During the currently on-the-go gamescom 2010 event El33tonline sat in on a presentation for Killzone 3 given by Guerrilla Games’ senior multiplayer designer, Dan Nanni, after which we got to have a go with the game’s exciting multiplayer component.

Being on the multiplayer team, Nanni was obviously there to talk about the competitive online portion of Killzone 3, what improvements have been made over multiplayer in Killzone 2, and what the team’s goals are for Killzone 3’s multiplayer.

Nanni also made a case for why gamers should play Killzone 3’s brand of multiplayer when it releases in February 2011, in light of a deluge of solid offerings both upcoming and already available with the Call of Duty and Battlefield games, as well as Medal of Honor.

The presentation began with Nanni talking about how Guerrilla has come to improve Killzone’s multiplayer over the last entry to the franchise, and said that fan feedback on Killzone 2 was crucial in discovering what areas needed attention, while extensive rounds of patches and downloadable content (DLC) for that game also allowed the team to focus on what was important for Killzone 3’s multiplayer.

First of all, Guerrilla intends to pay attention to the game’s community features and improve this aspect. Also, details of an intriguing new multiplayer mode called Operations were revealed, followed up by a list of goals for Killzone 3 in terms of the online game.

According to Nanni, Killzone 3 needs to be able to provide an experience that everyone can enjoy, even if you’re new to the series, while making it easy for players to find and join online games with an improved matchmaking system that’s based on your skill level. For example, joining a game can be done with just three button presses, and you’ll matched with players of your own skill.

Playing online with friends must also be quick, easy and streamlined, and in Killzone 3, you’ll automatically be moved from one game to the next with your party of friends intact, ready to match up again. Players of Killzone 3 multiplayer should also be able to play the game and progress through the ranking system the way they choose, and spend earned points to unlock the five different careers (classes) and upgrade weapons (six per career) and abilities (six unique abilities per career) to customise the gameplay experience.

Guerrilla will also be encouraging everyone who plays Killzone 3 multiplayer to participate in the community by visiting the Killzone 3 website and check out the game’s latest news, as well as see all of your own in-game achievements, career progress, and unlock progress. You’ll also be able to look up your friend’s career progress, list of in-game achievements, and the online leaderboard to comment on their prowess.

Clan support and official tournaments are also planned, and in order to keep the multiplayer mode fresh and competitive, the leaderboards will be reset every month to give players another chance to leap up the rankings. Encouraging a ‘community spirit’ even further will be the way Killzone 3 rewards players for working as a team during a game, by ‘squading up’ to get a tactical advantage over the opposition.

As a squad, you’ll have access to a squad priority headset channel and squad member HUD, and with Squad Rewards, you’re rewarded for helping other members of your squad, an example of which would be visually marking sighted enemies for all your team mates to see.

A new team-based multiplayer mode was also introduced, called Guerrilla Warfare. This mode is essentially Team Deathmatch, and features a dynamic spawning system to keep players moving around a map (and not spawning in a pack of enemies), while close quarters combat will be this mode’s focus. To help you practice in this and other game modes, Killzone 2’s bots will be returning in Killzone 3, only this time they’ll be better than ever.

Just to inject a different kind of freshness into the game’s multiplayer, two vehicles will be available while playing in the form of the jetpack and the mech-like Exoskeleton suit (as seen in Killzone 2 singleplayer, only much improved). Flying around and raining death down on players below looks quite satisfying, as does ambling around in a mech suit and destroying anyone foolish enough to cross your path. The use of jetpacks has also led to the creation of more ‘vertical’ maps, allowing fluid movement in the air for level diversity, while environment and weather effects add further diversity to individual maps.

Adding even more diversity to multiplayer levels in Killzone 3 will be the ‘return’ of Killzone 2’s explosive and treacherous ‘level events’ (as seen in Killzone 2’s DLC), examples of which being what looked to be airstrikes, environment effects and level-specific elements causing havoc in a variety of ways, like a giant machine that sends out a beam of dangerous energy.

Another brand new multiplayer game mode called Operations was demonstrated, which is a story-driven experience that sees a unique narrative being told from both sides of the conflict, and from the perspectives of the ISA and Helghast. These story missions run parallel to the singleplayer’s story and don’t tie in to that mode’s narrative. In Operations, you’ll be participating in events that occur during the singleplayer’s story, only in different locations.

At least one cool thing about Operations is the use of cinematics to provide the setup for the upcoming mission, and then at the end of the match another cinematic is shown revealing a quick action setpiece starring the victors and losers. Whoever got the highest score during the match will be featured in these cinematics, with their name above the head of the avatar. Neat.

During the presentation, Guerrilla Games’ Nanni also delivered the good news that Killzone 3’s visual quality won’t be sacrificed when moving from singleplayer to multiplayer – both game modes will feature the same level of graphics fidelity and effects, and both game modes can be played in stereoscopic 3D and with the PS3’s motion controller, the PlayStation Move.

Players using the PlayStation Move will naturally be able to play against players using a regular DualShock 3 PS3 controller.

When asked what differentiates Killzone 3’s multiplayer component from the offerings of other games, including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and the upcoming Black Ops, as well as the Battlefield games and the soon-to-be-released Medal of Honor, Nanni said that Killzone 3’s sci-fi world, environments, weapons and characters are the most defining elements of the game, and will easily help distinguish it from other online experiences.

El33tonline got to get some hands-on time with Killzone 3’s multiplayer component, and we’ll be bringing you our impressions of this mode soon.

In the meantime, rifle through El33tonline’s previous coverage of Killzone 3 for bunches of screenshots, videos and extra information.