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It’s Time for Sony to Bring Back Killzone and Resistance - IGN

LordOfChaos

Member
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Following on from PlayStation’s State of Play, we now have a solid look at many of the PS5’s upcoming titles. Your mileage may vary on how the lineup looks but the recurring question of where all the PS5 games are hasn’t quite been answered. Some of the biggest games at the showcase were remakes or remasters of older games such as Until Dawn or the Silent Hill 2 remake, or PC ports of already released titles like God of War: Ragnarok. That’s not to say there weren’t some big new PS5 games shown, but one in particular has me scratching my head at what we’re supposed to take away from it.

That would be Concord, the debut game from first-party PlayStation developer Firewalk Studios. A 5v5 endless multiplayer shooter, the game didn’t exactly give me the best first impression. The writing and characters in the cinematic trailer feel like microwaved Guardians of the Galaxy leftovers, and knowing that this is an Overwatch-like hero shooter where the pretty cutscenes and lore won’t actually be reflected in the gameplay doesn’t help. Of course, Concord could very well surprise once we get our hands on it, but Sony putting such heavy focus on a game that looks so bland just brings to mind that they have two solid first-party shooter IPs that have been languishing in their back-catalog for far too long: Killzone and Resistance. Why should Sony bring these forgotten franchises back to the spotlight? Let me explain.

Sony’s FPS Crisis
Concord being the first game shown during the State of Play isn’t something that happened in a vacuum. Ever since Microsoft announced its intention to purchase Activision, there has been a question mark hovering above the PlayStation brand, that being what’s going to happen to the Call of Duty franchise now that its direct competitor owns it. A big part of Sony’s argument in the regulation case that tried and failed to block the Activision purchase hinged on Call of Duty, with Sony stating during the case that “Microsoft claims that Nintendo’s differentiated model demonstrates that PlayStation doesn’t need Call of Duty to compete effectively. But this reveals Microsoft’s true strategy… Post-Transaction, Xbox would become the one-stop-shop for all the best-selling shooter franchises on console.”


Right now, Sony doesn’t have a prominent FPS to call its own.

However, none of that changes the fact that right now, Sony doesn’t have a prominent FPS to call its own. Helldivers 2 was certainly a surprise smash hit, but it’s a third-person shooter with no campaign. There’s also the recent snafu about the PSN login requirement that, although it was walked back, still caused much chaos in the game’s community and led the game to be delisted in 177 countries. Sony needs a big win in the FPS space to counteract Microsoft gobbling up the likes of Activision, Blizzard, and Id Software. Luckily, Sony has two old franchises waiting in the wings that could help it out of this bind.

Helghan Forever
At a time when a big part of Sony’s brand is its focus on AAA first-party games like The Last of Us, God of War, Horizon, or Insomniac’s Spider-Man games, Killzone being left out to dry is a serious missed opportunity. More so than most other franchises, Killzone was synonymous with the PlayStation brand in the PS3 era, with Killzone 2’s release in February of 2009 being something of a landmark moment for a console that seriously struggled with quality exclusives in its first couple of years. Alongside the likes of Metal Gear Solid 4 and Uncharted 2, Killzone 2 helped change the PS3’s reputation and finally made it a worthy competitor to the Xbox 360. That it was a sequel to a game that was not that well-received in the first place only made Killzone 2 all the more remarkable.



yes-yes-chad.gif
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
These two games also had really interesting and well done multiplayer modes. Especially Killzone 2 and Resistance 1/2. That's what is annoying. Sony has this roster of dead IP with great, unique MP. SOCOM, Killzone, Resistance, MAG, Warhawk. Maybe not all those games would be big hits these days, but they have a better chance at finding an audience than another hero shooter but with pronouns and a garbage can robot.
 
I can't believe I'm saying this but I agree with IGN and I'm glad that an outlet as big as them are saying this. Maybe Sony will pay some attention!

Sony are letting these franchises rot and it's frustrating because with CoD being absolute dog shit, this is the best time to bring back these kinds of games that take themselves a bit more seriously. Hell, give me a remastered Warhawk while you're at at!
 

LordOfChaos

Member
Also that they bring back the IP that is the godfather of Halo, Marathon, but then use it for some extraction shooter. I hope that goes like Titanfall 1 to Titanfall 2, where the second one had a very excellent campaign where the first didn't really.
 
Resistance had imho no personality whatsoever. They showered the player with weapons, much like in Ratchet, but the aliens were boring, the main characters forgetable. Good once and done linear stuff, but nothing memorable nevertheless. Killzone though has that gruffy look, that borders on Nazis and Darth Vader. If not in their own game a no fun allowed Killzone character right in upbeat Concord would make perfect sense to me.
Killzone also always missed the mark in storytelling but the kinda heavy gameplay in 2 was satisfying. Something like Wolfenstein TNO would be welcomed. A bit goofy + implausible but despite that surprisingly mature and just serious in tone.

Would also make sense for VR, if Sony even cares anymore. (or port Deathloop and Ghostwire)
 
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I was a huge KZ2 fan and played it for hundreds of hours. KZ3 was pretty bad. R2 I also played a lot. I would play both, but they need reboot, not just a normal sequel.
 
Highly doubtful it happens. Basically, if they released now, they would to be more popular / sell even more compared to when they were last relevant (because you also have to factor in rising dev costs).

It's fine if you have a couple of good game directors with strong visions of how to bring them back better than ever, but that's not a guarantee of sales success.
 

LordOfChaos

Member
We gonna get Halo soon. We don't need Killzone and Resistance anymore. And lets be real, they were mid games anyway.

Define: Soon

Unclear DLC future for Infinite, gutted single player team, 6 years between the last games and a possible engine switch going on after all that
 

Doom85

Member
I Dont Think So No Way GIF


Honestly, Killzone never interested me, and I got about an hour into Resistance 1 before dropping it, it was very unremarkable.

Horizon should be three games max, after that I feel it needs a good break but I would hope they move on to something more interesting than Killzone. And Resistance, nah, Ratchet and Clank, Spidey and Wolverine are far more interesting to me in terms of Insomniac.
 
I Dont Think So No Way GIF


Honestly, Killzone never interested me, and I got about an hour into Resistance 1 before dropping it, it was very unremarkable.

Horizon should be three games max, after that I feel it needs a good break but I would hope they move on to something more interesting than Killzone. And Resistance, nah, Ratchet and Clank, Spidey and Wolverine are far more interesting to me in terms of Insomniac.

I liked Shadowfall way more than I thought I would but yea leave the series behind.

Horizon I agree. I love the series but one more game and that's it. I hope they do a new IP after that.
 

Sybrix

Member
I have PTSD from Resistance.

The awful yellow/grey tinge on those games along with 20 FPS and clunky walking through mud controlls is the stuff of nightmares.
 

GymWolf

Gold Member
Resistance had imho no personality whatsoever. They showered the player with weapons, much like in Ratchet, but the aliens were boring, the main characters forgetable. Good once and done linear stuff, but nothing memorable nevertheless. Killzone though has that gruffy look, that borders on Nazis and Darth Vader. If not in their own game a no fun allowed Killzone character right in upbeat Concord would make perfect sense to me.
Killzone also always missed the mark in storytelling but the kinda heavy gameplay in 2 was satisfying. Something like Wolfenstein TNO would be welcomed. A bit goofy + implausible but despite that surprisingly mature and just serious in tone.

Would also make sense for VR, if Sony even cares anymore. (or port Deathloop and Ghostwire)
Killzone lore was deeper than people realize and one big point of discussion was if the helgast were actually the villains etc, you can still watch any intro of the first 3 games on yt and the wjole comment section is gonna be about who is the real villain.

It was already more than what people discuss in your average cod\bf\average fps in terms of plot.
 

ReBurn

Gold Member
I'd be down for Resistance. I don't generally like FPS games but I enjoyed Resistance. They should kill the piss filter forever, though.
 

Killjoy-NL

Member
Killzone lore was deeper than people realize and one big point of discussion was if the helgast were actually the villains etc, you can still watch any intro of the first 3 games on yt and the wjole comment section is gonna be about who is the real villain.

It was already more than what people discuss in your average cod\bf\average fps in terms of plot.
That's what always bugged me.

The lore was great, but it was hidden on the official website for Killzone 1.

The Helghan company was the first to colonize planets. They colonized a planet next to Helghan (Vekta) and worked on Helghan.
But they were like a gateway for intergalactic trade and got into a political dispute with Earth as they became too powerful economically.
So the ISA were sent in to take over Helghan. The Helghast lost the first war and were treated like shit and forced to live on Helghan, where they evolved to adapt to the harsh environment. Then KZ1 started with the Helghast preparing to reclaim Vekta, which was rightfully theirs.
Basically, the ISA are the bad guys. Or at least, it was all grey instead of B/W and the ISA being the heroes.



GG should've put way more effort into the lore, but that was one of the main complaints about the franchise.
 
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Aion002

Gold Member
Resistance 2 was cool, specially the multiplayer. But KZ2 and 3 were more interesting to me, both story and art style.


Also, I really liked how unique KZ2 gameplay was, on 3 they made it more "CoD like" and it was also fun, but I liked 2 more.

I would love a new Killzone game and I hope that they learned that almost everything they did on Shadow Fall was terrible.
 

UltimaKilo

Gold Member
Resistance, yes. Killzone, meh.

EDIT:

Actually, this is the right answer. Any other dormant shooter franchise can take a hike until SOCOM returns.

It’s baffling because even a cheap remaster of SOCOM 2 would bring in a good amount of players.
 

GymWolf

Gold Member
That's what always bugged me.

The lore was great, but it was hidden on the official website for Killzond 1.

Basically, the ISA are the bad guys. Or at least, it was all grey instead of B/W with the ISA being the heroes.

GG should've put way more effort into the lore, but that was one of the main complaints about the franchise.
Horizon is the same, the amount of lore is absolutely staggering and you have to go into yt channels to check it unless you like to read all the text files around the world (similar to reading books in skyrim i guess)

I think the helghast are still the baddies overall because of their methods and being ruthless, but it's way more grey than what dumbass rico think...
 
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