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State Of Decay |OT| Eat Flesh

Yeh technically it isn't the best but it's ambitious as hell and only 1.8 gigs packed with loads of different gameplay systems. I can forgive Jank if it's ambitious.

Yeah, I hate jank but as I said - really didn't bother me that much.

I gave in and bought the full game, so time to sink my teeth in (ahahahah).
 
well, whoops. I thought this was coming out on steam today, too. Oh well, have fun xbox owners. I'll get this for sure when it comes to PC.(hopefully with co-op)
 
Tried it for a bit over an hour, first impression is GREAT, I can't imagine any fans of the genre not liking this game.
Yes there are some technical shortcomings, quite a lot of enemies clipping through the ground or walls, frame rate drops when there are more structures on screen, but they are tolerable.
Most importantly this is the kind of open world zombie survival game I've always dreamed of. I never played DayZ cos I don't have a gaming PC, but I've played most zombie games on consoles, as far as the free roaming ones are concerned, nothing even come close to SoD in terms of really giving you that survival feeling and vulnerability. You are not an one-man zombie killing machine and your teammates are actually helpful and essential to your survival.
One thing I didn't like was how the zombies aren't displayed on the radar unless they're aggressive, sometimes it's hard to spot them on screen because of the basic graphics; but I have grown to like it because I can't rely on the radar and I would always have to be vigilant and aware of my surroundings, coupled with the fact that there's perma-death (although I haven't been near death...yet), I'm on the edge of my seat most of the time when I approach a building and peek around the corner to see if there're zombies inside.
Imagine what Undead Labs can achieve with a bigger team and a bigger budget, this game is so ambitious for an arcade title it's ridiculous.
 

Karak

Member
Angry Centaur Review up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTh5dwfTLQg

A mixture of time spent with the dev builds and now the retail game makes this my favorite XBLA game of all time.
The number of systems involved and an almost limitless gameplay experience are only held back by what appears to be an engine that's not ready for primetime but somehow passes over the technical shortcomings.
 

Karak

Member
Yeah, the music is very good. From what I have played it seems worth the 1600 MS points

He did a good job making a soundtrack thats pretty ambient but never in the way. Many times you don't notice it but its adding a subtle bit of anxiety to the game.
 
Does it constantly autosave? When I quit the demo, my save was gone. D:

I also got some pretty bad framerate problems at times, but other than that it's great.

I'm 99% sure saving is disabled until you purchase the game. I haven't bought it so I don't know how auto-save works.
 
He did a good job making a soundtrack thats pretty ambient but never in the way. Many times you don't notice it but its adding a subtle bit of anxiety to the game.

That's a nice way of describing it. The Zombies are aggressive in this game, like 28 Days Later style. One of the best XBLA titles I've played imo
 

Minsc

Gold Member
It has various save states but mostly saves the world a state right before a mission is begun.

It just has a single save slot for your entire game though iirc, and overwrites the save the instant anything happens (like someone dying), so you can't get around the permadeath by restarting. An unavoidable hardcore mode. Which is not really a bad thing for the type of game it is.
 

Hindle

Banned
Hard to believe this is an XBLA title. I'm expecting big things if these guys make a XO game.

Edit. The game has more depth then most games of this gen lol.
 

Karak

Member
It just has a single save slot for your entire game though iirc, and overwrites the save the instant anything happens (like someone dying), so you can't get around the permadeath by restarting. An unavoidable hardcore mode. Which is not really a bad thing for the type of game it is.

Correct. Loving how much people are liking it. These guys poured a normal games worth of work into an XBLA game and the various RPG stuff and other systems just shine through. Make sure to really check your inventory and menu's guys. Upgrades to buildings and then the special things the buildings can do are somewhat hidden in there.
 

Fjordson

Member
Damn, this totally flew under my radar, but it actually looks great. Will wait for some more impressions, but I'll probably pick it up.

Pretty sweet that they got Jesper Kyd for the OST also.
 

Daigoro

Member
god damn this game is a technical nightmare. compete mess. tearing and famerate are abysmal. and i am no graphics whore.

a real shame because the game seems amazing. just going through the menus alone says a lot about how much there is to do here. some really cool stuff after only playing for half an hour.

music, combat, writing, atmosphere all great so far.

really too bad that it is such a mess otherwise.
 
lol i knew the capture equipment excuse for the tearing was BS. I'm going to try the trial but I might not get it with such horrid screen tear.
 
god damn this game is a technical nightmare. compete mess. tearing and famerate are abysmal. and i am no graphics whore.

a real shame because the game seems amazing. just going through the menus alone says a lot about how much there is to do here. some really cool stuff after only playing for half an hour.

really too bad that it is such a mess otherwise.

That's pretty much the same impressions I got from the 30 minutes or so I played it. The price combined with the technical issues keep me from buying it.
 

Majanew

Banned
Why is it ok to release games with screen tearing and frame rate problems? A little here and there is annoying, but this is bad. Please don't give your money to these devs. Such a shame that so many devs aren't capable of getting their games to run smooth when that's the number one thing they should be concerned about.
 

Bedlam

Member
Games like this keep coming out on XBLA and all I hear is how tough MS is on Indie devs; something doesn't compute.
I wouldn't call this "indie" anymore. Stuff like SoD is more like what A and AA games used to be. Only now they cost $20 instead of 50 and are distributed digitally.

Btw, still not up on the German store. Grr....
 

Trigger

Member
Why is it ok to release games with screen tearing and frame rate problems? A little here and there is annoying, but this is bad. Please don't give your money to these devs. Such a shame that so many devs aren't capable of getting their games to run smooth when that's the number one thing they should be concerned about.

Are the problems that bad? I've honestly never noticed screen tearing much in games.
 

Karak

Member
Are the problems that bad? I've honestly never noticed screen tearing much in games.

I talk about it in the review. Its pretty bad at times. It also strangely doesn't always crop up its head when you expect and then shows up when you don't. Basically demo it and see.
 

KageMaru

Member
Spent 45 minutes on the game this morning and I'm already in love. I think I need to start over though because someone named Sam died while I was getting a tour of the church.

Looking forward to sitting down with this and really diving in.

Angry Centaur Review up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTh5dwfTLQg

A mixture of time spent with the dev builds and now the retail game makes this my favorite XBLA game of all time.
The number of systems involved and an almost limitless gameplay experience are only held back by what appears to be an engine that's not ready for primetime but somehow passes over the technical shortcomings.

Great review. The game definitely isn't a technical powerhouse but they did good with CE3 IMO. Can't think of many other options for a smaller team that's probably didn't have the budget or time to build their own engine. These consoles are really showing their age.

Hopefully this sells well so we get co-op patched in.
 

Yanksfan

Member
Games like this keep coming out on XBLA and all I hear is how tough MS is on Indie devs; something doesn't compute.

XBLA is a popular platform for downloadable games. Tough or not, not surprising to see devs go with a platform that is proven to have good sales on downloadable titles.
 

Yanksfan

Member
Why is it ok to release games with screen tearing and frame rate problems? A little here and there is annoying, but this is bad. Please don't give your money to these devs. Such a shame that so many devs aren't capable of getting their games to run smooth when that's the number one thing they should be concerned about.

Perhaps that is not everyone's #1 thing. I haven't played it, so cannot comment on where I fall in line with it yet, but it seems quite a few people are having a blast despite the technical issues.
 

Majanew

Banned
In my short play of the trial, I encountered three zombies in three different areas that are clipping through a building and getting stuck. Took a screenshot with my phone of one stuck in a tent. He wanted to eat me, but the devs weren't talented enough.

XLq2kBk.jpg
 

oneida

Cock Strain, Lifetime Warranty
Angry Centaur Review up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTh5dwfTLQg

A mixture of time spent with the dev builds and now the retail game makes this my favorite XBLA game of all time.
The number of systems involved and an almost limitless gameplay experience are only held back by what appears to be an engine that's not ready for primetime but somehow passes over the technical shortcomings.

TOO MANY SIMILES

Otherwise good review
 

Karak

Member
TOO MANY SIMILES

Otherwise good review

Hahaha. Noted:)

Great review. The game definitely isn't a technical powerhouse but they did good with CE3 IMO. Can't think of many other options for a smaller team that's probably didn't have the budget or time to build their own engine. These consoles are really showing their age.

Hopefully this sells well so we get co-op patched in.
Thanks!
Agreed. Its just not a polished engine but damn is the game straight into my veins fun.
 

KageMaru

Member
Why is it ok to release games with screen tearing and frame rate problems? A little here and there is annoying, but this is bad. Please don't give your money to these devs. Such a shame that so many devs aren't capable of getting their games to run smooth when that's the number one thing they should be concerned about.

What the hell...? Due to these issues that don't affect the enjoyment, you think it's fair to deny the developers money for their hard work?

What resolution are you playing the game at? Tearing sticks out to me like a turd in a punch bowl, but I really didn't see much running at 1360x768. As for the frame rate, it only really began to stutter when I was driving around in a car. Otherwise, it was mostly smooth while on foot, with the random hiccups killing zombies.

AFAIK this is the first time we're seeing CE3 used in an open world game on consoles. This is an engine that studios have had issues with frame rates on linear games, so I'm not sure we should expect it to be buttery smooth in an open world game that is less predictable and more demanding.

We get an original zombie game in a sea of zombie games and people think not buying it in protest is a good idea? SMH...
 

Karak

Member
Kage is right about one thing and I mentioned in the review. Cars are life savers but they push the engine and its by far the worst bit where technical issues pop up.
 

Majanew

Banned
What the hell...? Due to issues that you don't understand, you think it's fair to deny the developers money for their hard work?

What resolution are you playing the game at? Tearing sticks out to me like a turd in a punch bowl, but I really didn't see much running at 1360x768. As for the frame rate, it only really began to stutter when I was driving around in a car. Otherwise, it was mostly smooth while on foot, with the random hiccups killing zombies.

AFAIK this is the first time we're seeing CE3 used in an open world game on consoles. This is an engine that studios have had issues with frame rates on linear games, so I'm not sure we should expect it to be buttery smooth in an open world game that is less predictable and more demanding.

We get an original zombie game in a sea of zombie games and people think not buying it in protest is a good idea? SMH...

Issues I don't understand? lol

So it's ok to reward "hard work" when the devs didn't give a shit to make sure the game ran smooth? Their hard work sure as hell missed some big key issues: Enemies clipping in the environment getting stuck; lots of screen-tearing; frame rate drops.
 
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