Zombi U

[jay_red]

So a lot of people are curious about this game, and there are many mixed reviews up there. From what I can tell, some of the reviews were very rushed, and dont seem to touch on all the aspects of the game. I have played about 3.5 hours of the game today, and would like to share some impressions, sort of mini review just to let people on the fence know what they are getting.

First off, this game is hard and is NOT Left 4 Dead as I think some people expected. You will die, many times. It is also one of the closest zombie games to being "realistic" I have played. I think these 2 things, plus really high expectations are what the reviews are rating it poorly based on.

That being said, I am having a blast playing it. You have to be slow, careful, deliberate with everything you do. You have to loot every body, every chest, anything that might contain something useful. Much of the time, you come up empty handed (Ign said this was a problem, having to loot everything, but barley finding anything). You cherish everything you find, every bullet, energy drink, and everything else you can muster up. You do most of your fighting with the cricket bat, since ammo is such a scarce commodity, and you wont attract attention like with gun shots. Most of the zombies take quite a few hits, and the fights can get really tense with more than 2 zombies coming at you. When you die, you play a new survivor that continues the mission, you need to find the person you were just playing to get your pack from them with all of your gear. This mechanic seems pretty neat so far, and I even had a zombie character from someone else's game in mine, and when I looted them I found a pack full of good stuff.

Once you get into the swing of things, and how the game uses the gamepad, it becomes second nature to use all the functionality of the pad. From sorting your items, to viewing the map, to using the radar to see if any danger lurks ahead, it all feels great and not tacked on or anything.

I will be interested to see how long the game really is, or how it plays out (one thing that none of the reviews I have seen even mention, making me wonder how long they really played). The game is not perfect, but for a launch title it is damn fun, and a nice way to get you used to the new controller. One last thing, I have encountered 2 major glitches so far, very early on I got stuck in a bush, could not get out of it, and had to restart. I had not gotten far enough to save or anything, so I had to watch all of the opening stuff, do everything over again. And just now when I died, it was loading to my next survivor, the game froze on the loading screen (both the gamepad and TV froze and had no response) I tried to turn off the console with the power button and nothing, so I had to pull the plug on it.

So there are some quick thoughts, I would love to answer any questions you might have.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

Yeah I'm having a ton of fun too...

and on that dying thing...

I went with the option of not having respawns. Once my character dies. That's it. I figured, this games about tension right? Might as well turn that up to 11.

But yeah, it's not an amazingly great game, but, it's no Red Steel in disappointment. Calm your expectations, go into it with an open mind, and have fun.

[REPO Man]

I checked this on Wikipedia, and apparently this game's a reboot of Ubisoft's first game... a computer game based on Dawn of the motherfuckin Dead!!! Well, it was a European game so it went by DotD's European name, Zombi.

Now, someone call me when Fulci's followup (Zombi 2 aka Zombie) gets a game, though Zombi 3 (which started off as a Fulci project before he bowed out due to health issues and turned the reins over to Bruno Mattei who made the film over into a more action-oriented zombie film, as is apparently his style) would probably make more sense.

[Damm64]

I saw a live stream of zombieU today and it looks really fun, it's more about surviving than shooting everything you see.
I find funny that people were expecting a survival game on dead island and it turned out a action game and with ZombieU is all the way around.

[Retrozoa]

If you were wondering how long it is, the review on destructoid said it is about 10 hours long. This game looks way better than I expected, though. Might pick it up when I get a WiiU.

[Metal Militia]

Thanks for the review jay_red! Reviews are all over the place for this game, but your description makes it sound like an awesome experience. Definitely picking up this game soon.

[jay_red]

Just read this review and feel that it is the best written one so far, reading it made me want to get right back to the game.
http://m.joystiq.com/2012/11/19/zombiu-review/

[Luke]

"It's not an amazingly great game, but it's no Red Steel in disappointment"

I'm stealing this.

[fastbilly1]

Just read this review and feel that it is the best written one so far, reading it made me want to get right back to the game.
http://m.joystiq.com/2012/11/19/zombiu-review/

A really good review, I just wish multiplayer was more like DayZ.

[jay_red]

Just read this review and feel that it is the best written one so far, reading it made me want to get right back to the game.
http://m.joystiq.com/2012/11/19/zombiu-review/

A really good review, I just wish multiplayer was more like DayZ.

I tried the multiplayer out last night, had to use the Wii Remote/Nunchuck combo and it could be fun, but that controller made it almost impossible to be precise. With a pro controller it would be better, but nothing more than a few playthroughs, it isnt deep enough. I was hoping for some online action, but nope.