Story is totally overrated.
That's what the developers of Sony's Killzone series have staked their reputations on, anyway. For three straight games, across two console generations, they've delivered storytelling that's thinner than a cliché-spattered piece of Saran Wrap -- encasing graphics and gameplay that remain among the best to ever grace the PS3.
Session three is no exception. You're back with Sergeant Sev and the ISA gang, blasting away at the Helghast hordes because... well, because they wear helmets with glowing orange eyes that make them look demonic, wave flags with a symbol that perilously resembles a swastika, and are led by iron-fisted, scenery-gnashing leaders who'd just as soon shoot subordinates in cold blood as lace their leather bootstraps. Oh, and they're constantly shooting at you. What else do you need to know?
How about this: Killzone 3 is one beautiful game, even if you don't have the ability to access the game's 3D features. The devil's in the details: You can see the flecks of nuclear winter -- the Helghast detonated their own non-ironically named city, Pyrrhus, with a nuclear bomb at the end of Killzone 2 -- swirling around the characters in the cutscenes and during the firefights. The green tendrils of the new energy attack -- think Killzone 2's lightning attack, only more colorful -- undulates like a deadly octopus.
Killzone 3 is also the first of Sony's major first-party franchises to implement a PlayStation Move control system, and it works surprisingly well. You can either use the globe end of the Move controller as a targeting reticule, or, if you're willing to shell out a few extra bucks, you can go hardcore and pick up the Sharpshooter attachment, a plastic casing that makes it feel like you're wielding actual weaponry.
Both options are smoother than trying to use the left-stick sniper mode to pinpoint your shots -- in part because the Helghast soldiers are far, far smarter than your average AI ape. They gang up and use cover with an almost chilling effect, circling around to attack from multiple directions. They ruthlessly pick off your AI squadmates, removing any chance of your being resuscitated after taking a few too many bullet hits. And their pinpoint accuracy with grenades tossing is enough to make Aaron Rodgers look like circa-2009 Jake Delhomme.
All these AI smarts have the happy effect of making even a run-of-the-mill skirmish among the blown-out debris on Helghan feel like a well-designed set piece. That, in turn, makes the game's actual set pieces, like the sequences when you're handed a jet pack and can take to the skies like a death-dealing condor of military doom, even more satisfying. There are more than enough of the big-event battles to offset the cheesy cutscenes, so turn off your brain and whet your trigger finger -- dude, there are Helghast to blast.
