Killzone: Shadow Fall Gets A Touch Pad Gimmick

The PS3 introduced the world to a sixaxis motion controller that developers felt needed to be integrated into every PS3 game. It got pretty annoying, but the trend has mostly worn off. Now Sony is set to introduce another potentially annoying gimmick, but that’s not going to stop the guys behind Killzone: Shadow Fall from using it.

In a blog post on the official Killzone page, Guerilla Games introduced the world to the OWL – “an advanced hovering attack drone used exclusively by the Shadow Marshals to give them all kinds of tactical abilities in the field.” It sounds awesome, but the OWL will be controlled by the touch pad on the DualShock 4. Depending on how annoying it is – it could either be cool or as bad as throwing grenades with the sixaxis in Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune.

To sell you on the concept, Guerilla’s Lead Designer Eric Boltjes says that the OWL can do the following:

Attack Mode orders the OWL to move to an area and attack anyone within range; alternatively, you can tell it to attack a single enemy directly.

Zipline Mode gets the OWL to fire a zipline, allowing the Shadow Marshal to traverse incredibly quickly from point A to B.

Stun Mode is similar to Attack Mode, but lets the OWL use up its energy to create an area-of-effect shock blast that turns off all nearby electronics and stuns humanoid enemies within range.

Lastly, Shield Mode creates an energy shield right in front of the Shadow Marshal, allowing bullets/projectiles to pass through from his POV but stopping bullets coming in from the other side.

Boltjes says that OWL is easy to use even in the heat of battle so here’s hoping that the touch pad doesn’t get in the way of gameplay. If it does, Guerilla would be wise to include more traditional control options for those that recoil in horror whenever touch controls are mentioned.

Killzone: Shadow Fall Gets A Touch Pad Gimmick

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