Killzone 3

[spaceboy]

I've got to say I'm surprised by a 10, as I've seen other reviews come in averaging 9.  But no matter, it's great to see some praise for this game (and series in general).  I do have a slight problem with them saying the top shooters are Halo and COD, not that they aren't good but not adding Battlefield games in that sentence is just wrong.  As much as I enjoyed KZ2 online, the Battlefield Bad Co. games have been my favorites online by a landslide.

It's true it seems just as easy to root for the Helghast in these games, which actually helps make it cool online as you wind up playing as both sides obviously and a lot of people love being the Helghast.

I've started a new playthrough of KZ2 and am getting myself psyched for the new game. :)

[mmosu]

We still need to hook up for some online play space  :-X

[spaceboy]

We still need to hook up for some online play space  :-X

I know!  sounds good to me.  I hardly ever see you online when I'm on :(   I typically am only available between 9-12pm CST.

[mmosu]

We're several time zones apart, that's the problem.  I'm in EST, so by the time you're on my gaming time is usually over for the evening, I only see you when I stay up late.

While I'm here, two new vids - the wait is almost over, I love that the shadow marshall's pistol is back for this one, and that mini-gun sounds absolutely wicked  >:D:

http://www.ign.com/videos/2011/02/07/killzone-3-kill-of-the-day-optometrists-r-us?objectid=14324403

http://www.ign.com/videos/2011/02/04/killzone-3-killin-montage

[mmosu]

I downloaded and started playing the MP beta today and immediately several things have jumped out at me:

1) the controls are WAY more responsive and less frustrating that they were in KZ2.  The sluggish and "heavy" feeling that was so controversial in the last game is replaced with a snapier, more crisp and precise control feel.  The character still has weight and inertia when moving, but this feel does not come at the expense of responsiveness this time.  Also the control layout is more customizable, and you can switch both the ironsights and crouch functions between toggle and hold modes, which was one of my pet peeves about the controls in KZ2.

2) the AI is really smart - seriously, it's a little unnerving.  All the games I've played so far have been against bots, and I've already seen them do things that some human players don't think to do.  In one game where my team was defending a team member from an assassination attempt, all of the other AI's actually took up defensive positions around the target on floors above and below him, sealing off access to the stairwell he was hiding in between the two said floors.  When the enemy made a push at him from the upper floor he retreated through the lower and a small contingent even split off to go with him while the rest stood against the attack for a successful escape - very impressive  :-X

3) included in KZ3 is the new "operations" MP mode, which puts a story to the different MP objectives.  The score leaders get to see themselves as the stars in the cutscenes that provide breaks in the action when the objectives change.

4) the class progression system has been changed so that different abilities and weapons can be "purchased" using experience points in order to create custom characters.  Some of the weapons themselves can also be mildly customized with suppressors and different types of sights – BIG plus  :-X

5) the beta itself is a little glitchy, with a few characters flickering in and out occasionally and one notable slow-down seen – but hey, it's a beta, what do you want?  I seriously doubt these issues will be present in the full game.

[spaceboy]

sounds good to me!  in fact that description of the bot match makes me wonder if you'll get an even better tactical experience with this AI than with humans online!  Of course, it won't be good if it becomes too predictable, as the one thing that keeps you on your toes the most online is not knowing what to expect (at least not 100%) from the other players.

MAN, I can't wait for it, your comments are making me chomp at the bit  ;D

[mmosu]

From what I've seen so far, I would say you'll get a more predictable experience vs. the AI.  Everyone has been involved in games where, despite best efforts, the teams end up very unbalanced.  The AI will give a balanced, predictable experience every time, because you can set the difficulty of the bot AI to your liking. 

[mmosu]

The competition online so far has been fierce.  There is only one map available in the open beta, and everyone is getting to know it pretty well.  I've still faired pretty well - always at least in the top 3-4 by the end of the match - but one thing I'm noticing is that even mediocre players can still compete in this game.  I'm not sure if the beta really level matches the teams like the full game has done in the past (KZ2 did a really good job of this) but I'm encountering a broad range of ability in the players that are ending up in the same matches as me.  What I attribute the competitiveness at this point to is good level design - they are so balanced and well laid out that a player that has a good head for strategy can make up for inferior playing skill by being smart.  This is all a sign of good things to come imo  :-X   

[mmosu]

I love the screams in this one  >:D  Turn it up!

Killzone 3: Kill of the Day - The Chiropractor

[spaceboy]

nice one!  I've been steadily playing through KZ2 getting myself primed.  The AI is so good, and I hear even better in KZ3.  One time after starting a firefight I backed down a hall to go back and change my gun at one of the drops and as I came back 3 Helghast had begun to follow me back through the main door.  From where they spawned in the game, they came up a set of stairs, into the main room and started down a hall.  Obviously once I engaged them, they were free to chase me down and kill me, they were not stuck in a space by invisible walls.  :-X

[mmosu]

Well, if you didn't play the MP Beta you're too late - it's over.  The content was pulled from the playstation store at the same time the single player demo went public - lose one, gain one I suppose  :D

So, after cursing at the screen briefly and waiting half an hour to download the single player demo, I fire it up and was immediately and unexpectedly plunged into one of the most chaotic and intense FPS experiences I've ever had!  This game is going to be spectacular in just about every aspect.  The SP controls are just as I reported on in the MP beta, as is the AI.  The demo begins with strafing a series of oil rigs floating in an ice-filled ocean from a flying troop transport and from there shoots straight through the upper stratosphere with a mix of foot patrol, vehicle combat, and use of the spectacular WASP launcher which not only fires miniature bunker-busting rockets, but can also be detached from it's mount and carried with you as a "heavy" weapon.  The environment is cool - it looks savage, threatening, and dangerous, with violently swirling wind and snow and a heaving, wavy, ice-filled ocean that spells instant frozen death should you take a bad step.  The rigs themselves look real - they are rusting, creaky hunks of metal, and part of the vast industrial engine that drives the Helghast energy economy, and the HG pull out all the stops in order to defend them.  One of the first things you notice is how Sev and Rico have changed since the end of KZ2 - their hair has grown long and they sport beards, indicating they've been stranded on Helghan for a long time.  They look filthy, like they would stink too.  Much of the banter between them seems similar, but the quality of the voice acting seems to have gone up a notch.  All in all, even though I didn't think this was possible I am now even more excited for the full game - only 3 more days  >:D

[spaceboy]

that does make me even more excited....as did the $20 credit Amazon is now offering for pre-orders so I've got that going for me now too! I'm only paying $37 for it with the credit from LBP2, and now I can use this credit for my next game....it's going to be the ICO/SOTC collection...but first I can't wait to visit Helghan!

[mmosu]

Tomorrow is the day! Oh Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy!  :-()  I've played the crap out of the SP demo!

[spaceboy]

My brigade deploys to Helghan in about 28 hours.

or in multiplayer that might read:

Tomorrow we send the ISA scum back to Vekta after we spill their blood with vengeance.  Long live Helghan!

either way, can't wait.  I'm psyched. 


see you on the battlefield mmosu!

[mmosu]

Tomorrow we send the ISA scum back to Vekta after we spill their blood with vengeance.  Long live Helghan!

Repel the ISA cowards or die trying!  Helghan demands it!!!  :-D

[spaceboy]

Ok, so I deployed to Helghan for a couple hours last night.  First impressions are that it is (obviously) much like KZ2, but only new and improved.   It feels a lot like BC2 to me.  The graphics are great of course.

I played both a little bit of SP and MP.  SP is great as it leaves off where KZ2 ends and gets you right in the thick of it.  The improved aiming makes it a better experience so far.

I really like the warzone game type which switches up the objectives.  Lots of fun and teammates that worked well together and communicated.  Lots of props given to me and other medics that kept our teammates alive and moving.  The maps are varied and very well layed out.  Lots of different ways to get around and up and down.  Good good fun   :)

[mmosu]

Nice  :-X
I have only done SP so far, not sure how far in I am, but if I had to make a wild guess I might suspect I'm around half way.  The story up until this point really skips around within a 6 month period of time, and someone who didn't play KZ2 would probably be a little lost at first.  The thing that has impressed me the most so far isn't the improved controls (which are great) or the visuals (which are spectacular) - it's the pacing.  The devs have done a really good job of not making the player do the same thing for too long - right about the time you're getting worn out from gutting it out on foot, you're presented with a run-n-gun sequence in a vehicle.  These scenes break up the pace and give you a chance to do some major damage using some cool hardware >:D  The locations have also been much more varied than in previous games.  So far I've seen the ash-covered remains of a nuked Pyrrhus, the wilds of a Helghan "jungle" (very different concept of a jungle than what we see on Earth), a field of energy-mining rigs floating in a frozen ocean, and the inside of a Helghast weapons manufacturing plant.  So far I like what I see and the hype is justified - let's hope it finishes strong  :-X

[spaceboy]

I continue to be impressed with the MP maps - a nice variety of locations.  Also I had luck again that my teammates were all team players and used mics to communicate.  I almost never hear people on BC2, which is fine, but I do like being able to coordinate etc.  People calling out enemies to your sides or around corners, or also that someone is coming up the stairs, or discussing how best to take out the huge mechs in that one map, stuff like that.   

[mmosu]

Nice space  :-X
I traditionally don't start MP until I finish SP, and that will probably continue here.  What you say is making me want to break with tradition though  :-D
Remember the Petrusite cannon from KZ2.  Well I got to use the latest Helghast doomsday tech today - it seems they've developed a form of "irradiated Petrusite" that emits green energy that causes targets to (as close as I can tell) literally burst.  It makes short w@&k of even heavily armored foes.   

[spaceboy]

I like to mix it up a bit and do some of both.  Tonight I tried Operations which is cool objective based games, that have a little "story" built into it unlike warzone where you have objectives, but no real story.  As each objective is reached or held and again at the end, you get little cutscenes that show the teams accomplishing or failing complete with name tags over our heads.  I supose they'd get old after a time but it's cool to watch a little scene played out.  supposedly the best players on your team are highlighted in the scene. 

I also played a bit of the co-op version of campaign with my son.  The 2nd person controls Natko (sp) from KZ2 even though he isn't there with you playing solo.  So you actually have 3 guys, Sev, Rico (AI), and Natko.  Fun and for us, quite funny as my son was goofing off and running straight into the swarm of Helghast.  Later he jumped into that green blast hole,  "weeee",  so damn funny I was laughing so hard.

[mmosu]

 ^+-+ I love when co-op breaks down  ^+-+

[mmosu]

Finished SP last night . . . final thoughts time!

I've already commented on the gameplay elements, controls, and weapons - my opinion hasn't changed (all  :-X for those keeping score) so I'm not going to go there again.  What I want to talk about here is the game as a whole experience.  I already mentioned that the pacing is really good and this continued right up through the end.  There was a good mix of standard FPS combat, vehicle segments (piloting a Helghast ice-saw was really fun  >:D) and use of other heavy hardware (WASP launcher, minigun, Petrusite guns).  My one complaint here is sometimes the action is broken up too much, and by the time you're really getting into one scene, it's suddenly over and you're whisked away somewhere else.  The plot seems a bit rushed toward the end - this may have been intentional in order to reflect the desperation of the characters as they try to stop a monstrous Helghast war-machine, or inadvertent and a reflection of the desperation of the developers to meet a looming deadline - either way, it falters in the final moments.  If you're completely immersed in the intense action it might be easy to miss, or at least forgive, but the final moments seem like they were just looking for a way to wrap it up and leave a cliffhanger for KZ4.  What happens in the final cut scene itself is so ridiculous that it honestly taints the entire game a bit for me.
- BIG

Spoiler

In a last-ditch effort to stop the Helghast invasion fleet from reaching a defenseless Earth, the ISA inadvertently ignites the Petrusite grid under the planet's surface, setting off a chain reaction that nearly wipes out the entire surface of Helghan . . . WHAT  ???

–
Despite these problems, the chaos is still the star in this game.   The heat comes in from all directions and there's really no way to know what is about to hit you.  It could be anything, at any time, from anywhere, and at times things are so crazy out of control that it's hard to tell where your friends have gone to and where the enemies are coming from – this may sound like a bad thing until you consider that it really highlights how stacked against you the odds are, and then it all makes sense – it's supposed to feel not like you're winning, but that you're barely surviving each situation by the skin of your teeth.  Sometimes things happen that take you by surprise to the point that you don't even know where the attack or explosion or huge vehicle is coming from – all you end up seeing is a shaking screen, flying debris, and your squad-mates screaming out enemy positions over the com-link.   On playthrough 2 I'll know when and where stuff is about to happen, which I don't think will spoil it since I'll know which way to be looking to see the cool stuff.  A perfect example is the battle with the enormous MAWLR (walking battle platform) toward the end of the game.  There were several times I lost track of it during a firefight with ground troops only to look up and realize I was under it and nearly getting stepped on by one of its massive legs! 
Despite a few story issues and the occasional straying into absurdity, this is an overall  great game and well worth the wait.  Multiplayer will be active and entertaining for years to come due to the huge following of the series, so replay is not a problem.  If you still want more action against the AI, you can play in Botzone as well.  The hype was justified in my opinion, so if you have a PS3 and are any kind of an FPS fan this one is worth a play.     

[spaceboy]

Good to hear your final thoughts mmosu.  I'm still playing through the campaign and have the same overall feeling as you, which carries over from KZ2 really, that the chaos is king as you say... excellent AI, great feeling of scrapping to stay alive.   That description of realizing you were underneath the MAWLR is a classic Killzone situation for me.  There's so much going on it's easy to get distracted while trying to stay alive.

I'm also playing through my second time already in the co-op version along with my son... lots more laughs with two people, and the whole experience is more forgiving even on the same level of difficulty.  The true experience of the campaign is alone, but I'm glad the co-op is there too as it is very fun.   MP has also been a blast so far as I've stated.

I'm skipping your ending spoiler for now (thanks for using the tag) so we'll have to discuss that at a later time.  :)

[mmosu]

I'm skipping your ending spoiler for now (thanks for using the tag) so we'll have to discuss that at a later time.  :)

No problem man, I hate knowing how a game ends before I get there, no matter how rediculous it is.  I even get disappointed when I figure out the ending on my own before it happens. I think that's why the ending in FC2 stuck with me, I definately didn't see it coming!  You won't see the KZ3 ending coming either, never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that they were going to go where they did!! 

On the topic of co-op, is the plot the same as single player?  It seems like it would be hard to weave Natko into the story since he doesn't appear in single player at all (dude helps you storm the gates of Visari's palace and then disappears into thin air - what's that all about?!  :-())

[spaceboy]

yep, exact same story, he just is weaved into the story, in fact Rico yells out to you to revive Natko if he's down and generally includes him in orders etc.  But of course he's not in any cutscenes, just the gameplay.   

Lots of fun manning the guns on the tanks, there is an extra tank that Natko is gunning which actually mjakes it even more hectic.  The exos....you each get one of those too.  :-X