Killzone 3/beta

[WGO-Jango]

The sequel to Guerilla Games' Killzone 2 is in day two of it's public beta. Public feeling about the game is mixed but overall fairly positive. Hardcore players, including myself, of the franchise can see a number of improvements in the game already. Better controls, a new melee system, an overhauled class structure and a brand new game mode.

The controls in the game still handle like they did back in Killzone 2 but with a few improvements, they've been tweaked to give the player a lighter feeling instead of feeling like you're wielding a cinder block. One "feature" the developers did away with was how weight affected the stamina of your character. Instead of being slower while wielding a weapon such as a LMG the devs just made every weapon handle the same. The loss of the this feature is something I personally wish they would have kept as it added to the realism of the game.

The best addition to this game and what possibly makes this game worth having is the addition of the Brutal Melee system. If a player preforms a melee attack on an enemy they don't simply slash them or stab like in CoD or Battlefield. Instead the player will preform one of several Brutal Melees, ranging from a simple breaking of the neck to pushing both thumbs through an enemy's visor and into the soft grapes that use to be their eyes.

In addition to reworking the controls GG has also re-done Killzone 3's class structure. Instead of acquiring weapons and abilities through use and rank progression the player now has choices to make. When a player ranks up they're given a career point to spend on the class of their choosing, each weapon and ability costs a certain number of career points. So its up to the player to either spread their points among each class or specialize. In addition to career points abilities come in 3 tiers, each having a noticeable improvement over the previous one.

Killzone 3 includes all of the game modes that players loved and loathed in Killzone 2. However, Killzone 3 sports a brand new game mode called Operations. Basically it functions as a Search and Destroy/Objective capture hybrid but with a twist. Players that preform the best during a portion of the game will be featured in cinematic cut scenes at the beginning, during and at the end of the game. Each cut scene is catered to the side you are playing on and what has taken place i.e you completed an objective or failed to complete an objective.

It seems GG has really pulled out the stops on the multiplayer component and it won't be until the 22nd that we can see how Killzone 3's story mode compares to its predecessor. If the beta is any indication of what GG has in store Killzone 3 might just be the first FPS block buster of 2011.