Sony Should Make Killzone Their Very Own Halo

With a brand-new Killzone game just unveiled for the PlayStation 4, Dan Jenko argues that the futuristic first-person shooter franchise has the potential to be as significant for Sony as Halo is for Microsoft.

[Gazondaily]

I think GG have been trying to do that from the very beginning of the franchise's inception. Easier said than done though.

[Irishguy95]

I would like the addition of Vehicles and **** in Killzone. Would love to fly between the Helghast and ISA city in some levels and stuff

[TheGamerDood]

A Killzone/Battlefield type of game with 64 players would be amazing.

[mandf]

Yeah Septic I agree. Only gamers can make a game rise to that status. Say Halo released 1 year later maybe it wouldn't have been so popular. I think it's a case of in the right place at the right time and every thing aligned. Killzone has the same quality and fun just not the gaming prestige and following.

[NewMonday]

@visible_schlong

this can't be real

I remember that Halo4 had an event with a number of reviewers who had to play the game at the developers office, there were no advance copies.

[TekoIie]

@visible_Schlong

"Last time I check a few years ago, Sony first party titles absolutely crushed Microsoft's first party titles including Halo in total sales."

Yes its impressive for multiple games to outsell one game -_-

[aPerson]

@v_s

"It is inane to think Sony would every think of emulating Microsoft's failed strategy."

Whether or not you dislike Microsoft for rehashing the same old franchises over and over is one thing, but to say that their strategy has failed them is laughable. They are successful, and like it or not, their exclusives sell well.

I dislike what Microsoft has become too, but facts are facts.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

Well, Halo released in 2001 and 3 years later Sony's answer was Killzone. Killzone was fun but Halo had the gameplay, sandbox styled levels, immersive, and most importantly it was an innovative shooter at the time. Great graphics the Halo was becoming a mainstream hit years after Killzone.

Killzone has its own gameplay, it own graphics, its own story, its own characters.

And from the look of Killzone Shadow Fall, it looks like the game will be full realized to be Sony's flagged shipped shooter.

[TekoIie]

@V_S

"They really think somehow the rest of the gaming world actually gives a shit about their lame shiny green power ranger games"... XD

Who'd have thought that the ps4 reveal would result in a Sony fanboy raging like this XD.

[Gildarts]

Believe it or not but Microsoft games generally receive better rating.

Sony: www.metacritic.com/company/son y
Micrsoft: http://www.metacritic.com/c...

For convenience it's. 68 for Sonyy and 74 for Microsoft.

[Arksine]

I like Killzone, but if they want to take it to another level they need to open up the environments. The initial city shown in KZ:Shadow Fall looked great, now let us explore it!

And vehicles are a must (the mechs and jetpacks are a nice addition though).

[zebramocha]

What does larger levels have to do with anything? Unless they're going for scale than a close environment can be just as effective.

[Blaze929]

it's just an overly crowded FPS market. Halo just happened to mean a lot more than being an awesome game when it released on Xbox 1. As the first FPS on a console system done EXTREMELY well, the controller was right, and the game overall was great - for the time. Halo 2 alone helped make Xbox LIVE and offered great online gaming, for an FPS, on a home console through broadband only - again, sort of a first.

But since Halo 3, meh.

That's why year after year Halo's been kinda going downhill. I don't think Halo itself, is the popularity. It was just the things Halo was offering, for its time.

Now we got CoD, Halo, Resistance, Killzone, Homefront, Crysis, and goes on. For any game to be as big as Halo it'll need that audience and at this point in time, I don't think Killzone as an IP is going to change much in terms of popularity. 3 console games, 2-3 portable titles - and it's still "just Killzone"

[AridSpider]

This is Killzone #4 (console games only). If they weren't able to make it their Halo by now, probably never will.

[squarecircle]

Halo 3 added theatre mode, which still isn't beat yet by any other FPS. Also the forge mode, while not as complex as Far Cry, gave the ability of people with all types of experience to be able to build some truly awesome maps. Also a very stable 4 player co-op on console was quite something back in 2007.

Halo's popularity is steadily decreasing, we just need an FPS which is truly innovative as the FPS market at the moment is very stale.

[ATi_Elite]

As a PC Gamer I gotta say Killzone is way better than Halo!

I've played thru Killzone 2,3 many times but the Halo series is so boring that I never wanted to play thru it again.

If i could get either the Halo franchise or Killzone franchise on PC I would want the Killzone franchise!

Looking forward to Killzone Shadow Fall!

[just-joe]

The first one was advertised as a "Halo Killer"

[J_Cob]

Was it advertised as a, "Halo Killer" or was it gaming websites/magazines saying such things?

[Patashnik]

What a great ide- er... wait, hang on... wasn't that ALWAYS the point of Killzone anyway?! Which makes the point of this article kinda... silly.

[DanJenkoFMV]

As discussed in the article, I feel like the level of marketing Sony gives the Killzone franchise isn't enough to reach that goal.

All I'm saying is that if they market the next Killzone in the same way Microsoft market upcoming Halo releases, the franchise could reach that level.

[-Alpha]

It's more than marketing: if people don't like the game as much as Halo, they wont play it as much as Halo. Killzone 2 sold quite a lot, but the majority didn't stay. If the game isn't going to appeal to the masses, no amount of marketing will make them stay.

Games like Battlefield, Halo, and COD may have a good amount of marketing behind them, but the games themselves have some solid foundations that keep people coming back. Social connectivity is a big one. It was very jarring to see that Killzone promoted squad based gameplay, but didn't even come with an option to party up with your friends.

I also feel that Killzone's clusterspamming is a problem that can really kill the flow of a game. When I played Killzone 8v8, or with smart Tactitians, it was a blast, but unfortunately, public games tended to have crappy Tactitian players who were keen on throwing spawn grenades at other spawn points, creating a constant Spawn, die, spawn, die problem. The fact that you couldn't destroy spawn beacons didn't help. Killzone 3 made the problem even worse by taking away the freedom and restricting spawning to fixed points of action.

I want the next Killzone to take heavy influences from Killzone 2, a campaign that was truly one-of-a-kind when it came to the sheer visceral action. GG needs to nail down what most expect from shooters: content and connectivity in MP. I wish the gameplay is more like Killzone 2, but I can understand why it's necessary to tweak the controls to be a little more accessible. I just want my recoil and high health back. The spawning should take cues from Battlefield: Spawn beacons that can be destroyed and are limited to squads, as well as squad leader spawning. It can cut down on the spawn camping and make the maps more enjoyable. Advertising is half of it, but the core mechanics need to appeal to general consumers first.

[Cupid_Viper_3]

I say we let Killzone be Killzone and save the $50-$300 million dollars to make different games that offer different experiences.

I would take a "Kara" (Tech Demo from Quantic Dreams) any day over Killzone, Halo, CoD, or games of the like. We've seen and play so many shooters already as it is.

[xursz]

Agreed with above. Killzone is Sony's Killzone. I like it that way.

[Commandar_Shepard]

Sony really needs to advertise Killzone better. Halo has the notorious Mountain Dew and Doritos promotions, endless TV Commercials, Ads Everywhere (YouTube, Stores, Time Square, etc), heck they also had huge promotions with AXE and 7-ELEVEN (bigger than the one Killzone had with 7-ELEVEN, they had a full fledged online game to go with it).

Another reason Halo is so popular now is its user generated content, allowing for endless community maps, screenshots, clips, etc. With the PS4 and the share button, it looks like Sony is headed in the right direction.

[fourOeightshark]

MS spent over 40mill on Halo 3's marketing.

[ritsuka666]

Sony Should Make Killzone Their Very Own Halo"

My god this BS again? Why do people continue to call games the killer? For example... multiple games of PS brand have been hyped as a Halo Killer ( exemple : Killzone 2) Halo can't be killed. It is a title that exists and has been successful (wildly successful). No game will ever change that hence no game will ever kill it.

SHM, a sucessful game can't be killed unless the conqueror somehow makes the conquered sell negative numbers and go back to zero.

In short, drop the "killer" shit. It's old already.

Below: matching and killing are same shit.

[ShugaCane]

Where did you see the word "killer" exactly ? The article is about Killzone matching Halo's success, not killing it.

[J_Cob]

"SHM, a sucessful game can't be killed unless the conqueror somehow makes the conquered sell negative numbers and go back to zero."

"Below: matching and killing are same shit."

Yes, because KZ matching the number of Halo sales is the same as Halo copies magically disappearing and going back to zero.

[Riderz1337]

If Sony wants to make Killzone their Halo, they better advertise it. Halo gets a ton of advertising and I've never seen a Killzone advertisement on TV in my life. This game has so much potential, especially know as a launch title, Sony would be idiots to not let the masses now about this game. It's a true representation of what next generation technology is capable of bringing in terms of graphics.

[StrongMan]

It's already better. Sony makes money off of Killzone. All of the Killzone profit don't have to go to a $500 million campaign budget.

[theWB27]

Stop it. Killzone sells dont even approach what Halo has. Even Halo Wars almost sold what Killzone 2 did and more than Killzone 3. Microsoft makes a TON more money off of Halo as a BRAND. The first Halo sold 6 million copies. Halo 4 just made them over 200 million in ONE day. Stop it.

[Swiggins]

Anyone who agrees with this sentiment is delusional.

Microsoft makes everything back and more with each Halo they make...The killer advertising they put into it is just one cog of the machine.

[Lvl_up_gamer]

Ya, Sony makes all $2 profit off of Killzone.....

Meanwhile Halo makes hundreds of millions profit AFTER campaign and advertising costs.

[CaptainYesterday]

Sony should make Killzone their very own Killzone.

[Hicken]

You said it, Captain Yesterday.

But it's no good! You can't fall fast enough!

[Intentions]

...

Don't even make articles like these, there's always backlash and shit when it happens.

[Lex Luthor]

Apart from the graphics Killzone can't hold a candle to Halo.
Halo is just a superior game allround from story, character design, multiplayer and music to everything else apart from graphics.

But of course now days graphics is all that matters

[Prodigy-X]

Apart from a over hyped character Halo can't hold a candle to Killzone.

Killzone is just a superior game all around from story, character design, multiplayer and music to everything else.

But of course now days people love over hyped games.

*Fixed*

[C-Thunder]

I have to politely disagree. Halo was great in its day, but feels so old now. Bunny jumps, 4 head shots to kill, floaty feel even though your character is wearing a ton of armor.... I've had a lot of good times playing Halo, but I think it's time to change up the formula.

Killzone needs to work on providing more ways to play. I loved the single player, same for Halo, but I also loved the multiplayer in KZ, unlike Halo. The one thing Halo does well in multi is providing a lot of variety, I'd like to see a similar level of variety in killzone.

Alternatively, I would absolutely love if they took the KZ multi in a direction more in line with BF, that could be amazing.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

The main thing stopping Killzone from becoming Halo...lack of a good lead character imo. Killzone would really benefit from having a good dynamic lead character. Someone on par with a Nathan Drake, Master Chief or even COD's Price. Somebody recognizable and a face of the franchise.

Edit: I mean when you think of Killzone...you immediately think of the Helghast enemy...yes they are iconic for the IP...but you have no vested interest in their story. Halo ...you immediately think of Master Chief and his story. Uncharted...Nathan Drake. COD is more of a mixed bag but there are a few memorable characters like Price that gamers can relate to when they think of the games story. Killzone is just kinda souless.

[BigBoss1964]

I agree Killzone does lack a memorable protagonist but imo Halo lacks memorable antagonists and that's where Killzone excels, the Helghast are far more memorable than the Covenant

[Knight_Crawler]

I am not sure about that because the flood really stand out.

[DanJenkoFMV]

Good point, the Helghast have become iconic in regards to the PlayStation brand and make for fantastic enemies but the lead characters aren't on par with those in Halo.

Having an established lead makes a game a lot easier to market, so I certainly think it's something Guerilla must get right next time around if Killzone is to become 'Sony's Halo'.

[StreetsofRage]

Killzone has its own identity, and that's good enough. I don't want to hear all the bickering about Halo sucks and all that. You make yourself sound stupid when you say that.

[Punisher-B52]

I think Sony Should Produce Halo Games For The new PS4. I think they would get more buyers. I also think that soney would make Halo better than Microsoft ( no effance ) but i feel Halo just not the same as it was like when the first two came out i think it kinda went down hill.

[LE]

I love PS and all but they do suck at promoting games. I don't know what they do overseas, but here in the states they don't market right. That's one of the reasons they don't sell as many units as Xbox. Many commercials for games have the Xbox logo pop up at the end. Uncharted, Killzone, nor God of War get any commercial time, not much anyway. They sell good without the commercials but just think about the potential sells if you constantly saw these promotions on a daily basis. Killzone is the s**t and only getting better with experience. Sony changed their marketing team, just hope they changed their salary cap as well.

[Drainage]

They CAN. But not with COD clone gameplay with some added abilities. Thats what SCEA Executives wanted, thats what we got. But it ruined R2 and ruined KZ3. Let's hope they stick to a more halo type of competitive gunplay or like Gears.

the reason halo got popular was due to the competition. Those people are NOT playing COD right now. They are still waiting for their game. It could be KZ:SF....or it could be Destiny.

[Xenomorph]

No they shouldn't because Halo is a completely different game. They should make it like Killzone 2, the best killzone in the series. NOT copy Crysis/COD/Halo and attempt to duplicate them.

[LE]

Couldn't agree more. Sony just needs to put a little more promotion behind their go to product. The game is not the issue, it's not that big because promotion and also the campaign and stages in the game could be a bit longer. Seems like in K3 as soon as you started to get into the scene the action was over.

[leemo19]

I love the Kz series, Kz2 was the first game I bought for my ps3. Kz should just be Kz and not go too far away from its roots. Kz3 was good but with so many people complaining I can't twitch shoot blah blah in Kz2, Kz3 ended up being a downgrade from kz2. GG should make changes but still keep the Kz feel and Sony just needs to market the crap out of the game. I think there was only one ad for kz2 and none for kz3.
With Sony new marketing team, marketing for Kz I'm hoping it will be way better

[thatruth86]

WTF Thats just a retarded statement