KZ3 Review.

The easiest place to start I suppose is with the way the game looks. It looks fantastic although not consistently as some would have you believe. I found the jungle level to be out of place. It is however a lot more colourful than all of KZ2 put together (the whole game in general is more colourful). It just comes across as a little bit messy compared to other parts of the game and shows up the poor textures quite noticeably.

However on the flip side of the coin any enviroment involving nuclear devastation or snow look mind blowing. The sheer number of effects happening on screen is highly impressive whether its ash floating through the sky or a snowstorm brewing up. It really needs to be witnessed and I feel the imposing art design has aided the way the game looks. The fact that it keeps up this graphical clout in multiplayer is testimony to Guerilla Games skills as a developer.

Now the way it looks is done and dusted I'll cover the campaign. Continuing on from the events of 2 you will again be thrust into Sgt Sevchenko's boots to try and fight your way of Helghan in an action packed campaign full of variety. One minute it will be an intense on foot section and the next you'll be driving around in a mech feeling all powerful. It unfortunately suffers from CallofDutyitis however as it is incredibly linear and this is detrimental to the idea of being in a large scale war. The set pieces however go a long way to stifle this problem. There are plenty of friendly soldiers around you and the amount of explosions almost blew up my ears. The game still handles much the same as 2 although it has been lightened up a bit. All in all though it still feels fantastic and the guns are far punchier than any FPS out there meaning the core of the game remains satisfying throughout. The extra heavy weapon slot is a godsend. Hmmmm, i'll have a magnum, shotgun and a minigun I think. Playing with the WASP missile launcher that doubles as mobile artillery is also a highlight.

You'll need those guns as well because the Helghast (British space nazis) are as tough and intelligent as ever. They react well to your actions, respond to grenades being thrown and are generally a real challenge to kill. The one issue is they are far cooler than the characters you are affiliated to (ISA) and I often found myself wanting to play as the Helghast. Their AI is probably the strongest part of the game so its good that there is a cover system in place. Unfortunately its broken and somehow worse than the one in 2 which is odd. Put it this way, if your being shot at it's not the best idea to leave your head exposed.

It's a shame that your AI buddies (Rico again, no Natko, he's just gone apart from in co-op where he says nada) are unbelievably stupid. All too often they run into your line of fire or just run about getting filled with lead. It is nice that Rico will come and revive you when you get killed but annoyance creeps in when he claims he can't get to you. Especially when he is less than a yard away.

The story its self is typical action game yarn with good turns from Ray Winstone and Malcolm McDowell as a Helghast Admiral and Chairman of a weapons research corp respectively vying for power. Add this to an intense orchestral score and the epic drama unfolding is really quite arresting. Unfortunately with out spoiling anything the end feels very rushed like a level or two is missing. And the main characters (Sev, Rico) are still pretty unlikeable and you never really grow attached to them because of it.

I won't go into detail but the multiplayer component is strong and far more enjoyable than Black Ops.

Killzone 3 is a solid FPS which unfortunately falls into the traps set by COD. I feel Guerilla could do a lot more with the Killzone franchise and this feels like a step back rather than a step forward.

Overall 8/10.

Just to be clear even now I would give Killzone 2 9/10. It is the better game campaign wise.