[EDITORIAL] Soapbox Hustle: Killzone: Shadow Fall

Killzone: Shadow Fall, just a pretty face but lacking the substance to make you wanna put a ring on it…right? I mean let us be frank, the visuals are utterly amazing and if they can pull of a pure 60 FPS for the multiplayer, then it just expounds on the already mouth-watering aesthetics. But it ends there; at least that’s the misconception. It could have much to do with the disparity between Killzone 2 and 3 or the differing approach to typical “first-person” mechanics but that’s not the point we’re missing. It’s the “social” aspect of Shadow Fall that will be completely forgotten come early 2014, when one engaging but somewhat over-ballyhooed titanic COD-Killer arrives on store shelves. We’re going to ignore the “exclusive” nature of both games and dig into why so many have perceived social gaming as this “feed it to my Facebook friends” mantra.

You want to get more involved with your friends and the community within a game as a whole? Then follow Shadow Falls lead. In case you enjoy the bottom side of a rock, Killzone: Shadow Fall takes the typical “custom game” option and takes it up to the notch of actual community playlists. The more popular your game mode becomes, the more likely it gets suggested to every Killzone player across the globe. Make the game about providing experiences IN the game, not around it. Handing the players the ability to mold the future of how the community plays Shadow Fall is what will keep it alive. The size doesn’t determine the success or failure of the design. The more people get into that kind of build, the more they’ll ask or expect it to come from other games. It doesn’t matter about how in-depth the custom options are for each and every game “type” one can build or the limitations of what exactly can be “promoted” to the player when they log on. We can’t focus on how it will be executed either, rather why we haven’t been doing this more in the first place.

Guerilla Games is no “innovator”, as the pieces have always been in place to make this happen. That word and its forms gets abused more than a Cleveland Browns fan in any city other than Cleveland. Rather, let’s just call them “opportunists” because they saw a need or want and made it happen. We try so hard to focus on what’s NEW and SOMEWHAT DIFFERENT BUT NOT REALLY DIFFERENT BUT EVERYONE SAYS ITS DIFFERENT THEREFORE IT MUST BE TRUE….INTERNET. Let’s not get confused though, the focus is not to call Killzone: Shadow Fall “new” but it sure is adding some interesting variables to how future shooters will play out.