Killzone 3 Gets a Perfect 10 in PlayStation: The Official Magazine

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OK, OK, let’s step back for second. One of the things we always struggle with when awarding a 10 is this notion of “perfect.” So, let’s clear the air: There is no such thing as a perfect game. Any and all games come with their assortment of quirks and quibbles, slight shortcomings and trifling blemishes.

PlayStation: The Official Magazine

That said, Killzone 3 comes pretty gosh darn close to perfection.

We should know, because we played the heck out of it for our March cover story: a 10-page feature that includes our hard-hitting, in-depth review along with exclusive tactics straight from developer Guerrilla Games for dominating the excellent multiplayer. We even got to dig deep into the ‘Zone to uncover some of Guerrilla’s thinking behind the latest chapter in their sharp shooter.

It’s a great read, if I do say so myself, written by our very own Roger Burchill. To quote our esteemed managing editor: “Killzone 3 takes a blade, jams it into a Helghast’s eye socket, and twists it.” You’ll have to pick up the issue to find out what else Roger said, but even for those who’ve already pre-ordered the game, it’s got some great insight into why Killzone 3 is an improvement over its excellent predecessor, along with all kinds of tasty tidbits on the game that you won’t find anywhere else.

It’s a great issue overall, with lots of other incredible coverage, including a massive hands-on with MotorStorm: Apocalypse; an epic feature pitting the next wave of Marvel and DC-based games against each other; our top 10 overlooked PS3 classics; massive reviews of Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and (my personal fave) Tactics Ogre; and updates on everything from Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim to UNCHARTED 3. The issue is on newsstands Feb. 15, and should be reaching subscriber mailboxes any day now. Enjoy!

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142 Comments

27 Author Replies

  • lol a perfect 10? Maybe if you guys fix the horrible controls.

  • Any other cool stuff in this issue?

  • BTW, always lookin’ forward to PS Magazine. Brightens my day.

  • QUOTE: “OK, OK, let’s step back for second. One of the things we always struggle with when awarding a 10 is this notion of “perfect.” So, let’s clear the air: There is no such thing as a perfect game. Any and all games come with their assortment of quirks and quibbles, slight shortcomings and trifling blemishes.”
    People need to understand that no game is perfect. 10/10 doesn’t mean that. It just means it is a hell of a game, and you should play it. Stop being ignorant, and look at it in a new perspective. Gary already explained that 10/10 doesn’t mean perfect IN THE FIRST PARAGRAPH!

  • While it’s a great game, it doesn’t deserve a 10 imo. It’s a 9 at best from what I saw with the online betas (both open and closed). Taking out the server lists and removing the weight from the controls were a huge blow to the fans of the second game, and while sound and graphics have both been polished up, gameplay has definitely suffered in my opinion.

  • Why are you guys going nuts over the 10?

    1st- How about before you judge the review you actually read the review. Reviews are not about the score they’re about what you read in it (or hear from someone in a video).

    2nd- Game critics/reviewers are all different and they all handle their reviews differently. For example, IGN gives mega-super high scores to Call of Duty but gives a 6.0 to a game like Medal of Honor in which everyone else gave it over an 8. That one guy on X-play gives like everything either a 4/5 or 5/5, and then you forget that most critics never have even handed out a 10, like Gametrailers who gave Uncharted 2 a 9.3 and other great games like GTA4 a 9.8.

    Besides, if you actually looked on Metacritic, 2 critics that aren’t PS magazine gave it a 10 and a total of 15, yes FIFTEEN, that gave it 90+.

    End of story, your welcome, now go back to playing Call of Duty or something

  • sick i knew killzone 3 could not let me down

  • God you guys are ignorant. The reviewer gave it a 10 because thats what they he/she thought it deserved!

    If this review was for any other magazine, then no one would be suspicious? I’m sure of that.

    Simply because it is for the OPM, they should lie about what they think, and give it a lower rating so that they don’t look suspicious?

    The reviewer game this game the rating it deserved. Stop caring about what magazine it is in. There was no bribery.

  • This is my issue with official magazines.

    2011 has a lot of hyped PS3 games coming out. Let’s say the OPM staff happened to not really like any of them that much.

    Say you guys gave LBP2 an 8, KZ3 a 7.5, Socom 4 a 7.5, Infamous an 8 etc etc…

    Are you telling me that as the official Playstation magazine… Sony wouldn’t interfere? I find it very unlikely that they would just accept all the below average scores on such big franchises.

    I really appreciate your candidness on this subject, but for the reasons above, I still gotta take OPM reviews with a bit of an asterisk

  • Sony could interfere if they wanted to, but the thing is they did not.

    You guys seem to think that the rating should be low because it is in the OPM. The reviewers give games there honest reviews in OPM, no bribery.

    Ever read the review for Warhawk from OPM? It got a 6, and yes that was in OPM. That was early on in the PS3 life too. There is no bribery.

    Stop being ignorant by assuming these games are receiving high ratings due to being in the OPM. These games DESERVE high ratings; I think so, and so do the reviewers.

    If you want to continue to believe OPM takes bribes, then please go live in your fantasy world somewhere else. No one wants you here.

  • I’m happy to see that Killzone 3 got a 10. The reviews you guys write are worth wild to read whether it be a good or bad review. I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of the magazine and it comes out on the same week as MvC3! Quick question: which of the new characters did you like to use in MvC3?

  • @101, controls are fine, what are you talking about? You suck maybe? Not every game needs LAME cod controls.

  • You should never give a perfect score unless a game has no room for improvement and especially from an official magazine as it gives an impression “I’m not shocked.”.

    The game doesn’t feature co-op multiplayer though I really didn’t expect it to have singleplayer co-op which sold me so I can play it with my wife. I couldn’t ask for more!

    And now I think I have to buy that magazine. Great cover btw!

  • 10 is not perfect, it means its a classic, one of the best of the genre, a must play, not a hard concept.

  • I don’t think 10 is too much for Killzone 3… Reasons below:

    1) Move support: 10

    2) 3D support: 10

    3) Multiplayer support: 10

    4) Brazilian Portuguese support: 10

    5) Wow factor: 10

    6) Exploding Helghast (evil eyes of death): 10

    Yeah I’m a Killzone fan boy and I can’t wait to get my copy… Please keep bringing Killzone every 2 years ;D

  • FIX THE NA SERVERS PLS!

  • This comment has nothing to see with Killzone 3. Because i really like this game… but i can’t believe that the writer of this post is being such a baby…

    Why is he replying the bad n sarcastic comments???

    Idk if i have read posts about him before, cuz i really don’t care who is who… i only care about the info that the blog brings me… but with bloggers like this one… is the reason that blogs begin to lose credibility and auddience.

  • Wow, cool cover. Is this mag available in Australia? I can’t wait to read something ‘deep’ about KZ3 before playing it, mostly to read about what’s changed in multiplayer over the first game. I’ve been avoiding the beta, because I’m not a big believer in demos (to me there’s nothing like experiencing a game that first time you turn it on- its a little magical!)

  • I’m with D-Squad3, I hope that the controls in the full game are better then they were in the beta! I played maybe 5 games with the beta, then I removed it from my Hard drive and went back to playing MAG.

  • @Gary Steinman, AND everyone who backs up the review:

    If PTOM is not OFFICIAL, then maybe it should OFFICIALY change its name to PlayStation Magazine. You know, since it’s NOT OFFICIAL!

  • Type-o, I agree with the review just not the Mag name after finding out the truth just now…

  • Gary, I don’t know if you’ll get to this comment so long after the initial post but I have a questions regarding one of your replies. You said PTOM believes in using the entire 1-10 scale in reviews. That’s good. But can you tell me, what is your average review score? If it’s not a 5, you’re not using your entire scale… Too often these days I see 6-10 being the used scale, sometimes something in the 5’s, and very rarely something lower. An average game should get a 5, not a 7-8.

    I would do anything to get a magazine that actually averaged out to be a 5 in reviews, it would give a much better idea of your opinions of what’s truly a good or above average game, and what’s just average, and what sucks.

    • This is a great question. And I honestly don’t know the answer offhand, but I might have our intern figure it out for us.

      However, I disagree with your understanding of what a 5 is. For us, 5 equals “mediocre,” not “average.” Average is an absolutely meaningless word when it comes to reviews, because it can mean such a wide range of things. An “average student,” for example, is one who does “good enough.” An average TV show or movie…what does that even mean? And, naturally, it will also mean different things in different stretches of time. One year might be particularly good for PlayStation, so the “average” game would be better than, say, last year’s average game. Which, again, means nothing.

      We use the 5 to indicate mediocrity, a notion that everyone is familiar with. And we’ve given out the full range of scores, but not unfairly and not punitively just to prove a point. If a game is good (which is our 7), we’re not going to punish it by pushing it down to a 5 because there are other good games out there. We’re also not going to push a flawed game (our 4) up to a 5 because a lot of games have flaws.

      I hope that makes sense!

  • @ Gary Steinman,

    Love the magazine, just extended my subscription, always read them front to back multiple times, but I miss the posters. I know time are tough but poster for big title would be great. I am sure many OPM subscribers would great appreciate them as well. THANKS!!!! also Pre-order my helghast edition last sunday, love KZ 2.

  • For all you doubters,

    in the February 2011 issue, PTOM gave GT 5. Yes GRAN TURISMO 5!!!a score of 8, GT 5 is as big of an exclusive you can get.
    And they gave “THE FIGHT-Lights out” a 4/10, a Move lauch game! If sony had their 2 cents in this magazine, Why wasn’t PTOM more generous to these titles? Where is the bias? p.s. sorry about grammar.

  • Is this The Onion? What a silly headline.

    Half of the articles in each magazine are clearly developed to sell products rather than deliver information, in a more blatant manner than the other competitors. But you all know that already.

  • The best part of PTOM is the Playstation Network Games section, where they list the Can’t Miss Classics, essentially any Playstation games for sale whatsoever. Horrible, horrible PS1 games regularly show up there – in what’s allegedly a review section – with no critical analysis but short punchy must-buy captions.

    And, duh, of course they can’t give every Sony game a 10, but they give almost every big release a perfect score.

  • Playstation: The Official Magazine doesn’t give 10s out too easily.

    12

  • And, as listed above, they’ve blasted Sony exclusive games — if deserved in their opinion — as well.

    The internet just likes to hate. =)

    12

  • Oh, and for the record, I disagree with them completely about their “The Fight-Lights Out” review.

    Game is flippin’ awesome.

    12

  • Did you happen to sample this game with the move? Also how did you like the audio…the beta gets a little annoying with the death groans.

  • Awesome soo exited for Killzone 3!

  • Can’t wait to read all the awesome reviews on PTOM. I think people should actually read the reviews instead of just the scores.

  • I cant even log on to open beta anymore.

  • Im waiting for this game so when i use the move its be awesome KZ3 forever:)

  • Sweet! I hope it’s really that good. :)

  • From my experience with the open beta, I can see why this game got a perfect score. It is BY FAR the best online multi-player FPS game I have played, I’ve just never found one that has stuck my fancy. The scenery is amazing, and the snowfall is downright realistic in the ‘Frozen Dam’ map. I am really excited to sink my teeth into the nougat that is the single player campaign. From all the videos and screenshots I have seen so far, Guerrilla has pulled out all the stops, in terms of graphical power-house, tight controls, and game play that keeps on giving. Killzone 3 seems to be a collaboration of all the fan outcries, critics reviews, and community feedback put into a package sure to satisfy any gamer. I can’t wait for the 22nd.

  • I’ve been playing the open Beta quite a bit recently (seriously, who hasn’t been?) and I can definitively say that Killzone 3’s multiplayer experience is one of the very best I’ve ever played in a first-person shooter… and I’ve only been able to play on one freakin’ map. That’s evidence of how great it is. Guerilla has come a long way from Killzone 2, and I can’t wait for the 22nd!

  • @ Gary Steinman…
    I think KZ3 definitely deserves the 10/10 I’ve been on the open beta for over a week now and I’m rank 24 with 857 brutal melees. I think the game is great but there are some things that may be wrong… my oppinion of the game would drop dramatically if the game didn’t offer custom soundtrack. Do you know if it will be included?

  • um quick question,how do u subscribe 2 the ps magizine??

  • Excuse me Gary Steinman… How do you subscribe to PlayStation Magazine?

  • wow mvSly was thinking the same thing I was lol

  • I won’t say Killzone 3 is the GREATEST GAME but I will say it’s one of the first games I’ve played that can take me away from Black Ops. And PERSONALLY speaking I think that it is better then Black ops. Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed black ops but KZ3 seems more satisfying. Like..the idea of being able to do the brutal melees for one is BAD ASS. Even in multiplayer they’re fun. I will say the multiplayer maybe isn’t as in depth as Black ops. but…maybe that’s a good thing to have a simple straight forwrd fast action shooter.

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