The Birth of a Console Generation
By: Jared Mccarty
Tags: Gadgets, Features, Gaming, Digital Life, Videogames

Killzone Shadow Fall

Guerilla Studios

Oh, Killzone. To go back where it all began, the Killzone franchise has its origins first-person shooter on PlayStation 2, releasing on November 2nd, 2004. Sony really wanted this to be a flagship franchise, and in the beginning, things looked positive. The original game was relatively well-received, garnering a 70% on Metacritic, with one review stating, “It’s a great game with great graphics, great AI, a great story, and exceptional level design.” Unfortunately, the rest of the series has had a tumultuous ride, to say the least. Killzone 2’s release was dripping in controversy, with the 2005 E3 demo being sold as actual gameplay footage, while being, in fact, pre-rendered cinematics to show off the possibility of the ultrapowerful PlayStation 3. Despite (allegedly) being shown without developer Guerilla’s knowledge, once the news got out that the footage was faked, the damage was done. Sony’s eponymous “Halo Killer” (any game branded a “blank” killer is doomed to fail) had two very solid and visually impressive games released under Killzone 2 & 3, and although the series has its fans and subsequently reviewed very well critically upon release, it started to slowly but surely fade into obscurity in the gaming world.

This brings us to Killzone Shadow Fall. Its November 15th, 2013 release date coincided with the launch of the PlayStation 4, to show off what the new hardware was capable of, and show off it did. To this day, the environments and effects of Shadow Fall still look stunning, along with the massive scale of the game. The huge city of Vekta feels as overwhelming as it’s supposed to, with sprawling cityscapes and futuristic architecture spanning the horizon. The lighting effects are excellent, with dust particles floating through sun rays that shine through windows and over mountains. Aside from the occasional frame drop, the game performs competently as well. Character models are probably where games have improved the most over the last decade, with some closeups of the characters’ facial animations appearing stiff and animatronic. Aside from this, I believe the game still looks better than some games being teased for next-gen, and Guerilla knew how to take advantage of the hardware given to them.

Therein lies the biggest problem for Shadow Fall. While visually breathtaking, it becomes apparent very early on that showing what the PS4 could do held precedent over making a quality game. A perfect example of this is one of the opening cinematics. Rendered in-game is a massive skyscraper, encased in glass, with particle effects and lighting creating a truly impressive sight. The camera then decides to pan around this building, over, and over, and over again for what feels like five minutes, very obviously saying, “look at how amazing this building is rendered. Look at it!” and that mentality, unfortunately, permeates the rest of the game. The gameplay itself is satisfying enough and follows the formula; there’s Helghast (the bad guys) out there, shoot them until they’re all dead, and then move on. Overall, however, there’s a sinking feeling of playing a glorified tech demo instead of a fully realized game.

There’s also a surprising amount of bugs, with the game forcing me to fail a prompt it had given me to stealthily eliminate an enemy and throw their knife into the next Helghast guard. The button prompt failed, and I got killed. The stealth itself is pretty broken, with no real understanding of whether or not the Helghast can even see you, along with multiple instances of enemies having x-ray vision and spotting me through walls. I ended up just going in guns blazing in most scenarios and making it out just fine. The story isn’t awful, running with the idea of the Helghast being treated as second class citizens, eventually leading to their revolt, but the game takes itself far too seriously. The dialogue is cliché and hammy, and the player character (named Lucas Kellan) is a wet blanket protagonist who seems more like a checklist for “badass military character” than a real, existing entity.

Still, Killzone Shadow Fall is by no means a bad game. Quite the opposite: I find myself enjoying most of the time I spend in Kellan’s shoes. It’s just a little underwhelming. If you’re a fan of the series but had to skip out on Shadow Fall, I highly recommend giving it a try as you will enjoy it. If you’ve never played a Killzone game before, however, it probably won’t do much for you.