Due to be released, depending on your location, between the 22nd and 25th of this month, Killzone 3 will be the latest iteration of the confusingly prominent Killzone series. The multiplayer beta was released just this morning, and, given the close proximity to the full release date, it will probably be the closest thing we get to a Killzone 3 demo. I played three rounds and these are my impressions.
Despite some promising looking gameplay videos, the tiny one year development cycle is sure to have restricted Guerrilla's creative scope. It would have been naive to expect great originality whilst Killzone 2 still smells of womb. And unfortunately the time of ejection isn't the only characteristic that Killzone 3 shares with afterbirth. The very first impression that I had of the game accurately foreshadowed the rest: The voice that announces the Deathmatch has been recycled from Killzone 2. That sort of petty rehashing is always a terminal sign. Also recycled are tags, character skins, and character perks. The leveling system appears to be largely the same. Some of the classes have been renamed, but remain. And I'm certain that either these weapons or close equivalents were used in Killzone 2.
I know from gameplay videos that there are new features elsewhere in the multiplayer. Guerrilla have tasked their entire advertising department with making certain that everybody knows about the new vehicles and jetpacks. They play a feature role in every trailer, but are absent from the beta. The fact that it's possible to make a level without either the jetpacks or the vehicles reveal their superficiality. They will be mere toys, not central parts of the game.
When I said that Killzone 3 introduces absolutely nothing, I was employing a touch of hyperbole. Literary effect, you understand. There are some new elements. The jumping animation has been retooled: The time-consuming asthmatic leap of Killzone 2 has been replaced with an even longer and more elaborate flailing lunge. The Killzone 2 aiming system, infamous for being as jerky as a epileptic orgasm, has been half-fixed. And new maps were, I suppose, compulsory. Although I'm certain that Guerrilla attempted to re-use the maps from Killzone 1 and 2 before being ordered by Sony to create new ones. This is, after all, the team which developed the Killzone 2 DLC packs entirely from environments ripped from the single player campaign and the original PS2 game, and sold them for $6 a pair.
Killzone 3 is fantastically unoriginal and devoid of creative ambition. Almost every technique has been incestuously sucked out of it's older sibling. Although it has developed none of it's own character, it has fellated a few new traits from unrelated sources, namely Modern Warfare and it's match style: The map in the demo is significantly smaller than all but one of the brilliantly gigantic Killzone 2 maps, and I doubt that it would fit 32 players comfortably. This is a sad departure from the enormous Battlefield-esque maps of previous titles.
An obvious question to ask at this point is why Guerrilla bothered to make the game. For a quick check? Well, Killzone isn't an established franchise. They don't yet have a self-hating fanbase begging for the opportunity to spend £40 on a game which they'll spend less time playing than defending on message boards. And if they start cashing in this early, it's more likely that the sycophantic fanboys will never materialize. Well, maybe they're all junk addicts? This is more plausible. Junk addicts think only about the next shot, and wouldn't have the self-control to wait for a prime investment opportunity a few years down the road. It's completely conceivable that Guerrilla have injected all of their Killzone 2 money and, crippled by shivers, sold their half-finished sequel. If you don't believe me, download the beta and try to tell me that that's not the sort of game that an addict would make. And of course, Guerrilla is a Dutch company. Most of the devs were likely born addicts.
Simply, Killzone 3 will likely be a diluted clone of Killzone 2, with a few of Call of Duty's worst elements trans-grafted on a whim by junkie coders. The purpose of a beta release is to perform a large bug check on new features, and Guerrilla will be happy to know that their jump mechanism works great. And I managed to insult epileptics and asthmatics in the same paragraph without noticing. Hooray.
If you buy the full game you will be supporting a junk habit.
Despite some promising looking gameplay videos, the tiny one year development cycle is sure to have restricted Guerrilla's creative scope. It would have been naive to expect great originality whilst Killzone 2 still smells of womb. And unfortunately the time of ejection isn't the only characteristic that Killzone 3 shares with afterbirth. The very first impression that I had of the game accurately foreshadowed the rest: The voice that announces the Deathmatch has been recycled from Killzone 2. That sort of petty rehashing is always a terminal sign. Also recycled are tags, character skins, and character perks. The leveling system appears to be largely the same. Some of the classes have been renamed, but remain. And I'm certain that either these weapons or close equivalents were used in Killzone 2.
I know from gameplay videos that there are new features elsewhere in the multiplayer. Guerrilla have tasked their entire advertising department with making certain that everybody knows about the new vehicles and jetpacks. They play a feature role in every trailer, but are absent from the beta. The fact that it's possible to make a level without either the jetpacks or the vehicles reveal their superficiality. They will be mere toys, not central parts of the game.
When I said that Killzone 3 introduces absolutely nothing, I was employing a touch of hyperbole. Literary effect, you understand. There are some new elements. The jumping animation has been retooled: The time-consuming asthmatic leap of Killzone 2 has been replaced with an even longer and more elaborate flailing lunge. The Killzone 2 aiming system, infamous for being as jerky as a epileptic orgasm, has been half-fixed. And new maps were, I suppose, compulsory. Although I'm certain that Guerrilla attempted to re-use the maps from Killzone 1 and 2 before being ordered by Sony to create new ones. This is, after all, the team which developed the Killzone 2 DLC packs entirely from environments ripped from the single player campaign and the original PS2 game, and sold them for $6 a pair.
Killzone 3 is fantastically unoriginal and devoid of creative ambition. Almost every technique has been incestuously sucked out of it's older sibling. Although it has developed none of it's own character, it has fellated a few new traits from unrelated sources, namely Modern Warfare and it's match style: The map in the demo is significantly smaller than all but one of the brilliantly gigantic Killzone 2 maps, and I doubt that it would fit 32 players comfortably. This is a sad departure from the enormous Battlefield-esque maps of previous titles.
An obvious question to ask at this point is why Guerrilla bothered to make the game. For a quick check? Well, Killzone isn't an established franchise. They don't yet have a self-hating fanbase begging for the opportunity to spend £40 on a game which they'll spend less time playing than defending on message boards. And if they start cashing in this early, it's more likely that the sycophantic fanboys will never materialize. Well, maybe they're all junk addicts? This is more plausible. Junk addicts think only about the next shot, and wouldn't have the self-control to wait for a prime investment opportunity a few years down the road. It's completely conceivable that Guerrilla have injected all of their Killzone 2 money and, crippled by shivers, sold their half-finished sequel. If you don't believe me, download the beta and try to tell me that that's not the sort of game that an addict would make. And of course, Guerrilla is a Dutch company. Most of the devs were likely born addicts.
Simply, Killzone 3 will likely be a diluted clone of Killzone 2, with a few of Call of Duty's worst elements trans-grafted on a whim by junkie coders. The purpose of a beta release is to perform a large bug check on new features, and Guerrilla will be happy to know that their jump mechanism works great. And I managed to insult epileptics and asthmatics in the same paragraph without noticing. Hooray.
If you buy the full game you will be supporting a junk habit.