ZombiU

[somme]

I saw a mildly odd/possibly amusing question on youtube. "Why is it in London?"

[Kaepora_Gaebora]

http://www.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/43988/why-zombiu-has-got-mixed-reviews/?page=2

 

If any one is interested, or enjoys ONM opinion pieces

 

Should probably have given this a brief description, ONM talking about why they think ZombieU review scores have been so across the board, specifically between US and UK reviewers.

Edited November 20, 2012 by Kaepora_Gaebora

[Magnus]

I love ONM. He tries to make the point that Americans have been giving the game a lower score because the game is set in London, but instead it comes off as British reviewers giving the game a higher score because they're so excited to play a game set in their capital.

 

Also, "subscribe of".

[Lens of Truth]

I'll admit, having London as the setting does factor in to the appeal of this for me. In part simply because the city has huge potential for grime and atmosphere, but also the sense of history and familiarity.

 

And I get off any accusations of nationalistic sentiment by virtue of being a Scouser

[Dcubed]

This was posted in the ZombiU community on Miiverse

 

[Aneres11]

I love that.

 

Particularly the 'Yeah' function and then the 'Unyeah' haha. Brilliant!

[Dcubed]

Ok one more (I swear that this is the last one I'll post!)

 

 

This should be Nintendo's official mandated Press Asset screengrab of Miiverse from now on

[dazzybee]

What's cool is that the miis in the middle are your friends who have sent messages and replies to your posts...

[Zechs Merquise]

I love the way the Miiverse is expanding with each day. I love the fact that people are starting to use it, figure it out and it's developing at it's own pace.

 

It's common practice for a company to explain everything about an OS. Nintendo get a lot of flack for not explaining things fully, but there's a certain charm with a system like Miiverse and part of that charm is the way people are finding it out themselves. That journey of discovery is something that can be quite fun in itself.

[dazzybee]

The thing is, I am very excited about it, but I can't help but get insanely frustrated at what I feel it SHOULD be doing

[Mokong]

New adverts on the NintendoUK Youtube....way too cheesy

 

 

Edited November 20, 2012 by Mokong

[Jamba]

Oh god, they're awful!

[Debug Mode]

My face just imploded at how terrible they are.

[Zechs Merquise]

Wow, I never thought I'd see a Nintendo advert where a sniper blows off a female cops head!

[dazzybee]

Every single advert for the wii u has been mind shockingly bollocks. Some of the worst advertising I've seen in a long time. So misjudged, so confusing, so cheesy; they're making a huge mess of it.

[are1981]

People actually goes to school -- they get their bachelor or master degrees -- just to make advertisements that sell products. I mean, it is their trade, their profession. But what did they think when they made these? Who are they targeting with these, and why should people want to purchase the game after seeing them?

 

I want to know.

[Diageo]

Am I the only one that thinks they're all right compared to other ads on TV?

[Aneres11]

*Head in hands*

 

So disappointing / wank.

 

I like the beginning where they ask 'What is Wii U'.

 

It ends there. Why would they then go on to show the Zombi U multiplayer with some guy fucking about with the Game Pad doing something that looks totally random / confusing?!

 

I mean, I know A LOT about this game, but what the fuck was he doing on the game pad?! Hardly gonna make people want to buy into it when they have no damn idea what it's trying to show.

 

It's simple how it should go.

 

Advert opens - "What is Wii U?"

"Wii U is a brand new console with a brand new controller."

"Games like Mario have never looked better (Mario plays on screen / gamepad) in full HD!"

*Family member walks into room and TV is turned off*

"Play games exclusively on the NEW game pad screen!" (Mario continues on gamepad).

*Writing at bottom of advert screen advises off tv play only with compatible games*

Advert moves to night time scene - same person sat in front of TV playing Zombi U

"Games like Zombi U offer a brand new style of play! Use the gamepad to scan areas shown on your TV... But beware of those zombies!"

*Zombie proceeds to attack player on screen, and is swiftly killed*

*Boy playing wipes brow to add the standard cheesiness seemingly required for Nintendo advert.*

*Advert closes with shot of box / console / game pad and then several launch titles flick by including COD, Sega Racing, Batman, Zombi U, Mario*

"For more info log on to ..."

Advert closes.

 

Viewing public get wet / hard - everyone buys one. No?

[Dog-amoto]

This made me want a Sega Mega CD in the early 90s (was on a video that came with a magazine). And it was total bollocks, so you never know. Though the girl was super hot.

 

[dazzybee]

So it IS still in the game

 

 

Looks great. Hope you can save the screenshots or/and post them to miiverse. Probably not, because, you know, that'd make miiverse actually really good and useful.

 

Still think Nintendo need to add way more sharing options; they're becoming more social, but in such an insular way

[Diageo]

Every time you press the home button, the game takes a screenshot, and the last two shots are available to you to put up on the Miiverse.

[bryanee]

Giant Bomb -4/5

 

http://www.giantbomb.com/zombiu/61-35619/reviews/

[are1981]

Every time you press the home button, the game takes a screenshot, and the last two shots are available to you to put up on the Miiverse.

 

Awesome! Imagine the number of images being posted to Miiverse by players that saw no way out alive, and then frantically pressed the Home button at the last possible moment before death!

Edited November 20, 2012 by are1981

[dazzybee]

Every time you press the home button, the game takes a screenshot, and the last two shots are available to you to put up on the Miiverse.

 

By these screenshots can't be saved or shared in any other way. Damn you Nintendo!

[Wii]

ZombiU Review

 

London Bridge is burning down.

 

ZombiU is terrifying. Let’s get that out of the way early. This is a game that hammers home how fleeting life is, over and over again. It’s a game that makes you swear out loud with frustration, and a game that has your heart racing with every hit of a cricket bat to a zombie’s rotting skull. It takes you up high, and then throws you off a building. As London burns to the ground around you, you inhabit a series of survivors from the zombie infection. How many survivors you play as all depends on you.

 

As you take on the role of each survivor, you begin with the cricket bat and a pistol containing six bullets. This is true no matter how far along in the game you are. How well prepared you are to handle this sort of consequence is entirely up to you, as your safehouse holds a storage box in which you can stash weapons and ammo. Every time you die, all the gear you held remains attached to the now-zombified body of your previous character. You have one chance to kill that zombie and reclaim your goods; if you die in that effort, those supplies are forever lost. You can replenish these items, as they regenerate in areas you have previously found over time, but to say that losing supplies is a setback is a major understatement.

 

Melee combat is slow and difficult, requiring precise timing and spacing. If you miss a shot, you leave yourself vulnerable to attack for several moments, which is all a zombie needs to kill you. Don’t fret, though: you will die a lot no matter what you do. This is the nature of the game. As you play longer, however, it’s easier to adjust to the challenges of swinging the cricket bat, becoming more proficient at beheading undead foes. Some zombies take quite a few hits to kill, so if you have to deal with a horde, you are better off advancing and retreating to maximize your chances of success.

 

The game requires you to use the screen on the GamePad for all non-combat tasks, such as inventory management or barricading a door. While in many games having to take your eyes off the screen may seem like bad design, in ZombiU, it’s effective in adding to the sense of panic and vulnerability. When you need to manage your inventory, you have to do so quickly and without error, or you leave yourself helpless against attacks. The inventory screen is a bit clunky, but perfectly usable without resorting to the stylus. ZombiU also uses the GamePad as a scanner. Scanning requires that you hold the L button on the GamePad, and use either the right stick or the gyro controls to move around and detect items in the distance. Unlike in games like Metroid Prime, where the story is largely revealed through scanned items, the scanner in ZombiU is mainly used to find ammo and health items. It can help identify from a distance which zombies are worth looting for supplies, and which are empty-handed. It’s occasionally used to progress the story as well, but if you find it slowing the pace too much, you can scan only as often as you feel is necessary most of the time.

 

The story is a bit uneventful, unfolding the tale of a prophecy that foretold the zombie apocalypse. A faceless NPC called “The Prepper,” whose sole job is preparing survivors to get by in this hellish world, guides you through the game. It’s a bit jarring when he talks to you as if you’re the same character the entire way through when clearly you’re going through multiple characters as you die, and the same goes applies to several other NPCs you meet in the game. The story feels as if it came before idea of multiple player characters was developed, and never tweaked to make the two agree. Regardless, the voice acting is well done, and lends to the realism of the bleak world.

 

Aside from the cricket bat, your character can use firearms, but they are easy to lose if you die, and ammo is hard to come by. You always start out with a pistol and one clip of bullets, but the pistol doesn’t necessarily seem like a better way to kill zombies once you are proficient with the cricket bat. Luckily, you can upgrade all the weapons, and those enhancements survive even when your player character does not. It’s one of the few things you can bring across from character to character, and it’s very helpful.

 

The longer you survive and kill zombies as an individual character, the higher the score attached to that character. This ends up being a fun way to have a high score battle with yourself as you play, and alternatively, a fun way to know how well you were doing after you die. Folks from Miiverse show up in the game as zombies as well, carrying whatever loot they had on them when they died, which is another way to compare character scores and get extra supplies. It’s a fun reminder that Nintendo has built a very subtle, but effective, social media platform running underneath the games on Wii U.

 

The world of ZombiU looks fantastic, for the most part. Some textures blur when you get too close to a sign or a wall, but many areas have incredible detail and are littered with embellishments that make this post-apocalyptic version of London believable. One scene in particular subjects you to a thunderstorm, and the weather effects add to the game immensely. The lighting tricks the game employs are very successful, and despite my early misgivings about blurry textures, the more I played of the game, the more impressed I was by how it looked. The world of ZombiU falls apart around you, and the mood is set early and often.

 

The game contains a few simple local multiplayer modes wherein one player uses the GamePad to deploy zombies, and another player uses the Wii U Pro Controller or Wii Remote and Nunchuk to play as a survivor. One mode has you capturing flags, and another simply asks the survivor to hold out as long as possible in a score attack-like mode that includes leaderboards. Neither mode seemed all that interesting when compared to the single-player campaign, but their inclusion is a nice touch. Another way in which you can compete for high scores is the Survival mode. This mode is identical to the main campaign mode, except once you die, that’s it. There are no continues. You are scored based on how long you last and how many zombies you kill, much in the same way that you are scored in the regular campaign on a per-survivor basis.

 

ZombiU seeks to scare the hell out of the player by making their very survival doubtful, and wildly succeeds. This game is stressful, terrifying, bleak, and, in all of that, wonderful. It is one of the best launch titles I’ve ever played, and quite simply, a return to form in a genre that has taken a distinct turn toward run-and-gun. These kinds of games are not for everyone, and some people may not like ZombiU due to its high level of difficulty or clunky combat. However, if you appreciate the qualities of the older Resident Evil games, the challenge of a game like Dark Souls, and the exploration of a Metroid-style world, this game is absolutely for you. Enter the survival horror.

 

Summary

 

Pros

+ Fantastically realized world

+ Great voice acting

+ High level of challenge

+ Scary as hell

 

Cons

- Multiplayer options are limited

- Some blurry textures

 

9/10

 

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/32557