Killzone 3 Multiplayer Hands-On

Ever since I first got my hands on Killzone 3 back at the launch event in Amsterdam, I’ve been itching to try its multiplayer.
Last night at the SCEE gamescom press conference I saw the trailer below and my anticipation maxed out; this morning, my first port of call had to be my friends from Guerrilla Games. Luckily, a handful of games journalists had the same idea and there was a gang of the game’s developers sitting in Amsterdam staring us down from the other side of the online battlefield.

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Before that, we were introduced to two brand new game modes. The first is Guerrilla Warfare, which is essentially team deathmatch with a greater emphasis on close quarters combat and dynamic spawn points that ensure you always revive close to the action but out of the line of fire.
Operations is another brand new multiplayer mode. It is objective based and story driven, with the ISA team aiming to complete a mission, such as blowing up a blast door, and the Helghast defending. The individual players that complete certain objectives appear in cut-scenes for everyone else in the game to see.
We also learnt that vehicles are going to be a big part of multiplayer, with Exoskeletons (remember them from towards the end of Killzone 2‘s single player?) playable today and jet-packs shown in a gameplay video. The multiplayer will also support Stereoscopic 3D and PlayStation Move motion control.

With all of that frantically noted down, it was time to pick up a DUALSHOCK and jump into a game of Warzone. The first thing I noticed is that the XP system has been tweaked to offer greater rewards for completing objectives and performing difficult skills, such as headshots, explosive kills and melee attacks. Speaking of which, the Brutal Melee attacks already shown in the single player mode are also in multiplayer and it’s truly satisfying twisting a blade into those red Helghan eyes.
The level playable here is Phyrrus City; the Helghan capital and a ruined urban arena offering a mixture of open roads, where the Exoskeletons can roam free, and a second level of wrecked pipes and tight corridors where the shotgun is king. I played as a Field Medic, choosing an assault rifle and a portable sentry robot called a Minidrone.
There are five career paths to choose from, each with six weapons and six unique abilities. The version we played had everything unlocked but, in the full game, these guns and abilities are unlocked with skill points awarded each time you progress through one of the game’s 45 ranks.
Hopefully this gives you some idea of what Killzone 3‘s multiplayer is going to be like; look out for a video interview with Steven Ter Heide of Guerrilla Games here on the Playstation Blog later in the week and feel free to ask any questions you may have in the comments.