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ZombiU |OT| Zombi Emergency! WiiU WiiU WiiU WiiU

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
I haven't been keeping track of reviews after the 4.5 from GS... Which seems better: this or Call of Duty?

What kind of game do you want?

ZombiU is a slow paced survival horror that uses the GamePad in interesting ways, but also comes with launch quirks and rough edges in presentation and design typical with a new launch game.

Black Ops 2 is Call of Duty as you know it, filled with content, good production values, with a fast, action heavy campaign and online multiplayer.
 

MarkusRJR

Member
What kind of game do you want?

ZombiU is a slow paced survival horror that uses the GamePad in interesting ways, but also comes with launch quirks and rough edges in presentation and design typical with a new launch game.

Black Ops 2 is Call of Duty as you know it, filled with content, good production values, with a fast, action heavy campaign and online multiplayer.
All I really want to know is... Is this another Red Steel or is it a actually a good game?
 
Why should you when melee works better?

Until you meet the spitters who can projectile vomit acid at you, making your cricket bat rather useless, or the suicide bomber zombies. One whack and they go boom in your face.

The game has ways of dealing with the player becoming too comfortable with his playstyle.
 

EatChildren

Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
All I really want to know is... Is this another Red Steel or is it a actually a good game?

Gamespot hated it. EDGE though it was good, not great. The guy from Giant Bomb seems to think it's good. Embargo ends sometime soonish I think. Expect reviews to be very mixed.

If you want a safe bet, pick Black Ops 2.
 
All I really want to know is... Is this another Red Steel or is it a actually a good game?

Red Steel was an unplayable mess, half finished and aside from the great soundtrack there was nothing redeeming about it.

ZombiU at the very basic is a fully controllable game, has a good amount of content, decent production values, a great concept that was realized with a modest budget and the only connection to Red STeel is the publisher and a Nintendo console launch.
 

derFeef

Member
All I really want to know is... Is this another Red Steel or is it a actually a good game?

The way I see it: Do you want a game that you can get on every other system, or a game that makes use of the new hardware and is interesting on it's own?
 

Pezking

Member
Until you meet the spitters who can projectile vomit acid at you, making your cricket bat rather useless, or the suicide bomber zombies. One whack and they go boom in your face.

The game has ways of dealing with the player becoming too comfortable with his playstyle.

If that is true, the entire gamespot review would be a bad joke:

Gamespot said:
The best course of action is to play it safe and dispatch all the zombies you encounter. This means luring enemies away one by one and clobbering them with the cricket bat. This melee method can take a long time, since the number of hits needed to fell a foe changes randomly. And no one zombie, even the faster ones or the armored ones, poses an engaging threat individually. You just stand there, hitting and waiting.

So this is complete nonsense?
 

Rehynn

Member
Red Steel was an unplayable mess, half finished and aside from the great soundtrack there was nothing redeeming about it.

ZombiU at the very basic is a fully controllable game, has a good amount of content, decent production values, a great concept that was realized with a modest budget and the only connection to Red STeel is the publisher and a Nintendo console launch.

I'm glad someone else sees this difference.

Red Steel was fundamentally flawed, Zombi U's core mechanics are solid.
Zombi U might turn out to be a similarly disappointing experiance, but for very different reasons.
 

MarkusRJR

Member
The way I see it: Do you want a game that you can get on every other system, or a game that makes use of the new hardware and is interesting on it's own?
Yeah I guess I'm picking one up along with a pro controller for CoD (I'll probably end up buying it tomorrow or the day after). Hopefully it's pretty good.
 

Bumhead

Banned
That's what I'm saying.

It's launch day, I should be reading reviews and watching videos. Not scratching my head in confusion.

Yeah, I think this is the only time I've been glad the UK release is staged after the US release. I'm really enjoying reading all the impressions and hands on reports already, but some of the.. "quirks", shall we say, of this launch make me glad I'm not having to go out and spend my money somewhat blindly today. I've got just under two weeks to wait which would normally be a pain, but I suspect that'll allow me to actually nail down what I want to buy with my console.
 
seriously how can they put a press embargo on something that ends after the public already has their hands on it..

just seems insane...

Perhaps to prevent the press from saying too much about it in the hopes that impulse buyers will pick up the game. Nintendo and Ubisoft naturally want as much maintained enthusiasm as possible, and based on the game's seeming divisiveness, you can probably understand their hesitation.
 

Skiesofwonder

Walruses, camels, bears, rabbits, tigers and badgers.
I had over 40 bullets stowed away, using them only if there was more zombies then I could handle (I watch my share of Walking Dead). So here I am thinking I would never run out of bullets, then I trip an alarm, a hoard breaks down the door and all of a sudden I blast out a chamber worth before running for my very life. I escaped by the skin of my teeth, and now I have barely enough for two chambers worth in my pistol.

So far, so good.
 
I had over 40 bullets stowed away, using them only if there was more zombies then I could handle (I watch my share of Walking Dead). So here I am thinking I would never run out of bullets, then I trip an alarm, a hoard breaks down the door and all of a sudden I blast out a chamber worth before running for my very life. I escaped by the skin of my teeth, and now I have barely enough for two chambers worth in my pistol.

So far, so good.

Oh shit, didn't realize you had the game.
 
If that is true, the entire gamespot review would be a bad joke:



So this is complete nonsense?


It is. Even in the demo I played, the spitter was enough of a nuisance to force me out of my corner and deal with him first.
Crowd control is very important in this game, and it is true that a single zombie isn't a problem (most of the time) but that's to be expected. It's situations where you face crowds larger than two zombies that you'll have to come up with a strategy.
Even 3 to 4 zombies at a time are extremely dangerous. NOrmal zombies you can just shove back, but crawlers, spitters and explosive zombies require different strategies.

Add to that, that the spitter can remain at a distance while other zombies pin you down in a location where he can hit you (vomit actually took about a fifth of my lifebar in the demo) but you aren't able to hit him without dealing with the zombies around you first.
From the GB Quick Look video you can see how formulating strategies before clearing rooms is actually the most important thing about how to play the game. And even then something might go wrong. The game is all about risk and reward, and it should be absolutely tense.

Don't get me wrong, the game is limited in scope and budget, but from all I've seen and played they focused on their vision and delivered on that. It should be a very solid game, and one that could really pave the way for a higher budget sequel (maybe a real open world one)

I'm glad someone else sees this difference.

Red Steel was fundamentally flawed, Zombi U's core mechanics are solid.
Zombi U might turn out to be a similarly disappointing experiance, but for very different reasons.

Red Steel was a mess on all levels. South park style cut scenes with scanned paper artworks sliding across the screen, because they didn't have time or money to make proper cutscenes, sword controls that were horrible at best, no customizations for inner and outer dead zones, acceleration, sensitivity, it was practically unplayable. The graphics were such a mixed bag of unfinished locales (some even look similar to Turok 3 on the N64) to some looking quite good.
The only good thing about it was the music and the games premise.

Even the first demo of ZombiU was in a completely different league than the final version of Red Steel. For one, it worked. Even if the aiming sensitivity was a bit on the erratic side and auto aim was way too generous. But it worked from a basic mechanical standpoint.

Also when talking production values, Red STeel tried to be something way out of it's league. Wether due to developer skill (doubtfull) or budget or time restraints, it simply never achieved anything right.
ZOmbiU, while limited in scope and budget, actually focuses on it's strenghts and delivers in that set of limitations. It's not going to be an OMG 10/10 experience that will become a cultural phenomenon, but it should provide one of the most solid launch titles to be released and at least should make for some enjoyable (or terrifying) hours worth of pure gameplay.
 

LuchaShaq

Banned
The GB quicklook despite them being positive has taken the tiny bit of interest I had in this game and slit it's throat.

Honestly don't think this would even have looked cool if it was a 360 launch game 6+ years ago let alone now.
 

Skiesofwonder

Walruses, camels, bears, rabbits, tigers and badgers.
Oh shit, didn't realize you had the game.

Yep, really digging it so far. My main complaint is the sonar radio taking some of the difficulty/scares away because it can tell you where some zombies are located if you use it. Also, sometimes the game looks like a mid-tier HD twin game, while at other times it looks great. Atmosphere is top notch so far though.

oh, easter egg spoiler:
killer freak toys spotted at the supermarket.
 

derFeef

Member
Yep, really digging it so far. My main complaint is the sonar radio taking some of the difficulty/scares away because it can tell you where some zombies are located if you use it. Also, sometimes the game looks like a mid-tier HD twin game, while at other times it looks great. Atmosphere is top notch so far though.

oh, easter egg spoiler:
killer freak toys spotted at the supermarket.

Nice. Has there been any framerate issues? the GB video showed some stuttering but it could be their video.

The GB quicklook despite them being positive has taken the tiny bit of interest I had in this game and slit it's throat.

Honestly don't think this would even have looked cool if it was a 360 launch game 6+ years ago let alone now.

I think that may be true if you strip away everything what makes this game unique and just keep the zombie killing parts.
 

Skiesofwonder

Walruses, camels, bears, rabbits, tigers and badgers.
Jeez, this game can get tense. It gets you all use to the peace and quiet then boom a hoard!

Nice. Has there been any framerate issues? the GB video showed some stuttering but it could be their video.

If there has been, I have not noticed it.
 

Skiesofwonder

Walruses, camels, bears, rabbits, tigers and badgers.
One thing I will say is using dual analog on the gamerpad feels... different. It feels a tiny bit akward, and I do not know if that is more the controller or the game's fault. I turned aim assist off btw, so maybe that is a factor.

On upgrades, it looks like you cant level up the melee weapons, only projectile ones. The more zombies yoy kill with that weapon, the higher the level. They have set points, like three kills equals a level up. I wish it was more based on how accurate you are with that weapon, but no biggie.

Edit: if you do not like slow paced games, ZombiU single player is not for you (going by what I have played so far)
 

LuchaShaq

Banned
you were never interested in the Wii U to begin with

I had no interest in the PS3 until PSN had a bunch of awesome/unique games.

I had no interest in the 360 until I saw geometry wars/oblivion/condemned.

I thought the DS was going to be the worst idea ever and had no interest in it, but then I got it and played 100s of hours of games on it, it's awesome.

I thought my vita was going to be amazing but so far I've been disappointed.

I thought my dreamcast was going to be supported/amazing for 4-5+ years! Well that didn't happen.


If ZombiiU and another game or 2 seemed amazing I'd gladly eat my words flip and buy a system to keep and enjoy.

But hey collusion or conspiracy right?
 

Teknoman

Member
One thing I will say is using dual analog on the gamerpad feels... different. It feels a tiny bit akward, and I do not know if that is more the controller or the game's fault. I turned aim assist off btw, so maybe that is a factor.

On upgrades, it looks like you cant level up the melee weapons, only projectile ones. The more zombies yoy kill with that weapon, the higher the level. They have set points, like three kills equals a level up. I wish it was more based on how accurate you are with that weapon, but no biggie.

Edit: if you do not like slow paced games, ZombiU single player is not for you (going by what I have played so far)

So it does pay not to horde everything.
 
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