Review: Killzone 3

An upcoming 2011 first-person shooter for the PlayStation 3, developed by Guerrilla Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. It is the fourth installment in the Killzone series, the first game in the series to be presented in 3D and the first to include motion controls using the PlayStation Move.

Release Date: February 22, 2011
MSRP: $59.99
Exclusively on: PS3
M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language
Genre: First-Person Shooter 
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Developer: Guerrilla Games

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Gameplay:
The gameplay will strongly resemble that of Killzone 2 albeit with several tweaks and changes. Similar to the first Killzone, the game will take place in various harsh environments such as Arctic landscapes, a lethal alien jungle, nuclear wastelands as well as space battles rather than only the city-scape environments which were present in Killzone 2. Another notable new feature is the ability to use jet packs in the game, which were also used in Killzone: Liberation, however, these new jet packs will be used in a different manner than that of those in Killzone: Liberation.

The game will also feature a revamped close combat melee system (called Brutal Melee) which include new brutal melee attacks as well as the ability to string together multiple attacks in a combo. A new weapon called the WASP has also been revealed, which acts as a multi-firing rocket launcher.[9] In the July 2010 edition of Game Informer, it was revealed that the WASP rocket launcher will have a primary fire and a secondary fire, which leaves to speculation that secondary fire for various weapons will return as seen in the original Killzone. The multiplayer beta has disproved this, though it's possible for secondary fire to be present in the single player or co-op campaign.

Online mutliplayer of Killzone 3 supports three different game modes: Guerilla Warfare, Warzone, and Operations. "Guerilla Warfare" is a classic team death match style game that supports up to 16 players per map. "Warzone", returning from Killzone 2's multiplayer, is a mission based game (seven missions: two rounds of Assassination, Body Count, Capture and Hold, two rounds of Search and Destroy, and Search and Retrieve) that supports up to 24 players per map. "Operations" is a new game mode that features cinematic scenes and supports up to 16 players per map. In Operations, one team will try to take over the other teams base. For example, on the Frozen Dam map, the Helghast must defend the dam from the ISA forces. The ISA must first make it past the first barrier by planting explosives, they must then capture and hold areas in the next portion of the map, and then they must plant three more explosives. Cinematic scenes are featured at the beginning of the match, between destination points, and at the end of the match. If the Helghast are successful at defending the dam, they take the ISA forces as prisoners. There is also a "Botzone" mode available where players can set up a multiplayer match, but against AI bots and is offline.

Final Thoughts:
There are a total of five classes for players to choose from: Marksman, Engineer, Field Medic, Tactician, and Infiltrator. Each have their own special abilities and weapons, such as disguise for the Infiltrator or cloaking for the Marksman. Unlike Killzone 2, players may choose any class from the start, however, they must earn Unlock Points to upgrade the abilites and to gain more weapons for each class (Unlock Points are awarded by ranking up). Each class's abilities can be upgraded twice, and they can unlock two additional primary weapons, one additional secondary weapon, and one heavy weapon (e.g. rocket launcher). Other abilites, such as armor or silent footsteps, are earned based on obtaining a certain rank in multiplayer and can be used on any class.


Rating: 4.0 = Good
Recommendation: High Priority Buy