A note to Guerilla Games on why Killzone is receiving so much stick for its plot – Part 2
All that could have been forgiven though, had his character been better. In Killzone 2 he ended up getting Garza, Sevchenko’s best friend, killed, before killing Scolar Visari at the end of the game.
In Killzone 3, obvious efforts were made to make him a more likeable character, but the bitter taste of Killzone 2 still remained and Rico’s smallest shortcomings far outweighed his improved character. While the brotherhood between Rico and Sev was integral
to the plot in the third game, it provides an opportunity for Guerilla Games to give Rico a fitting farewell.
Perhaps Rico could give his life and sacrifice himself to save Sev, or even Jammer, and sign out of the Killzone universe on a high, as a hero. Keeping him around will only add to the ‘Rico is so annoying’ sentiment already prevalent among Killzone fans.
But again the fact is that the storyline made him a character everyone loved to hate and he has pulled off that role beautifully, now however, it is time for a change and for Rico to go, for everyone’s sake.
More character building
The original Killzone, which came out on the PlayStation 2, had by far the most enjoyable campaign in terms of story. There was banter between Hakka and Rico and Luger and Templar, the four protagonists of the game, as well as a fair amount of character
building.
Where all of that went in the second game is a mystery. Yes, Killzone 2 had its moments, Garza being killed because of Rico’s mistake added a nice layer to the squad dynamic, Jans Templar heroic death scene was inspirational and Visari nuking his own city
was up there in the extreme.
Yet when it came to the characters growing and developing, it just was not happening. The one moment where it seemed there might have been some character building between Rico and Sev, was on the space station next to Garza’s coffin, yet even that was cut
short.
Killzone 3 however, was better than the second game, in the sense that the plot was based around the notion of brotherhood and efforts were made to show Sev, Narville and Rico grow as characters. However, apart from the occasional rousing speech from Sev,
there just weren’t enough moments which players will remember.
One thing the developers did get right was the tension between Jorhan Stahl and Admiral Orlock, the two rival Helghast antagonists. Malcolm McDowell and Ray Winstone did a great job of bringing their characters to life and more of that needs to be incorporated
into the rest of the game
Again, one can take the example of Uncharted and how it took a simple premise and added so many layers to it in terms of the relationships between the characters. Killzone 3 lacked that, the cut scenes seemed slightly rushed and simply narrated what was
going on in the story.
That’s not to say one should turn the Killzone series into a soap or television drama, but adding the right amount of plot twists, developing the characters and narrating the, pretty solid, plot better would all go a long way in making the next Killzone
game a much better experience.
Oh and killing off Rico would help too.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the writer's own and do no reflect the editorial policy of bettor.com
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