Art not tech will be the definer of visual quality... Not that it wasn't before but now more than ever.
KILLZONE Shadow Fall [PS4]
- Thread starter RenegadeRocks
- Start date
Art not tech will be the definer of visual quality... Not that it wasn't before but now more than ever.
I've just gotten down to Helghan. This game is a bit...lonely compared to KZ2, and I miss that games gritty, grainy feel. That said, I think it stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Halo and COD2 as far as quality launch titles go.
KZ3 had clans. The system was kind of broken and would randomly delete you. Never got much into it because the game wasn't fun.
djskribbles
Legend
I liked the first 1/2 - 2/3 of the campaign. I didn't really like the last few chapters though TBH. Overall, it's a pretty good campaign IMO.
Well, I beat the campaign. I really liked it, though it had a couple rough patches. It also seems like they'd intended for there to be more enemies, as I was constantly finding weapons and no one to shoot them with. Better than KZ3, not as good as KZ2, overall about as good as any launch title I've played.
There were 87 people online. The only game that's deader is KZ2, which has...zero. I guess Battlefield and COD are all anyone plays anymore.
There were 87 people online. The only game that's deader is KZ2, which has...zero. I guess Battlefield and COD are all anyone plays anymore.
RenegadeRocks
Legend
Thats the saddest part. The game is super good looking and super fun in 24 player Warzones ! Initially the games were all full and easy to find. TDM was still the most populated, but u could always find tons of Warzones goingon. So sad to see it die when KZ2 went on for s long.
hesido
Regular
I think it just had some kind of clan tag support. KZ2 allowed clan administators, clan invite mechanism, ability to set up clan tournaments, challange a team, messaging within clan members. It was the whole package.
I'd have liked this to be a standard PSN API for all multiplayer games, the system was that good.
I've only recently bought KZ SF, btw. Not checked out the multiplayer and could only play some 10 minutes of the campaign. Their temporal AA leaves some interesting artefacts on some surfaces with fine detail, I noticed. Most commenters say the multiplayer is a blast yet nobody plays it. I'll try some rounds this weekend.
KZ3 had administrated clans with invites. It wasn't like COD where "clan" just meant "you can put any four letters you like in front of your name." It was not as full-featured as KZ2, but you did have a separate clan list and a few clan-specific features.
I think MP games are unlike SP games in that they snowball. You can be the only one in the whole world playing an SP game, and it won't affect your fun. But you do kind of want to play the same MP game everyone else is playing. With 87 people online, I couldn't even find a full match.
So I'm going to do what I suspect a lot of people did...unplug the PS4 and go back to playing COD with my friends. Heck, there are more people in Medal of Honor than Killzone!
I think MP games are unlike SP games in that they snowball. You can be the only one in the whole world playing an SP game, and it won't affect your fun. But you do kind of want to play the same MP game everyone else is playing. With 87 people online, I couldn't even find a full match.
So I'm going to do what I suspect a lot of people did...unplug the PS4 and go back to playing COD with my friends. Heck, there are more people in Medal of Honor than Killzone!
hesido
Regular
I have no memory of those features on KZ3. Were they added in later?
OK, there's a Warzone with about 200-300 people in it regularly. Not many, but enough to find full games.
Just to see if my impressions were correct, I played KZ3 for about an hour last night. Yes, the classes are still hideously unbalanced, TSPs are still dumb, the SMGs still stink, taking out a chump in an exo with an RPG is still hilarious, and Turbine is still the worst map in the history of multiplayer, but three notes:
1. KZ3 has better audio than Shadow Fall. It's way better, especially the gun sounds.
2. I vastly prefer KZ2/3's art direction over SF's. Those games had personality. There are no visual cues making SF look unique, none of the grit and grain that had been the series trademark.
3. Indeed, the graphics of KZ3 are not jarringly worse than SF. KZ3 already looked lifelike and realistic. True, its 30 fps was inconsistent, and the lighting wasn't gamma-correct. But it already looked really, really good. I think we're at the point where your budget, time, and talent are more of a limit on visual quality than the hardware.
Just to see if my impressions were correct, I played KZ3 for about an hour last night. Yes, the classes are still hideously unbalanced, TSPs are still dumb, the SMGs still stink, taking out a chump in an exo with an RPG is still hilarious, and Turbine is still the worst map in the history of multiplayer, but three notes:
1. KZ3 has better audio than Shadow Fall. It's way better, especially the gun sounds.
2. I vastly prefer KZ2/3's art direction over SF's. Those games had personality. There are no visual cues making SF look unique, none of the grit and grain that had been the series trademark.
3. Indeed, the graphics of KZ3 are not jarringly worse than SF. KZ3 already looked lifelike and realistic. True, its 30 fps was inconsistent, and the lighting wasn't gamma-correct. But it already looked really, really good. I think we're at the point where your budget, time, and talent are more of a limit on visual quality than the hardware.
Sigfried1977
Legend
To each his own. I really like the new art direction. I especially dig the variety
I can definitely see the beauty in SF's more colorful tone, in fact it's quite stunning sometimes although I do prefer the gritty, war torn atmosphere of KZ2 any day. What SF lacks are enjoyable mission design and a cohesive story. There's just way too many boring sneaking around, infiltration, as if it's trying hard to be Rainbow Six or Splinter Cell. It's Killzone FFS, the amount of all out war gameplays are almost non existent and then they make abrupt cuts without explaining anything.
You can really tell the game is rushed out the door due to time constraint, the only redeeming value is the graphics and MP. And boy did the lighting impress!
I hope GG make KZ4 in the vein of KZ2 with as much time as they need and blow us away with its 3rd generation PS4 engine, just the mere thought of that makes me euphoric.
You can really tell the game is rushed out the door due to time constraint, the only redeeming value is the graphics and MP. And boy did the lighting impress!
I hope GG make KZ4 in the vein of KZ2 with as much time as they need and blow us away with its 3rd generation PS4 engine, just the mere thought of that makes me euphoric.
To be honest, I still think KZ3 had the best campaign, for the same reason Uncharted 2 and 3 were in its own class over the series entry. KZ3 had great variety in its gameplay that made the campaign a lot more interesting (and fun) to play rather than the KZ2-esque sandbox after sandbox battle. Overall, KZ2 remains the more memorable game, mainly due to one of the most epic final boss battles and the gritty atmosphere and visuals.
KZ3 didn't quite match that - and even less did SF. While I also think the KZ:SF is still one of the most impressive games visual wise on the PS4 currently (I haven't played Infamous! yet), I still miss the more gritty visuals of KZ2.
KZ3 didn't quite match that - and even less did SF. While I also think the KZ:SF is still one of the most impressive games visual wise on the PS4 currently (I haven't played Infamous! yet), I still miss the more gritty visuals of KZ2.
Killzone 3 was my favorite too, though in no small part thanks to the Move. But I also thought it looked nicer - I loved the huge vistas and how great the snow level with the stormy seas, wind, flags, etc. looked. It all was very 'alive'. Perhaps there were too many on-rails shooting sections, but with Move those were actually a lot of fun, and the verticality of the rocket-suit thing (also on the enemies) also worked extremely well with Move (much easier to track an enemy moving in all directions with Move).
Killzone 4 held me back a little because it's a bit too 'hardcore' for me (e.g. difficult) - I'm not used to it anymore, and then the second chapter's type of suspense isn't my thing at all. I was never attracted to games like DeadSpace for that same reason. But I think I will get back to the game soon.
Killzone 4 held me back a little because it's a bit too 'hardcore' for me (e.g. difficult) - I'm not used to it anymore, and then the second chapter's type of suspense isn't my thing at all. I was never attracted to games like DeadSpace for that same reason. But I think I will get back to the game soon.
I didn't care for 3's campaign. Too much was on rails. SF was largely better in this regard, although there was a little too much trekking through empty, beautifully rendered rooms packed with ammo and weapons, as though they kicked it out the door before they could script enemy spawning.
Well, I think I'm done with this. The multiplayer is just not very good. The audio is really bad. There are almost no ambient sounds, and the weapons and explosions sound terrible. Either the weapon balance is bad, or the netcode is. Either way, shots that seem like they should land simply don't.
Pretty game, but it's going to be forgotten as soon as something better comes along.
Pretty game, but it's going to be forgotten as soon as something better comes along.
I actaully enjoyed the campaign quite a bit. I'm just not feeling it in multiplayer. It's not as hilariously unbalanced as KZ3 was, but it feels very bland. The lack of any sounds other than the weird, sewing-machine-like gun audio is really off-putting. FOV's really narrow, too.
I'm getting pretty tired of guns not sounding at all like guns in games. Have you ever fired a gun? They are really, really, really, really loud.
I'm getting pretty tired of guns not sounding at all like guns in games. Have you ever fired a gun? They are really, really, really, really loud.
I went back to play some KZ3 to compare. First, it really does have much better audio, and it's a better-looking game, too. Surprisingly easy to find games, even this late. Second, I was harder on it than I should have been. On the good maps, it's a pretty good game. Turbine Concourse is so amazingly f***ing bad though. I mean, who thought that was a good idea. Really. It's so awful. I know Halo: Reach had jetpacks and they felt the need to copy.
That is NOT the way to do a jetpack map.
That is NOT the way to do a jetpack map.
I am one of those who actually like KZ3. I play KZ3 MP much more than KZ2 MP, almost every other evening.
The concourse map is indeed unbalanced though. Every time I play that map, I gave up on winning that round. Just focus on defending my territory as an Engineer (with my sentry bot !).
The concourse map is indeed unbalanced though. Every time I play that map, I gave up on winning that round. Just focus on defending my territory as an Engineer (with my sentry bot !).
