KZ3 - Difficulty, Setting, Goals & Objectives

Difficulty:

There are 4 difficulty levels in KZ3 Recruit, Trooper, Veteran and Elite (unlocked after you have completed the game), the game gets harder by AI having more damage and health, they already actively seek you out to eliminate you they just get harder to kill and in elite difficulty 3-4 hits and your dead. the game even in elite is much easier than KZ2 or so it seems, but is still enjoyable to play. The only problem I had with the difficulty settings was on the On-rails levels (gunner from a vehicle) as having no way to cover yourself makes it extremely difficult, but that is probably the hardest part of the game on Elite.

Achievements or "Trophies" are in abundance in KZ3 with lots to earn in the campaign and multiplayer modes. there are both progressive (kill 25/50/100/500/1000 helghast) and objective based for example. 

Evening The Odds	Killed 500 Helghast.	Bronze
Now It's Personal	Killed 1000 Helghast.	Silver
Fight To The Last	Killed 1500 Helghast.	Silver

Frazzle Dazzle	Use the StA-5X Arc Cannon to kill 3 Helghast with one shot.	Bronze
Power Spike	Use the Boltgun to nail a Helghst to an exploding object.	Bronze
Excessive Force	Used the secondary fire of the WASP to kill a single Helghast.	Bronze
Spread The Love	Used the secondary fire of the WASP to kill 5 Helghast at once.	Bronze

Achievements keep the player engaged and adds replay value, a "platinum" trophie is avaliable when you unlock all other trophies.


Setting/Realism/Scale and Time:

As the game is set in a series of harsh alien environments and being a first person shooter the game in theory should not be very realistic, but realism is used well and appropriately throughout as there is a fine line between realism and fun. most modern FPS's are unrealistic for example if  you were shot once and you died it would more than likeley get old fast and not be very fun to play, especially with the amount of enemies in KZ3. alongside other genre charecteristics such as ammo replenishment and reload speeds not being realistic and the amount of time/how fast you can run is not effected from weapon to weapon, you can run the same speed with a pistol as you can with a rocket launcher.. what is realistic however is the brutal melee mechanic (see mechanics) as it takes time to perform this attack leaving you vulnerable, unlike most modern FPS's. The sense of scale is also very realistic as nothing in the game seems out of place or too big/small for reality, this is quite common of modern FPS's as scale is an important factor.Time in KZ3 runs relative to real time, there is no slow/fast time adjustment, guns fire and enemies run at the rate you would expect, another realistic factor.


Goal and objectives:


As killzone 3 is a firs person shooter it is a genre charecteristic to have simple goals and objectives, the overall goal of the game is to battle your way through hoards of enemies, rondezvous and rescue the remaining ISA forces and make your way to and kill the leader of the helghan (stahl). Obviously alongside a narrative there are several objectives to complete to get to the end with on-rails travelling battles, rescuing your forces and destroying exoskeletons (mech type machines). i personally would not change anything about KZ3 goals + objectives as all seem relevant as you proceed from one to the next, the game is called killzone so you expect to have to kill hundreds of enemies and the game does not fail to live up to that expectation.