[PS3] Killzone 3 game discussion

[corduroygt]

don't know why everyone hates Rico so much but I like him.

You haven't played KZ2 have you?

 

[patsu]

I was playing on Trooper. I don't expect to be healed when I'm too far ahead, but there were plenty of situations where he should have been able to heal me but didn't.

That's odd. There is a revive limit per scene (e.g., "Sev, you took too much damage !"). May be it's a bug, or the path to you is blocked somehow (e.g., timeout/takes too long to get to you, different floor, enemies drove him back), or he's killed along the way.

It would be better if they allow us to pan the camera when we fell. That way we know visually whether Rico is indeed coming.

EDIT:
I noticed that they will always try to clear out the enemies around me first before they revive me. In your game, were there hidden Helghasts near you when you went down ?

 

[patsu]

Or they played better shooters I'm half way through so far, it's good but not amazing. The game is basically go to set piece, play 45 seconds, watch cutscene, play 45 more seconds, etc, kinda formulaic. My version has frame rate issues, dunno if it's my ps3 slim dying but like that cross the bridge level i had trouble aiming because most of it ran at 10 to 15fps, it was fairly bad. Story is so so, and the level of mayhem present in this game has been done many times in other shooters to a similar degree if not more. Mlaa in this game drives me mad, I wish they had an option to disable it, it does much damage to the visuals especially to the multi colored forest level that I just finished, artifcating is everywhere, hate it. The good sides to me are the art style which I like, the game looks unique in that regard. I like the two main characters, don't know why everyone hates Rico so much but I like him. Controls feel good, and the close up L1 kills are neat. Good game, but the shooter bar is really high nowadays so I can see why some reviewers weren't awe'd by it. I'd say it's biggest problem is that I can't get into a groove, just as you start feeling it the game breaks for another cutscene which is irritating. I far prefer games like MW2 which just let you play for longer periods of time, with story advancing tidbits coming in via radio chatter rather than breaking it all up with cutscene after cutscene. Just my take though after having played about half way through.

That's why I said some will be disappointed because KZ3 is more like Uncharted 2 shooting + set pieces + story telling than regular shooters. ^_^

For other visual comments, you'll get to see more in later parts of the game. The gameplay and visual pick up pace as you move along, and then the story fell off the cliff.

For Rico comments, people hated him in KZ2, not generally in KZ3.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

You haven't played KZ2 have you?

Specifically the last level where he exhibits some of the worst non-AI ever, including shooting a gun where the badguy isn't, failing to shoot the badguy while said badguy is beating you up, giving useful advice like, "look out," when the fella to look out for is right in your face, and genreally dying a lot and getting you killed as you try to help him.

 

[joker454]

You haven't played KZ2 have you?

I did but didn't finish it, got around half to 2/3rds of the way through it.

Specifically the last level where he exhibits some of the worst non-AI ever, including shooting a gun where the badguy isn't, failing to shoot the badguy while said badguy is beating you up, giving useful advice like, "look out," when the fella to look out for is right in your face, and genreally dying a lot and getting you killed as you try to help him.

Ok I guess I missed all that part on KZ2. In KZ3 I've only had to revive him maybe twice so far, and he's revived me maybe twice so that's been cool. Dunno, I like him I recognize some of the voices in this game, I swear one of them sounds like Ajax from The Warriors movie.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Specifically the last level where he exhibits some of the worst non-AI ever, including shooting a gun where the badguy isn't, failing to shoot the badguy while said badguy is beating you up, giving useful advice like, "look out," when the fella to look out for is right in your face, and genreally dying a lot and getting you killed as you try to help him.

Until I played Killzone 2 I didn't realize it was possible to hate a virtual human the way you would if a real person were to kill your family pet.

 

[Gitaroo]

I almost finish the game in elite, surprisingly not much harder than normal. You get no cross hair unless you do iron sight aim, enemies are much more aggressive and throw grenades more often everything else remain the same. One problem I am having in both normal and elite is the vehicles portion of the game, I keep dying in 5 seconds, and if I do get pass them, I didn't even take a hit once. I have no clue what is going there.

 

[corduroygt]

I did but didn't finish it, got around half to 2/3rds of the way through it.

You missed the infamous "fucking balcony" level as I call it, which is what shifty is talking about. Had to pretty much solo the hardest section of the game thanks to Rico, whose calls for help every 3 seconds did not help at all.

Back on topic, I thought KZ2 had an excellent campaign and more variety in enemies, better than KZ3 to me. I wish we could have KZ3 controls and the MP lobby system in KZ2, I'd consider going back to it.

 

[patsu]

KZ3 has more enemy variety, but they have lesser exposure in the game because the on-rail segments and cutscenes took up more time. We fought the

Spoiler

heavies, snipers, commandos, hunters, flamethrowers, flying soldiers, regular foot soldiers, MAWLR, spider mech, Helghast tanks, and spacecrafts

in KZ3.

In KZ2, the SP combat are also mostly in-door.

EDIT: The most memorable KZ2 battles for me is the Visari Palace battle. Very well done.

The most memorable KZ3 battles for me is the MAWLR takedown, but it is not all free roaming FPS. ^_^
It does have more varied gameplay though (e.g., stealth in jungle).

 

[corduroygt]

The MAWLR part was way too easy on Veteran, and I am not a great FPS player judging from my performance in multiplayer. So it really didn't feel like an end boss to me. Radec was a proper end boss in KZ2 and I died a lot before finally beating him.

 

[Antan]

MAWLR is just an audio visual tour de force!!! Surroundings aswell as the MAWLR itself. Incredible!

 

[Antan]

"because most of it ran at 10 to 15fps"

In the entire game thus far, this is the only place i noticed any drops like this. The ONLY place. Framerate thoughout is very impressive indeed.

I agree the cutscenes need to be less frequent, maybe kept for more meaningful occasions/end of level etc etc. Maybe even sticking to the FPS view aka Half Life to keep things coherent. Also, some are over too quick, with too much quick closeup movement. Audio needs to be better implemented in the cutscenes also (maybe i should help out in this regard! haha). I've only had one level as such which i thought was poop and wasn't actually needed tbh, i'm talking about the on-rails level after the research lab, in that car thingy when chasing the battle cruiser. KZ4 hopefully addresses the above, because i firmly believe they are one game away from creating THE great shooter! This is fantastic IMO, with so many great moments, if they can add that final touch of class then GG are home and dry. Clearly the technology is there to do pretty much anything they want, and another 2 yr further tech tweakage and god only knows what they will produce.

 

[BoardBonobo]

I finished it last night and I can say I really enjoyed it! I hit one patch where it hung whilst loading the next level, and prior to that the cut scene was a bit harryhausen... Actually it was really bad. After I restarted the PS3 it was OK and there were no more problems, it all ran as smooth as silk.

The end is a bit WTF though the section just prior to that took me right back to the final fight in KZ1... I used an SMG all the way through as homage!

It felt a lot easier than either KZ1 or KZ2, the Helgast are still bullet sponges but there were only a couple of sections where I really felt under pressure, and that was mainly my fault for standing around in a battle admiring the scenery or the lighting.

It was interesting to see how adaptive the AI was being, there were many situations where the AI could have swamped the player. Situations where you would be reliant on proper backup, but the AI appeared to dumb down to make it easier.

All in all it is very, very good. It looks amazing, though I have been spoilt by UC2, GOW3, and in some way by KZ2. It holds it's own with Reach most definitely and is, IMO, in the top five best looking shooters out there.

'Come get some...!'

(I still hate Rico. 'Oh look you've got me killed... Again...')

 

[corduroygt]

I'm absolutely loving the infiltrator class and the operations multiplayer mode. I got the "most melee kills" award a lot tonight. I maxed out my disguise ability so there's good incentive in melee kills because you don't lose the disguise. I also love the melee kill animations, they're absolutely brutal!

 

[patsu]

The MAWLR part was way too easy on Veteran, and I am not a great FPS player judging from my performance in multiplayer. So it really didn't feel like an end boss to me. Radec was a proper end boss in KZ2 and I died a lot before finally beating him.

Yeah depends on how you look at it, the MAWLR is like a setting, an environmental hazard or an episode in KZ3, not "merely" an end boss per se. It's a little like the Red and Blue Dragons in Demon's Souls.

 

[fearsomepirate]

Spoiler

You know at the intro movie of the game there's a ship transporting a capsule. On gaf they are guessing its visari and the visari rico shot down was a dopple ganger.

The ship is clearly carrying a payload with the atomic symbol on it. Based on the way the cutscene unfolds, it's carrying Red Dust to bomb Pyrrhus, and the guard was shot so he wouldn't spill the beans and Visari could blame the ISA. The whole visual motif of the cutscene is that Visari, Helghan's self-styled savior, is actually its destroyer.

Also, the single player campaign is fantastic. I think it's much better than COD (esp. COD4, which I despised).

 

[Headshot81]

Just Finished a pretty competitive match on Salamun market. Really like the map, very symmetrical, but i like it alot. Man when theres 3 mechs firing rockets, its get pretty chaotic, and in a good way. IF you're going to play this map, i suggest you unlock the vc9 rocket launcher, usually one rocket puts down a mech, believe me, you're going to need it.

for those how don't have the retro pack, here's a glimpse of the map

(^^^^dont know hoe to post vids here, so here's the link just in case VVV)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yOqcxnnnoo

 

[Phil]

Well, I completed it twice this weekend - first on Veteran which was mostly a good challenge, times a bit frustrating (the on rails sections), but a good experience none-the-less. I'd definately call it one of the better FPS games outthere. The story is easily the worst part of it though, but makes up for it so beautifully once you let the sound effects, the visuals and the gritty atmosphere and never-ending action sink in.

Spoiler

One of my most memorable points is the rush while fighting some of the up-hill battles and pushing back the Helghast (the last bit of the snow-level, before you enter the Helghast facility disguised, the scrapyard or towards the end before you fight the MAWLR). Just awesome.

The ending though was kind of a surprise after the epic boss fight in KZ2. I can live with the bad story, but some kind of last stand-off with an upper officer or Stahl himself would have felt a lot better to an otherwise pretty flawless game.

Didn't mind the gameplay - cutscene - gameplay formula. It's probably necessary to mask the loading time, though it did get a bit tedious the 2nd time around when I completed it on Elite. Good thing is, you can skip them after a few seconds (once the loading is done in the background), which suprisingly is usually quite short. Elite difficulty felt pretty much like Veteran apart from having even a bit more less health, but to my surprise it was even more fun because it forced you to take a much more strategic approach. I have played some sections on Rookie or Trooper difficulty and IMO it does take away from the spectactle and makes the game too fast (short) and easy. Veteran took me around 8 hours and felt solid, Elite probably less because I already knew how to tackle many areas but it was a lot more enjoyable.

I also played it at a friends place using Sharp-Shooter & Move. It quite transforms the game, though it's not without its flaws. We played it on the easiest difficulty and even that is quite a challenge because the moving is quite difficult. I would have founded it a lot better if somehow, you could move entirely by using the analog-stick and simply "point and shoot" with the move/sharp-shooter. Because you can only move forward and sidestep with the analog-stick however, you need to use move/sharp-shooter to turn directions - which is terrible when in close-quarter or endin up in a standoff with lots of Helghast or trying to dodge/run away from one of those crazy running-helghasts in the jungle. I can only imagine how much harder MP will be...

Other than that, the accuracy is decent. Better than I thought, though for some odd reason, the calibration seems to go completely off for a while, which hugely annoying and frustrating. Any ideas why?

Also: what is it with the "retro pack"? Is that a mode that includes some of KZ2 levels or Is it only available in some regions, because when I check DLC, it says none-available? (Haven't played MP with the final game yet)


EDIT: Damnit, just noticed that they reset the stats from the MP open beta. :S

 

[Nesh]

Just Finished a pretty competitive match on Salamun market. Really like the map, very symmetrical, but i like it alot. Man when theres 3 mechs firing rockets, its get pretty chaotic, and in a good way. IF you're going to play this map, i suggest you unlock the vc9 rocket launcher, usually one rocket puts down a mech, believe me, you're going to need it.

for those how don't have the retro pack, here's a glimpse of the map

(^^^^dont know hoe to post vids here, so here's the link just in case VVV)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yOqcxnnnoo

In the small youtube screen it look almost as good as if I am watching the infamous CGI trailer. Its crazy. They really got the lighting and style perfectly.

Makes you wonder what they would have achieved if they had more resources than what the PS3 offers.

They certainly have the talent to achieve those visuals given the right hardware.

 

[BoardBonobo]

In the small youtube screen it look almost as good as if I am watching the infamous CGI trailer. Its crazy. They really got the lighting and style perfectly.

Makes you wonder what they would have achieved if they had more resources than what the PS3 offers.

They certainly have the talent to achieve those visuals given the right hardware.

I often hope that, in secret, they have been developing KZ on and for some kind of high end PC rig. If they can, as you said, wring this much from so little then given the kind of head room they would have with better hardware they would definitely be making other studios look even more mediocre!