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Killzone 3 reviewed: PlayStation Move gets serious

Killzone 3 reviewed: PlayStation Move gets serious
Killzone 3
Killzone 3
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Killzone 3
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Killzone 3

When I reviewed PlayStation Move last year, I named Killzone 3 as one of the games that would show us whether Move controllers were destined to gather dust in the cupboard or play an important role in the longevity of the PlayStation 3 platform. It is unquestionably the latter.

I've been playing first-person shooters for nearly 20 years, and I've played them with just about every possible input device along the way. I'm not going to say Move is better than a mouse and keyboard, but as far as consoles go, Move is by far the best controller yet...and turns Killzone 3 from a fantastic first-person shooter to the most immersive, visceral experience you'll find on a console today.

I gave Killzone 2 a 95/100 score back in 2009, and a vast majority of what I said in that review applies to the sequel, so I won't bother repeating it here. There's a couple of new (and very cool) weapons, more killer vehicle and fixed weapon sections, the best David vs Goliath boss fight I can remember (which introduces one of those new weapons very well), splitscreen co-operative, and thousands more bad guys to shoot. What more do you need?

The obligatory "I might be gushing but this isn't a perfect game" bit: there's some weird and very frustrating spikes in difficulty (if you don't like dying a lot, don't choose "normal" difficulty), including a confusing level that establishes itself as a stealth level, but then doesn't give you any indication when you get to the bit where stealth isn't going to work anymore. There are also enemies that can kill you in one hit (an FPS faux pas in my books), and you'll see plenty of them. The frequent cinematics are sullied by the fact that many characters and a majority of the dialog are cliched beyond belief. All relatively inconsequential scuff marks on an otherwise very polished game.

Killzone 3 is the kind of game that will sell both Move controllers and PlayStation 3 systems. Unquestionably a must-have title for PlayStation 3 owners even if you don't have Move (though you'd be mad not to grab a single player Move setup at the same time).

2 comments
2 comments
Justin Murray
Blah blah blah, give me Battlefield 3 and then we\'ll talk about what the PS Move can do.
Jacy Johnson
Killzone 3 set the precedent for Move First Person Shooters