Killzone 3 Review

Last night I finished off Killzone 3 after a few play sessions. I guess for most people that isn't much of an accomplishment, but for this guy who has finished maybe a quarter of the games I own, it's a milestone...or something. It also speaks to the quality of the experience.

There are tons of KZ3 reviews on the intertrons, but I haven't read any of them so forgive me if I am treading familiar ground. In no particular order here are my thoughts about the game.

First off, the controls. They are excellent. I wanted to like KZ2 but part of what killed it for me was the shitty controls. This time around they give you tons of room to customize them to your liking. It might take some tweaking to find what works for you, but when you do it's great. This also applies to the Move controls.

I'd say if you're waiting for that one game that makes good use of the Move and you can play for a while, this would be it. Even without the Killzone gun peripheral, the Move controls are excellent. I played the game about 50/50 with the Move and regular controller and enjoyed it both ways. I had best results setting dead zone and sensitivity to zero (I know that doesn't make any sense) and turn speed to 60-70. I left the auto aim feature off because I didn't understand how it worked and didn't need it.

But controls mean nothing if the game itself is shitty. Fortunately this is not the case. This is everything that the first 2 games should have been. The graphics are gorgeous. Sometimes I would just stand there, trying to take it all in. For a game that mostly takes place in a shelled out city, this game is so beautiful I was moved to tears (Metaphorically speaking). The guns all have a hefty feel to them, and navigating the levels is easier than ever.

They also try to mix up the gameplay with some stealth sections, vehicles and rail shooting. For the most part it works very well. I never got bored or felt like I was just trudging along. At the same time many of the environments are open enough that you don't feel like you are in a minecart ride just traveling down the rails, like in Call of Duty. But because many of the weapons and enemies are the same, if you played a lot of KZ 2 you will probably experience some deja vu. I know I was starting to by the end.

The only thing that has gotten worse since the last game is the story. I mean, it was shitty in KZ 2, don't get me wrong. But for the most part you could ignore it. Well in this game there's a cutscene every 3 minutes, no joke. What is a joke is the writing in this game. It's so awful it's just laughable. I sure hope you like to hear "JAMMER GET TO MY POSITION!!" and "LET'S KILL THE ISA!!!" because you are going to hear them 50 billion fucking times.

That's the real shame here. With a decent story, this game could have been really excellent. It's beautiful to look at, fun to play, and has enough meat on it between the single and multiplayer to keep you busy for a long time. With all the other ingredients in place, I think with good writing Killzone 3 could have become the vaunted "Halo killer" the original was supposed to be. If you can turn your brain off for a while, or if you thought Modern Warfare 2 was the pinnacle of modern story-telling, you will love this game.