Killzone Shadow Fall Review Thread

It kind of had that identity that dark identity, but for two games. Now, we have two console sequels (KZ3 and SF) that have largely abandoned that style to chase after the setpiece/twitch/COD gameplay. Furthermore, nobody's copied the series in the areas that it has differentiated itself in. So we're left with the feeling that it's a franchise chasing after the big boys, which brings all sorts of confused reactions and expectations from gamers.

It's like a slightly more restrained version of Resistance in the sense that it hasn't been a consistent series in gameplay or theme.

Yeah, I would agree with that. It's a shame really, because I think the lore and the universe has serious potential to be much more popular than it is. If GG could strike that perfect balance of visuals, gameplay, and writing they could possibly transcend the genre and create something really special.
 
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Wait...what the hell? Hilarious.
 
Polygon also admitted that they barely touched mp. How can anyone take that site seriously? GameInformer is holding their review back until Friday so they can can spend more time with mp.

To be fair, almost all of the current reviewers have had very little time to spend with the MP, according to my understanding of the situation.
 
I am entirely unsurprised at the swathe of negative reviews of PS4 games. Even Resogun is getting some moronic complaints.
 
Yeah, I would agree with that. It's a shame really, because I think the lore and the universe has serious potential to be much more popular than it is. If GG could strike that perfect balance of visuals, gameplay, and writing they could possibly transcend the genre and create something really special.

I agree. I really want to like KZ (and I want to like Shadowfall), but Guerilla keeps blowing their chance on the game design and story front to make an impression.
 
I'm keeping an open mind, and waiting when I get it on my hands. After all, RFOM was often called a mediocre shooter, but for me it was one of the highlights of last gen. I played the campaign through 4-5 times by myself, and three times on co-op.
Same here. And even at their worst KZ campaigns have always been at least decent. Will also give multi a shot like always, but it's rare for those modes to grab me.
 
The reviews are about what I expected. Killzone has never gotten the love that I personally feel it deserves. I thought both Killzone 2 and 3 were better than just about any other FPS out there, so if this is more Killzone, then bring it on!

Also, why in the fuck did Polygon give the Killzone review to Arthur Gies of all people? Not only is he a raging MS fanboy, but he absolutely HATES the killzone games and bashes them almost weekly on Rebel FM. He is quite possibly the worst person in the entire industry to have review this game. There was absolutely no way this game would have ever gotten a fair review from Gies, it's just not possible. This guy has been declaring Killzone the worst FPS of the launch lineup for weeks on Rebel FM. He made up his mind before the review event ever even started.
 
And Killzone continues to be an average shooter.
Please shit-can this franchise Sony, it's going nowhere.

I have only played KZ1 and 2, but I agree with you. Both games were just so average that I haven't the slightest idea why this is still showcased by Sony. I don't think it will be much longer.
 
My two favorite shooters are, Halo and Killzone 2. Shadow Fall seems like a cross of both so I'm pumped. The cherry on top is this is by far the best looking launch game. I think reviewers are having serious FPS fatigue. I got that way then stopped playing FPS for a long time. Now I enjoy them again, even COD campaigns. Last thing Halo 4 did suck lord how did that get high marks.
 
Killzone gets a few bad reviews and people are apparently out on a mission to discredit absolutely anything bad said about it anywhere because after all the months and months of hyping the system and its super specs, people forget that sometimes making great games is what matters most in the end.

Not that Killzone isn't great. Some people obviously will feel it is. But a lot of people don't, looking at the reviews. Enough that I'm pretty sure its probably not the revolutionary, kill'em'all, CoD/Battlefield contender that a lot of Sony fans were hoping for.
The thing is, if anything's going to be a Battlefield/COD killer, it's going to achieve that on merit of the strength of its multiplayer, not on the strength of its single-player campaign. BF and COD aren't where they are because their campaigns are wildly popular. Yet here we have reviews uniformly devoting only a few sentences, if that, to evaluating multiplayer in a game that's putting a decent amount of effort into grabbing that brass ring.
 
I am about 98 percent sure its a 20 something tweeting with Iron Shiek's blessing

I'm pretty sure Shiek showed up at Toronto's City Hall recently after tweeting that he was going to kick Rob Ford's ass following the smoking crack bombshell. Like he literally tried to get past security guards. Guy is a good promoter. Him trying to get some publicity out of a new console launch wouldn't be unheard of.
 
I wish people would stop talking about Polygon or that Arthur fucker. Even Evilore states that he's the less reputable guy in the video game industry so let's stop giving him or his website attention and let them fade into oblivion.
 
Same here. And even at their worst KZ campaigns have always been at least decent. Will also give multi a shot like always, but it's rare for those modes to grab me.

I've only played the 2nd, went through the campaign twice, and I very rarily replay games. There was just something in its atmosphere that drew me in. I generally only play scifi/horror-themed FPS games, so comparisons with COD and such mean nothing to me.

I also tend to shun away from competitive multiplayer modes.
 
My two favorite shooters are, Halo and Killzone 2. Shadow Fall seems like a cross of both so I'm pumped. The cherry on top is this is by far the best looking launch game. I think reviewers are having serious FPS fatigue. I got that way then stopped playing FPS for a long time. Now I enjoy them again, even COD campaigns. Last thing Halo 4 did suck lord how did that get high marks.
I agree completely. It is no coincidence that all three FPS's have had their campaigns slammed in reviews. I have a very hard time believing that they are all as bad as they say they are. I have played through the first three missions of BF4, and I already find it way more fun than all of the reviews suggest. I think people are going to have a ton of fun with Killzone.

Just remember people, review scores don't mean a damn thing. Go read/listen to the reviewers thoughts and base the review on that, not a score. Almost all of the complaints against Killzone suggest that the reviewers are just plain tired of FPS's and are being bothered to play another one.
 
Someone that says something like this should not be reviewing a game. He was biased from the start.

This isn't true at all. I remember for months and moths and months i had pre-judged Phantom Dust as a POS. Worst game on XBOX. Lo and behold it became one of my favorite games of the generation when I played it. Other side of the coin, I don't think there was a human alive more hype for Assassin's Creed than me. Now I am a pretty harsh critic of the game.
 
$10 says Polygon rates Dead Rising 3 at 9/10 and Ryse at 8/10.

"As the Doritos crunched under the hard structures which line my mouth, and as the pure crystals of Dew started to glimmer in my beard, I came to the thrilling realisation that brings me to my knees even now. Ryse, is the APEX of videogames. There will be outrage about the INCREDIBLE power of the game's visceral cinematic experience from entitled Sony fanboys. But mark my words: This emotionally engaging, streamlined, genre defining epic will leave you breathless. With brilliant microstransations, consumer friendly DRM, and the next-gen, spirtual successors of QTEs, you have the perfect next-gen package. Forget the pitiful PS4 launch line-up. Next-gen begins when MICROSOFT says so. Semper fi! 10 out of 10."
 
Looks like people enjoy using words like: average, mediocre, good but not special, etc.

I really wonder how many of these people have *really* played any Killzone game and I wonder how many of them have already played Shadowfall.

I have a good knowledge of the "technical" aspects of game design, level design, etc and I'm also an hardcore and passionate gamer... Reading such statements from these people is just sad and really, I will never, ever understand why these people enjoy so much to label an effort of years with words like mediocre or worst epithet.

If these people think a game is mediocre it's fine, but at least they should try to explain "why", showing at least a bit of knowledge. If it's only a matter of "taste" at least they should be respectful.

As a creative person I can assure you that read bad words (especially if not deserved) hurt a lot, so if some of you enjoy to "hurt" other people go on.

This is NeoGaf?
No, this is also NeoGaf because (fortunately) the majority of gamers is not like these persons and prefer to show excitement.
This is good and healthy and this is how we need to be: passionate gamers who want to enjoy one of the most beautiful hobbies (work...).

I Can't wait to play this game (Shadowfall) and all the other games the next-gen will bring to us and I'm really excited, are you are?

Try to be because it's more fun than spreading negativity.
 
I agree completely. It is no coincidence that all three FPS's have had their campaigns slammed in reviews. I have a very hard time believing that they are all as bad as they say they are. I have played through the first three missions of BF4, and I already find it way more fun than all of the reviews suggest. I think people are going to have a ton of fun with Killzone.

Just remember people, review scores don't mean a damn thing. Go read/listen to the reviewers thoughts and base the review on that, not a score. Almost all of the complaints against Killzone suggest that the reviewers are just plain tired of FPS's and are being bothered to play another one.

Yeah. On top of that, go watch some live streams of the gameplay portion and see if it's something that might tickle your fancy. This is often good enough to tell if you are going to be keen to playing the game. Sometimes this is better than listening to someone formulate an opinion about a game because they are forced to, under a set deadline, in perhaps a situation that they may not have wanted to play the game.
 
I don't really care about reviews on this one. I'm sure the game won't be up to the level of Bioshock Infinite or Halo (the former for story and my love of picking up shinies and the latter for large-scale, interesting battles with really good AI), but I'm just looking for a competent, polished set of games to enjoy until the heavy hitters come.

I feel completely confident that I'll enjoy the single player well enough and I've watched enough multi that I know I'll spend ~20 hours on that. Good deal.

I'm only seriously concerned about Knack. My three games at launch are this, Knack, and NFS. I'm fairly sure Killzone and NFS will be just fine.
 
Someone that says something like this should not be reviewing a game. He was biased from the start.

Then again you don't want someone saying Please be Killzone. Please be Killzone. Please be Killzone. I value GAF's impressions over most reviewers, but I always like reading divisive or low scoring reviews for games that are generally positively received to get an idea of what someone doesn't like about a particular game. I take Gies' opinions with a grain of salt, but it doesn't hurt to hear some criticism of a game instead of the 9/10 or 10/10 reviews we are all so used to with big budget AAA games.

That being said, it seems obvious that games should be reviewed by someone skilled in a particular genre. I don't expect Gerstman to review stuff like Dota 2 or Starcraft 2, when Brad is the most skilled in those kind of genres. That being said, you don't have to be particularly skilled to review a FPS.

Edit also:

I'm pretty sure they have had only like two days to play multiplayer in KZ. If you like multiplayer shooters reading a day one review is about as helpful as reading a day one review for an MMO.
 
I agree completely. It is no coincidence that all three FPS's have had their campaigns slammed in reviews. I have a very hard time believing that they are all as bad as they say they are. I have played through the first three missions of BF4, and I already find it way more fun than all of the reviews suggest. I think people are going to have a ton of fun with Killzone.

Just remember people, review scores don't mean a damn thing. Go read/listen to the reviewers thoughts and base the review on that, not a score. Almost all of the complaints against Killzone suggest that the reviewers are just plain tired of FPS's and are being bothered to play another one.
Pretty much every multiplayer game I enjoyed got very little attention/praise for its MP from the media: Mag, bionic commando, shadowrun, Killzone 2, uncharted 2, warhawk, etc
Halo 3 is prob the only game that got praise and I enjoyed.
 
ATM, I own this game and its just waiting for the 15th. I love KZ Universe and I enjoyed kz2-3. A lot of these reviews in the past were a little shady and it wont stop me from enjoying this game. If I see issues I will be the judge of my own game experience.

Not trying to be a jerk about the reviewers but a lot reviews towards Sony have been BS. Some of the best games I have played had lower scores than the over glorified games that come out each year that fail to impress. A certain little military game that is released every year and has sold gazillions; but apparently it some how manages to get great reviews.

Before my comment is misinterpreted as being a fan boy, I am not. But when a game tries to innovate and move forward in a cluttered FPS genre it gets dinged for doing to much. When another particular game does the same sh1t you did last year and the year before it get great reviews because it sticks to an apparent winning formula from yer end to year out.

Anyways Gafers, I will be njoing my PS4, and I am sure I will be impressed by Shadowfall. At least the campaign is longer than 4 hours and I am not spending $60 for a Multiplayer game.

I wouldn't mind seeing a gaf impression/review thread after playing KZSF in the coming week or more. I am I pretty pumped right now my PS4 is shipping. Next Gen is so close.
 
Killzone gets a few bad reviews and people are apparently out on a mission to discredit absolutely anything bad said about it anywhere because after all the months and months of hyping the system and its super specs, people forget that sometimes making great games is what matters most in the end.

Not that Killzone isn't great. Some people obviously will feel it is. But a lot of people don't, looking at the reviews. Enough that I'm pretty sure its probably not the revolutionary, kill'em'all, CoD/Battlefield contender that a lot of Sony fans were hoping for.

Which is cool. Its a launch game. I think people's hype have gotten the better of them and a bit of reality might actually calm things down a bit and bring the talk away from resolution-gate and whatnot to actually gaming again.

keep this in a notepad file on your desktop so you can just copy and paste it the next dozen times it happens.
 
So Polygon rated Shadow Fall lower than KILLZONE Mercenary which was 6.0. Then, it must be good then. Can't wait to play it.
 
Then again you don't want someone saying Please be Killzone. Please be Killzone. Please be Killzone. I value GAF's impressions over most reviewers, but I always like reading divisive or low scoring reviews for games that are generally positively received to get an idea of what someone doesn't like about a particular game. I take Gies' opinions with a grain of salt, but it doesn't hurt to hear some criticism of a game instead of the 9/10 or 10/10 reviews we are all so used to with big budget AAA games.

That being said, it seems obvious that games should be reviewed by someone skilled in a particular genre. I don't expect Gerstman to review stuff like Dota 2 or Starcraft 2, when Brad is the most skilled in those kind of genres. That being said, you don't have to be particularly skilled to review a FPS.

Edit also:

I'm pretty sure they have had only like two days to play multiplayer in KZ. If you like multiplayer shooters reading a day one review is about as helpful as reading a day one review for an MMO.
There is certainly value to be had from someone reviewing a game that may come at it from a different angle, but Gies reviewing this game is on a whole different level. Seriously, the dude absolutely despises the entire franchise. He even bashed Mercenary every chance he got. Someone else on the podcast would be talking about the game and how they were having fun with it despite a few issues, and he would chime in by bashing it simply because it is Killzone regardless of if he played it or not.

It is one thing to go into a review with a critical eye towards a series, but it is a whole other thing to go into it knowing ahead of time that you don't like it, and all you need to do is listen to the tone of his video review to know that he was never going to give this game a real chance. And remember, this is the guy that manages all reviews that go through Polygon, that is why nobody trusts their reviews at all.
 
Okay everyone, serious question for anyone that wants to chime in:

How does one call themselves an expert on video games, or at the very least a credible reviewer, and not review the multiplayer portion of a game with multiplayer?

In an age where single player is just another box to check in comparison to online multiplayer in modern shooters, how can someone justify providing a conclusive numeric score based on only observing its SP? Would a reviewer base a Halo review on only its SP and not its MP?

Anyone have an answer? Because if Aegies really judged Killzone SF solely on its SP, I just don't know what to say anymore. It's inexcusable. I won't read his review though, so any confirmation would be great.
 
Serious question : what is it with this game and motion sickness, as I said previously I tried the demo of KZ2 on ps3 and that stuff was unplayable for me, now i was trying to watch the IGN live stream and it still the same thing, couldn't watch it more than a few minutes before feeling nauseous. I remember back then, I was wondering if other people had that and a quick google search indicated I wasn't the only one.. Any other gaffer feels this?
 
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