Large scale projects are important drivers of social change. Even when operations follow best practices there are serious challenges, which all too often lead to failure in large scale projects. However, while large scale project success and failure have been widely studied there is no comparison of project success in large scale projects across different types of projects. This study reveals project success factors in the context of large scale projects by analysing 30 articles. This review systematically identifies and compares project success factors in three types of large scale projects: construction/infrastructure, aerospace/defence, and information technology. The paper offers practitioners and researchers a more comprehensive understanding of success in managing large scale projects and useful recommendations for future research.