access to weapons and abilities for the first 24 hours of multiplayer gameplay, and a copy of the game; Cloaking Helghast Marksman 6.5" figure with points of articulation; and bonus behind the scenes making-of video content.