Killzone whether we want to admit it or not has long been about the story mode. They've always delivered a fairly riveting story wrapped up with tight combat and good visuals. However, this entry just seems to be more about the visuals than anything else. Even sacrificing the visceral combat of past games to push the envelope of the pretty rendered environments.
Graphics: Compared to other FPS titles out right now namely COD/ Battlefield. I'd have to say Killzone's rendered graphics look the best. If not the best. Sure some might argue that battlefield has established itself with pre-rendered cutscenes and nonsense of the like but in terms of raw Graphical ingenuity and presentation I'd definitely say Killzone takes the cake. My jaw dropped several times visiting each new backdrop. From the bustling metropolis to the deep lush forests. Killzone's visual acuity hits it right out of the ballpark. Normally you're too wrapped up in the combat to care. However, the one thing that Killzone does right is inadvertently present jaw dropping visuals in the most casual way. The nice thing is that you're able to enjoy all of this nice scenery even when in combat. So definitive props to Guerrilla Games to for making it's game so beautiful. 10/10 for Graphically impressing the shit out of me.
Gameplay: Here's where the game suffers. Unfortunately, I think Guerrilla got so wrapped up in graphical work that their gameplay drastically suffered. I came into the game with expectations of sneaking around. Perhaps that's my fault, having played all other titles in the series. But, you know with the title Shadow Fall-> I expected to spend more time in the "shadows." Sadly this isn't the case, the game is mired in pretty up front combat. Of course none of it is in the good polished sense of last-gen's Killzone 3 either. The AI are either brutal or dumb as rocks in this title. I can't be sure which is better, but mixing them together didn't endear themselves to me either. There were segments of the game where I'd be doing fine only to get flanked and nailed in the face. Other times the enemy would just stand around and take shots to the face like a good little boy. It's like Guerrilla brought the AI to a candy store and the AI didn't know what to pick Dum Dums or Pop Rocks. Gunplay is slow like previous titles. Well not slow in the sense of controls but slow in the sense of enemies. there just weren't enough in my opinion. I could easily just hide behind cover and let the NPC's kill each other there were so few enemies.
It's rare that I review the multiplayer section with the gameplay. But, because Killzone's entry is more about story less about person vs person I'll just stick it with this. Multiplayer is just like past entries that tried to do it, it's a tacked on slog. Literally they took whatever was fun about playing with other people and just made it un-fun. I had a better experience playing Blacklight Retribution than I did this multiplayer entry.
Sound: Really pretty self explanatory, All your general FPS sort of sounds mixed in with some techno punk remixed robot beeping. For the most part its pretty well done and it adds to the immersion of the environment when you're standing next to a waterfall and it the imagery and audio just makes you want to go pee. If there's any sort of flavor to the sound that I've missed it was probably pretty negligible. Voice acting was sub-par and soundtrack left a lot to be desired, but like I said, they probably devoted most of their budget toward graphics. There's a pretty good example of a game that takes audio to the extreme. Check out Resogun if you guys get the chance I highly recommend this techno themed remix of Ikaruga. Sound gets an 7/10.
Story: Well whats left of it anyways. Like its other predecessors Shadow Fall seeks to reminds us of the horrors and grotesque political nature of war. It seeks to render out all the portions of what's horrible about society as a whole but deliver it in a way that ties into the combat. However, Killzone:Shadow Fall's script is so poorly written that I'd have an easier time finding waldo than the point of the script. There are lengths of the script that are mired in plot holes and missing dialogue that would have otherwise made it a complete experience. The sections that do come through feel, mired in poor acting and just overall overbearing presence of the writers desire to tell the story. You get all of the modern military, broken household, daddy issue tropes you could possibly find in one story. Unfortunately this doesn't make it an easier to relate to the character and by the end of the game you're like whatever. Who the fuck even cares anymore. We've had like 6 games to explore the whole Vektan/Helgan conflict and Shadow Fall delivered an experience that sadly just fell flat on its face. Story gets a 5/10.
Overall Shadow Fall gets a 6.75/10. Sony/Guerilla definitely could have done better with this. It's a pretty sub-par launch titles that gets drastically overshadowed in re-playability by the other free-to-play entries on the PS4.
Yeah and I'm not going to recommend you pick this title up guys. Just not worth it. If you get a PS4 get BF4, get KNACK, hell even get FIFA. I just don't recommend this to anyone who isn't already invested in the series and for those that are. I'd suggest you rent it from gamefly or if you can borrow a copy from a friend, do it.
