The theme of this year’s E3 seems to be, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” This also seems to be the philosophy behind the development of Killzone 3. Those who enjoyed Killzone 2 will probably enjoy this sequel; because aside from a couple enhancements, it seems to be more of what you hopefully loved.

When I started the first level, I was thrown onto a flying vehicle looming over what looks like a Helghast facility. Being a first-person shooter, it was obvious that I was supposed to blast as many enemies from afar as I could. After zipping through the air for a good five minutes, my ship landed and the proceedings started to get dicey on foot.

Largely, the gameplay behind Killzone 3 remains nearly identical to its predecessor. The control scheme is the same and relies on players taking cover behind whatever they can find to protect themselves. And you’ll need to do this because the Helghast will often do the same. Typical defensive objects include boulders, walls, stones, and the like.

From what I played, the weapons seem pretty similar to Killzone 2. You’ve got your knife, pistol, trusty assault rifle, and an awesome missile launcher gun that rains down multiple missiles down towards whatever your crosshair is facing at.  

Graphically, Killzone 2 looked great and Killzone 3 follows suit. Explosions are plentiful and are awesome to behold. However, if you weren’t a fan of the previous games’ drab and dreary post-apocalyptic color palette (i.e. brown, black, and grey), chances are you won’t like the look of Killzone 3 either. The level design also reflects the visual style and the game had me going through bunker-like environments, oil tankers, research-type facilities, etc…

One aspect where Killzone differs from most FPS is that players will sometimes use jetpacks. While I wasn’t able to outright fly into space with these things, they did allow me to jump ridiculously high places that I normally wouldn’t be able to get to without them.

In essence, if you liked Killzone 2, chances are you’ll like Killzone 3. The graphics are as good as ever and the game continues to offer a challenging, intense, and frantic war experience.