Killzone Shadow Fall Review Thread

Not enough special sauce.

They claim it's not doing anything revolutionary enough with the UI and that it's a games focused console without gamez.

they'd probably review the PS3 now and say it doesn't have enough good games

but then again, Last of Us didn't satisfy them so what is Sony supposed to do, maybe if they started making games like Sim City and Diablo 3, maybe the login screens for always online games is the UI they're longing for.
 
I don't know what you are talking about on that one. It has a rich backstory. It's games actually humanizes and gives reason for both sides to be at war (most war games have a clear one note villian/enemy faction). It is a futuristic space shooter that doesn't jump deep into sci-fi territory (no laser weapons, cyborgs, teleportation or aliens). The biggest thing about its multiplayer is that the classes and Jobs are very distinct. Unlike some games where class/job only equates to weapons being used, in KZ MP there are both distinct active and passive skills that define a class.

To this day, the battles are some of the most chatic I ever had, with snipers not just being hard to see, but completely invisible, scouts that can cloak themselves and literally look like one of your team mates, unmanned Arial and ground turrets, proximity based c4 (omni directional) and freaking spawn grenades. That is just some of the insanity that could go on in a match.

Imo, anyone that states that KZ doesn't has it's own identity, either hasn't played it, or never payed enough attention to contrast and compare with others in its genre.

That's true. The Helghan mask is probably as iconic as it gets. It's just the writing that fails to engage you, time and again. They could be throwing gargantuan spider robots at you, or let you ride a cool mech, but it barely registers in you; just feels like you're being ferried from one attraction to another and asked to mindlessly point and shoot.

I'm going to play and judge the story on my own, but hopefully, getting rid of 3's dumb characters and utilizing FPV for cutscenes has resulted in some improvement.
 
Good Game Informer impressions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH5wzsYogYk

Check out the video.

Don't think they've done the review yet, but the guy talks about how he's never been a fan of the previous Killzone games and that Shadow Fall was the first one where he really liked the campaign.

They're one of the few sites holding back reviews until they play it online with others. They also haven't reviewed Resogun because they want to try online co-op first.
 
My prediction of Polygon Xbox One review is 8.7.

I will eat my words if they give Xbox One a lower score than the PS4 but I also expect them to give it an 8.5 or higher. They will praise everything that a bunch of other very cheap devices can do and they will praise Ryse, Forza, and DR3 as true next gen titles.
 
Heh, fully expect them to say the XBO has a great games lineup and a revolutionary UI, and that the differences in power are meaningless...

They actually said that more of less.

"Well... You know, if ALL you want to do is play games, sure the PS4 is slightly more powerful and less expensive, but it's not going to be able to compete with the XBOX on media. If THE ONLY THING you want to do is play games, there are people who want this in todays market, and it will appeal to THEM, but the media on XBOX will be great".

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

That's true. The Helghan mask is probably as iconic as it gets. It's just the writing that fails to engage you, time and again. They could be throwing gargantuan spider robots at you, or let you ride a cool mech, but it barely registers in you; just feels like you're being ferried from one attraction to another and asked to mindlessly point and shoot.

I'm going to play and judge the story on my own, but hopefully, getting rid of 3's dumb characters and utilizing FPV for cutscenes has resulted in some improvement.

I was watching a Shado Fall stream and I found myself really pulled into the setting and narrative. I guess my only complaint was the hyper quick transitions it had.

After the opening where you fail to capture the Black Hand leader, it fades to black and you are IMMEDIATELY ON the bridge or Office of Black bad guy VSA leader and after he briefs you, you are then again instantly at the checkpoint to cross through the other side, everything before that had you actually taking the flights between points
 
They actually said that more of less.

"Well... You know, if ALL you want to do is play games, sure the PS4 is slightly more powerful and less expensive, but it's not going to be able to compete with the XBOX on media. If THE ONLY THING you want to do is play games, there are people who want this in todays market, and it will appeal to THEM, but the media on XBOX will be great".

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

Missed that part. Pretty amazing how transparent they are about this. It's as if it's coming directly from MS PR. Guess the 750K buys a lot these days.
 
They actually said that more of less.

"Well... You know, if ALL you want to do is play games, sure the PS4 is slightly more powerful and less expensive, but it's not going to be able to compete with the XBOX on media. If THE ONLY THING you want to do is play games, there are people who want this in todays market, and it will appeal to THEM, but the media on XBOX will be great".

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

That is something a non-gaming media tech site like Engadget or C-Net should be writing, but a games centric site like Polygon?
 
Hmm, I'm actually more eager to play Killzone just to see how my opinion lines up. A lot of the complaints issued in the lower reviews are things that seem like positives to me.

Uncertainty on where to go next, encounters focused on small groups of enemies, lots of quiet moments, backtracking, etc. Those are the kinds of things that serve to enhance a shooter for me.

Perhaps my most significant issue with something like Call of Duty (SP) is the fact that the volume is cranked up to 11 and left there. There is little semblance of pacing as you are always being attacked, shit is always blowing up, and the action rarely lets up. It ends up removing any sense of spectacle from the experience.

I definitely feel as if my taste in shooters is misaligned with reviewers. Crysis 3 was mostly shat on earlier this year yet I think it was one of the better shooter campaigns we've seen in the last year (despite its short length).

I suppose the type of shooter that Killzone has become is not well suited for the deadlines reviewers were facing. When you're trying to rush through the campaign I could see some of those complaints become genuinely frustrating. Perhaps that has played a role here?

They actually said that more of less.

"Well... You know, if ALL you want to do is play games, sure the PS4 is slightly more powerful and less expensive, but it's not going to be able to compete with the XBOX on media. If THE ONLY THING you want to do is play games, there are people who want this in todays market, and it will appeal to THEM, but the media on XBOX will be great".

I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
This kind of stuff really disappoints me. Polygon is a weird site as I absolutely love the design and layout. I want to like the site but it definitely reads more like PR than I would like. It comes off as some sort of Official Xbox Magazine that also covers other platforms. If the site were more balanced I suspect I'd read it much more often.
 
This kind of stuff really disappoints me. Polygon is a weird site as I absolutely love the design and layout. I want to like the site but it definitely reads more like PR than I would like. It comes off as some sort of Official Xbox Magazine that also covers other platforms. If the site were more balanced I suspect I'd read it much more often.

Gies openly whined about having to review Killzone on twitter. Low and behold, he doesn't like it. Quality site.
 
Well polygon's review boils down to "the game was too difficult and there were not enough annoying hud elements telling me where to go so I got lost"

.............seriously, that was his excuse

"Press A to win" is here to stay
 
I bet he didn't even know that there's a button you can press on the controller that highlights your objective, what doors to go through, etc.

No words.
 
Well polygon's review boils down to "the game was too difficult and there were not enough annoying hud elements telling me where to go so I got lost"

.............seriously, that was his excuse

"Press A to win" is here to stay

Ryse 10/10 @ polygon confirmed.
 
Jeff Gerstmann has had some problems with the multiplayer crashing tonight:

Jeff Gerstmann ‏@jeffgerstmann 34m
Kind of neat that PS4 has crash reporting. Kind of weak that I've filed two Killzone crash reports this evening.
 
The original Resistance is sitting at 86 metacritic. Most fun I had this gen on SP until Killzone 2 & 3 came out. Barely touched MP.

I really enjoy KZ and I plan to play this mp a lot because it really looks appealing so I don't care about the score at all I will enjoy it even with flaws. It's Killzone, it always had flaws so I'm not surprised about the reception. Still sad to see BF4 getting stellar reviews even with such awfull SP.
 
Killzone Shadow Fall is PDZ, and Knack is Kameo.

Perfectly serviceable, safe and predictable launch games.

Except PDZ looked weak visuals when it was released, aside from the decent textures. This is more in line with something like HS for me. Very strong visuals, but seems to have illicited mixed responses on the gameplay.
 
This will probably be the last Killzone game Guerilla makes. I hope it is. I feel like they need to make another game that isn't a first person shooter and if they ever do another fps it should be a new IP. The Killzone IP isn't doing them any favors. Unfortunately, games are reviewed by their history and games like Halo, Battlefield, and Call of Duty will get passes whereas Killzone isn't judged by the same metric and is raked over the coals for similar issues.
 
I will eat my words if they give Xbox One a lower score than the PS4 but I also expect them to give it an 8.5 or higher. They will praise everything that a bunch of other very cheap devices can do and they will praise Ryse, Forza, and DR3 as true next gen titles.

It won't happen.
 
Killzone Shadow Fall is PDZ, and Knack is Kameo.

Perfectly serviceable, safe and predictable launch games.

You meant Killzone is Resistance and Knack is Unthold Legends ?
Im shocked that some reviewers are giving SF a lower score than CoD Ghost.
I find this realy strange

Less spectacular because less scripted. Have level design to let you play around so journos were confused and lost and had no sens of rhythm nor action and never took time master the possiblities the gameplay offers (level design, OWL, etc...). Also, no aim assist so the game must have been hard " weird difficulty spikes " sure it's not CoD with auto aim and brain less ai that never really pay attention to you...
 
Except that Kameo got MUCH better scores. It got all high 8s. Knack is getting abysmal scores
Maybe the graphical jump was more impressive with Kameo? Diminishing returns doesn't mean we can't be impressed, but it can mean that, combined with maturity, we won't be as easily impressed as we once were.
Too bad there is no COD 2 or Condemned.
Well, Ghosts may be like CoD2 after years of complacency and drug abuse, but Condemened caught the wrong boat and ended up on Wii U as ZombiU I think. After Dark Souls contamination.
 
You meant Killzone is Resistance and Knack is Unthold Legends ?


Less spectacular because less scripted. Have level design to let you play around so journos were confused and lost and had no sens of rhythm nor action and never took time master the possiblities the gameplay offers (level design, OWL, etc...). Also, no aim assist so the game must have been hard " weird difficulty spikes " sure it's not CoD with auto aim and brain less ai that never really pay attention to you...

I am not sure less spectacular is the word (it looks about as spectacular as a mobility scooter attempting a drag race to me), but I get what you are saying. Visually KZ looks a gen ahead of it, but CoD has intensity I supppose
 
Maybe the graphical jump was more impressive with Kameo? Diminishing returns doesn't mean we can't be impressed, but it can mean that, combined with maturity, we won't be as easily impressed as we once were.

From everything I've seen of Knack it looks like there was just more to Kameo.
 
Yeah I never quite understood why they had him review it. He's talked plenty of times about not liking KZ on Rebel fm.
I've argued about merit for people who aren't fans of a series giving it a look, but I have a feeling that he's the kind of guy that'd be set against a game period and thus make the whole review unreliable. And anyone who absolutely did not want to touch a game may not be the best choice versus someone who doesn't like a series but will be willing to give it a fair chance. But I haven't looked too deeply into that, and my statement goes out of the window in regards to games everyone knows are terrible and don't want to touch them (Ride to Redemption would be one, the most positive is Yahtzee's and that's more a "buy so you too can know suffering" than a genuine endorsement.)
From everything I've seen of Knack it looks like there was just more to Kameo.
Kameo came off more as a cheap Zelda knockoff, while Knack came off as MAYBE Crash with God of War combat blended in. Even at your most charitable that kind of comes off more as giving Kameo the nod to me, but then Crash and God of War are games I enjoyed but didn't LOVE.
 
The reviews for this game show why the review process in games journalism is deeply flawed.

You absolutely cannot put a definitive score on a mp game like Killzone:SF if, like is the case here, the reviewers only got to play a few sessions under conditions at GG's offices. It's insane.

CVG, who I have always liked, have done the correct thing and have witheld their final score until they have had more extensive play in the mp. At least the other major sites should have put the caveat in their reviews that the score doesn't factor in the mp side.

Now this is more subjective: IF, for all intents and purposes, K:SF is being reviewed on its sp campaign alone, how the fuck can anyone mark it lower than the dog-shit 4-hour campaign in COD Ghosts? Because I suspect when COD was reviewed, reviewers added on a few extra points to the score because of previous CODs mp, despite no extensive play in the new one.
 
From what I read the game is great and is a step in the right direction for the series but gets stuck in the old ScFi FPS ways towards the end.
The game would obviously scored higher if it kept to the structure of the game at the beginning.
 
With these reviews, i think it will be the end of this garbage game. Sony needs a new revolutionary shooter. Killzone will never be seen as a AAA franchise. Maybe naughty dog should give it a try.
 
Well, Ghosts may be like CoD2 after years of complacency and drug abuse, but Condemened caught the wrong boat and ended up on Wii U as ZombiU I think. After Dark Souls contamination.
Also, Call of Duty 2 hardly stacks up today. I just popped it in the other day and between the boring campaign and super unstable framerate, it really doesn't impress. It's an ugly, inconsistent game with what feels like a very basic take on the current CoD campaign.

Even though the 360 version is terrible, I think Quake 4 is actually a MUCH better single player game than CoD.

Condemned is a weird one, though, as it has some really nice ideas but the level design is supremely boring and the performance is pretty lousy. It was still great at the time, however.
 
although i know i will have a lot of fun playing this game, i'd like to read how GAF reviews compare to the media reviews.

This should happen, GAF reviews!

With these reviews, i think it will be the end of this garbage game. Sony needs a new revolutionary shooter. Killzone will never be seen as a AAA franchise. Maybe naughty dog should give it a try.

I have never played a Killzone game yet, but I DO have this pre-ordered, it looks amazing, and from what I have seen I have liked, so I will have to disagree with you.
 
Haven't played too much of Killzone yet. It seems all right, though I'm not entirely happy with what they did with the old cover system.
 
Missed that part. Pretty amazing how transparent they are about this. It's as if it's coming directly from MS PR. Guess the 750K buys a lot these days.

750k is too much money. MS could setup a game review site that pretended to be impartial but was actually run to downplay and spread FUD about a competitor for less than that!!
 
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