Soldier: Killzone 3, Fallout 3 have the most realistic combat, Army training sim is an ‘abomination’

In a recent VentureBeat interview, 12-year vet Sergeant Dave Mull said that the videogames that most accurately simulate combat are sci-fi FPS Killzone 3 and post-apocalyptic RPG Fallout 3. Additionally, Mull shared his thoughts about the Army’s combat training simulator, the EST 2000, calling it an “abomination.”

[bubblebeam]

“Ugh, you should see that abomination the Army trains on [… the EST 2000] has a controller shaped like an M4 or M16 and graphics like a Dire Straights music video.”

I laughed so hard. This guy sounds awesome. Anyone who likes Fallout and Killzone is awesome in my books. And to boot he is trained in military combat...neat.

[SilentNegotiator]

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

The AI seems to just charge at you. In which case, I think KZ almost is a better combat sim.

But then, the idea seems to be more on trying out different weapons (to save money on real bullets) than practicing engaging life-like enemies. They should really try to combine engagement sim and weapons sim, if ya ask me. EST 2000 ultimately looks pretty iffy.

[jony_dols]

I must be the gritty & heavy feeling of the weapons in KZ & Fallout.

If you removed regen health & sci-fi elements in Killzone, then I could definitely see how it would mirror real life infantry combat.

On a side note you'd think that US military would invest in developing a better sim, when elsewhere they spend 40K on a single Javelin missile...

[Eyeco]

KZ2 on Elite , without crosshair's and Hud is about the closest you'll ever get to war sim, the difficulty is brutal

[kneon]

@Eyeco

It's not just the difficulty that makes KZ2 so good, it's also the AI and the fantastic atmosphere. This is a game to be played on a huge screen with the surround sound cranked to 11.

[bubblebeam]

@SilentNegotiator

The animations in that thing are horrible. They are worse than Goldeneye 64 LMAO. It reminds me of the end of Terminator 1, when the termintor does some weird bum rush behind them.

[JsonHenry]

Guess he has never played ARMA 2 or Red Orchestra 2.

[Knight_Crawler]

Was going to say the same thing.

Fall Out is a bad example becuase the aiming mechanics are so horrible, hence the reason you need the VAT system which you can not do in real life.

Killzone is good but I would pick Battlefield over Killzone just becuase the weapons are actully real life weapons.

[SilentNegotiator]

War ain't THAT clunky.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

I'm not understanding why he mentions Killzone 3 though. KZ3 isn't realistic at all. The recoil and bullet spread on the guns resemble the arcadey CoD guns.

KZ2 is faaaar more realistic than KZ3. There are 24 variables for calculating bullet damage in that game compared to just 7 for KZ3. Every weapon is unique and has realistic recoil and bullet spread. The movement is realistic as well as it accurately represents a solider running with heavy armor. KZ3 feels more like a shooter to please CoD fans than a shooter that suppose to represent skill and realism in my opinion.

[ATi_Elite]

"Mull’s answers are based on just what he’s played and not necessarily every game in existence"

Obviously this guy has NEVER EVER played Arma 2! Some body get that Soldier a PC and a Fresh copy of Arma 2 Operation Arrowhead! He'll be begging to go back to basic training by sundown!

He did give a great description of why he chose KZ3 and FO3! KZ3 is such a great game overall but the Chaos and Chatter is dead on. FO3 combat sucks but managing your character and no Life regeneration is realistic!

and as far as the Engagement Skills Trainer 2000.....Crytek has been making a new one and using their CryEngine 3 and it looks.......

It's CryEngine 3 running on a $200K Virtual Reality Computer like I even need to say how it looks!

[Qrphe]

>Mull’s answers are based on just what he’s played and not necessarily every game in existence

He should play some of the Arma games, seriously. Possibly throw Red Orchestra in there.

[MrDead]

I got Arma 2 and wasn’t very impressed, it was good but not very fun. Now I have the Arma II Dayz mod and its one of the best games I've played, Armas mod community has made this game brilliant.

I love the Killzone series, the AI is evil, play it on elite and you have an insane battle on your hands.

This interview was posted in full on N4G last week, can't find it at the moment.

[sandman224]

Killzone is one of the best fps I've ever played.

[Blackdeath_663]

agreed its one of those games that never gets old. i always find myself going back to it. has the best multiplayer experience imo.

[AusRogo]

I still play kz2 online, is great fun.

[bloodybutcher]

ausrogo, really? i haven't been online in kz2 for ages, but surely would love to come back from time to time.how is it with finding full servers?

[claud3]

Fallout 3 sim is second and killings as well. Were does this guy get of

[GreenRanger]

"realistic combat"
Yeah, games where you fight aliens, zombies, robots and mutants and have to put 17 bullets into one of them to kill them is definitely more realistic than an army sim. /s

[Hicken]

Monstar's got you on this one, Tommy.

[Danniel1]

I hope F3 isn't realistic, I'd be worried about all the Deathclaws.

[Detoxx]

He's talking about the combat. Play Fallout 3 on very hard and go to Point Lookout (DLC), you'll get f*cked

[SOULJER]

The engagements in killzone gave me that authentic feeling of conflict.

[mayberry]

Its very obvious to me that Guerilla Games are very A.I. centric when coding the Killzone Titles! Blows me away daily!

[gijsbrecht]

KZ2 did give me that realistic feel of handling weapons, no other shooter gave me. So no surprise there.

[Vic_Mackey]

Combat veteran here. This guy is a knuckle f@#k. We (US Army) have some really badass simulators that use our issued weapons. Not sure where this guy served, our when he trained, but he's mental. Fallout's combat was fun, but in no way realistic. You want a simulator for combat, go play Flashpoint, MoH campaigns, and ArmA, hell even BF3 mp is sweet when you have Pele who know what they're doing. That's about as close as you can get to combat sims without a weapon system or being in the service.

[ALLWRONG]

I would go with ArmA loooooong before Killzone (lol) and Fallout 3.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

Of course YOOOOOOU would lol.

[MasterD919]

Fallout has limbs that can blow off, which is rarely in FPS games these days. I would agree with his statement based off of that.