![]() "Killzone: Shadow Fall uses its downtime to remind you of how pretty it is, but not in service of any particular narrative effect" David VanOrd, Gamespot However impressive this may be at first glance, however, VanOrd feels that Guerrilla relies on the visual wow-factor a little too heavily, with extended periods of relative inaction being used to showcase looks at the cost of engagement. "Its buttery-smooth performance is also bound to earn kudos: Shadow Fall smooths away the frame rate hitches and texture pop-in we've become so accustomed to in even the most visually impressive console shooters." "Like its predecessors, Killzone: Shadow Fall is likely to be described through a technical lens, and the game certainly deserves praise for how many polygons it packs into its most expansive landscapes," he writes in his 7/10 assessment. For Gamespot's Kevin VanOrd, though, this is a technical tour de force which fails to surprise, but also doesn't disappoint. As a straight-ahead shooting gallery, Shadow Fall is still muscular and confident, with that signature Killzone weight to it, all deliberate reload animations, thudding slides into cover and punchy, every-bullet-counts impact."Įlsewhere, Shadowfall receives a similar reception on similar criteria, with a notable outlier from Polygon's review team. ![]() "Did Guerrilla run out of time, of conviction, of ideas," asks Welsh? "I'm not sure - and I also don't want to overstate the impact on the game. Ultimately, however, it's another instalment which steadies the ship but fails to ignite the fireworks properly. It's not subtle, but who cares, it's gorgeous." The PS4 has unthrottled the artists' access to this art and they have run amok, drenching every corner of the game in luscious sunsets, glistening reflections, glaring lens flare and richly coloured, mote-filled shafts of neon. "What you really notice is the lighting - dear God, the lighting. If you want to give your new console a thorough workout, this is the game to get there is clear water between it and even the best of the multi-format games."Īlthough Welsh doesn't feel that Shadowfall's story stands up under too much scrutiny, the trademark graphical brilliance is very much in evidence. Oli Welsh writes: "If Guerrilla has let itself down a little - only half-delivering on its brief for a more involving story and game design - then at least it has done Sony proud. Killzone: Shadowfall, was promised to address these concerns, introducing more focus on story and character whilst maintaining that crisp tactical fidelity which has earned it a strong fanbase.įor Eurogamer, which awards a solid 7 for Shadowfall, the evidence of Guerrilla's efforts is obvious, but they fall a little short of the marketing hyperbole which preceded the release, a problem not unfamiliar to the developer. Consistently establishing graphical milestones and pushing the machines to their limits has always been at the core of what the Amsterdam studio has aimed for, but the Killzone series has had accusations of sterility and a lack of innovation levelled at it more than once. Guerrilla's dystopian FPS series has been one of the first-party flagbearers of the last generation, being rolled out to both PSP and Vita as well as its more natural homes of PS2 and 3. Cerny is an eminent, provably intelligent and experienced systems designer, and while he's seen plenty of success with older platformers like Crash Bandicoot and Jak and Daxter, will he be able to replicate that magic on next-gen all these years later? Killzone: Shadowfall Knack is the dark horse of the trio: a game that some see as a vanity project for Mark Cerny, the hardware engineer behind both the PS4 and the Vita. Resogun comes from a talented team which has already experienced some real success and could hold new surprises, especially in the art of making niche genres shine. Killzone has always been pretty and solidly built, but it seems unlikely that EA or Activision are too concerned about it challenging either of their recruitment-poster FPS series. Sony's exclusive line-up is a brief one, featuring a couple of rank outsiders and a dependable franchise which has nonetheless done little to set the world on fire during any of its many iterations. Exclusives are regarded as an even closer indication of what the console will offer, symbolising the platform holder's target demographics, key production values and deal-making prowess. Launch titles are never the best games a system has to offer, but in the vital early scrabble for retail purchase and positive column inches they can make or break the public's first impressions of a machine. From a critic's point of view at least, today marks weapons free. The latest round of the cold war is over, with Sony unleashing the first salvo as the review embargo expired on its PS4 launch exclusives at 2pm GMT today.
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