Killzone 3

Killzone 3 is one of the most anticipated games of 2011 with its prequel being a greatest hit on the PS3. Developed by Guerilla Game, this game has everything that you would expect from them after giving us Killzone 1 & 2. This game has explosions, executions, and great cut scenes, all the right ingredients to make a great action game with suspense and drama. Now the story picks up right where it left off with the gun still smoking and a dead president on the ground.

Killzone 3 starts off with you riding a lift up to some weapons factory where you get off and realize that you are seeing the world through Helghan eyes. You sign in and go over to do some weapon training where you learn to do all the basics about shooting and using the cover system. Then you report to the recording room where you show up to execute someone. Well it turns out Captain Narville is waiting to be executed during a live broadcast to the nation. You pick up the weapon  to give the execution then it cuts back to six months earlier. This is where  the game starts to pick up. Our heroes Rico and Sev are little distraught about what happened to Scolar Visari where they are then given orders to get a convoy moving and pack up and go home. The convoy runs into some trouble and your job is to escort it through the city. This is where the action begins. So the campaign is a series of chapters where you are in different areas and follow the storyline.

The game play is just like any old stand alone shooter with there being different weapons and can carry only two at a time and a sidearm. However what makes this game stand out would be the cover system. This system is what gives this game the constant feel of never being safe. Some might find it frustrating because the way that it works is that your not 100% safe even when in cover. This makes the game feel very urgent that you need to make your shots count because if you get hit to many times out of cover it can be hard to find a safe place to recover. The game moves a good pace with there being new enemies all over the place so it does not get to boring just continuing to beat down the same ones over and over. One thing that is extremely satisfying is doing the new "Brutal Melee" abilities where when prompted to just hitting the melee button will dish out a instant kill to whoever is unfortunate enough to receive it. This adds a great panic mode button for when people get to close and you just need them to back off. One thing that I did notice about this game though is how many times it would turn into an on rails shooter and you would be sitting in a car or a shuttle manning the turret while your buddies would drive/fly around. This would make things turn into a trial and error moment because you  couldn't run away and it would turn slowly so it could be hard to get the kill without taking too much damage. This would get frustrating while playing the level because it could take almost twenty tries until you knew where everything was to get through the event. What made up for this though can be put in to one beautiful word... Jet pack. This new feature made traveling through levels fun and dodging enemies a breeze. You could boost up and hover down slowly to make a pinpoint landing while shooting your machine gun at any enemies who would dare to try and take you down. These are the basic game play elements with there being different ones for the multi-player.

The multi-player in this game really fixes a lot of what was wrong with its predecessor. With matchmaking now a feature and you can choose what class you want to get upgrades for makes this game much more accessible to the more casual player. All the classes from Killzone 2 are here and they all basically do the same functions some just have different names. There is your Infiltrator where you can disguise yourself as one of the other team and try and sneak up and get an easy kill. There is the Tactician where you can scan the screen for enemies previously a sniper ability. There is the Marksman where you can cloak yourself becoming invisible to anyone as long as you are staying still. There is the good old medic where you can revive felled allies and heal ones that have returned from a skirmish. The Engineer is present with his abilities to fix damaged supply crates and make turrets to lock down hallways or doorways. Each class has more abilities that get unlocked as you level up in the multi-player ladder as well as upgrading existing abilities. There are also all new game modes which has me very excited because along with the standard capture the flag and search and destroy there is the new Operations choice. This lets you live out a raid as the ISA or defending as the Helghast with your character being involved in cut scenes that make you feel like your making a difference in the action. There are couple tasks you must complete while progressing through a level sort of like Battlefield: Bad Company 2. This is a very fun game mode that is a great way to get experience and have fun.

Now this game is not going to be for everyone I would say that this game would be a good for people who are in to most shooters and are looking for something more then just another Call of Duty clone. This game feels very different and the story does a good job keeping you intrigued while you progress through it. So if you enjoyed any other Killzone or looking to spice things up and try something new then this game is not a bad way to go at all. However anyone who very picky with there shooters might want to rent it first just to be sure because it is a shooter but it is very different just from the feel alone. It might turn out not to be for you.

So this game is out now and is going for about $59.99 the average new game price. In my opinion the amount of time that you will end up spending on the story and then moving over to the multi-player makes it a great investment. With there being all the classes to master and levels to try and with DLC coming in the future can make the price seem a little more reasonable. I did enjoy the game with there being very few complaints from me. Hope you all enjoy this game and good luck.