Reviews

Welcome to Helghast

As gaming environments go, Killzone has never been one to make you feel snuggly and warm. Its vision of Helghast is a dreadful, poisonous planet where the closest you'll get to creature comforts are stark Soviet style architecture and smog-choked deserts. Not the sort of place you'd book for a holiday, but an absolutely inspired location for a war.

With Killzone 3, the series has hit its peak, delivering full-blooded action against a backdrop so realistic that you'll shiver with every gust of wind and wince at every explosion. This is the shooter as blunt trauma, a game that punches you in the face to get your attention.

No prisoners

The story picks up straight after the events of Killzone 2, so if you haven't finished that game yet, you should probably scroll on down a few paragraphs. After battling their way through the ruins of Helghan to confront the despotic Emperor Scolar Visari, hot-headed soldier Rico Velasquez shoots the dictator down rather than take him alive.

This doesn't go down well with his superior officers, or with the Helghast themselves. Rico's rash actions snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and the Earth forces find themselves on the back foot as retaliation hits hard and fast.

As Rico's partner, Thomas "Sev" Sevchenko, it's up to you to survive the aftermath. Hurrying you along is a side plot in which feuding Helghast leaders, played with hammy relish by Ray Winstone and Malcolm McDowell, plot to seize control of the Empire.

The spice of life

Play Killzone 3 back to back with its predecessor and you'll soon notice the difference. Where the previous game was a grim and brutal military campaign, this sequel is a blockbuster guerilla adventure.Stuck behind enemy lines, with nothing left to lose, the game throws wildly differing scenarios at the solo player in an adrenalin rush of hard-edged sci-fi spectacle.

Jetpacks, mech suits, ice tanks, even space fighters - you'll pilot all of these, and more, as you travel from desolate city streets to lurid jungles and frigid glaciers. For gamers weaned on Call of Duty and Halo, it all fits into a very familiar hell-for-leather formula.

Personality goes a long way

The resulting solo campaign never lets you get bored, but fans of the series may find that a lot of theencounters feel a touch generic. Take away the iconic red glare of the Helghast's goggles and you could easily be playing any of the other big FPS games for much of the time. That's not so much a criticism as a lament - Killzone once carved out its own corner of this competitive genre, and what it gains in accessibility for this entry, it loses in individuality.

This won't really matter if all you're after is a blistering action experience, as the game rarely lets up and keeps pushing you harder and further as the Helghast threat threatens to overwhelm not only our heroes, but Earth itself.

Control is faster, aiming more precise. A new third weapon slot allows you to stockpile heavy arms for later use, and once you've let fly with a minigun or RPG, you'll be glad of the extra firepower.

Ugly beauty

This is all brought to life by one of the most powerful game engines on the PS3 - or any other platform. The detail level is insanely high, particularly where things like smoke and dust are concerned. Epic firefights offer a perfect storm of noise and chaos, while a mid-section assault on a Helghast rig finds you fighting (and flying) with a scarily believable ocean thrashing and rolling hundreds of feet below you.

Nowhere does this beefed-up visual punch prove more essential than in some setpiece battles against gigantic mechanised foes. One encounter with a thunderous mobile weapons platform already makes a convincing bid for the most epic action sequence of 2011, demolishing buildings and laying waste to NPC soldiers with all the fury of a Michael Bay movie.

What is it good for?

Multiplayer is as solid and satisfying as it was in Killzone 2, with a few notable additions. Gamers in a hurry can opt for Guerilla Warfare, which offers a quick-start Team Deathmatch experience. Warzone, carried over from the previous game, is the longer, more objective-based, multiplayer mode and where you'll find the meat of the online game. Operations is an interesting new option, allowing you to take part in medium length co-operative sorties, which teams of eight facing off as Earth and Helghast forces in miniature narratives.

It lacks the immediacy of Call of Duty, and the tactical sweep of Halo, but Killzone's multiplayer is one area where the game retains more of its unique feel and for those who put in the hours to rank up, it's a battle well worth joining.

GAME's Verdict

The Good:

• Epic and varied single player campaign
• Groundbreaking 3D and Move gameplay
• Ray Winstone vs Malcolm McDowell!

The Bad:

• Not massively different to other shooters
• No online co-op play
• Fierce multiplayer requires dedication and patience