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Killzone 3 is a 2011 first-person shooter video game for the PlayStation 3, developed by Guerrilla Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. It is the third main installment in the Killzone series. It was released worldwide in February 2011 and its story follows directly after the events of Killzone 2.

Plot[]

Watch out while reading this, or don't at all, until you know what's coming.
This article contains heavy spoilers. Read ahead with caution.


Main article: Campaign (Killzone 3)
"Visari is gone, but the war is far from over. Helghast forces have mounted a devastating counter-attack, prompting the ISA evacuation of planet Helghan. As new Helghast battalions appear, armed with more powerful weapons, ISA forces find themselves outmanned, outgunned and surrounded. You are Tomas ‘Sev’ Sevchenko, part of the remaining ISA forces on Helghan. As a surviving member of the Special Forces unit Alpha Squad, you must fight your way across the unforgiving planet, against a vindictive, merciless enemy, in a desperate attempt to escape Helghan alive."
―Game description


The story begins immediately after the conclusion of the previous game. Following the death of Autarch Visari and the launch of a devastating Helghast counter-attack, Tomas "Sev" Sevchenko and Rico regroup with Captain Narville outside Visari Palace and make plans to evacuate Pyrrhus. They head for the mushroom cloud at the center of the city, where the few remaining ISA ships are gathering to extract their decimated ground forces, but Sev and Rico become separated from the rest of the convoy. Forced to fight their way out alone, they encounter heavy resistance as they pass through Helghast museums and other cultural centers in a city that is now a nuclear waste land. Upon reaching the extraction site, Sev and Rico disobey Narville's orders and proceed to rescue Jammer and her squad from heavy Helghast resistance. However, by the time they return to the pick-up site, they are too late, and can only watch as the final ISA ships depart the planet without them. With the ISA fleet heading home, Narville, Sev, Rico, Jammer and a handful of other surviving troops are marooned on Helghan.

Six months later, the Helghan senate meets to discuss their disappointment at the continued guerrilla resistance being put up by the stranded ISA troops, whom the Helghast have failed to seek out and destroy. The meeting ends when Chairman Stahl storms out following heated argument with Admiral Orlock on the matter of Visari's succession. After refusing to hand over the advanced weapons being developed by Stahl Arms to the military, Stahl organizes his private army to hunt down the ISA survivors. In the alien and dangerous Kaznan Jungle, Sev and Narville have set up a make-shift camp in which a small group of ISA troops are hiding out. After a patrol goes dark and the camp loses contact with Vekta, Sev and Corproal Kowalski move to the communications uplink located across the jungle. There they find that the Helghast have discovered their position and that their home world, Vekta, has brokered a peace deal with the Helghan high command. The ISA leadership then orders Narville to surrender to the Helghast to honor the terms of the peace agreement. Realising surrender will only lead to death — or worse — Sev and Kowalski race back to camp and attempt to hold off the attacking Helghast while the rest of the men evacuate. However, Sev and Narville are captured when they run out of ammunition, and any remaining men found are executed.

Proud of having captured Visari's murderers, Stahl broadcasts news of their detention on an open channel, allowing Rico and Jammer, who have been hiding out elsewhere on Helghan for the last six months, to launch a rescue mission and rescue Sev. The two then head after Narville. They track him to Stahl's base and discover a horrifying new infantry weapons system that uses irradiated Petrusite, inflicting a horrific death on its victims. Disguised as Narville's executioners, Sev and Rico infiltrate Stalh's facility and rescue Narville and several other ISA soldiers, being held as prisoners of war and test subjects for Stahl's new weapons. As they flee, Rico and Sev hack into the facility's computers, discovering Stahl is preparing to destroy Earth using irradiated Petrusite weaponry launched from his personal cruiser, currently in orbit around Helghan. The team sets off in pursuit, the fate of Earth now at stake.

The escape of Sev, Rico and Narville embarrasses Stahl in front of the whole Helghan nation. Orlock, who has now become the Helghast's leader, orders Stahl to turn over his new weapons to the Helghan military. He heads for Stahl's flagship to meet him personally, secretly planning to eliminate Stahl once he obtains the weapons. However, Stahl turns on Orlock, demanding his submission. Orlock refuses, leading Stahl to order his cruiser to destroy the surrounding Helghast fleet, hoping to force the Helghan leaders into submission. He is attacked by Orlock, but Stahl quickly overcomes his rival and murders him, before making final preparations for the bombardment of Earth.

Meanwhile, on the ground, the remaining ISA troops assault the orbital elevator that will grant them access to Stahl's cruiser. They encounter fierce resistance, including a vast MAWLR walker, but Sev, Rico, Narville, Hooper, Jammer and their remaining men manage to fight their way through to the elevator and head into space. There they hijack two space fighters and engage the Helghast fleet in a dog fight, eventually managing to destroy Stahl's cruiser with nuclear warheads. However, when the cruiser detonates within Helghan's atmosphere, the irradiated Petrusite it was carrying erupts and leads to a global cataclysm, killing millions on Helghan and wiping out the majority of life on the planet. Jammer remarks that Helghan has gone dark, as she cannot pick up any transmissions from the surface. The remaining ISA personnel are now free to return home, although Sev solemnly contemplates the number of lives lost in the Petrusite explosion.

In a post-credits scene, two Helghast soldiers are searching through the irradiated ruins of Helghan when they come across an escape pod. The pod opens and the soldiers bow to the unseen occupant, greeting him with, "Welcome home, sir."

Levels[]

Campaign Levels of Killzone 3
Chapters A New Beginning · Evacuation Orders · Pyrrhus Evac · Six Months On · Icy Incursion · Stahl Arms Infiltration · Scrapyard Shortcut · The Reckoning · Interception

Gameplay[]

The gameplay strongly resembles that of Killzone 2 albeit with several tweaks and changes. Similar to the first Killzone, the game takes place in various harsh environments such as Arctic landscapes, a lethal alien jungle, nuclear wastelands as well as space battles rather than only the city-scape environments which were present in Killzone 2. Another notable new feature is the ability to use jet packs in the game, which were also

BmKillzone

Killzone 3's brutal melee

used in Killzone: Liberation; however, these new jet packs will be used in a different manner than that of those in Killzone: Liberation.

The game also features a revamped close combat melee system (called Brutal Melee) which includes new brutal melee attacks as well as the ability to string together multiple attacks in a combo. A new weapon called the WASP has also been added, which acts as a multi-firing rocket launcher firing in spiral formation.

Multiplayer[]

Killzone 3's multiplayer supports three different game modes: Guerrilla Warfare, Warzone, and Operations. "Guerrilla Warfare" is a classic team death match style game that supports up to 16 players per map for each map that supports this mode. "Warzone", returning from Killzone 2's multiplayer, is an objective based game (seven objectives: "Body Count", "Capture and Hold", "Search and Retrieve", and two rounds of "Assassination" and "Search and Destroy" respectively) that supports up to 24 players per map for each map that supports this mode. What sets "Warzone" apart from other games in the genre is the way that each objective is used. Rather than having each game type be its own separate mode, the objectives cycle randomly during the course of gameplay without ever interrupting the match.

"Operations" is a new game mode that features cinematic scenes and supports up to 16 players per map for each map that supports this mode. In Operations, the ISA and the Helghast battle for control of specific objectives - the ISA on the offensive and the Helghast on defense. The best players are featured throughout the match in cutscenes depicting their successes.

Killzone 3 also supports offline split-screen co-operation for two players, which allows two players using the same console to play the campaign of Killzone 3 offline. This is a feature not present in Killzone 2. This is the only mode that supports offline split-screen multiplayer in Killzone 3. There is also an offline multiplayer mode named 'BotZone' in which players can play against computer bots.

Players can purchase a standalone version of Killzone 3's multiplayer from the PlayStation Store which includes all online multiplayer game modes, all original maps, and all DLC maps, as well as BotZone.

Development[]

Killzone 3 Screenshot

A screenshot showing the new Arctic environments of the game.

Killzone 3 was officially announced by Sony Computer Entertainment on May 24, 2010, through the PlayStation.Blog.[1]

Beta[]

The Killzone 3 Multiplayer Closed Beta began on October 12, 2010, for select participants of the Killzone community. The Killzone 3 Multiplayer Open Beta began on October 25, 2010.

Demo[]

The Killzone 3 single player demo was released in North America on February 15 and in Europe on February 16, 2011 (with early access for PlayStation Plus members on February 8 and 9 in North America and Europe respectively). It is available as two separate downloads from the PlayStation Store: one in 2D and one in 3D. The 2D version features splitscreen co-op, which is not supported in the 3D demo. Both versions of the demo are PlayStation Move-enabled and both versions of the demo take place on a modified version of the "Icy Incursion" level.[2]

Release and marketing[]

Retail editions[]

220px-Killzone3HelghastEdition

The contents of the North American Killzone 3 Helghast Edition.

The Killzone 3 Helghast Edition is not sold in stores and is exclusive to North America. Only 1000 have been made, 125 of which were given away in the multiplayer open beta. The Limited Helghast Edition contains all the same elements as the retail version of the Helghast Edition, but features a replica Helghast Helmet with illuminated LED eyes, simulating Helghast’s glowing mask.

On March 10, 2011, ACIDplanet.com announced a sweepstakes that ran from March 10, 2011 through April 21, 2011. In this "Killzone 3 Remix Contest", players could remix the track "Stahl Arms Battle" from the Killzone 3 soundtrack. At the end of the contest, Joris de Man chose one grand prize winner who received the Killzone 3 Limited Helghast Edition as well as Vegas Pro software, ACID Pro software, Twenty Loop Libraries, and a Sony MP3 Walkman. Second place runner ups received a copy of Killzone 3, ACID Music Studio software, and Ten Loop Libraries.[3] The grand prize was won by composer/producer Christopher K. Lee under the username Blizzard1mage.[4]

On March 24, 2011, Guerilla announced the "March for Helghan II Sweepstakes" where they gave away 10 Limited Helghast Editions each day (170 total) from March 25 through April 10. Players simply needed to play the Killzone 3 multiplayer for a chance to win.[5]

Reception[]

Killzone 3 received positive reviews and has a GameRankings score of 86.51%, and a score of 84 out of 100 on Metacritic.[6] The first English review of the game was published by PlayStation Official Magazine (UK), which gave the game a 9/10. The review stated "on a visual level, as a 3D breakthrough, this feels like a watershed moment in a revolution affecting all of gaming". The review also stated on gameplay terms, "Black Ops is the only [first-person shooter] on PlayStation 3 that can match this". The voice acting, however, was criticised as not being perfect, thus lacking "emotive punch" and the reason for not receiving a perfect 10/10.[7]

IGN gave the game an 8.5, praising the atmosphere, graphics and multiplayer. Destructoid gave the game a perfect 10/10, with reviewer Jim Sterling stating: "I don't think the PlayStation 3 has ever had quite such a rounded, satisfactory package as this, with this level of polish, refinement and pure, simple, unpretentious action."[8] PlayStation Lifestyle awarded it a 10/10 as well, calling the game "the ultimate ending to a new form of sci-fi epic." 

GamesTM was generally positive and gave the game 7/10, although was critical over the storyline and when comparing it to Killzone 2 said the game "...takes inexplicable backward steps in almost every department."[9] Game Informer, who scored the game a 9/10, however praised the story saying "it's shocking and abrupt campaign ending serves as a suitable wrap to Guerilla’s extended war-themed trilogy. Even if it is a conclusion of sorts, Killzone 3 stands on its own."[10] They also praised its intuitive use of the PlayStation Move as an optional controller.

Gallery[]

Videos[]

References[]

  1. "Killzone 3 Announced and Playable in 3D". PlayStation.Blog.
  2. "Killzone 3 – Single Player Demo Coming in February". PlayStation Blog US. January 26, 2011
  3. Bull, David (March 10, 2011). "ACIDplanet.com "Killzone3 Remix Contest"". SCEA.
  4. "ACIDplanet.com "Killzone3 Remix Contest"". October 25, 2011.
  5. Consunji, TJ (March 24, 2011). "Win a Killzone 3 Limited Helghast Edition – March for Helghan II Sweepstakes". SCEA.
  6. "Killzone 3 Metacritic Score". Metacritic. February 14, 2012.
  7. "Killzone 3 review – OPM goes with 9/10". January 21, 2011
  8. "Review: Killzone 3". Destructoid
  9. "Killzone 3 review | Videogames Magazine – gamesTM – Official Website". gamesTM. February 3, 2011
  10. "Killzone 3 Review – Killzone 3 – PlayStation 3". GameInformer.com.
Killzone Series
Main Games Killzone · Killzone 2 · Killzone 3 · Killzone Shadow Fall
Spin-offs Liberation · Mercenary
Expanded Universe Killzone: Ascendancy · Killzone (comic) (canceled) · Killzone manga
Special Editions Killzone 3 Helghast Edition · Killzone Trilogy
Other media Killzone: Intercept
Non-Fiction Killzone Prima Official Game Guide · Killzone 2: Collector's Guide to Campaign and Warzone · Killzone 3: The Official Guide · Killzone Visual Design
Soundtracks Killzone 2 Original Soundtrack · Killzone 3 Official Soundtrack · Killzone Mercenary Official Soundtrack · Killzone Shadow Fall Official Soundtrack
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