Preview: I Stopped Playing Black Ops After One Night In KZ3′s Open Beta

Everyone once in a while, a game comes along that takes you away from civilization for extreme lengths of time. You can’t really tell how it happened; a friend told you about it, you read a few reviews and decided to walk down to the local Walmart and purchase the thing.

You popped the game into your console, started playing the single player and when you had completed that portion of it, you ventured online into its multiplayer. The rest, then, became history. Night and day you played, neglecting your friends, wife – school and even work. You became addicted.

That’s what Black Ops did to me. I’d find myself playing countless hours of Domination, Capture The Flag and Team Deathmatch. I sincerely thought that I’d be hooked until the next Call of Duty title arrived. But just like a man who stayed with one woman until his true love arrived, I ditched Treyarch’s game since launching into the Killzone 3 beta, and haven’t ventured back.

Romeo has finally met his Juliet.

Open Beta

If an open beta is supposed to convince the consumer to purchase a game, Guerrilla Games has done a great job at convincing me. The visuals are far beyond anything a console has ever rendered, and the fluidity of the game is like nothing I’ve experienced in any other shooter. I thought Black Ops was the boldest effort around, and it was…. But Killzone 3 is so much more realistic. The guns feel weighty, your movements feel more human – even throwing grenades and reloading weapons are done as if you were a real soldier on the battlefield. There’s nothing like Killzone 3 anywhere.

Map – Frozen Dam

Guerrilla Games only allowed for one map in the open beta, and it’s astonishing that gamers are still there, night and day, playing the same map over and over again. It’s a testament of the satisfaction Killzone 3 offers. Frozen Dam is a vast map that has many locations and segments. You venture up high and down low for different missions, and it’s also set up in a way that both teams are on a level playing field. The snow, the ocean. God, the ocean. I got shot twice because I was caught gazing at the waves crashing on rocks. Stunning. It’s an extremely popular map, one that will see many a soldier, both Helghast and ISA, die during battle.

Modes:

You get to try out the three different modes in the beta, they include:

Warzone – It’s basically Guerrilla Games’ take on Team Deathmatch.

Guerrilla Warfare – This one’s also fun, but longer. You’ll go through different matches of Warzone, Search and Destroy, Search and Retrieve, Assassination and more all in one match. The team that ends up with the most victories will be crowned the winner.

Operations – This mode is by far my favorite of the bunch. You’re placed on either side: Helghast or ISA. If you’re the Helghast, you must defend your territory from various missions the ISA will try to complete, and vice versa. The best players from each faction are featured in cut scenes taking place at various points of the missions.

Botzone – This mode allows you to play offline against Artificial Intelligence (AI) or “Bots”, with every achievement unlocked and at your disposal. You can also change the difficulty level of the AI, depending on how skilled you think you are.

All those options and it’s just a beta.

The one negative I’ve experienced thus far, is the lousy connection problems I experience. Usually there’s an error code that appears, or I just can’t get in at all.. I actually inserted Black Ops into my PS3 and went on its mp just to see if I’d have the same problems, but I got in very fast and it worked just fine. Obviously, there are some things Guerrilla Games must fix before launch.

Other than that, Killzone 3′s online experience, just like money well spent, is thoroughly satisfying.

It’s a game I recommend to all PS3 owners, especially those into first person shooters, to experience on day one. Believe me, you’ll be thrilled. And with the beta just touching the tip of the iceberg – There’s no doubt in my mind that those who join in, will be playing the game until Killzone 4 arrives.

Water Scale: Overflowing.