gamesandtings

I failed humanity. Again.

I had its cure, downloaded onto a trusty USB. All I had to do was make the journey to the Tower of London to be whisked away by a helicopter. But I decided it would be best to be munched on by a bunch of LDN zomboes. Soz lads, looks like the infection cannot be contained.

I’ve been going through a bit of weird phase lately – the passion for gaming has really dwindled these past few months. I had a great few months prior, working through the backlog I’ve accrued but ever since I completed Super Mario Odyssey, everything else has been mediocre. Nothing compares to that ex, however delightful they may be in their own right.

Being the month of October and my continued effort to stream games to an audience of 0, I thought I’d try and play ZombiU again – seemed appropriate. And over the course of around 12 hours, I fell back in love with it (tortured analogy won’t stop, can’t stop).

The common things I seem to say about games that I like are that they are amibitious from the start and confident in their approach. ZombiU’s deliberate pacing is precisely the reason why I adore it so much. Wielding a cricket bat, slowly approaching open areas as to make sure not to be surrounded by the zombos, is the reason why it all hangs together. The fact it takes 5 full swings of the bat to kill a zomb requires execution, patience and decent decision making. The imprecision of guns along with a zom’s bobbing and weaving engages precisely these same things. There are moments when you do feel impervious, but they are fleeting at best. The deliberate weightiness of combat helps to create an undead living world; the player’s vulnerabilities are always felt.

I will also say that being a Londoner helps in wanting to “believe” in its realisation; by having the official Tube roundels and maps along with familiar areas; it carries just enough authenticity to respect our great city without feeling “cheap” or “exploitative” (not many Hello guvnors or an insane amount of telephone boxes).

Its creative use of the GamePad was seldom challenged by other releases on the Wii U. Distracting players from their surroundings as they try to fumble a much needed flare, to using it as a way to find hidden messages; its inventiveness again helps to intelligently create a tension-filled experience that was manageable with careful play.

There are problems – areas were oft-repeated, connecting “new” parts of London to the tube network. I do feel that the zos were thrown at the player towards the last section of the game which made it feel a teeny bit unfair. The inability, well that I knew of, to remove common ammo from one gun to be used for another, saw me lose precious resources that was certainly needed later on. Finally, the pressure cooker suicide bombers felt cheap at times during my first play through – scarred by that experience I wasn’t caught out this time around.

Complaints they are and substantial they may be, I would still thoroughly recommend this game to anyone, especially those that own a Wii U. It’s an experience that’s worth having, meshing survival horror with the inventiveness of Demon’s Souls.

I just wish I was good enough to get through the Survival mode.

7 CCTV Junction Boxes out of 10