Review by: Michael Barnes

It is impossible to assess Killzone 3 without holding it accountable for trying perhaps a little too hard to ape the success of the biggest franchises in the genre—namely Call of Duty and Halo. Although the game manages to steer clear of both the homoerotic, ultra-macho posturing of the former and the pretentious, cornball “epicness” of the latter, it also struggles to reach either of its competitors’ polish or poise. Killzone 3 is an awfully good game, no doubt about it, but it’s far more imitative than innovative despite some cool visual design, great multiplayer, and its trademark sense of weight and heft. As a fan of the previous game in the franchise, there are some definite improvements and it remains an easy sell, but the franchise still seems to be looking to establish its own identity.

The single player campaign continues Killzone 2’s tradition of a boring narrative about personality-less soldiers in conflict framing some very nicely done shooting segments among Helghan environments in various stages of Armageddon. The story, such as it is, picks up immediately after the death of head Space Nazi Scolar Visari. Returning characters/personality voids Sev (a fauxhawked Ryan Reynolds stand-in) and Rico (continuing his role as an ersatz Ice Cube figure) blast their way through hordes of Helghan on their homeworld while bailing Commander Narville out of trouble and buddying up with a female soldier that bails them all out of trouble while lots and lots of stuff explodes in a number of on-rails vehicular homicide segments. The mayhem culminates in a sequence that is a little too close to one of Halo: Reach’s signature scenes for comfort. Oh, and there’s jetpacks too.

Regardless, it is fun to play thanks to the chunky, heavy physics, great controls, and cool weapons. The enemy AI is smart and sometimes can sneak up on you with a flanking maneuver or an expert grenade toss. The action is good, it’s just all very uninspired and shallow despite a surprisingly bitter ending that hardly appears to be a victory for either side. The more interesting story elements, namely some appealing intrigue in the Helghast high command involving a bunch of pan-European old men with mutton chop sideburns and Hitler hairdos, are oddly out of the scope of the game. The bad guy scheming seems almost to be occurring in a different game—Sev and Rico never even really square off against the game’s chief antagonist. Instead, they trundle through a bundle of shooter tropes. I rolled my eyes when I got to the game’s take on “All Ghillied Up”, the fan-favorite mission from the first Modern Warfare. Yeah, I know. I take the guy on the left. Thanks for that.

However, there are a couple of show-stopping moments that rival anything in a Call of Duty or Halo game in terms of scope and blockbuster-caliber awesomeness. The penultimate boss fight in the game, for example, is really quite amazing and there are a couple of interesting battlefield sequences such as a World War I inspired trench battle that offer something fresh. It doesn’t hurt that the game, even at 720p and with 30fps, looks and sounds absolutely stunning from start to finish. Animations are often amazing, textures look great, and the hyper-stylized oversaturated look of the game is impressive. The great visual design, which brings in influences from 19th and 20th century wars, does a lot to distinguish the game even when the gameplay and its narrative simply can not.