Unless you have been living under a rock for the past couple of years then you know that Call of Duty and Battlefield are the supreme leaders within the first person shooter market, and with both Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3 coming out later this year, the hype for both of these titles has reached astronomical levels, and for good reason too. Battlefield 3 looks to yet again raise the bar with its next-gen graphics engine, going by the name of Frosbite 2, and its amazing destructibility and realistic gun physics. Modern Warfare 3 is no slouch either when it comes to raising the bar as the title sets out to improve upon what is already the best selling formula for a first person shooter game of all time. With its addicting gameplay and compelling story, Modern Warfare 3 looks to be the best title in the series yet.

Now, with both of those titles looking absolutely stellar and people beginning to flock back to both Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to hone their skills and killing prowess in time for the release of Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3, I begin to become worried for what I think is possibly the most underplayed shooter this year. Killzone 3.

Killzone 3 released back in February of 2011 and with the hype surrounding the game due to its powerful graphics engine and the previous success of Killzone 2, the game went on to become the 14th fastest selling title in the UK (Yes, I know. I am British, please leave your jokes in the comments section if you wish.) This of course should translate into a good online community, should it not? Apparently not. A couple of days ago I decided to slide my Killzone 3 disc into my PS3 and decided it was time for an online bloodbath of epic proportions, but upon entering the online section of the game and then continuing on to search for a game, I was immediately thrown into a server which was barely even half full. I thought to myself, “Hey, no biggie, right? I will just find another game.” So, that is exactly what I did, I searched for another game and then, what’d you know? Another less than half full game. I don’t know what experiences with lobbys’ that all of you guys have had with the game in recent times, but I just can’t seem to find a full game. When I do, it is only because there is a huge clan of talented players who suddenly decided that I should become cannon fodder.

Now I know that there is still a good handful of players who decided to stick with this game, but I just can’t help but feel that many people who picked it up just decided to let the game collect dust on their shelves because it was something totally different to what they had played before. Unless of course you played Killzone 2, in which case I sound like an idiot right now. Anyway, back to the point. As I said, I believe people passed on the online experience after only a couple of hours because of how different it was to many other shooters out there. The control scheme is completely different, and it promotes a different style of play. Running ‘n’ gunning will get you killed, there is no aim assist, basically not friendly for causal players. The game seemed so bland and was a very tough mountain to climb for new players, heck, even I felt that way the first couple of hours with Killzone 3. I do admit that the game is hard to master. I mean, I was going 5-18 during my first matches, and I just could not seem to get the hang of the game. This is what I think turned many players off, the sheer amount of difficulty that comes with this game, it really does take a while to get a hang of. Of course, there are some elite FPS players out there who can just pick up any first person shooter game and instantly become a killionaire. For us regular folk, it just isn’t that easy.

However, after what would have been a good couple of days with the game, it finally clicked. Suddenly, I was going 20-8 in every other game and I was piling up killstreaks of 3 and 5. Luckily, the game just came to me, and I began playing like what I felt was a true champ at the game. Now the game became a lot more interesting, it became fun. I must admit, I was not experiencing any kind of fun with the game before this period. Because who would find getting a face full of lead by a cloaked sniper any kind of fun? This is also what I think turned players away from the game. It simply wasn’t any fun getting killed over and over again by the same snipers and same elite players. Why spend hours upon hours of your valuable gaming time trying to get good at a difficult game when you can just return to what you know and love? I do understand that the game, of course, has its faults, glitches, and bugs, which would also turn players off and tell the game to go hump a goat. But, I think that my previous comments are what ultimately caused Killzone 3’s online community to dwindle.

There is still a significant amount of gamers who play this game daily, and the DLC released for the game ended up selling quite well, but the player count is just no where near the numbers you see within the likes of Call of Duty or Battlefield (Halo on the 360). This is a shame because this game is truly one of the most fun games that I have played in recent months. The satisfaction that you gain from killing that damned cloaked sniper with his apparent “epic skills” or headshotting that guy who is pummeling your team into submission is just phenomenal. So, I urge you guys to, at least, give this game another go and not just throw it onto a shelf after a couple of hours of getting slaughtered because you still can not figure out the damned controls, which I admit are fairly sub par. Just hold out and keep playing, and I promise you that it will click. Before you know it, you’ll be gaining tons of kills and having a blast doing it. Killzone 3 may not be for everyone, but I have a feeling that a lot more people would enjoy this game if they were to give it a fair chance. This may not be the case for everyone, as some of you may just plainly hate the game and refuse to play it, which is fair. Why play something that you despise the very existence of, right? Happy gaming, guys!

Please let me know about your experiences with Killzone 3 in the comments. Why do you still play it? Or, why it is still M.I.A from your PS3?

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