Killzone Shadow Fall Review
Price:
£50.00
Platform: Playstation 4 (Exclusive)
Rating: PEGI 18
Developer: Guerrilla Games
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment.
Engine: In-House, Umbra3
Killzone
shadow fall belong to the first person military shooter genre with a SCI FI
aspect to its narrative and gameplay.
The
convention of first person shooter is that you can see your arms and weapon and
other objects you hold in your hands. Like other military shooters this involves some aspects that are of a military theme
whether it is in story or game play. As the story of killzone
shadow fall is the rivalry between two armies the (VSA & Helghast). The
military aspect of the gameplay is that there is a variety of weaponry
available to the player that would be used by a military organisation. The game
is of the SCI FI genre as the game has SCI FI elements, as the weapons are
futuristic and is set far in the future.
Killzone
Shadow Fall is one of the first ‘Next-Gen’ games to be released on the
PlayStation 4. As such I can only compare it last generation games of the SCI
FI genre, such as Halo 4. In that case it roughly stands on the same grounds,
but the unique features to shadow fall is the touchpad for the PlayStation 4
which allows you to use the ability known as the OWL. Which you swipe the
touchpad to make the OWL do certain things, like assist you in combat or
project a shield for you.
The story of
the game takes place 30 years after the events of Killzone 3. Where the planet
Helghan was nuked by the ISA.
The story
for your characters begins when you witness your father Michael Kellen murdered
by Helghast troopers from an invasion fleet that invaded the VSA home planet Vekta, and so the you sign up for the army and become a
‘Shadow Marshal’ an elite type of solider for the VSA. The story involves you
going to various places such as Vekta, Space and Helghan. Which mostly involves
you dispatching of various enemies to get to for example point A.
This informs
the gameplay as you have to shoot your way through various mission killing
various targets that you are asked to kill etc.
The game is
first person and you only see your face once. So you do not build much
attachment to main character. Most of secondary characters you talk to during
cut scenes so there is not much interaction. However there are a few missions
later on which involves you sniping targets which another character calls out
for you.
This game is
one of the many few launch titles and therefore as far as story and gameplay it
does not require you to play the other 3 games. So this games is very friendly
for new players as in the early levels it teaches you to play (like most
games). The target audience will be anyone interested in first person shooter
of a military or SCI FI genre. The games story is very futuristic linking to
the SCI FI aspect and in the story you play as an operative for the VSA (a
military organisation) therefore this links to the target audience.
The main
production process for most of the games animation is motion capture.
Skeleton - Motion capture
Animated
skeleton – Render
Environmental
Design – Animate it, render
The PS4 uses
the touchpad often as it is a feature exclusive to the PlayStation 4, and as
PlayStation owns Guerrilla they will use this feature without having to think
about making it multi platform. It is a feature needed to control the OWL. It
will require programing – feedback response etc.
As this Is
an FPS one of the biggest mechanics is shooting and grenade throwing and how
this interacts with the environment (e.g. a grenade rolling down a hill) Then
the physics of that grenade and the explosions given off by certain
environments. This adds to the realisms of it been a military shooter and the
realistic view that this could be believable.
The
characters and story are very linear and you do not build much attachment to
the characters. They are very generic military shooter character, which consist
of you, the main character driven by revenge and justice for his father’s
death. Your commanding office that has a
deep hate for the Helghast (not explained). Your generic evil villain – Johan
Stahl who looks to destroy the VSA and erase their existence. These are relevant to the target audience as
they follow the stereotype for the FPS genre.
As I said
earlier they follow the generic military shooter characters, so it appeals to
its target audience by following classic stereotype laid out by military FPS
genre.
I think the
character are very one dimensional, as they do pretty much no development. You
also spend most of the game following orders from people so your character does
not develop an opinion or something that draws you to that character.
The main
challenge is defeating your enemies that come in various different enemy types,
some which are significantly harder than the others.
The level
design is mostly set around the mission context, varying from jungle to urban
landscape. This engages the player as they have very interesting things that
you can interact and look at. (E.g. you can interrupt a suicide and stop the
person from taking their live.)
Objects that
you can hide behind and use to boost your health (adrenaline pack) are key to
your survival, the light bar on the controller flashes red when you are getting
damage or near death and you hide or use adrenaline packs to heal.
Like I said
earlier your mission is usually to get to this point or kill a target you can
check where you are going by pressing the up arrow. You go through different objectives and paths
to get to your destination.
The game
constantly engages you by the fact that you will be killed or fail the mission
if you don’t pay attention or disobey the order you are given.
The target
audience for this game is anybody who is interested in the SCI FI or military
shooter genre, or a fan of the previous 3 games (as the main villain is from
Killzone 3). Shadow Fall is also a launch title for the Playstation 4;
therefore it is quite friendly towards new players, so the target audience is
more varied.
The
indication that this is for people interested in the SCI FI genre or military
shooters is that the game is a military shooter with SCI FI elements.
This game
directly appeals to the audience, as it is a military shooter with SCI FI
elements.
Comparing
this to other games of the target audience I can only compare it to Halo, in
this case killzone does not have a huge fan base in comparison. So sales and
popularity wise killzone does not compare well. However graphically as the most
recent Halo game is on Xbox 360 and Killzone Shadow Fall is on Playstation 4
graphically killzone overtakes Halo as it utilizes the Playstation 4’s hardware.
Killzone
Shadow Fall is exclusive for the Playstation 4. One of the main features of
Shadow Fall is the OWL controlled by the touchpad, which no other console has.
So it is suited the best for Playstation 4.
Overall if
you are a fan or the series or need a solid shooter for your next generation
console I would recommend this title.
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