Killzone 3 is set for a February release and includes a lot of changes that should make it a must have title. The Producer I spoke with couldn’t talk about multiplayer, but I was able to experience some of the single player action, including several of the new gameplay mechanics like jetpacks and brutal melee.
So our fourth visit into the universe of Killzone begins right where Killzone 2 left off. Having defeated the Helghan leader, players are now stranded in hostile territory. Rico is back, although with much more friendly dialogue this time around, and players control the same protagonist from KZ2. It’s kind of funny regarding Rico, back when I reviewed KZ2 I thought he hurt the presentation with his excessively foul mouth. The developers nixed most, if not all of the foul language from Rico’s speech this time, which I think is a good move. He’s also said to be more focused and helpful this time around in combat.
The most popular clip from the trailer may be the jetpack, so let me start with that. The jetpack includes a heavy machine gun with infinite ammo (at least in this E3 demo) but it does have a cooldown mechanic so you can’t just hold the fire button down for more than about seven seconds. The jetpack is controlled by holding down L2, I believe it was, to go up, and then the left stick to move around. Players will also need to tap X to give the jetpack very brief speed boosts to help reach different platforms. At least in the demo, you cannot go aloft and stay aloft for more than a few seconds, making your timing to get from one platform to another important. Controlling the jetpack and shooting with it is fun and easy, too.
The new brutal melee combat was great as well. There is still some tweaking going on with it to ensure that it doesn’t become too long of a kill animation and things like that, but if you get close to an enemy, you will see a prompt for L1. Pressing L1 puts you in a three to four second animation in which you will finish off the Helghan enemy. In the couple of melee kills I performed, my character knifed the enemy in the chest, but I was told what animation you get depends on the environment and what weapons you have. I believe right now they said seven animations are in place with plans for more. The AI will also perform these brutal melee attacks I was told, so don’t be surprised to see Rico doing one.
There are some new weapons too, like the rocket launcher (called the M9 or M19 I think?). This new rocket launcher contains two modes of fire. One, when you are zoomed in, allows for a precision strike of all nine of its missiles. The other mode shoots out several rockets in a ‘drunken’ style, i.e., the fly out and look like they’re just going anywhere but they ultimately end up very close to each other at the same target.
The demo I played took place on a remote Helghan oil rig with plenty of icebergs and snow and flying waters all around. It was a really great looking level. Levels in KZ3 are apparently 10x as big as those in KZ2. Engine optimizations have further allowed with Guerilla Games to expand their vision of Killzone beyond that of KZ2, so if you thought KZ2 was the best the PS3 could do, that’s just not the case.
The developers have also looked at other top tier titles like God of War and Uncharted to see what mechanics and design ideas they can use in Killzone 3 to make it as good as possible. To that effect, expect Killzone 3 to have more exploration than Killzone 2 did. Killzone 2 was pure combat, but Killzone 3 will feature stints of exploration, which should work out really well. Furthermore, Killzone 3 will have some bits of humor thrown in, I was told, like the Helghan jetpack enemies’ kill animation being a bit over the top (i.e., they will bounce off of a wall and a floor before exploding). They thought Killzone 2 just took itself too seriously and learned from Uncharted that it’s okay to have a little fun with your characters and universe.
Killzone 3 arrives February 2011 and is looking like another must have title for the PS3. Oh, and it does look really cool in 3D, too.
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