Killzone : Shadow Fall takes place many years after Killzone 3, when Helghan has been destroyed and the survivors and refugees were taken in by Vekta. A wall was built on Vekta that spanned the entire circumference of the planet, half containing Vekta and the other, New Helghan.
Players take control of Lucas Kellen, a VSA operative who, when a new war is brewing, is sent into New Helghan on Special Ops missions to find out what the Helghast are planning.
STORY
I found the story to be rather compelling but I definitely thought the first half of the game had a better narrative and it started to fall apart slightly in the second half, which felt like it was rushed just to wrap up the game. The game took more of a stealthy "one man army" approach, rather than taking part in large battles, which I didn't mind as the game still had its fair share of epic set pieces, which were rather impressive for an early PS4 game. Unfortunately, the main characters in the story and very little personality so I had a hard time caring about them personally, but the world building did a good job of displaying the horrors of war between Vekta and New Helghan. I liked the fakeout ending but the actual ending was a little rushed.
GAMEPLAY
Killzone : Shadow Fall comes with that classic Killzone feel, which is ; heavy, clunky controls. Moving around the world wasn't as snappy and responsive as I would like, but the gunplay itself was satisfying and every weapon packs a punch. The missions had a lot of variety which they needed as most of them were quite long. The missions were a little more open ended than a typical shooter so the player had options of how to approach groups of enemies and to also explore a little to find collectables, but even though the game seemed to want you to use stealth, its was impossible most of the time which led to encounters devolving into shooting ranges. Something that kept the gameplay fresh was the drone that the player had control of, which was needed to take down certain types of enemies or traverse the environments using its built in zip-line.
AUDIO/VISUAL
Considering Killzone : Shadow Fall is a PS4 launch game, its graphics are stunning, even now in 2024, 11 years after its release. The atmosphere it is able to create helps Vekta and New Helghan feel lived in and shows the differences between them with Vektas brighter, blue colour filled environments vs New Helghans dark, grimey, red neon filled underworld. The game sounds very good, with other worldly machinery and weapons and action packed cutscenes really delivering the punch you would expect. The voice acting was mostly ok but the protagonist Lucas Kellen's bland voice acting didn't do much to help his already absent personality. David Harewood as Thomas Sinclair would be the highlight, convincingly showing Sinclairs increasing desperation throughout the story.
SUMMARY
Killzone : Shadow Fall is a decent FPS experience with a rather engaging narrative that carries the rest of an ok game. While there's nothing the game does terribly, it doesn't really do anything great either, other than graphics.
+ good story with good world building and environments.
+ satisfying gunplay.
+ Stunning graphics.
+ Plenty of mission variety.
+ Sounds good.
+ Music was great and builds tension.
- clunky movement
- 2nd half of the campaign not as good and rushed
- underdeveloped characters
- rushed ending
- missions a little too long
- multiplayer now unavailable
Players take control of Lucas Kellen, a VSA operative who, when a new war is brewing, is sent into New Helghan on Special Ops missions to find out what the Helghast are planning.
STORY
I found the story to be rather compelling but I definitely thought the first half of the game had a better narrative and it started to fall apart slightly in the second half, which felt like it was rushed just to wrap up the game. The game took more of a stealthy "one man army" approach, rather than taking part in large battles, which I didn't mind as the game still had its fair share of epic set pieces, which were rather impressive for an early PS4 game. Unfortunately, the main characters in the story and very little personality so I had a hard time caring about them personally, but the world building did a good job of displaying the horrors of war between Vekta and New Helghan. I liked the fakeout ending but the actual ending was a little rushed.
GAMEPLAY
Killzone : Shadow Fall comes with that classic Killzone feel, which is ; heavy, clunky controls. Moving around the world wasn't as snappy and responsive as I would like, but the gunplay itself was satisfying and every weapon packs a punch. The missions had a lot of variety which they needed as most of them were quite long. The missions were a little more open ended than a typical shooter so the player had options of how to approach groups of enemies and to also explore a little to find collectables, but even though the game seemed to want you to use stealth, its was impossible most of the time which led to encounters devolving into shooting ranges. Something that kept the gameplay fresh was the drone that the player had control of, which was needed to take down certain types of enemies or traverse the environments using its built in zip-line.
AUDIO/VISUAL
Considering Killzone : Shadow Fall is a PS4 launch game, its graphics are stunning, even now in 2024, 11 years after its release. The atmosphere it is able to create helps Vekta and New Helghan feel lived in and shows the differences between them with Vektas brighter, blue colour filled environments vs New Helghans dark, grimey, red neon filled underworld. The game sounds very good, with other worldly machinery and weapons and action packed cutscenes really delivering the punch you would expect. The voice acting was mostly ok but the protagonist Lucas Kellen's bland voice acting didn't do much to help his already absent personality. David Harewood as Thomas Sinclair would be the highlight, convincingly showing Sinclairs increasing desperation throughout the story.
SUMMARY
Killzone : Shadow Fall is a decent FPS experience with a rather engaging narrative that carries the rest of an ok game. While there's nothing the game does terribly, it doesn't really do anything great either, other than graphics.
+ good story with good world building and environments.
+ satisfying gunplay.
+ Stunning graphics.
+ Plenty of mission variety.
+ Sounds good.
+ Music was great and builds tension.
- clunky movement
- 2nd half of the campaign not as good and rushed
- underdeveloped characters
- rushed ending
- missions a little too long
- multiplayer now unavailable