Killzone 3- A Nice Playing FPS on a very short leash with a poorly paced story.

I held out for a PS3 until they had a 160 gig unit with a 50 dollar gift card and this recently released game for 300. This is my attempt at a review of the game

"This is it guys." -Commander whatever his face from Killzone 3 on levels 1-End.

Killzone 3 is a strange one. It has been about 24 hours since I beat the game and I still don't know exactly what I played. Part of this is my problem as I did not play Killzone 1 (PS2) Killzone Liberation (PSP) or Killzone 2 (PS3), I think I enjoyed my time with Killzone 3 but I have no intentions of playing any of its predecessors and plan on selling it at first opportunity.

Killzone 3 = Gears of War story + Call of Duty Gameplay + Halo Misc. Stuff

Since this is the formula for how I view the game I will review each element separately.

Killzone 3 is a game about the conflict between ignorant space marines and Russian aliens. Each side is dumb and you won't care about any of them. They also shout every line of dialogue and there is a bunch of back and forth drama from other games that doesn't go anywhere. Despite not playing the previous games I just pretended this was a Gears of War sequel and continued moving my army guy forward down the corridor.

The story is generic and is just an extended wrap up of whatever happened in Killzone 2. It is a tactical retreat that is stretched out into a 10 hour campaign. And it starts and stops about 15 times with someone saying "This is it guys!" "We DID IT!" "OH KNOW THEY ARE BACK!" "ONE LAST TIME MEN!" "WE DID IT!" "I promise each and everyone of you, once this thing is dead we can go home and C-Minus can move on to the next game on his to-play list."

Move your army guy forward down the corridor. That is the gameplay from the Call of Duty series. When the Russian's/Alien's/non-whites put up a fight, just hide behind something and pick them off until the path is clear. Despite all the 'splosions and loud yelling this is a monorail and it moves forward at all times. Tactics include using whatever level appropriate toy they give you to kill the foreigners (jet pack/air strikes/etc..). It plays like a well refined shooter, but its refinement is partially due to the player being on such a short leash. If you are ok with the Call of Duty formula of running through a shooting gallery then this is a pleasant version of that but in space. If you are looking for any type of thought behind the mayhem then you should look else where.

While I never played it the original Killzone was described as a "Halo-Killer." It wasn't, and from what I remember the game was barely playable. But 3 games deep they are on to a competent and loud Playstation exclusive experience. With the game being solid it seems like they threw in a bunch of extra stuff to take another shot at being the next Halo. The game ends with some space stuff which is was something new that was tacked on to Halo Reach. You also have the ability to pick up and remove turrets and other previously stationary weapons which seems very Halo-esque. But what they should have taken from Halo was the open nature of the fighting. Even though you aren't controlling a squad in Halo you feel like you can read the enemies tactics and adjust accordingly. But in Killzone you move forward, get to cover, shoot, move forward, repeat.

http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-killzone-3/17-3797/

Dear Dave Ramsey: Should I buy a PS3

I no longer feel the urge to be funny or put time into writing these posts anymore. I understand if you no longer feel compelled to read this.

I mentioned that I might be purchasing a Playstation 3 (2nd time is a charm) to some of my youth. They instructed me to go through the 5 steps that learned in their Dave Ramsey Financial Peace class, this is a class where their well paid instructor plays Dave Ramsey CD's for them and then goes on the news and cries about funding for public education. Also I think using this stuff in a non-authorized class is a violation of the terms of use on the material. I am tempted to report the class because I have the moral high ground and don't like lazy teachers.

I only half listened to what the youth was saying but thought I would take me through the 2.5 steps before making the plunge.

Question 1: Do you know everything about this product before you buy it?

Yes. I know mainly because I owned one before any decent games came out for it and then sold it before the price dropped. If I got one I might cancel my Xbox Live Gold account which would be around 40-50 dollars a year in savings (I don't play online that much anymore and Netflix is free on PS3).

Here are some games that I want to play that are PS3 exclusive:

Heavy Rain

Uncharted 1 and 2

Little Big Planet 2

Blueray does not interest me so that's not really a selling point.

Question 2: Have you thought about it at least 24 hours?

I've held off buying one for a while, I was close to pulling the trigger on black friday but had SLEEPYCRICKET and brother restrain me from doing so. They were bad friends for fufilling that task because it was a great deal.

Question 3: (This is where I stopped paying attention) Will it improve your life?

Not really. Aside from the games listed above I already have an Xbox 360 and special Wii. BUT I want to try the games listed above. My life does not suck for lack of video games, it probably sucks in small reason due to the abundance of video games. Thanks Mario, I COULDA' BEEN A DOCTOR.

Question 4: Is it going to find you a new job or move you out of your mother's basement?

Nope, if anything it will do the opposite.

Also I got called at 3AM to go to work because our shipping department mislabeled some products that shipped and this wasn't caught until a customer had to shut a major manufacturing facility down due to the short notice that they didn't have any parts. So I make my 30+ minute voyage, get there at 3:45AM (unshowered in half pj's half crap clothes) deal with it, continue working until 3PM because my coworker was being a seaworld about having to cover 10 minutes of work for me to go home early. Also a backup supervisor (not mine) had called me a mf'ing cry baby that should go cry because that's what mf'ing cry babies do.

Question 5: Oh just quit being a penny pincher and buy the thing.

OK!

Alpha Protocol

If you don't play videogames, like real ones, there is nothing in this post for you. Move along.

Dear Sega (and to a lesser note reviewers and America as a whole),

Do you hate yourself? Do you like failing? This is like the fourth time you have f-Ed up a sure thing this console generations. People like you! They want you to succeed, but if you keep sabotaging yourself then not even the next sonic rehash will save you. By the way I'm not mad about sonic, even though he was my favorite at a child I now realize that the character has always been terrible. I'm also not mad at the marvel movie games you have been putting out, I'm sure the cost of the movie license cut into the development budget and I don't care because super hero games are terrible and movie games are terrible so I'm pleasantly surprised that a movie licensed super hero gamecase even had a game inside it.

No what I am mad about is "Alpha Protocol: the espionage rpg" I was very interested in this game when it was announced, but the interest waned when it was delayed a week before scheduled release and I saw that Sega was publishing it.

The reviews were mostly "forget this broken POS" which actually made me more interested because videogame reviewers are very different from people who enjoy videogames.

Through a combination of discounts I finally got it at a price worth the risk and I must say: Alpha Protocol is the most delightful game I have played this console generation. I'm not gonna say i think it's better, but 5 hours in I am enjoying it more than Mass Effect 1/2 or Fallout which are games of similar style and much greater critical/commercial success. The game has a lot of jank in it but every game has jank, especially the ones that are trying something new. I read a lot of reviewers complaining about the combat, well A.) it's not splinter cell and B.) Spec your character right.

A. It's not Splinter Cell. They came up with an idea, then they came up with a story and then they fit a game around it. I am a discerning videogame player and I made my peace with that an hour into the game. "The combat doesn't feel responsive" well it's not supposed to be Quake, I assume crud goes wrong in Spy movies and the occasional jank in the combat actually kind of fits. Is it all intentional? No, but there is still enjoyment to be had from a gameplay perspective. Here's something fun, go play a Metal Gear Solid game.... how'd that play? Like it's half broken? Well you gotta put up with it if you want to play the game.

B. Spec your character right. I am not the most hardcore videogame player, especially in RPG's. I've actually never finished a non-American made one (including Zelda or any Final Fantasy). But even I know that trying to make a balenced character is a fools errand, at least the first time around. Gameplay doesn't take in to account an entire character's soul before determining the outcome of a situation, it gives you a couple paths and you need to max out what you need to succeed. In most games that means I max out Speech and Intelligence as soon as possible so I can get the best options, in this game it means I maximise the assualt rifle stats as soon as possible to better work with the weak combat system. If you are lopsided enough in one area a game usually isn't smart enough to exploit your weaknesses. Kind of like with women if you are good enough at one thing they will easily look past your faults (there were links in that sentence but they were deemed too gross to exist upon a second read through)

So I'm not sure who to blame the overall failure of Alpha Protocol on; Sega, who wouldn't know what to do with a hit game if it had one. Reviewers, for just jumping on the bandwagon. Or you, for not seeing this diamond in the rough and buying enough copies so I would get a sequel.

This game was purchased with Fable 3 and DragonAge Origins in a buy 2 get 1 free sale, I am afraid that I won't like them so I haven't played them yet.