Anand said:

I think the abbreviated schedule of most game reviews is a real issue.

This is very true. One thing that I'm noticing now that I (sort of) track this stuff is how big the difference in hits is between getting a review out within days versus a week or two or more. There is always going to be a huge rush to get a review out right away from a lot of sites.

Still, shouldn't they have had the review code in advance? Hmm.

I don't think that I have ever reviewed a game without at least getting to the credits, or whatever would count as the "end". And if there is extra content, I try to play through that as well. I suspect that a lot of reviewers never get that far. Especially if it isn't a game that they are enjoying, the temptation to fudge it a bit to hit that deadline to get the critical mass of views would be very high. I mean, fudge it to the readers. The people in charge probably don't even care that much if they finish it or not, as long as the review is out in a timely manner.

Anand said:

Some games and genres are suited to a marathon playthrough, and some just aren't. It might explain the comparative reception of the campaigns of, say, Call of Duty and Zombi U.

Even then, though, I don't see how a game critic can base their review off of playing through an FPS campaign for eight hours straight at some review event. There's no way that's how the developers intended them to experience it.

Aren't most FPS nowadays mostly about the online multiplayer anyway? Seems like it would be hard to review that without putting substantial time into it.

I almost feel like setpiece-y, scripted, Call of Duty-esque campaigns are MEANT to be blasted through. Like a big, dumb action movie.

Finally got to spend some real time with this last night, killed zombie @roykoopa64 and @warerare a few times, to pad my inventory.

I'm probably 4 hours in, total, and I am enjoying this in spite of being completely burned out on horror games after Shocktoberfest, as well as just playing Walking Dead last week. It's pure, classic survival horror, which doesn't show up much anymore. And for that, I already have a big appreciation for this game. It just does so many interesting things. It's hard (when there's more than 3 zombies, you are in deep shit) and very easy to die.

The combat *is* repetitive, especially if using the cricket bat, so that is a legitimate gripe. Was interesting to hear Jeff @ Giant Bomb mentioning on the Bombcast the other day that this game could have taken some cues from Condemned w.r.t. the melee combat, and I wholeheartedly agree (especially since the game does remind me a lot of Condemned, both in terms of the game's look and the style of game).

All that being said, this is a good launch game and it's also a bold game that is willing to take some chances and deliver more than your run-of-the-mill FPS, which Ubisoft very easily could have done with Killer Freaks. I'm still relatively early in the game, but I find it hard to see how this game could score below, say, a 7/10 at the very worst. I guess there are people out there who wanted another FPS over a survival horror game, which doesn't surprise me, but what has been a pleasant surprise is Zombi U so far.

Getting near the end I think. Took me forever to pass the trap section.

I am about to answer the "help" call which I figure is around the end of the game. I have been loving everything so far, but especially the way that the game pad is used. Great little game. I will be very much looking forward to a future sequel set in Paris perhaps? That'd be fun. I don't see them labeling the game ZombiU2. ZombiToo sounds better. It will probably end up getting a subtitle though. Anyway, I am having a lot of fun with the game and I I have robbed a few zombified NW users of their items multiple times now.

All I got from zombie @Mr_Mustache was a few measly handgun rounds. TERRIBLE.

Restricting myself to only playing this after dark. Searching the Brick Lane Flats for Book #2 right now...

Man, this game is so stressful. I've had stress dreams the last two nights about it. Not about being chased by zombies in real life or anything, but dreams where I'm playing the game and getting killed. Ugh. I think I'm gonna go for the opposite of BigG and play this only during the day in hopes of avoiding that.

I'm pretty bad at this game. No matter how cautious I am, pressing the radar every five seconds and marking all the infected I see from afar, zombies still manage to get the drop on me all the time. And I'm really hopeless when hordes start coming. I always freeze up and just try to hide rather than setting myself up nicely (or getting to a turret which I think is probably what I was supposed to do). I'm inevitably surrounded and killed. I think I've died 8 times already and I've barely made any progress. Much like with the original Resident Evil, every time I play I just want to save and stop as soon as I get anything done whatsoever.

I doubt I'll ever try to make a long survival run in the game but I hope that I can overcome the stress and beat the game.

@anon_mastermind

I think I made it to the same spot. What a bunch of dicks. I lost at least 5 or 6 survivors trying to get out of it.

I finally had a strong showing in this game this morning. Played for a couple of hours and never died. Thank god too because it seemed like I was getting farther and farther away from the Safe House and not unlocking any shortcuts or anything. When I finally made it back and hit the sheets with only a tiny bit of health left, it really felt satisfying.

Last night I made it to the Nursery. Holy crap, that place is creepy. And the 'boss battle' was terrifying, I was not expecting to fight that ghost-like zombie. Falling down into the basement and seeing those rotting corpses was unsettling. Then the GamePad's signal gets jammed, you're pretty helpless in the dark, and THAT thing attacks. I thought it was just a different kind of zombie, but it was fast and took many hits to take down. THEN you have the whole SCREAMING in your face when you try to loot the body. Oh man…

Then I died on my way out, I got surrounded by a bunch of zombies. I was trying to sprint past them, but I panicked when I couldn't find my way out.

Actually, another time I died was toward the end of Tower of London. That lady said she was going to assist me, but I was still completely overwhelmed by zombies anyway.

TheBigG753 said:

All I got from zombie @Mr_Mustache was a few measly handgun rounds. TERRIBLE.

HA! I haven't been in this thread much, but I'll tell you a little story..


One night, I died right near that first safehouse you can find. Overwhelmed, outside in the rain. I was then killed by my own zombie and another when I went back there. And then I died -- AGAIN -- on my way there. So, I had, potentially three of myself waiting for me.

Last time I went back I also killed a Roy, haha, and my BOB didn't have my Shotgun in it any more

Screwed?

@roykoopa64

Tell me about it. That part was very creepy. Also, that Tower of London part was weird. I'm not sure what happened. I was fending off a few zombies, and then all of a sudden the cutscene gets triggered where the helicopter crashes. I guess I died? It was weird. At first, I thought I ran out of time and that was a failure cutscene, but it seems like that was supposed to happen. Or somehow I got killed at or around the time when that cutscene is supposed to be triggered?? Super confused!

Had a really stupid death earlier today (used my cricket bat to attack a zombie that was climbing up a ladder that, unbeknownst to me, was of the exploding variety...

I'm guessing I'm getting close to the ending (I'm inside the church). Hopefully I can finish it tonight.

I'm not even that far in but damn, the atmosphere in this game The part where you go back outside and it's a thunderstorm... chilling.

Beat it! For my reward, can I get the drugs that Game Informer is on?

I am so thrilled that this game turned out the way it did. From E3 on, I feared a repeat of Red Steel and hoped that this game would turn out decent, but I never had high hopes. I never thought it'd be one of the best games I'd play this year, or one of the better survival horror games in a long time, but that's what it is. I understand survival horror isn't for everyone, but this is a good fucking game, and the game that really sells what the Wii U Game Pad is about. It's not a perfect game by any stretch, but I'm just...flabbergasted that you could come away from this and find it to be a bad game. I really, really enjoyed my time playing ZombiU. It captures so much of what I love about classic survival horror, so much more than I had anticipated.

Wii U launch lineup is 2-for-2 as far as I'm concerned. Really had a lot of fun with NSMBU despite already playing 2 Mario games earlier in the year, and ZombiU managed to stand out for me in a year where I played a shit ton of horror games.

So is it possible to lose weapons forever, at least certain ones? The following situation happened to me in the Nursery:

-As Survivor A I picked up a powerful new weapon but died on my way out.
-As Survivor B I made it close to where Survivor A had become a zombie but died before I could reach him.
-As Survivor C, I cleared the entire area of zombies but was only able to find the zombified Survivor B (not Survivor A) and now have no access to that powerful new weapon.

Will I get a chance to find it later again, hopefully? I've been checking the TV monitor at the safe house to see what weapons are available in each area, but right now there's nothing. Tough!

TheBigG753 said:

The combat *is* repetitive, especially if using the cricket bat, so that is a legitimate gripe. Was interesting to hear Jeff @ Giant Bomb mentioning on the Bombcast the other day that this game could have taken some cues from Condemned w.r.t. the melee combat, and I wholeheartedly agree (especially since the game does remind me a lot of Condemned, both in terms of the game's look and the style of game).

How does the melee combat work in Condemned? I'm not familiar with the game.

@TheBigG753

Way to go! Glad you enjoyed it so much; seriously, what are the naysayers thinking?

Um. I've been enjoying the crap out of this game for the past few days. But today I think I encountered a game breaking bug. It's toward the end, I think (after the warning about "no turning back" or whatever) so I'll black it out.

My mission was to kill the doc, but what I think happened was I died along with him (stupidly threw a grenade and wasn't far enough away), so the game never registered that I killed him. I can take out his eyeball (ew), but with him already dead, and no checkmark next to my objective, the game is at a standstill and won't gove me my next objective. Don't know what to do.