Killzone Shadow Fall

As you’d probably know if you cared, Killzone Shadow Fall is the big PS4 launch exclusive. It does an excellent job of showcasing the power of the machine, and with its slick single player campaign it shows up both Battlefield 4 and Call of Duty: Ghosts.

Where previous Killzone titles ostensibly offered a Sony counterpoint to Microsoft’s Halo series, but ended up playing far more like Call of Duty, Shadow Fall‘s campaign happily feels very much more like the sort of hijinks that Master Chief might get himself into. This is especially true of the first few missions. One features a wide-open map with a series of objectives that you can tackle in any order you please, then another tasks you with bringing a heavily damaged spaceship back online. Proceedings are varied, keep you guessing and are all the better for it. However, don’t think for a second that the actual meat of the game offers up anything original or particularly notable. You’ll find yourself doing exactly what you’d expect to be doing in a futuristic first person shooter. What’s pleasing is that there are no major balls-ups. For example, throughout the game you’re equipped with a little flying drone that has multiple abilities, and all of them come in handy at various points – the balance is right and so you’re unlikely to be tempted to fall back on a tried and tested strategy each time. It’s worth your while to experiment and play around with your capabilities, which is so much more the point of playing videogames than helplessly watching an AI-controlled soldier open doors for you.

Sunlight will authentically bounce off of the gleaming glass walls of thousands of skyscrapers, most of it directly into your corneas

In fact, Shadow Fall feels like a throwback to the pre-Call of Duty world in several ways. I actually got lost on a few occasions, and I didn’t mind. In fact I think I enjoyed it. I can’t remember the last time that I got lost in a first person shooter. It felt nostalgic. Also, it has puzzles. Puzzles! Imagine that – a militaristic shooter that expects you to figure things out for yourself. It’s nice to have a little variation of pacing – while it’s not short on bombast and things being on fire, Shadow Fall benefits from a natural ebb and flow born of variety in what’s being asked of the player. As such, there’s no need to have something explode every couple of minutes to hold your attention. Don’t get me wrong, Shadow Fall is undeniably derivative but at least it tries to blend influences from both five minutes and ten years ago, rather than just continuing recent obsessions with the former.

Where it looks to the future instead is with its lovely graphics. The lighting is a constant, though never understated, delight. Sunlight will authentically bounce off of the gleaming glass walls of thousands of skyscrapers, most of it directly into your corneas. People’s faces are authentically blemished and authentically crease up when they authentically frown. On a big juicy TV it is most certainly the best game to play if you want to feel good about evacuating your wallet in exchange for Sony’s latest powerhouse device, especially as in this case there is no party-pooping PC version to trump the PS4 port.

As you’d expect, and as is the fashion, this game does multiplayer. You can enter into straight-up deathmatches, or if you want a little bit of spice in your life you can try the Warzone mode. Warzone pits two teams up against each other, tasking them with familiar objectives (hold this point, capture these points, carry this beacon to that point, etc.) that rotate over the course of a 20 minute or so stay on each map. The maps themselves are well-designed and interesting spaces to get shot in, with pretty backdrops to watch if you get bored. There are classes, perks, gun accessory unlocks and a bot mode. It doesn’t do anything wrong really, but ultimately it’s little more than functional, suffering in comparison to the pace and depth of the best Call of Duty titles.