Best Shooter Nominees - Golden Joystick Awards 2011 – Killzone 3, Red Faction Armageddon - Part 4
With some major contenders already vying for the top honour in their category it is time to look at some other titles who will be competing against the likes of Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops, Bethesda’s Brink, EA’s Crysis, Bungie’s Halo: Reach and
THQ’s Homefront.
The next two games have only one thing in common and that is that they are both solid first person shooters. The story line, the developers, the exclusivity and the setting, among other things, are all worlds apart – literally. Yet both titles manage to
leave players satisfied in their own right.
Killzone 3
Guerrilla Games really outdid themselves with Killzone 2, which went on to become PlayStation 3’s premier shooter. While its single player was nothing to write home about, the visuals, the atmosphere and the multiplayer were phenomenal.
In fact, it pretty much set the trend for making the environments so rich in multiplayer modes as well. So how then was the next instalment in the Sony exclusive title to live up to the astronomical hype that surrounded it.
Killzone 3 did not disappoint. The single player campaign was improved in almost every way. More story elements, characters, cut scenes and the pair of Malcolm McDowell and Ray Winston were added to the single player, though Rico was still as annoying as
he was in the second part.
The multiplayer was also tweaked with dynamic maps which had, whether you can believe it or not, even more rich environments and an even more intense atmosphere.
Add in 3D compatibility and PlayStation Move support and it really was a complete PlayStation 3 package. With the PlayStation move gun peripheral, the Sharpshooter, also released with the game it has to be one of Sony’s most well supported titles.
Critics may have been slightly harsh when it came to ratings, but that was mostly because the game did more tweaking than overhauling. Which to be fair was what the game needed.
Killzone 2 was heavily accepted as being the first person shooter game ‘perfected’, so maybe a bit of tweaking was all that was needed.
However, when it comes to earning votes Killzone 3 may not get as many as it deserves, seeing how its a single platform game – meaning it will only earn votes from PlayStation console owners.
Our verdict: A very strong title which deserves to be in the top five if not the top three, but stands a low chance of winning considering it is a single platform game.
Red Faction: Armageddon
The second THQ title in the nominees, Red Faction: Armageddon has high expectations from its fans and the gaming public in general, though to be honest it did not manage to deliver.
Taking a break from the desolate, orange wastelands and mining areas of the planet Mars Armageddon took a different approach – it went underground.
The move, though, did not pay off as even the destructive hammer which players loved so much from the previous game could not help the game from the receiving disappointing reviews.
Our verdict: Being multiplatform will not help this title, expect it to finish near the bottom pile of nominees.
Readers can continue reading about the nominees for the Best Shooter category in the next article:
Best Shooter Nominees - Golden Joystick Awards 2011 – Part 5
Disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the editorial policy of Bettor.com
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