Synopsis
Tensions between the VSA and the Helghast have started to boil over. Both sides have done their best to eliminate the other, while causing civilian and military causalities along the way. You’ve got to fight to keep both sides together, otherwise there is a chance everything in both worlds gets torn a part.
There are two pieces of the game that will keep you hooked with Killzone Shadow Fall. The first of these is visuals, which was the big deal back when the PS4 was demoed in February. When you dig into the game you’re going to see a large world that is teeming with life, even when death is the prominent figure. You’ll find dynamic rainfall, wind, clouds and such all around you. In the destroyed cityscapes of Killzone, you’ll find debris flying around, broken buildings and places and just everything that should indicate a decayed/ing society. As you progress further into the game, the visual stakes get higher, especially once you infiltrate the Helghast side of the wall. The battle scenes become larger and the creepiness of your situation is heightened through plenty of darkness, red glowing eyes and a visual sense of uneasiness.
Visually, Killzone Shadow Fall, outside of Battlefield 4, will definitely sell you on the system. There are lots of beautiful shading and lighting moments, and structurally sound models in Killzone. The visuals create some impressive depth to everything, even though you can’t go off the beaten path too much. Even down to the weapons themselves, you’ll find a lot of visual variety and perfection. You get everything you thought you would visually with the game, which makes you want to see more. The end scenes are especially impressive, though I won’t ruin them for you.
The other piece to this game is the story, which is an element of the series that has always been a driving part of the Killzone franchise. A good story will keep you locked down with game, regardless of the game’s flaws. This time around, Guerrilla Games has taken the story in a Israel/Palestine sort of conflict, as the Helghast have forcefully taken over the VSA territory without much fight from the VSA (this is how the game begins). Bickering and fighting goes back and forth between the two sides, as each blames the other for its problems and combat retaliations. What you get with the overall arc of the story is an internal struggle with our main character, who doesn’t know what to believe as he starts uncovering both sides of the tale (and meeting a few people along the way, who help guide him). I won’t say anymore, but I can tell you that you will be hooked.
When you see Killzone Shadow Fall in action, you will stick with it thanks to both visuals and stories. Rightfully so, most launch titles tend to lean heavily on both of these elements to sell themselves because these two things are what consumers are focused on with their new systems. This isn’t an unusual draw when it comes to system launches, so it shouldn’t shock anyone that these are the best elements of Killzone Shadow Fall.
Now, where does the game sort of stutter and sometimes fail? Well, it happens in a few areas, some more extreme than others.
The gameplay, though a lot more wide open than the campaign in Call of Duty: Ghosts, is still very much linear, as it requires you to go from point A to B without much deviation from the path. Killzone succeeds on creating a huge world to explore, but to move on with the story you have to do certain tasks that have to be done in certain ways. Is this bad? Not necessarily, but sometimes you end up losing the mission and have to wander a bit to get back on track. Moments like that are what hurts the game a bit. If you push the ‘up’ directional pad it will show you where you should be going, but getting lost on the task does put a certain damper on things. For example, the awesome scene where you have to blow up the Helghast base alongside the dam (in the beginning), you can easily get off task and forget where you’re supposed to go. I found myself wandering quite a bit in this level, and it took me longer to get back on track than previously anticipated. I was fine with it initially, as I was still in awe of the visuals, but ultimately it’s nice to keep the story going, which became an issue as I kept playing the title and getting sort of off-track in some areas.
That aside, the game also ramps up the difficulty of your missions, and does so sporadically, which causes a bit of frustration. You will find random moments where the game will throw an enemy into the mix that feels like it appeared out of nowhere. It’s like enemies tend to spawn in places that previously had zero enemy activity. For example, there is a mission where you must save several VSA above ground trains from getting blown up by the Helghast. Your character has to travel above the maintenance lines of the trains to get to each armed train. Whilst getting to said train, there are no enemies in sight. The structures you are traveling through are intricate and incredibly difficult to quickly navigate about. Once you get on a train, kill the Helghast, and depart the saved train, a small army of Helghast appear everywhere in the maintenance rafters. There is logically no way this should have happened and it creates an unfair fighting environment, as the game seems to throw things at you out of nowhere. There’s nothing quite as annoying as your enemy having the high ground, as you’re trying to get on a ladder and make it a fight. I died so many times on this level. Is this the first FPS to do this? No, but it seems like lazy design and honestly gamers should expect better out of a next generation title, even a launch title. The more important question here is, is this type of thing forgivable? Yes, only because it’s fun shooting enemies in Killzone, but it does create a disconnect in the story just a bit (an ugly side effect to randomly spawning enemies).
That unfair situation aside, I did find the A.I. of the Helghast as good as it has always been. Sure you’re going to find situations where the Helghast will stick their heads out to check to make sure everything is okay (and get their heads blown off in the process), but for the most part they’re still smart as can be. There are moments where the Helghast will regroup and take a different position strategy to get the most out of their efforts. It’s impressive to watch and sometimes adds a layer of intensity to the gameplay. There are times where they will charge, will set up a shield and wait for you to stick your head out, and other times where they will try to gang up on you to overwhelm your defenses. It’s neat to watch and it’s something that has been prevalent through out the series. I remember playing the first Killzone and thinking how cool it was that the Helghast were charging my side of the battlefield because they clearly had the advantage. Again, it does create some wonderfully tense situations in the heat of battle.
As for the actual battle moments, I love them. The guns you get in this game mixed with your OWL makes for an excellent gaming experience. The OWL is a welcomed companion in the game, as it adds another element of gameplay to the field of battle. The touchpad usage isn’t as distracting as people are leading on, as you can swipe on the touchpad to order your OWL to go strike, protect or hack. There’s a lot to love about the actual battle once it gets started in Killzone Shadow Fall. Even the melee attacks are fun to perform, which you should do all the time — well, when the time calls for it.
A small element in KZ that is done well, and not a lot of people take notice of it (or mention it), is the fact that when you’re performing a melee attack you can still get shot. The game simply doesn’t stop the world so you can stab a Helghast, rather it keeps going and lets you face the consequence of your melee decision. It’s the little things about the game that count in the end. You can’t simply go out with your guns blazing or your knife swiping in this game. You must make go strategic decisions based on enemy positions and what you can get away with in the game. This also adds a bit of difficulty to KZSF, and also some depth.
So is this game fun? I think it is fun, but only on the campaign side of things. You get a nice story that is packed with some great visuals with the campaign side of Killzone Shadow Fall. On the multiplayer side, I’m not as impressed. I like what they’re doing and how they’re progressing, but the MP experience is a bit slow. I think the next Killzone might nail the MP side of the game, but in comparison to other FPS titles MP experience, it simply cannot compete. In the long run, you’ll still find some great entertainment with Killzone, which might be enough to justify its purchase with Battlefield 4 or Call of Duty: Ghosts.