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| A much more vibrant color palette is used in Shadowfall than in previous Killzone games. |
Story
Shadow Fall opens with you playing the role of Kellan, a young boy living life in the slums of a Helghast controlled city on the planet Vekta. Kellan and his father are refugees on the run from the Helghast patrols, because the Helghast have proven to be nothing but hospitable towards civilians in previous games. The opening level is effective in establishing the horrific life that most people struggle through on a planet that is shared by two hostile forces, with civilians being rounded up left and right and ferried off to parts unknown. Life on Vekta is rough, but Kellan is soon recruited by a Shadow Marshall named Sinclair, who sees potential in him to rise above. What follows is a very brief cinematic detailing Kellan's Shadow Marshall training, which feels nothing short of rushed and tacked on. The devs had an opportunity to allow us to see what the rigorous training rituals of the Shadow Marshalls was like, but either due to a lack of funding or time they instead opted to have Sinclair explain just how well you've done. Barring that extremely weak cinematic, you are given missions to suppress the Helghast forces within certain areas and keep the VSA controlled territory safe. As a Shadow Marshall you are given access to a variety of technologies that your enemies could not even begin to prepare for. Throughout the game you are accompanied by a drone called the Owl, which can be extremely handy for getting you out of tough situations. The Owl adds nothing to the plot, though it does show how privileged special VSA operatives are, adding further to the notion that perhaps the VSA are changing in a way detrimental to the establishment of peace between both sides. Its clear that the developers had some great ideas when it came to the script, as the mission progression feels much less decidedly schizophrenic than in Killzone 3, where you could go from being dropped into an alien swamp to arriving in a snow-blasted wasteland all in the span of an hour. Shadow Fall's settings and missions make sense and are much more tangible this time around, with plenty of plot twists involving super-weapons and political intrigue to keep you entertained. I won't spoil much, but along the way you meet a Helghast operative known as Echo who really opens your eyes as to why her people behave the way they do. The Helghast are definitely painted in a different light in Shadow Fall, with the VSA seeming more like Bond-esque villains this time around. The long spanning genocide is becoming more fanatical and desperate, something that this game captures the feel of almost perfectly. War is hell, and Shadow Fall isn't afraid to show you the ugliest sides of it.
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| You will stop to gawk at the graphics...a lot. |
Graphics
Sony really threw the money at Guerrilla when they told them to make Shadow Fall look flashy. The game features a near limitless number of dynamic light sources, soft particles, soft dynamic shadows, high-res textures, depth of field, per-object motion blur, god rays, parallax occlusion mapping, impressive shaders, etc. The game looks damn good, and is a fine way for Sony to show off the power of their new machine whilst Guerrilla exercises its technical wizardry. The game runs in 1080p at an uncapped 30 fps in single player, and I have to say I never noticed any slowdown whatsoever. The game is very well optimized and is but a taste of things to come as we pass years into these consoles lifespans. The color palette has also been expanded and is more vibrant than ever, really bringing the levels to life and adding extra levels of immersion. One niggling little concern I have is the pop-in problems this game seems to have, these should be nearly non-existent given the massive amount of memory the PS4 contains. Expect to see shadows, small objects, and even some level geometry materializing on the spot as you make your way through the game. While a small complaint, it is nevertheless valid and blemishes what is otherwise an astoundingly gorgeous title.
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| Seems you've stumbled into the snipers' nest. |
Gameplay
Long time veterans of the series will be happy to hear that Shadow Fall does not stray too far away from the Killzone formula or shooter mechanics in general. For their first next-gen title, Guerrilla seem to largely be playing it safe here, with just enough different to entice newcomers and keep fans entertained. The main change here is the addition of your own personal attack bot, the Owl. Using the motion sensor in the middle of the controller, players can instantly give orders to the Owl or change its different operating modes. This little baby is vicious and can be set to detonate an EMP, unload at full auto as a distraction, provide combat stims for a time dilation effect, revive you, and create a temporary shield of impenetrable energy for you to hide behind. The Owl does not revolutionize the series, but it adds an extra layer of depth and tactical polish to the combat. A few hours into the game and the swiping controls became second nature, sending my drone out to harass enemies camped behind objects with a cruel glee. The shooting mechanics have been improved and feel highly reminiscent of Killzone 3, with intelligent A.I. making your life hell at every opportunity. To combat the adept A.I., you are given access to a myriad of new guns and toys to lay with. Many of the weapons now feature a secondary fire mode, with your signature Rail SMG being unswappable for another weapon. One thing that irked me is the two weapon limit, it would make much more sense to have three weapons for added variety in tactical situations. I get it Guerrilla, you are trying to make a realistic space opera here, but sometimes realism subtracts from the fun a player has with your product. I don't appreciate having only one swap slot for a weapon, it forces me to seek discarded munitions if I want to swap things up on the go. Going back to that Rail SMG I mentioned earlier, you will likely be in love with that thing from the moment you use it. This is the Shadow Marshall's signature weapon, a multipurpose mid-longe range powerhouse capable of spraying hundreds of energized rounds or transforming into a rail gun that outputs a single, devastating chargeable shot. It works great in a pinch if you are surrounded too, and I have to applaud the devs for making such a great gun. Throughout the game you will come to several zero-g and free fall sequences, small sections that break up the combat. The zero-g areas are very well done in my opinion, almost perfectly capturing the feeling of weightlessness as you drift your way through the airless environments and abandoned space stations. The free fall sections on the other hand are just damn annoying, with one area in particular having forced me to reload my checkpoint no less than ten times before I fully understood just what the hell I was supposed to do. Environments are huge in this game, leaving plenty of room for exploration and collectible-hunting after clearing the zone of defenders. I must say there really is something eery about walking around a place that was in the midst of combat just moments earlier. These are the moments that actually stuck with me more than the combat itself, the symbology of it all palpable. The fighting, so ferocious and fast, over in mere seconds, only to be replaced with a lingering feeling of isolation and guilt as you gaze upon the spilt blood and broken bodies of your enemies, spent bullets and empty magazines scattered about like so much refuse. If Guerrilla was trying to teach a lesson here, then it was not lost in translation.
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| Better hope that shield holds. |
Sound
The music in Shadow Fall is pretty much par for the course for the series, its a more sombre affair aurally than its oft bombastic predecessor. While the music is your typical sci-fi fair, the sound effects really stand out in this game. Weapons sound spot on, the environments are alive with ambient sound effects, the voice acting is very well done, and enemy chatter is more vibrant than ever. Echo and Sinclair are the standout voices in Shadow Fall, with your main character sounding a bit more reserved than in other games. Overall though Guerrilla delivers a great experience in this department, which can only be further enjoyed with a great surround sound system to really bring the battles to life.
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| This is one of those "Oh shit!" moments you don't want to find yourself in. |
Multiplayer
Oh look, its my first Multiplayer section in my gaming reviews. Woo, progress! Shadow Fall's multiplayer component is quite a bit different than that of the previous Killzone games, though the mechanics are still mostly the same. Levels have been shrunk down to encourage a more focused and frantic experience, two classes were removed, the mechs and jetpacks from the third game have been taken out, loads of attachments for weapons have been added just to name a few changes. The smaller nature of the war-zones ensures that you will never be wandering around too long before you run into an enemy and encourages players to group up and travel in groups as they tackle objectives. I must say I do miss the aforementioned mechs and jetpacks, though I'm sure the devs will come up with something crazy for the inevitable sequel. The three classes available are the Scout, Assault, and Support. Each of these classes has a bevy of weapons and abilities to pick from that are unique to that sole class. Scouts typically use sniper rifles and even a big ass gun that fires electrified slugs, along with abilities such as teleportation, active scanning, cloak, etc. Assaults are the heavy hitters and so have access to assault rifles, shotguns, and even a minigun whilst their abilities include speed dashing, deployable shield walls, etc. Finally the Support class has access to a number of SMGs and lighter build weapons, though their list of abilities outweighs each of the other classes by a long shot. Expect to see Support players utilizing drone companions, calling in assault drones, deploying spawn beacons, you name it. All three classes are designed to support each other perfectly if played right, adding loads of tactical variety. This time Guerrilla gives you the option to thoroughly customize your own Warzone in nearly any way you see fit; tweaking options such as respawn delay, max health, starting ammo, usable weapons, class availabilities, abilities, map rotation, and much more. This kind of freedom can lead to some truly bizarre matches, such as an entire team of Supports calling down waves of drones versus a team of Scouts all equipped with cloaking and heavy caliber sniper rifles. I mainly played offline with the bots, as after a recent patch all the attachments became unlocked, allowing me to experiment upon competent A.I. players more than willing to match my tenacity. The experience has been silky smooth, with the framerate running at a near constant 60 even when things became hectic with grenade spam and loads of particles. The multiplayer has an odd issue with pop-in, same as the campaign though to a much more noticeable degree. It still looks gorgeous, though the smooth framerate does come at a cost, however these issues will likely be patched out in the future when Guerrilla has a better grasp on the PS4's hardware and capabilities. Another strange issue I ran into was the ridiculous divide between bot difficulty levels, with Easy bots being borderline braindead while their Normal counterparts could prove a match even for human players. On Easy I lost the number of times I found my team mates standing back at base and running in circles when a particular objective became active. Now granted, I did notice this happening sometimes to Normal bots, though a lot less often. Seems to be mostly a path-finding issue that hopefully gets fixed. The multiplayer is an excellent addition to this game, and the large map count and dynamic objectives will keep players coming back for more of the brutal combat they so crave.
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| You, hanging with some bros. |
Conclusion
As a launch title, Shadow Fall hits all the major areas to create a worthwhile and engaging experience that shows off the potential of the PS4 system. Drawing from the series' strengths and experimenting with new ideas, this is surely a title that should be looked into by those looking to have a great experience with their new console. Gorgeous to behold whilst containing a lengthy single player portion and a bountiful multiplayer offering with oodles of variety, Shadow Fall is a great game to have in any shooter fan's collection. From here the future for the series only looks brighter, as the massive hardware upgrade now opens many new roads for Guerrilla to take their beloved franchise down. 9/10 (PS4 only)
