There's no doubt that Guerilla Games set the bar ridiculously high for the Killzone franchise when they released Killzone 2 about two years ago and the expectations were immense; graphically and control wise. How could they possibly outdo the performance of Killzone 2? Is the thought even fathomable?
Visari had been shot to death by Rico at the end of Killzone 2 as a last-minute rage outburst, thus propelling the Helghan nation into "madness" like Visari promised right before his death. The ISA are caught in the middle of this massive civil war as two possible "heirs" to Visari's throne, Admiral Orlock and Jordan Stahl clash differences in terms of their vision of a better Helghan and how to deal with the ISA survivors. Along with a couple of subplots (Narville needing rescue after becoming a POW) the main story has to do with the "get out of dodge" complex where your few in numbers and behind enemy lines. The game emphasizes survival a lot and is quite evident given the horrifying odds that these men are up against.
Many critics have dismissed the story of Killzone 3 as "bland" and some have even resorted to calling the story nonexistent. Killzone 3 is a SEQUEL to Killzone 2, not much story is needed here folks since the bulk of this ongoing war is told in past sequels and prequels. This game is about the desperate attempt to leave Helghan in one piece and it executes this story quite well. To deduct points because of the story in Killzone 3 is like deducting points off Gears of War for having chainsaws attached to their assault rifles.
Killzone 3 boasts some of the most breath-taking set pieces to ever grace a next-generation console, the Reckoning portion of Killzone 3 will leave you speechless. You will be amazed at how much Guerilla Games was able to squeeze out of the PS3, the Reckoning level in Killzone 3 has you going up against the biggest boss in FPS history that only rivals that 40-foot chimeran monster in Resistance 2. Lightening is striking down as you race through a barrage of mortar fire and enemy troopers coming down in dropships, you pick up a WASP (Killzone 3's version of a portable weapon of mass destruction" and...Well let's leave it at that, one must experience the exhilaration and adrenaline that this portion of the game delivers.
Lighting effects are amazingly realistic and the character models have been significantly improved, Sev no longer has that robotic smirk on his face, in this game he actually has facial expressions. Environments range from snowy ice caps to a very fascinating take on the whole alien jungle setting, these levels are massive and if you look hard enough you might just find an alternate route for a more advantageous position. Graphically, Killzone 3 is unmatched, it's only competition being it's ambitious predecessor.
The sound mix in Killzone 3 is of Hollywood stature, Joris De Man returns as the composer for this game and he eloquently prepares an emotionally-driven score that really encapsulates the overall feeling of desperation and hope throughout the entire campaign. Even the main menu titles has a mesmerizing score that leaves you in awe without even pressing the start button. Explosions are loud and gripping, your M82 rifle has a noticeable makeover in terms of sound, it has a roar of a sound when fired that makes it feel that much heavier and powerful. Malcolm McDowell lends his voice for the character of Jordan Stahl and Ray Winstone voices Orlock, a duo that performs flawlessly, Orlock's thick grunt of a voice against Stahl's joker-esque approach to delivering lines; they really brought the characters to life.
Gameplay has had an overhaul yet Guerilla Games managed to keep both the veteran players of Killzone 2 and newcomers happy and contented. The heavy feel is back in it's full glory but the controls are much smoother than they were in Killzone 2, you will not bump into walls or doors like you did in the previous game which had a stiff feel to it. All the controls have been refined and one would even shed a tear knowing that Guerilla Games actually succeeded in perfecting the controls in the true Killzone fashion.
The online portion of the game is so massive that a second review might suffice. To keep it brief, you have a similar ranking system like you had in the previous game only this time around you unlock these points that you can use to get weapons and perks. The point system has also been reworked as you will find it much easier to gain points; Killzone 3 rewards you with points for virtually everything you do whereas in Killzone 2, the point system was rather unforgiving and for lack of a better word, "cheap." Maps are huge and bursting with details, you will most likely die the first few times for being continuously distracted by the breath-taking scenery. Class system is back with a few changes, the saboteur is now called the infiltrator. Other changes include what weapons they carry and of course what their perks are. New game modes include Operations and Guerilla Warfare. Operations literally puts the top 3 players in the cutscene in an objective-based match spanning three very critical objectives that need to be completed in a very short amount of time with the ISA invading and the Helghasts defending. Guerilla Warfare is your standard team deathmatch and Warzone returns from last game.
Killzone 3 is what a $60 game should be. It has incredible longevity, it fully exercises the power of the playstation 3, it's fun multiplayer will leave you neglecting every other game coming out this year. The satisfaction of hearing that kill notification "brilippp!" chirp thingy never gets old, it's really satisfying! Buy Killzone 3 today and prepare to be engulfed in the atmosphere of pure chaos and destruction!
The Amsterdam-based studio reflects on its humble beginnings, beloved franchises, and growth through the years.
Up there with the top tier in the industry. Love Guerrilla Games - Horizon Burning Shores is simply STUNNING.
Same. They nailed it with Horizon. The trouble is I also want a new Killzone! Can't I just have it all?!
I have yet to play Burning Shores as I just started Forbidden West (bought at launch, just unwrapped last weekend LOL) and playing on PS5.
man...I still can't believe the graphics especially now I'm playing it on my LG OLED. that graphics and with stable performance backing it up, GG really is the master of their craft!
32.7M sales in the Horizon franchise! With 8.4M coming from Forbidden West alone! Truly a hugely successful game and franchise as a whole. Looking forward to Horizon III
One year after realease HZD sold 7.6 million.
https://www.noobfeed.com/ne...
So not a drop off.
Unless you're saying a HFW should have sold as much now as HZD sold in 5 years?
It's been 3 games, this includes Call of the Mountain. Also no, its a great improvement over HZD.
lol you are comparing:
HZD: 28 February 2017 - May 2023 (6 years+)
HFW: 18 February 2022 - May 2023 (1 year+)
We will see if it surpass original number.
@shane, 2 full main games, 2 DLC add ons, 1 VR spin off game, oh and a an official LEGO set.
Not too bad for an ip that's only been on market for 6 years
Wow, very impressive. I didn't know the numbers were so high for Forbidden West. Still playing through it myself
Yooo, when I first saw that Killzone 1 footage at E3, my friends my brothers and I were like, Holy shit! When it came out, it didn't look exactly like it, but we sunk so many hours into 1 & 2.
I even liked Killzone: SF, it was a spectacle to look at, and even today it looks good. I hope they make a new one. Can you imagine how that will look, and they can get some modern FPS pointers from Bungie.
Such a wonderful studio. They deserve all their success.
The Decima Engine is absolute 🔥 I'm just mad they have abandoned Killzone.
They are probably working on mutiple projects. One of them is Horizon 3, but another is a multiplaer game and probably somehting else.
DSOGaming writes: "While Sony does not plan to release Killzone 3 on the PC, Yahfz shared a video that gives us a glimpse at what such a PC version could look like."
Still looks secure 2 gens later... one of my favorite ps3 moments. With 3D and move the game is on another level
PC almost always ends up the best place to play games, even if it takes a while.
What would you rather play decades down the line? A game at a fixed resolution and frame, considering you have a working disc, and the hardware?
Or run it on an emulator that can update the experience all around, and let you use whatever control input you prefer?
If you insist on the former, it's really only for the sake of nostalgia.
I disagree. The main draw for consoles has always be the simplicity of just putting the disc in / downloading it and playing without worrying about anything else. The average person just wouldn’t want to deal with emulation even though it’s very important for preservation.
Youre getting flak because people on here thibk of themselves as pc wizards. But honestly most poeple try and go get emulators and romz they end up with malware.. yes theyre "easy" if you know the basics but alot of people dont. That said the fact that its taken nearly 20 years to get a sustantially better experience for ps3 games than on its native system shows the complexity of getting bc to work. Sony, if they have any intention, should just invest in a vastly better psnow experience.
jukins
Most people who emulate don't get malware, you'd have to be going to some weird sites for that to happen, heck years ago people were getting sketchier ad's resulting in malware warning on this site if you didn't have a ad-blocker lol.
That's fine if that's the main draw, but it doesn't make it a better experience, just a preference. Having the freedom to do the things you can do on PC is what the appeal of PC is. Buying a game on PC means you never have to worry about the console makers just deciding the next hardware shouldn't support the generation anymore, which means everything you bought is stuck on that hardware instead of moving up with everything else. Nintendo uses this tactic to keep reselling the same games over and over at inflated prices. Sony cut all previous gens off the PS4 and sold it back to people in a poor attempt with PSnow. While the PS5 supports PS4 games, that may not be the case in the next gen after this. No to mention shutting off all the previous stores and updates completely. Even MS stopped making new BC titles at some point, so now there's a big list with 17 pages of titles that are not playable on Xbone and are just trapped on older gen. That's not a problem on PC, the reverse happens where you only have to worry if your hardware can play the newest releases at ultra with no issue.
Shhh don't say that aloud! You're going to trigger a lot of console infidels here.
Well that's the beauty of still owning a retro console tho. Those who usually complain about emulation are just being blindly loyal to a company. Emulation is great for many reason, but if I still owned the console then I disagree nothing beats plugging it back in and going down a nostalgia trip
The RPCS3 devs are doing great work. And Kami works nicely with it too it seems.
Very neat.
While Xbox has committed to backwards compatibility spanning four generations, PlayStation has continued their stance that the feature isn't important. Well, it is! I'm hoping these PlayStation 3 classics that skipped the PS4 entirely show up again on the PS5 for everyone to enjoy.
Resistance, Dead Space franchise, Splatterhouse, Lollipop Chainsaw, Brutal Legends, Alice Madness Returns, Enslaved Journey to the West, Mass Effect franchise. Also wouldn't mind seeing a new Wild Arms game remake or HD remaster, the Xenosaga trilogy, a new Parasite Eve, a new Dino Crisis just too many games to list that are forgotten and left in the dark now adays.
The PS3 is difficult to emulate. PS3 backwards compatibility on PS5 would require translation from PowerPC to x86. Additionally the PS5 likely would have to mimic the PS3’s GPU and CPU.
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This is what pops up on my web browser. So I can't even read the site. So, forget that. They don't need my data.
But let's get something straight. OG Xbox had around 1,001 games. How many are BC on Series X? **39** THIRTY NINE. Come on! That's wack BC. You can't tell me that's a complete list. Talking about commitment. Game preservation. Ridiculous. Covers nothing.
How many games released on Xbox 360? Around 2085. How many are BC?
568. That's it. Around 1,517 are **MISSING** Stop playing. Tired of that nonsense.
Anyway, the only games I really want from PS3 that would be awesome are Motorstorm and MGS4. I'll take BC. I'll take a remaster. I'll take a remake. If not those, then Killzone 2. And in VR, maybe Sports Champions, House of the Dead Overkill and the Time Crisis games.
That's all I need. But we've gone over BC again and again in every possible way. It wasn't that important because Sony sold 115 million consoles without it. That's proof enough with no outcry. And PS5 has damn near all 4,000+ PS4 games BC. It's not PS1,PS2 and PS3. But that's plenty. I'll take more but you get what you get.
Agree with this review SO much. 10 seems generous, but trust me, it's not. It deserves nothing less imo.
Especially agree with your points on the story.
But only 9.5 for sound? What does it lose .5 for? Just curious because I think it has the best sound design in any other game, ever. Rivaled in terms of actual SOUND only by Battlefield BC2, but the thing is Killzone 3 actually has a really good musical score that complements everything and I don't think BC2 has that.
Agree with this review SO much.
Just finished my first play through and I agree with EVERYTHING you just said.. Especially the ending.... It was just...Over... Seemed like a bad Hollywood ending where they just ran out of money, but in this case I would say they were required to do it for the the paving for KZ4. Great Review!!!
One of the better and HONEST reviews that others should have given. Story is good, animations and controls are improved (even though Im a Kz2 fan) and obviously, there's nothing more one can say about the graphics.
SP gameplay length is NOT a problem. Give me a shorter, jampacked quality offering over a lengthy, dull, rinse and repeat type, anyday of the week. Pretty much how I felt about Heavenly Sword.
@inFAMOUS 1
I think the ending sets up the story continuation for Kz4.
Looking forward to playing this game.
With that out of the way, 3 negative points and still 10/10?