Although Sony has secured quite the launch line-up for the PS4, Killzone: Shadow Fall is easily one of the more intriguing options for the console. It's not only a visual showpiece for the power of the PS4, it's also one of Sony's flagship, first party brands.
With that in mind, there has been no shortage of Killzone: Shadow Fall footage available, featuring closer looks at the game's singleplayer and multiplayer elements. While many games tend to lean in one direction or the other, Killzone has typically found a nice middle ground with both a compelling singleplayer mode and a unique multiplayer experience.
However, to keep the multiplayer fresh for Killzone veterans, and to lure in newcomers, developer Guerrilla Games is introducing some new changes for Shadow Fall. In a recent interview with Eurogamer, Eric Boltjes, Lead Game Designer on Killzone: Shadow Fall, explained what makes this fourth franchise entry stand out from the rest.
As Guerrilla has previously detailed, Killzone: Shadow Fall will offer players their own custom multiplayer experience through their Warzones system. With Warzones, players can create their own multiplayer variants — choosing everything from which weapons players can use, what maps are available, what modes are available, what classes are available, etc.
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However, the Warzones concept has been done before, and will only find success if players can actively find options they like. Thankfully, as Boltjes explains, Guerrilla will be actively promoting more popular Warzones by surfacing them on the Killzone: Shadow Fall front page.
Guerrilla has also retooled the character progression system for Killzone: Shadow Fall by giving players all the weapons and abilities up front. There are still incentives to keep playing through the game's challenge system, but the typical disadvantage placed on newcomers is now slightly lessened. Those who do put the time and effort into Shadow Fall's challenge system, however, will be justly rewarded with stronger versions of the base abilities.
In addition to news on Killzone: Shadow Fall's multiplayer, we have also learned that Sony's highly anticipated exclusive will feature a whopping 40GB install for digital patrons. Earlier this month, it was reported the game would come in at around 50GB, but apparently Guerrilla was able to pair the title down a little. Moreover, that's after Guerrilla was able to optimize the game down from 290GB, but it still means gamers will be waiting quite a while at launch.
"The bulk of it is textures. I think we're probably a lot larger than the other cross-generation games, because we have no assets that have been made to a lower spec. The surface area, I'm just guessing here, must be five to 10 times bigger than Killzone 3 was."
Luckily, as Guerrilla's Michael van de Leuw explains, gamers will be available to start playing Shadow Fall after about 7.5 GB have been installed. This thanks to the PS4's new background downloading system, which lets players start gaming even before their download finishes.
Over the next few weeks there will likely some discussion over install sizes, especially with many console makers pushing towards a digital future, but new features like background downloading will help alleviate some of those headaches. That is, if the Sony servers aren't slammed at launch.
What about Killzone: Shadow Fall's multiplayer are you most looking forward to? Will be buying a retail copy of Shadow Fall or a digital one?
Killzone: Shadow Fall releases November 15, 2013 for the PS4.
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Source: Eurogamer
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