Triggerhappytel
Member
I've just written a big update about this in the 52 Games... topic and I felt like I had so much to say that it would be better placed in a LTTP of its own.
I finished this last night, after almost two months of playing sporadically, and I haven't felt like I've played a game this maddening and inconsistent in a long while (actually, probably not since I finished Destiny last week, but that's just semantics). I've had a love/hate relationship with the Killzone franchise since the beginning, but I do consider myself a series fan, and it's annoying to see Guerrilla get so close to greatness on so many occasions, only to be held back by something confoundingly idiotic. Upon finishing Shadow Fall my thoughts are that the actual core elements of the gameplay are superb, but it's severely dragged down by the game design being extremely inconsistent.
Let's start with the good stuff though, and why I think overall Shadow Fall is absolutely worth playing:
Gameplay detail and depth
I really liked the range of options in how you could approach levels thanks to a suite of cool functions and gadgets. I liked being able to 'ping' the sonar to detect enemies within a certain distance, but do it for too long and it gives a feedback screech and alerts all those enemies to your location. I liked that the waypoint is not always on screen, but you can tap up to see the waypoint, or hold it down to see a log of the objectives. It's good un-intrusive design which doesn't spoon-feed anything to the player. I like being able to press down to get an alternate fire mode on many weapons - whether this is a different firing mode like a ranged energy blast or an under-slung grenade launcher, or simply a flick between burst fire or semi-auto. It just felt like all these things gave me more options in how I wanted to approach the levels and I was really grateful for that.
The OWL
The OWL is great. It solves the problem of feeling 'alone' in shooters by giving you a teleporting invincible robot drone companion, and it has four distinct functions which lend themselves really well to differing play-styles. I mostly used the flashbang and attack modes, but the zipline was pretty awesome (would have been good if more of the level design allowed for its use) and the shield was really useful in places where you're able to bottleneck enemies and then mow them down. I actually would have liked some instances of enemies having their own versions of the OWL,
Enemy AI
Guerrilla are one of the best in the business at programming AI in my opinion, and although this doesn't quite hit the heights of Killzone 2 it does get pretty close. I never felt like I was fighting idiots in this; they'll hang back and approach with caution if you hide around a corner, even seeking out an alternate route if possible,
Wonderful visuals and presentation
Again, it's no surprise coming from Guerrilla who have been a technical powerhouse ever since Killzone 2, but this is easily still one of the best looking games of this generation. The detail is excellent, the scale is vast and it looks colourful and pretty and distinct. The harsh dark colours of New Helghan contrast really well with the brighter blues and pastel colours of the Vektan side of the wall, even if it's a little on-the-nose; Vektan society is idyllic while the Helghast have to live in the shadows, reliant on their breathing apparatus and with the skies greyed by their equally harsh industries. As a side note, I think the HUD and general UI is gorgeous and I really love that from boot-up you're on the game menu within about 20 seconds. More games should do this.
The Forest (aka level 2 'The Shadow')
This level is great! Like, seriously superb, and I wish they'd taken this and used it as the template for the rest of the game - I loved being dumped in a relatively large open area, having a few different objectives which you can approach in whichever order you like, and being left to it. It gave me a really positive impression of the game and made me very hopeful for what was to come.
Level 4 'The Patriot'
This was another seriously enjoyable level; particularly the second part where you assaulted the building with the hostages, and you could choose your method of entry, and then once you were inside the building its walls were destructible which lent a really fun and fast-paced feel to encounters. It's just a shame that this scenario was a one-off and they didn't do it again later in the game, or have more levels with destructible walls.
But there's plenty wrong as well:
The Story
Oh my god, what a steaming hot mess of nonsense. This isn't really a surprise for anyone familiar with the series, but given it was a 'soft reboot' I'd hoped they'd use the opportunity to get better writers on board. Initially
is presented as the main antagonist, but then it
, and then it shifts again to
, and then
with the game's final, totally expected twist. It spends a lot of time focusing on
- I was unclear what the weapon was or what its effects were, and if you don't understand the stakes how can you possibly care about the story or this conflict they're trying to focus on. I don't even know what happened to
as she seemed to disappear half way through the game.
EDIT - one other thing I forgot to mention; what position did Sinclair hold? I thought he was head of the Shadow Marshals rather than the whole Vektan army, but at the end he's making his speech about declaring war on the Helghast as though he's the most senior member of the army on Vekta. Was there no government or city mayor to have a say, for example?
Questionable level design
Later in the game when you're on Helghan you're in a ruined city and you have to load power supplies with Petrusite coils and then shoot them to blow the large static security drone they're powering, but the game doesn't tell you this at all. I spent probably upwards of half an hour in that area trying to work out what to do, because the waypoint is sending you further than you can get and there's nothing to suggest that you need to destroy this machine specifically. It doesn't help that there's another large bot patrolling which it's better to avoid altogether, and the area is relatively large with no indication that you need to focus specifically on the area behind this security drone. And then there are the freefall and wingsuit levels, which feel pointless and only added frustration. I thought the wingsuit level where you're flying over Helghan could have made a cool vehicle section, but Echo and Kellan decide to abandon their escape vehicles and float in instead, I guess?
Difficulty spikes
This might be me going a bit soft, but there were a few sections of the game later on where you have to hold your ground while dozens of Helghast pour in, and the game gets so punishing. I hated the section where you're at the end of the massive room on the balcony with about three other guys, and you have to defend against about 50 enemies, and then ATACs and a dropship show up. And then there's that big 'control room' just before you find
, and after you defeat the initial wave of enemies, about 20 more spill in from the two doors at the back of the room and it was such a hard section. Then there was the section quite near the end just before you fight
, and you have to hack two consoles while Echo does something inside, and you literally have to fight 50+ guys alone. I mean, I enjoy a good 'defend the thing' section in a shooter as much as anyone, but there were too many here and I didn't really find any of them enjoyable.
I mean, it's succeeds more than it fails, but it's just frustrating to see a game that's so close to being great just trip itself up in a few avoidable ways. For me it's a solid 7/10, but with a few minor changes it could have easily been an 8.5/10.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So where next? With Guerrilla Games in the Netherlands working on Horizon: Zero Dawn and Guerrilla Cambridge working on RIGS, does that mean Killzone is dead? Well, I kind of hope not, and I really enjoyed KZ Mercenary, but honestly they've been trying to make this series relevant for almost a decade and it's never really hit its stride so I wonder if Guerrilla as a whole would be better moving on from the series permanently and putting their obvious talent to use elsewhere.
I finished this last night, after almost two months of playing sporadically, and I haven't felt like I've played a game this maddening and inconsistent in a long while (actually, probably not since I finished Destiny last week, but that's just semantics). I've had a love/hate relationship with the Killzone franchise since the beginning, but I do consider myself a series fan, and it's annoying to see Guerrilla get so close to greatness on so many occasions, only to be held back by something confoundingly idiotic. Upon finishing Shadow Fall my thoughts are that the actual core elements of the gameplay are superb, but it's severely dragged down by the game design being extremely inconsistent.
Let's start with the good stuff though, and why I think overall Shadow Fall is absolutely worth playing:
Gameplay detail and depth
I really liked the range of options in how you could approach levels thanks to a suite of cool functions and gadgets. I liked being able to 'ping' the sonar to detect enemies within a certain distance, but do it for too long and it gives a feedback screech and alerts all those enemies to your location. I liked that the waypoint is not always on screen, but you can tap up to see the waypoint, or hold it down to see a log of the objectives. It's good un-intrusive design which doesn't spoon-feed anything to the player. I like being able to press down to get an alternate fire mode on many weapons - whether this is a different firing mode like a ranged energy blast or an under-slung grenade launcher, or simply a flick between burst fire or semi-auto. It just felt like all these things gave me more options in how I wanted to approach the levels and I was really grateful for that.
The OWL
The OWL is great. It solves the problem of feeling 'alone' in shooters by giving you a teleporting invincible robot drone companion, and it has four distinct functions which lend themselves really well to differing play-styles. I mostly used the flashbang and attack modes, but the zipline was pretty awesome (would have been good if more of the level design allowed for its use) and the shield was really useful in places where you're able to bottleneck enemies and then mow them down. I actually would have liked some instances of enemies having their own versions of the OWL,
although I know Tyran has one in the boss battle you have with him.
Enemy AI
Guerrilla are one of the best in the business at programming AI in my opinion, and although this doesn't quite hit the heights of Killzone 2 it does get pretty close. I never felt like I was fighting idiots in this; they'll hang back and approach with caution if you hide around a corner, even seeking out an alternate route if possible,
Wonderful visuals and presentation
Again, it's no surprise coming from Guerrilla who have been a technical powerhouse ever since Killzone 2, but this is easily still one of the best looking games of this generation. The detail is excellent, the scale is vast and it looks colourful and pretty and distinct. The harsh dark colours of New Helghan contrast really well with the brighter blues and pastel colours of the Vektan side of the wall, even if it's a little on-the-nose; Vektan society is idyllic while the Helghast have to live in the shadows, reliant on their breathing apparatus and with the skies greyed by their equally harsh industries. As a side note, I think the HUD and general UI is gorgeous and I really love that from boot-up you're on the game menu within about 20 seconds. More games should do this.
The Forest (aka level 2 'The Shadow')
This level is great! Like, seriously superb, and I wish they'd taken this and used it as the template for the rest of the game - I loved being dumped in a relatively large open area, having a few different objectives which you can approach in whichever order you like, and being left to it. It gave me a really positive impression of the game and made me very hopeful for what was to come.
Level 4 'The Patriot'
This was another seriously enjoyable level; particularly the second part where you assaulted the building with the hostages, and you could choose your method of entry, and then once you were inside the building its walls were destructible which lent a really fun and fast-paced feel to encounters. It's just a shame that this scenario was a one-off and they didn't do it again later in the game, or have more levels with destructible walls.
But there's plenty wrong as well:
The Story
Oh my god, what a steaming hot mess of nonsense. This isn't really a surprise for anyone familiar with the series, but given it was a 'soft reboot' I'd hoped they'd use the opportunity to get better writers on board. Initially
Lady Visari
shifts to Tyran
Stahl near the end
Sinclair
Massar's weapon which I took to be some kind of genetic bio-weapon, but during the attack on Helghan by the Vektan forces Tyran detonates the weapon and it's a massive red explosion which shuts down all VSA ships and sends them plummeting out of the sky
Visari
EDIT - one other thing I forgot to mention; what position did Sinclair hold? I thought he was head of the Shadow Marshals rather than the whole Vektan army, but at the end he's making his speech about declaring war on the Helghast as though he's the most senior member of the army on Vekta. Was there no government or city mayor to have a say, for example?
Questionable level design
Later in the game when you're on Helghan you're in a ruined city and you have to load power supplies with Petrusite coils and then shoot them to blow the large static security drone they're powering, but the game doesn't tell you this at all. I spent probably upwards of half an hour in that area trying to work out what to do, because the waypoint is sending you further than you can get and there's nothing to suggest that you need to destroy this machine specifically. It doesn't help that there's another large bot patrolling which it's better to avoid altogether, and the area is relatively large with no indication that you need to focus specifically on the area behind this security drone. And then there are the freefall and wingsuit levels, which feel pointless and only added frustration. I thought the wingsuit level where you're flying over Helghan could have made a cool vehicle section, but Echo and Kellan decide to abandon their escape vehicles and float in instead, I guess?
Difficulty spikes
This might be me going a bit soft, but there were a few sections of the game later on where you have to hold your ground while dozens of Helghast pour in, and the game gets so punishing. I hated the section where you're at the end of the massive room on the balcony with about three other guys, and you have to defend against about 50 enemies, and then ATACs and a dropship show up. And then there's that big 'control room' just before you find
Stahl
Tyran
I mean, it's succeeds more than it fails, but it's just frustrating to see a game that's so close to being great just trip itself up in a few avoidable ways. For me it's a solid 7/10, but with a few minor changes it could have easily been an 8.5/10.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So where next? With Guerrilla Games in the Netherlands working on Horizon: Zero Dawn and Guerrilla Cambridge working on RIGS, does that mean Killzone is dead? Well, I kind of hope not, and I really enjoyed KZ Mercenary, but honestly they've been trying to make this series relevant for almost a decade and it's never really hit its stride so I wonder if Guerrilla as a whole would be better moving on from the series permanently and putting their obvious talent to use elsewhere.
