| Platform | OVERALL |
|---|---|
| Wii | 8.50 |
| Overall | 8.50 |
|
For the last few years there have been a loud group of survival horror fans that have been yelling about how the genre has become all about action. Multiple cries about how Resident Evil is dead to them, about how co-op in Dead Space 3 will ruin everything. Personally I am not one of these people, I love my action mixed with horror but the old school survival horror games will always have a place in my heart. How pleasantly surprised I was to play ZombiU which is spiritually the closest we have come to recapturing SURVIVAL horror. ZombiU is all about staying alive with a limited inventory where ammo and health is scarce, sound familiar. That is about where the similarities to old RE end as this is a FPS with little to no puzzles. The structure of the game is more Metroid Prime like with hub areas interconnected through sewer quick travel. As you play more areas become available and you will have to traverse old locations in some fetch quests, don't fear cause the enemy loadout always changes. The player gets objectives from a dude in a speaker which basically sends you out to these locations to get an item of some kind. And so you leave your sanctuary and enter the zombie infested streets of London. This is where the fun kicks in as you will watch every step you take to make sure a zombie doesn't get a jump on you. The wii U pad handles your inventory in real time meaning you better have what you need on hand cause when the action gets nuts you will not have time to stop and reach into your bag to get your items. This one change in the way a game is controlled adds so much tension. I found myself running to a corner, quickly trying to move items on the screen while watching a zombie horde on the TV slowly closing in on me. The Wii U also has a radar on it which shows red dots for any kind of motion near you, think Aliens. These also pick up animals so many times you wont know when there is a group of zombies ahead or a pack of rats. It has been a long while since I have actually been scared of what may lie ahead, this game makes sure you are always on edge. The combat is where the game falters a bit. The gunplay is decent, hard to mess up FPS controls. Zombies do not die with one head shot, many times it takes two or three which can make the guns feel a bit weak. When you have one zombie to contend with it is best to go with your one melee weapon for the whole game, your cricket mallet. The melee is garbage as you simply press the attack button in a certain rhythm to continuously bash a zombies head, repeat this ad-nauseam. There is no nuance to the melee attacks, no way to improve them, its simply the same thing the entire game which makes almost all one on one encounters a bore. The game shines when a hoard attacks and you must use your guns and explosives to stay alive. It is kind of a shame that there isn't more action since this game makes it very exciting but there I go asking for more action. ZombiU has a great flow to it, constantly taking you to new areas and giving you more and more tougher zombies to fight. There are some truly fantastic setpieces and creepy as hell situations which will have your heart racing. My biggest issue with the game is that it feels very simple, as if this is a test game for a much larger game. ZombiU rarely takes major risks, most of the game plays the same you are always avoiding or battling zombies the same way you do from start to finish. There aren't many moments that really try to do something different with the gameplay, maybe a few moments where your radar goes out, that is as imaginative as the devs get. There are no boss battles, all puzzles are extremely basic and there is almost no side quests. For a game that offers freedom in where you can go it gives you almost no reason to do so. One of the most touted features is how you have one life, when you die you become a different character and you leave your bag with all your equipment on your former zombie self. So you must travel back to where you were and kill the last character to get back your things. As you play other players zombies will begin to roam your game with their own loot to take. Like Demon's Souls this makes every death hurt and adds greatly to the sense of survival horror. They also have an in game message system where players can leave pre determined messages to other players, exactly like DS but in this game it is crap. The symbols you can use don't allow you to say anything meaningful so it becomes a total waste of a feature. There is an online mode which is pretty cool where the player on the pad commands zombies like a strategy game and the other players shoot them with a wiimote. In a colossally moronic move this is not playable online. Just another reason why this game feels limited, it has such great ideas but never pushes them enough to enter true greatness. ZombiU is a great launch game has it uses the features of the wii U in innovative ways while providing a thrilling fresh new game in a genre that has needed a game like this for a long while. With some work the sequel could be one of the best games in the horror genre. |
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Posted by Dvader Fri, 07 Dec 2012 05:31:27
Recently Spotted:
travo (59s)
Totally great, original game in one of my favorite genres. I literally CANNOT wait for a sequel...you know its coming.
I feel privilaged to be one of the smart ones who picked this up in spite of a few foolish reviews.
Stock your bob!