With its flagship of uber-realistic graphics and exponentially intense gameplay, Guerrilla Games’ Killzone 2 wedged the attention and garnered a fan-following of many loyal members from the widespread gaming user base. It still left a lot of players, including us, wanting more technological ecstasies along with a few progressive in-game refinements concerning gameplay dynamics, combat mechanics, strategic squad-play and the arms database at hand. So we, along with expectant readers and Killzone fans, patiently kept our lungs pumping under optimum medical measures after Killzone 2’s release early in 2009, to build up the amount of energy that was required until the deranged zones of the next game in the franchise open up.
Ultimately, sanguinity in the game’s developer bore fruitful rewards and it turned out that the grass was not just greener in the second half of 2010, but even more richly saturated in its vibrant shades. With Sony announcing limited multiplayer beta code giveaways across North America and Europe, we also got our eager hands on one of the codes for review. We were absolutely awe-stricken by the amount of visual pleasure and intensifying combat material experienced while playing the multiplayer beta of Killzone 3.
Downloading the beta was almost effortless and soon after a few initial moments into the game, we realized that it still uses the PS2 controller system with reversed X and O buttons while confirming and exiting. Although unnoticeable for most part, getting comfortable with the discordance between on-screen hints and indicators on the controller weren’t as inconvenient as we presumed. The game offers two modes to play with, an online ‘Multiplayer’, and an offline bot-enabled single-player campaign, ‘Botzone’. For initials, while the focus was on the available classes and the customization options, a quick look into the settings menu lead to a negligible stumble across a missing Helghast logo that would be required to gauge the brightness of the display. Other options include Audio, Display and Mapping settings such as a binding switch for Zoom and Melee that allows swapping R3 and L1 buttons for increased convenience.
The classes offered in Killzone 3 are Marksman, Field Medic, Tactician, Engineer and Infiltrator. Being best suited for long-range combats and equipped with sneaky abilities for close-ranged encounters, Marksman has the ability to become invisible and also scramble the radar. Seemingly, it is the safest to go at war with Field Medic as he can revive mortally wounded teammates and has an airbot that follows him and fires at the enemy on its own. With a capability to capture spawn points and recon, Tactician is equipped with battle-resilient strategic empowerments. Engineer can repair broken bots, fix ammunitions inventory, and deploy turrets all over the map. Lastly, but no less insignificant, only more fun to play with, is the Infiltrator who can disguise in enemy outfits and sprint ability.
Each of the above mentioned classes can be equipped with a number of primary and secondary weapons that somewhat build up, but not restricted to, on the array of arms that were offered in Killzone 2. Four extra options that accompany the gunnery are Extra Health, Extra Ammo, Armor and a supplementary Primary weapon. A lot of hype was created among gamers about the new attributes that were to be included in Killzone 3, and as far as our assurances go, it’s all justifiable. A jetpack that lets you hop around with endless ammunition in a FPS map, a deadly exoskeleton, and a killer animation move for an infliction from an army knife digging a wound so deep as to strike a person’s heart through the neck, all very justified.
Firstly, with the offline mode, ‘Botzone’ offers three spectacularly designed maps to engage in, Corinth Highway serving as a Warzone, Frozen Dam: Guerrilla Warfare which is a team Deathmatch mode and a regular Frozen Dam campaign featuring extravagant cut-scenes embedded in a small objective based storyline. While several preliminary seconds of gameplay across any of these arenas captured glimpses of our stunned faces. They also observed the astute silence that left us in complete admiration of the imagery that was projected by the game.
Brilliantly designed art-elements and the game’s rock-solid gameplay completely substantiate the keen attention given to the details by the game’s art and development team. We noticed ‘Alpha Code’ written on the in-game screen, which in our humble opinion can only account for Guerrilla Game’s diligence to please ever-demanding gamers. Even though the multiplayer beta seems to have a level of detail that would usually only be seen in a finished AAA title, there are a few quirks that need polishing before the final product unveils across the retail market.
Venturing next into the online arena of Multiplayer, three different sub-modes are offered, namely Operations, Guerrilla Warfare and Warzone. While the former two are only confined to the MP-05 map – Frozen Dam, the last one brings a new setting for the players called Turbine Concourse with a magnanimous EMP at the centre of its canvas. Warzone can be played across Frozen Dam and Corinth Highway as well as an exclusively multiplayer map, Turbine Concourse SE-16. Although, jetpacks are only available in this multiplayer map while the Corinth Highway limits the exploration range set for exoskeletons.
Guerrilla Warfare is a very straightforward mode with opponent killing as its fore-frontal aim. Call it a deathmatch, skirmish or kill-rounds; it doesn’t deliver any less direct march and assault thrills just because Guerrilla Games has chosen to call it ‘Body Count’. Operations mode features cut-scenes along with mini-objectives that require in-squad coordination. This new blend of cinematics and online sequences shifts the team play experience from usual to extraordinarily enjoyable, especially with friends.
The most expansive and immersive among all modes is the Warzone, which admittedly was the most authentic in-war gameplay that a multiplayer mode could offer. It comprises of dynamically changing objectives that make this mode the best among the lot. Featuring objectives such as Search and Retrieve, Capture and Hold, Assassination, Search and Destroy along with the good old skirmish, Warzone keeps the gameplay alive with shifting strategies among each of the objectives.
Killzone 3 features some of the most amazing maps available to play among any other of its FPS contenders. Exclusively featuring two Exos with never-exhausting ammo for each team, Corinth Highway is a devastated war site with megalithic construction elements such as red-hot metal frames semi-submerged within debris, shattered bridges and wrecked pillars. With fervent bars that emit burning rust particles, excellent debris sculpts and an extra crisp detail pass, texture blending appears to be virtually seamless. Although, the busy nature of the setting often signified an overdone environment with a bit too much visual clutter.
Turbine Concourse SE-16, a map that is exclusive of the multiplayer mode, is green in its ambient and features Jetpacks. These have a shorter uplift span that one would usually expect and allows drifting while in mid-air without any upward thrust that seemed to be compensating for the limited boost. Possessing one of the most intelligent vertical level designs, Turbine Concourse SE-16 offers a lot of hideout hoods and sneaky corners to carry out shiftily deviant assaults and easily become the deadliest frag-master on the multiplayer scoreboards.
Lastly, Frozen Dam conceives a superbly laid out setting with various preemptive and primarily tactile areas. Plenty of short-range and long-range combat opportunities are available, but recurring blizzard storms often deteriorate the visibility resulting in an unforeseen mishap. Heaving frails of snowflakes often lead to a disposition of the player’s cautionary attention directed towards an anticipated headshot.
Unlock points are rewarded as gradual bonuses alongside earning ranks and ascending levels, both in ‘Botzone’ and Multiplayer modes. Amassing unlock points was best carried out in the Guerrilla Warfare mode where streamlined objective of consequent assailments grounded the perfect setting for leveling up comparatively faster than Operations and Warzone. The offline mode loaded up very quickly while the online multiplayer kept us waiting for the in-game screen until boredom started to seep in. With steady shooting stances for the in-game characters portrayed with occasional disorientations of the weapon scopes, an acute aiming precision was experienced while often illustrating the organic instability of the character’s body. Also, controller lag is almost non-existent and online play has become even more intuitively responsive to the button tapping and joystick tracking.
After delving deeper through online and offline combat systems, it seems that Guerrilla Games has put significant effort into finessing their latest offering. A minor regret regarding the beta is that it does not support PlayStation Move, neither does it offer any 3D visuals, both being essentially the two most significant additions to the game. Much attention is given to the level of detail of both characters and environment designs. Along with the core gameplay and previously mentioned missing features, the Killzone 3 is likely to become an all-time favorite among FPS lovers. With a good hope of further additions and improvements, we once again set back our countdown clocks for the set date of its release. Killzone 3 developed by Guerrilla Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment is expected to be retailed across North America by February 2011.