55 replies to this topic

[3Dude]

ZombiU is a smart and engaging
exploration of what Nintendo's strange
new machine can muster. Historically, third
party releases in a console launch day have
been chequered and timid affairs made by
inexperienced teams fearful of losing their
footing on unknown terrain. When Ubisoft
Montpellier's ZombiU works in smart union
with its host console, however, it frequently
delights.
London has been ravaged by a zombie
plague, and the shambling husks of its
businessmen, Beefeaters and tracksuit-
garbed working classes make for tough
opposition. A single zombie must be
dispatched with five or six cricket bat blows
to the head, and even then a final coup de
grace is required once the creature's on the
floor. When faced with a crowd, running
and slamming doors behind you is often
your best option. Ammo is scarce, health
depletes in worryingly large chunks and the
virus can be passed on with little warning.
As a survivor (or rather, a sequence of
survivors), you're guided by the voice of an
ex-squaddie known as the Prepper - a
Yorkshireman who chunters from a tinny
radio withing your GamePad. Operating
from a central safehouse deep in the
London Underground, your quest is an odd
mix of survival objectives and discovering
the overarching intentions of the followers
of Elizabethan occultis and academic John
Dee. You must carefully tread through
zombie-packed hubs, some tourist spots
and a few housing estates. Throughout it
all, your primary objective isn't just the plot
MacGuffin you're after, but to also find
savepoints and manhole shortcuts that will
make your progress secure.
ZombiU's gloomy colour palette isn't the
only area of the game that's deeply in hock
to Dark Souls: death for your character is
final, so your first task after respawning is
always to tramp back through areas to
reclaim your lost gear. Armed with a mere
six pistol rounds and a willow bat,
respawning is a grisly process that
invariably involves murdering your former
zombie self. It's a somewhat lightweight
variant of what Hidetaka Miyazaki acolytes
have come to adore, yes, but this trick can
help the game ratchet up to a remarkable
level of tension. Fear of lost ground and
fear of losing your gradually levelling
character's abilities keeps you alert,
involved and deep-set within a survival
mindset that an autosave safety net would
dispel.
It's Wii U's GamePad that conspires to
make this game impossible on other
platforms, it's subtle art being to divert
your attention from the primary screen.
When you, for example, reorganise your
inventory, you much touch-and-drag
weapons, health packs and molotovs into
easy-access slots on its screen, but up on
the main display you're still vulnerable. As
such, whether you're picking locks or
inputting puzzle codes, you're forever
worriedly peeking back up to the main
screen to check the shadows. Very often
those shadows move.
Ubisoft Montpellier has been given free
reign to experiment with the new
hardware, and it's relished every moment.
ZombiU makes the relationship between TV
and GamePad screens fell fresh, and -
displaying a clear awareness of horror
gaming conventions - it toys with you
brilliantly. Red herring clues, twitching
corpses and suspect doors all play into its
manipulation and contribute to
sophisticated shocks. The GamePad's new
way to play also presents new ways for you
to be played, and the resulting suprises are
often delightful.
As you move through the game, you
develop a routine of survival: you turn off
your light to let it recharge, you scan the
area for loot and danger by raising the pad
to the TV in a riff on Arkham City's
Detective Mode, and you knock the head
off anything that looks like it could cause
mischief in the future. Beyond that, it's
crowd control: dividing, conquering and
nailing doors shut in the face of zombies,
whether you're negotiating a party in a
block of flats that's taken a turn for the
undead or the Tower of London's corriders.
The trouble with ZombiU comes when you
go off-piste - those moments when you're
thrown from the ribbon of the game's
missions, or die deep down withing an
unscanned area without a saved shortcut
to easily retrace your steps. This issue is
underlined when, just before the final act,
the game forces you into a needless and
poorly explained treasure hunt through
previously explored environments. The
strange dead end that confused you the
first time round suddenly makes sense (and
the Dark Souls-style symbol messages left
by other players might water down the
frustration), but it shines a light on the fact
that ZombiU is a lot less fun when it can't
deal out fresh shocks and surprises.
The game's strong feeling of earthly
realism, meanwhile, is also sadly lost as it
continues. At first, threat and variety are
ramped up by zombies growing faster and
more reactive, and the occasional
policeman in body armour. Beyond this,
however, enemies break with what a purist
might call Romero canon and the game
takes an unwelcome lurch away from
horror and into fantasy. A late-game forary
into an arena scenario, meanwhile, is
another instance of the needs of the game
pulling out of synch with the needs of the
narrative. The use of explosive zombies,
which ignite upon a thwack of willow
against gas tank, genuinely feel unfair with
the odds stacked so high.
The terrors of the horde that has
descended on London come with caveats,
then. ZombiU, however, is a title that will
infuse impulse buyers, early adopters and
Nintendo diehards with relief and
appreciation for the novel gameplay that
Wii U can and will continue to provide. It's
a confident start, if not an end in itself - one
that makes us eagerly anticipate where
Montpellier will take it's ideas next. [7]

[backudog]

7? not bad, which issue is this in?

[Alex Wolfers]

I never liked EDGE.

[Nollog]

Make it harder to read next time.

[SoldMyWiiUAndLeftTheForums]

I don't think I'm gonna listen to any reviews on this game, I'm gonna try it out for myself first.

[3Dude]

I don't think I'm gonna listen to any reviews on this game, I'm gonna try it out for myself first.

You should listen to this one, its good.

Edge doesnt hand out high scores, and they actually try to correctly use their rating system correctly, a 7 is a score 2 points above a perfectly fine, ordinary, average game. Think of it like an 8 from most other sites.

[3Dude]

http://www.eurogamer...8-zombiu-review

Not played on chicken mode.

Score: Read the damn review first.

This is the most detailed review I have seen on the game yet, there is tons, and tons, and tons, and tons, of just absolutely game make or break information detailed here that is completely absent from other lower scoring reviews.... THat really invalidates what they had to say, as it makes it apparent their experience is one they chose, and they certainly did not need to play the game the way they did. ANyways, read the review.

[SoldMyWiiUAndLeftTheForums]

That was a very good detailed review.

[backudog]

Thats more like it! that review has put my mind at ease, what with that one and the Gamesmaster review, i can't wait to play it now! was strting to get a bit worried after seeing the lowish scores it had been getting from some places, but i've always trusted Gamesmaster mag so with thier review and now eurogamers, nuff said, bring on the 30th!!

[scotty79]

What I am seeing is a deep contrast between the reviews who spent enought time with the game and didnt want it to be resident evil six.Also gamesmaster biggest multi platform magazine in the uk scored it 97 so someone is telling huge porkies lol

[Varg]

Ign gave this game another poor review . Don't know what to believe honestly . Just gonna rent the game from gamefly

[3Dude]

Ign gave this game another poor review . Don't know what to believe honestly . Just gonna rent the game from gamefly

Its pretty obvious when you look at more than just the numbers. Like, wats said in the review, or in this case, the tons upon tons, upon tons of things never brought up, mentioned or even rumoured to exist in the ign/gamespot review that make the game a helluva lot more interesting.

Watching live streams rtight now. THe best ones are the ones with a web cam showing the person playing, the faces have been priceless. Everyone absolutely loves this, and is hilariously scared.

Protip: DONT SET OFF STORE ALARMS! Lol.

Ha ha, Zombis continue to wander around areas even when you arent in them. Including up ladders and in doors.

They arent where you left them.

A safe spot up high that had no zombies last time might have a little buddy waiting for you.

LMFAO!!! Your safe house, is SOOO not safe. Put up barricades kids, but dont forget to hammer the nails in, or they dont do much.

Wow, 1:47 seconds is all his latest survivor lived.

It gave him a new character whos a major general in the British Army, The character has noticably awesome firearm stats, as the guy is nailng headshots he was clearly missing before. I wonder if the game felt sorry for him?

The major general actually killed enough zombis to level up, yay! Yeah, this game is looking pretty awesome when you arent watching the guy from gamespot play it in the most boring manner possible.

Holy crap they are falling our of the air ducts... And... The major general falls to a large horde. Damn, that was a good base character.

Edited by 3Dude, 18 November 2012 - 12:50 PM.

[RolledUp20s]

That was a good review..got me all excited for this game again! need to find these live streams now lol

[MyNameIsMatt]

This review has laid to rest any doubts, I had after the IGN review. I agreed with both reviews, strangely, but I think this has made me look forward to getting it, not dreading hating it

[3Dude]

This review has laid to rest any doubts, I had after the IGN review. I agreed with both reviews, strangely, but I think this has made me look forward to getting it, not dreading hating it

Personally, I think a 9 is a little too high for any launch game unless its mario 64 calibur. This one, while the livestream has shown me just how awesome the game is, its shown me many its also a little glitchy and buggy, something that just cant be in game I would give a 9 to. And that includes games like some of my all time favourites like Call of Cthulhu dark corners of the earth.

I actually agree with Polygons review the most so far, along with Stephin Totillos impressions (he refuses to review it as he doesnt feel a couple days is enough time, uh, serious kudos from me, skipping a release embargo lift for the sake of review quality? Kotaku has been making a number of recent moves lately that have me doing double takes, usually of the positive variety, perhaps they are indeed a changing company in the wake of doritogate.) The game has bugs and glitches, enough to adversely impact the game, that takes away 9 status to me (personally, Id never give any elderscrolls games, a 9 because of this, and I LOVE elderscrolls, but they ar glitchy as all hell).

From what Ive seen on the live stream, this is a heavily systemic game (one of my favourite things), full of awesome experiences, great ideas, incredible tension, along with some bugs and a lack of polish games of the biggest budgets have. I would give this a solid 8. I love 8's, most of my favourite games are 8's. They have a... willingless to risk brave new things 9's and 10's typically dont. Pretty much, you show someone a 9/10 scored game, then they can probably show you an 8 scored game from a few years back that blazed that trail that the 9/10 title then polished to a golden sheen.

[Zinix]

Seems to be this will be another Red Steel, regardless, it's still quite a good game.

[3Dude]

Seems to be this will be another Red Steel, regardless, it's still quite a good game.

If you couldnt figure out, that Red steel was a bait and switch when they showed that fake trailer 'gameplay', then you only have yourself to blame for being horribly dissapointed by RS 1. Actually, thinking about it, I can see why the same people who got hyped by RS's fake gameplay trailers and didnt pay attention to the completely lousy you cant even switch to sword except in a scripted 1 on 1 fight in a five foot circle real gameplay dont understand how it is already mind numbingly obvious this isnt another red steel,they have incredibly poor powers of perception and base everything on past events, instead of analyzing what actually happens.



At any point in time did ubisoft show anything in a 'gameplay' trailer that looked totally awesome but was actually a complete lie, and nothing like it was in the actual game, and the only reason you were even interested in the game at all was because of what you saw in the fake 'gameplay' trailer thats not in the real game?

No?

Then its not like Red Steel 1.

Stephen Totilo Kotaku via twitter (This games getting mad praise on twitter btw, everybody is going nuts over it.

Stephen Totilo‏@stephentotilo
ZombiU impressions: It's an FPS Demon's Souls with zombies (!!!); it's buggy; it's way better than Red Steel: http://bit.ly/S7GZqH

Edited by 3Dude, 18 November 2012 - 02:38 PM.

[Zinix]

If you couldnt figure out, that Red steel was a bait and switch when they showed that fake trailer 'gameplay', then you only have yourself to blame for being horribly dissapointed by RS 1. Actually, thinking about it, I can see why the same people who got hyped by RS's fake gameplay trailers and didnt pay attention to the completely lousy you cant even switch to sword except in a scripted 1 on 1 fight in a five foot circle real gameplay dont understand how it is already mind numbingly obvious this isnt another red steel,they have incredibly poor powers of perception and base everything on past events, instead of analyzing what actually happens.



At any point in time did ubisoft show anything in a 'gameplay' trailer that looked totally awesome but was actually a complete lie, and nothing like it was in the actual game, and the only reason you were even interested in the game at all was because of what you saw in the fake 'gameplay' trailer thats not in the real game?

No?

Then its not like Red Steel 1.

Stephen Totilo Kotaku via twitter (This games getting mad praise on twitter btw, everybody is going nuts over it.

Stephen Totilo‏@stephentotilo
ZombiU impressions: It's an FPS Demon's Souls with zombies (!!!); it's buggy; it's way better than Red Steel: http://bit.ly/S7GZqH

You misunderstood my post.

Both Red Steel and ZombiU were being hyped as good exclusive titles, both of them have been picked apart by reviewers.

[3Dude]

You misunderstood my post.

Both Red Steel and ZombiU were being hyped as good exclusive titles, both of them have been picked apart by reviewers.

I did not misunderstand your post, its complety irrelevant, the REASON the two games were hyped as good exclusives are very VERY different.

Red steel was hyped on a lie.

Zombi u was hyped on a specific gamestyle that EVERYBODY knew was going to make certain people hate it, which is all the more reason they are hyped for it.

Zombi u delivered on everything it promised, some people hate the things it promised. Red steel 1 is still a lie, no matter how you look at it.

[MyNameIsMatt]

Personally, I think a 9 is a little too high for any launch game unless its mario 64 calibur. This one, while the livestream has shown me just how awesome the game is, its shown me many its also a little glitchy and buggy, something that just cant be in game I would give a 9 to.

From what Ive seen on the live stream, this is a heavily systemic game (one of my favourite things), full of awesome experiences, great ideas, incredible tension, along with some bugs and a lack of polish games of the biggest budgets have. I would give this a solid 8. I love 8's, most of my favourite games are 8's. They have a... willingless to risk brave new things 9's and 10's typically dont. Pretty much, you show someone a 9/10 scored game, then they can probably show you an 8 scored game from a few years back that blazed that trail that the 9/10 title then polished to a golden sheen.

Agree, but I meant, the IGN review (probably only to me) felt like he was trying to find good points, but then they were flawed and it just sounded like a struggle. Eurogamers was more positive and you could tell they liked playing it.
The only difference I could see was that Eurogamers was at at review event, which I don't like the idea of.
The doubt in my mind is;
Embargo, left until after it was out and a review event. They haven't seemed confident in the game, which is abit worrying. Hope they haven't rushed it out and cut corners.