Cover Won't Save You, Now... Nor Will Stupid Name: The "Killzone 3"

It took me a year to beat Killzone 2, mostly because I was enjoying, but also because while it was fair, it was very, very difficult to me due to the control scheme, and the fact that weapons have a sense of inertia behind. It took me four days to beat Killzone 3. I was used to the controls, and I figured that it'd have the same, natural feel as the second game did. I enjoyed KZ2's story, combat realism, and it's serious nature. War isn't fun and games, and KZ2 blended them very well, which is a challenge.

How I wish I could say that about Killzone 3. Let's start with story. Whoever said that the second's story was too serious, kiss my ass. I would gladly take another serious story over what this story was. After Scolar Visari's murder in the second game, two people are vying to be Helghan's dictator: Jorhan Stahl (Malcolm McDowell), a weapon's manufacturer who makes the Joker look sane, and Orlock (Ray Winstone), an Admiral who has no defining characteristics from a Helghast soldier other than a scar. The remaining Earth's Army (ISA), including Sev (seriously... Sev? I always hated that name), Rico, and the combat-eager Captain Narville, now have to fight against two Helghast Armies to get back to Earth, before Earth is destroyed. You may think I spoiled it, but the plot if that predictable.

The story is also horribly written. I about used the disc as target practice when Narville refused to warn Earth that they were going to be destroyed because he's there to "protect my men." Imagine this: A squad in Afghanistan finds that al-Qaeda has nukes aimed at the US. The commander decides instead of fighting to warn the US, or prevent the launch, that it's a better idea to surrender because his men would survive. Hint: They probably wouldn't survive, but it's better to fight for the cause that they are fighting for in the first place. Not only is Narville's choice very cowardly, but very unlike his character. In the second, he was the one wanting blood. Here, he wants to wave a white flag.

Added to the game play is a cover mechanic. You hold a button to stay in cover, and you can aim over cover to shoot enemies. The problem is that cover is useless seeing as your head will always stick out of waist high cover when ducking, and enemies can somehow shoot through a four feet thick metal wall. Figuring you die in one to three shots, this is aggravating, even more so when enemies take a whole magazine to die. Guerrilla Games had to have seen this in testing, along with Rico constantly stopping you in the middle of trying to get somewhere safe to tell you that he should lead the way. At first, I thought this was a bug, but now I'm sure that the son of a bitch was using me as a meat shield, shortly after he did this, I'd die, and he'd scream, "I can't get to you!" despite standing right in front of me. The solution to these issues was that your teammates can heal you, and ammo points are abound. The first one loses any merit because either your teammate can't get to where you are, or one of the two people who can heal you aren't in that mission.

We also have a lot of on rails parts, and vehicles. The biggest one is the Jetpack, which allows the player to jump really high. This is used in two sections of the game, one of them being absolutely useless. These sections feel half-assed, as if the developers decided that it was a cool idea at first, but didn't take the time to flesh it out. Again, that type of design doesn't work well.

While we're on things that don't work, why is there an unknown female character who contributes nothing to the story replacing a character from the second game that people liked? Natko's in the Co-Op campaign, but not the single player. Instead, we get Jammer, and I still have no idea what she was doing in the game. She does absolutely nothing until the end, and even then, that's getting her ass kicked until a nameless male soldier saves her. It's sad on more than the level of the man saving woman trope. The fight comes from absolutely nowhere (one second she's fine, the next second she's in the middle of the fight), and the nameless guy has more personality than her. He's the "Star Trek" red shirt, and he does more than her.

To say that Killzone 3 is a disappointment is minor. While it's no where near the worst game I've played, the fact that it's as poorly written and designed as it is, especially when compared to the first two games, is insulting. When I was assigned this and Bulletstorm, I thought this was the one I'd like more. I was wrong. If you want to see how the trilogy ends (and watch the depressingly abrupt ending that has no closure), rent it. Otherwise, play a better shooter... like Killzone 2.

Overall:

C-

+ Good graphics

+/- Nearly Capable Game Play

- Broken Cover System

- Bad story

- Bad writing

- Vehicle Sections that Add Nothing

- Poor Design Choices and Bad Programming

- Seriously... a Downer Ending?

- Jammer? Sev? Orlock?