Archive for category Killzone 3
Killzone 3 Game Night Recap | Feb. 22nd
Posted by T0SH in Game Night, Killzone 3, QuickNews on February 25th, 2011
Sorry I’m late in getting this up, crazy week. We just played warzone so it was a little chaotic to keep track of who was doing what. But we had people join us off and on threw out the night. Next time we’ll play operations, I did that the next night and it was very fun.
New Details on inFAMOUS 2, Socom 4, Dead Space 2 & Killzone 3 Tonight on Spike!
Posted by Luke in Dead Space 2, InFamous 2, Killzone 3, Media, QuickNews, SOCOM 4 on February 24th, 2011
Kyle from GTTV was kind enough to send us word, that they are going to be revealing some new and exciting details tonight on Spike. Information will cover games from inFAMOUS 2, and Socom 4 to new DLC info for Dead Space 2 and new maps for Killzone 3.
Killzone 3 Sharp Shooter Impressions
Posted by Darrin in Accessories, Killzone 3 on February 24th, 2011
Immersion
The core move, aim & shoot game mechanics are much more immersive with a light gun that you actually aim rather than thumb sticks and buttons. It’s a different play experience that is worth trying. The ergonomics are excellent and the nav controller movement is very intuitive.
Learning Curve
I won’t lie; this is way harder than using a traditional dualshock. When I transitioned my FPS input style of choice from keyboard-only to mouse-look and again to dualshock, I went through long learning curves. It’s possible that I will grow accustomed to this over time but I’m skeptical that I will ever reach my full dualshock level of proficiency.
With limited proficiency, this isn’t a viable option for competitive multiplayer where you will get butchered by dualshock players, but for single player gameplay, this is a ton of fun.
Major Flaw
The huge limitation to this control system is how you turn your character. As it is now, to turn your character, you move the aiming reticle to the edge of the screen to start the turn, hold the aiming reticle steady until you turn as far as you want, and then move your aiming reticule back to center to stop turning. This is very hard to coordinate and completely unnatural. I frequently find my character spinning around while I frantically search for that center, “stop turning” position.
The Ultimate Solution
In a perfect world, the ideal control would have your character turn one-to-one with your real body turns, and stop turning when you stop turning. Ultimately, that can’t happen until gaming hardware moves away from the traditional free-standing TV display form factor and adopts wearable video video glasses that track your head’s orientation and delivers camera control that works just like your body’s natural camera control.
To long time blog readers, I’m sorry for harping on this again, but honestly, this feature is worthy of repeat mention. This single feature would deliver the next level in 3D environment immersion.
Additionally, if anything demands a unique platform and special input hardware, it is this. Who cares about DS-style dual screens and NGP-style back plate touch control silliness, when you can have a genuinely transformative input paradigm?
Killzone 3: Visuals and Tech Impressions
Posted by Darrin in Killzone 3 on February 24th, 2011
Art Style
Guerilla Games definitely has some high end art talent. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such stylish gas masks, hooded sniper cloaks, or helghast captain costumes. (On the downside, why do the ISA look so generic?)
Secondly, Guerilla must employ the top technical effects wizards; every scene is saturated with the most absurdly gratuitous use of mesmerizingly awesome particle and lighting effects: swirling fogs, floating embers, and exotic lighting make every scene visually addicting to watch.
Stereo 3D
I’ve seen a handful of 3D games already, so the core effect has lots its shock novelty. But combine that with the dramatic visuals and particle effects mentioned above along with the expert application of 3D to HUD elements and scoped weapon use, and the result is mind meltingly awesome.
During this console generation we’ve seen a lot of visual improvements; the move to HD, a twenty-fold increase in geometric detail and texture and shader quality, etc, but I think this tops my list of eye popping moments.
(Next up: Sharp Shooter Control Impressions)
KZ3 Operations: G B & U
Posted by Blackstaffer in Game Impressions, Killzone 3 on February 24th, 2011
Guerilla Games debuted a new game mode in Killzone 3 with much fanfare: Operations. I played it for a while last night with Tosh. It’s great to have a partner who actually knows what’s going on! He usually placed near the top of the leader boards and I usually placed near the middle. Here’s the Good, Bad, and the Ugly.
Good
Operations is a lot of fun. It’s true. There are three maps with an Operations mode, and we played the two that were not in the beta – Akmir Snowdrift and Mawlr Graveyard. We played each map twice. It’s great fun to stop the ISA or pummel the Helghast. The objectives are similar to the objectives in Warzone mode, but the game strings them together nicely with cutscenes that show players that were instrumental in achieving the objectives. I saw my handle in these cutscenes several times, and it’s a blast.
I played the Tactician, and it was only on the second go-around on these maps that I knew them well enough to actually capture the occasional spawn points. Tosh did all the heavy lifting the first go arounds. Spawn points are key to winning Operations, and therefore the Tactician is of vital importance. Being a Tactician myself, I like that.
I am very much a run and gun player, so it was hard at first for me to pull myself back and think before I rushed in. Once I started doing that, my score went up. It also helped that I got to know the maps.
Last night there were several people playing with mics on. This is normal on the 360, but not so normal on the PS3. It was nice to actually communicate with team mates. Great stuff.
The maps look great. I was especially impressed by Akmir Snowdrift. For those of you who don’t live in cold climates, that’s really what it looks like. Made me glad I was on a couch instead of outside in the snow.
Bad
Is there an overall winner? If the ISA get the first two objectives but the Helghast prevented them from getting the third, who won? It wasn’t clear to me. Once the match was over, the game tells you the score, like “2-1″. So does that mean whoever won the most sub-parts of the match won the match? I don’t know.
Unless you’ve played the map in Operations before, you’re going to be lost. Often I couldn’t find the objective, and I was running around like a headless chicken. Eventually I figured it out, but it was quite frustrating at first.
Spawn camping. I know I’ve mentioned this before, but even in Operations mode I encountered some of this. It wasn’t as bad as in previous games (especially in Warzone), but it still happened.
Ugly
Killzone 3 comes with a paltry eight multiplayer maps. Operations is only available on three of them. Considering that Operations could very well be the best multiplayer part of the game, it’s a shame that it’s limited to only three maps. Come on, Guerilla, please patch some of the other maps with an Operations mode.
Summary
So there you have it. My thoughts on Operations. I know some of you out there have a hate on for me just because I like to express my opinion. That’s your character flaw, not mine. But nobody else on this blog seems to be doing opinion pieces on Killzone 3 multiplayer, so I don’t have a problem doing it. Do you guys agree with me this time?
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