Game Week, Day 4 - Killzone 3

Okay, I have mixed feelings about tonight's entry, Killzone 3. Good and bad, so let's get started.

First off, in the interest of full disclosure, I've never played a Killzone game. So I approached tonight's demo on Jimmy Fallon's show with an open mind and a clean slate. The developer describes it as "World War II, 500 years in the future, with access to spaceships." Okay, I'm more than a little intrigued so far. Frankly, it sounds like Sony's answer to Microsoft's Halo franchise, which is definitely not a bad thing in my book.

While Killzone's storyline sounds (vaguely) like Halo, the realism is light years past Halo. (Read: not more advanced, just grittier and more realistic.) The levels shown were hyper-realistic, with good graphics (what you'd expect from a PS3 game, or any next-gen system) and lots of blood, severed limbs, and explosions. So, think of it more like Call of Duty set WAAAAYY in the future. (Perhaps a sneak peek of what may be in store with the recently-reserved web address hinting at a Call of Duty: Future Warfare? Time will tell.)

What I was not crazy about was the choice of level for demo in the first part. The level was one of those overly typical "non-player character flys you around a structure while you shoot stuff." The reason this was a bad choice is that it is inherently limited as first-person shooter levels go. You are forced to go at the NPC's pace, and the only game feature shown off is the ability to point and shoot. Hardly innovative.

Now, if innovation is what we're looking for (and it definitely is, at least in part) then I wasn't disappointed with the next segment. Apparently this game is the first to make use of 3D technology, and if Jimmy's reactions were any indication (mostly shouts of OH MY GOD! and one comment of, "It's like a Viewmaster, only we're killing things!") then the effect is very good indeed.

What was slightly disappointing was that there was no way to convey this to the home audience, or even the studio audience. The only one who could enjoy it was Jimmy, and the rest of us were stuck with that double-image you always get when watching 3D with no glasses.

Also somewhat ominous were the developer's choice of words. He said, "You have to have one of these new Sony Bravia 3D HDTV's." Now, I won't even get started on why I don't like 3D TV ($150 per pair of glasses??) What concerns me here is, was this Bravia comment just a convenient plug by a Sony developer for another Sony product, meaning you can really use ANY 3D TV, or could this be a hint at an entirely new level of exclusivity? Was the developer saying that not only is this game Sony exclusive, but the 3D functionality will only work on a Sony TV? Let's hope not....

The game isn't slated to release until February of 2011 (sorry Holiday buyers) so there's plenty of time for these and other questions to be answered.... Namely, who in their right mind spends $150 on a pair of 3D glasses, which you'll still need to keep batteries in? If remote controls had cost $150 when they first came out, we'd have a lot more people still walking across the room to change the channel today....

Tune in tomorrow for the final day of Game Week!