[PS3] Killzone 3 game discussion

[BoardBonobo]

Biggest problem with KZ3 is the same problem with most first-person shooters: corridor-like level design. I do not consider "You can go left or right" to be meaningful choice. I'd like to see a return to the more "free" design of the late 90s where you were largely free to choose how you attack a level. I think Goldeneye and Perfect Dark showed how that could be done in an intriguing way, but that school of level design had virtually evaporated by about 2004.

That's the damage COD and its ilk have had on decent FPS design. I hope that ID make a break with RAGE. But I doubt whether it would ever be financially viable to do so again.

 

[Akumajou]

Biggest problem with KZ3 is the same problem with most first-person shooters: corridor-like level design. I do not consider "You can go left or right" to be meaningful choice. I'd like to see a return to the more "free" design of the late 90s where you were largely free to choose how you attack a level. I think Goldeneye and Perfect Dark showed how that could be done in an intriguing way, but that school of level design had virtually evaporated by about 2004.

You should try playing Killzone 1 and if you are lucky to have one the lauch era PS3s with the EE/GS chips to upscale and then go to Killzone options to set widescreen or just play on a PS2 and regular TV. Killzone 1 had pretty big areas as well as corridors and even had four playable characters/storyline.

Just don't or do read the reviews on Killzone 1 and how almost all reviewers cried about the game being too long, too many characters/weapons, too much this that. Theres also Timesplitters and Redfaction too on PS2.

Problem as has been said is everyone is jumping on the CoD bandwagon, and reviewers glow about 10+ scores despite obvious violations of reality and physics. with five years of making CoD and all that money you would think they would be secretly building a custom 3d engine to take advantage of current gen console hardware limitations

 

[djskribbles]

KZ3 isn't as linear as most shooters. There were multiple ways of attacking on a few levels (off the top of my head). Crysis 2 has even bigger areas.

 

[nightshade]

Killzone 1 was a great game but had 2 big problem
- The framerate, its was pretty damn horrid
- The controls, now this wasn't really an issue with the game itself but rather the analogue deazone of the PS2 controller. Most other FPS made sure to have a design which suited the sloppy analogue of PS2 controller but KZ1 didn't and this coupled up with a bad framerate made it quite a bit frustrating some times.

If it wasn't for these two issues it'd easily have been my top PS2 shooter....above Black.

 

[patsu]

Finally finished the campaign. Hm, story wise...it was ok-ish. Although I am not so happy with the end.

I am a little bit dissapointed with the settings and the battles...imo not so memorable like the KZ2 battles, and the settings neither.

Indeed a little bit to much on rail passages imo.

With respect to graphics...I am a little bit dissapointed due to the high amount of jaggies and the shimmering. I highly prefer KZ2 QAA image over this...KZ2 was super clean in my memories...KZ3 has lots of aliasing issues.

On the other hand, textures were great and very consistent.

I cannot remember one instance with mid-level streaming stuttering, like in KZ2...so this is good.

Overall, I really don't like the extended use of colors...I prefer KZ2 looks. Overall, I think that KZ2 is just a better looking game than KZ3, except for the consistent texture work in KZ3 and the character models/faces...which looked really good.

With respect to gameplay, I have the impression that KZ2 is more meaty and visceral and punshier...maybe because of enemies taking much more damage than enemies in KZ2. The bullet hit detection+animation system seems to work good in KZ3 although, in KZ2 I had some ridiculous cool kills+animation...probably luck?!

Overall, KZ3 is a very good game imo, but not better than KZ2 which in itself is not a shame as KZ2 is one of my favorite shooters out there...but looking at ND and the dramatic improvement from U1 to U2...one may wonder if the resources used for the 3D are well spend. Especially the missing online coop mode is kind of a real downer...

Hm, I wonder if I have the energy to start the MP mode and unlock everything...like I did for KZ2...

I like KZ2's art direction better too ! ^_^

Have been playing KZ3 MP every night now. I see Warzone mode as an easier MAG.

Operation mode is probably more for traditional shooter fans. You don't have to worry about complex mechanics and spawn points. The goal is to keep pushing forward, overwhelm your enemies and claim the objectives. Because (1) the spawn point and level size are managed dynamically by the game, and (2) you only need to stay close to the objective to claim it, you basically fight all the time.

The cutscenes tie each section seamlessly together but I suppose it will get boring over time.

Overall, I really like KZ3 gameplay. It was challenging at first because some parts of the newer maps are rather claustrophobic, but I got used to them. The important thing is not to travel the same route too often. Keep moving and changing your pattern, and you should do fine.

That's it ! Back to werk ^_^

 

[Nesh]

Killzone 1 was a great game but had 2 big problem
- The framerate, its was pretty damn horrid
- The controls, now this wasn't really an issue with the game itself but rather the analogue deazone of the PS2 controller. Most other FPS made sure to have a design which suited the sloppy analogue of PS2 controller but KZ1 didn't and this coupled up with a bad framerate made it quite a bit frustrating some times.

If it wasn't for these two issues it'd easily have been my top PS2 shooter....above Black.

It had more issues than just that. It demonstrated quality quite often but it also screamed an unpolished buggy mess which ruined it. It had a shitload of bugs including placeholder models appearing and disappearing. The AI was very inconsistent. Sometimes it was very smart, sometimes it sucked ass.
The garphics were also inconsistent. Some stages looked brilliant whereas others looked bland and flat like the jungle

 

[Trejser]

Junkyard looks amazing:

http://www.killzone.com/kz3/en_GB/thegame/gallery.html#/?content-id=cl110224

 

[Gitaroo]

is it just me or does KZ dlc maps always looks better than the stuffs that is shipped with the package. Like most crazy effects like the flash and thunder dlc for KZ2. More dev time maybe.

 

[patsu]

Not always, I think. The Southern Hill and Beachhead maps were indeed more eye popping than the standard ones. I forgot how the other DLCs look.

I the idea of more maps for KZ3, especially those without Exos and Turrets so we can focus on just gunfights.

 

[AlNom]

KZ3 isn't as linear as most shooters. There were multiple ways of attacking on a few levels (off the top of my head).

I've just gotten to the arctic level, but I'd say my experience has been confined to a narrow corridor since the start. :s

I'm definitely not a fan of the constant interruptions to gameplay with cinematics. A lot of it just seems superfluous and only to show off some cinematic camera angle (probably best with some 3D glasses). For example, did I really need to sit through a 20-30 second sequence of the heroes finding mech's and getting into them ? Is it a game or a movie... I'd rather have the level loading of KZ2 so I don't get interrupted mid-way with some unskippable scenes.

edit:

Anyways, just finished the game. Everything after the winter level was pretty fun. Really love the sound effects in the background giving life to the battlefield.

The vehicle/aircraft sections were a good break, but I think it'd be that much better if it weren't on-rails.

 

[patsu]

I think the KZ3 cutscenes can be skipped. The loading is fast, like 5 seconds or less. After that pressing X will skip the scene.

 

[AlNom]

Might depend on the cut-scene too as I was able to skip some but not others. Or maybe it's just because it was my first run through the game.

 

[patsu]

Some cutscenes are made of a series of videos, so you may have to skip a few.

 

[Arwin]

edit:

Anyways, just finished the game. Everything after the winter level was pretty fun. Really love the sound effects in the background giving life to the battlefield.

The vehicle/aircraft sections were a good break, but I think it'd be that much better if it weren't on-rails.

Yeah, I was just going to say, best parts come from the winter level onwards ... The turret and driving stuff is really a Move showcase more than anything else I think. Your enjoyment of those sections will go up quite a bit if you play them with Move (I played the whole game with Move).

I don't mind the cutscenes in place of the loading screens at all, much preferred it that way. But I do think that the editing for the cutscenes was pretty terrible, and the story telling would have gained a lot from better integration into the gameplay.

 

[Headshot81]

Dlc looks pretty darn good
Stahl arms:

Junkyard:

 

[djskribbles]

I've just gotten to the arctic level, but I'd say my experience has been confined to a narrow corridor since the start. :s

I didn't really mean in terms of exploration or anything. But I played through it 2.5 times and there were a few parts where I remember taking a slightly different path that allowed me to flank enemies. Maybe there were only a few parts like this, I dunno, and it's by no means on the level of say, Crysis 2. But a lot of the shooters I've played recently only give you one way of attacking... straight on.

Then again, it's been over a month since I beat it.

 

[patsu]

Dlc looks pretty darn good
Stahl arms:

Junkyard:

Yap, played Stahl's Arms for the first time tonight. I think the Boulevard map is pretty too. Stahl's Arms is more open and bigger in comparison.

Too bad Junkyard is a Guerilla Warfare map ? 8^(
Would be perfect if they allow us to play Warzone and Operation on both maps.

 

[RenegadeRocks]

Yap, played Stahl's Arms for the first time tonight. I think the Boulevard map is pretty too. Stahl's Arms is more open and bigger in comparison.

Too bad Junkyard is a Guerilla Warfare map ? 8^(
Would be perfect if they allow us to play Warzone and Operation on both maps.

Why have they imposed these limitations in KZ3? We were able to play all modes in all maps in KZ2 ! Also, Some maps aren't available in Botzone in KZ3!! Why, May I ask? I have enjoyed Botzone a lot in KZ2, especially to learn the maps and myriad routes they had built into the maps. Now that I don't have net on my ps3, I am not even allowed to see all the maps !

 

[Lee72]

Why have they imposed these limitations in KZ3? We were able to play all modes in all maps in KZ2 ! Also, Some maps aren't available in Botzone in KZ3!! Why, May I ask? I have enjoyed Botzone a lot in KZ2, especially to learn the maps and myriad routes they had built into the maps. Now that I don't have net on my ps3, I am not even allowed to see all the maps !

It seems that the maps with jetpacks aren't available in botzone. I'm also a bit disappointed at this restriction (I assume it's a technical problem regarding bots using jetpacks??). I agree it was good to get to know a map before heading online (where I'm usually killed very quickly!).

 

[patsu]

I think someone mentioned that GG needs to implement bot AI for different maps for botzones. It's extra work. Bot AI for jetpack is probably not done.