Sharp Shooting With Killzone 3

This generation of consoles might just be most clearly defined as the generation of multitudinous peripherals. We’re expected to keep so much colourful, wondrously shaped plastic packed in and around our consoles these days – from the extra controllers, media remotes, headsets and keypads to the mini guitars, drum sets, microphones and fight sticks. That’s before we even get started on all that superfluous clip-on crap to attach to a Wii Remote.

Sony wanted us to add to this pile by buying into their Move motion control system. We added the wands with the glowing orbs. We even added the wonderfully ergonomic Navigation Controller to the top of our peripheral heap. And then we waited. Sure, there were a few solid titles at launch for Move, Sports Champions, Flight Control and Tumble all stood out. The Move implementation that has been patched in to MAG, Resident Evil 5 and Move – among others – was welcome. But there hasn’t been one big flagship game to use the Move controllers with since then. Killzone 3 might just be that title.

Now, Sony Computer Entertainment and Guerilla Games aren’t silly. They know that the vast majority of people who have an interest in their sci fi shooter will be expecting to play it with a standard DS3. Many of the people lining up to buy Killzone 3 might not even have access to Move at all. So the game is a standard (well, very good) FPS, played with a controller in the traditional way. But there’s Move support and it’s a game-changer.

We tried the game briefly with the Move wand and Navigation Controller before reverting back to the Dual Shock 3 and the familiarity it brought with it. It isn’t easy to get used to the way the look controls work with Move. It’s almost too precise so you might often find that your character is swinging around in circles when you only wanted to have a look. Add the new Sharp Shooter to the equation, though, and it all becomes so much easier.

The simulated sub-machine gun housing for Move and the NavCon really makes a genuine difference to how the game controls. It takes a while to get used to and, for those of us with long arms and broad shoulders, it’s a little uncomfortable when used over long periods of time. It’s made to fit the average arm so that’s understandable. After an hour of learning the new control system we found the Sharp Shooter to have a hugely beneficial effect on our abilities.

As an extremely unscientific test we played the same map and game type in the BotZone with the Sharp Shooter and then with the DS3 (when we would arguably have been more familiar with the map). This was our first two games on this map (Corinth Highway) with Bot Difficulty set to Rookie. With the traditional controller we got 14 kills, 6 deaths and 2 Assists. With the Move controller, NavCon and Sharp Shooter, we got 24 kills, 4 deaths and 5 Assists.

So, is the solidly constructed chunk of red plastic worth your hard earned cash? Only you can decide that and without anything to adequately compare it to we’re certainly not going to put forward any sort of hardware review. No, this little article is simply about how we think that Move, particularly when combined with the Sharp Shooter, has the potential to change the way you play shooters for the better.

Not only is it more immersive and steeped in realism, it seems to yield positive results in the kill/death ratios and, when you’re serious about your shooters, results will be important to some. We recommend that anyone who is able to gives it a try. Let yourself relax into using it for an hour or two and then compare your stats. We’d be really interested to hear what results others have gotten from the different control methods too.