Arrived home today to see Shopto had politely sent this to me early so I graciously accepted their gesture by trying out the first hour. I'm on the PS3 version, I'll summarise as it's very much a first impression:
Visuals:
It surprised me how solid this looks, there's a good sense of scale to the island and it's quite densely populated with debris and zombies. There's a really appealing vibe to the island setting with it drenched in bold colours. Looking out at the horizon it's easy to forget that area's in the distance are reachable and not simply a traditional linear path. Overall the visuals will depend for people on their expectations. They don't match up to the standard you'd find in a game from a major release but for a game of this genre which is constantly running drop-in and out online co-op it's probably one of the best looking games out and the engine runs much better than in the recent COJ: Cartel game. Voice work isn't going to win any awards but it's serviceable and there's some screen tearing and pauses in busy sections but overall a solid framerate so far with some lovely lighting.
Structure:
Bar the opening scripted prologue (when you leave your room at the start turn left instead of right for a smirk raising location) the structure of the game is very reminiscent of Borderlands with small hub locations seeing you being given missions from survivors and then passing through multi-routed yet slightly linear area's to complete them. Overall, there's instantly a good sense of place.
Gameplay:
Player movement has a half second delay it seems but you soon get used to it, the aiming is adjustable but very responsive to begin with anyway. Combat does involve a lot of swinging and hoping but to be honest it makes more sense in the setting and never frustrated me during the missions. When trying to aim there's a losse auto aim which will try to direct hits to particular zombie limbs and XP that you accrue is used to unlock perks in a skill tree that's reminiscent of Borderlands.
Online seems to be full of the rapper as on stats he seems to be the best though the patch isn't live yet so that could change. In the end, I think this will prove to be something of a marmite game with some being unable to get over the comparatively clunkier combat and decent but workable visuals whereas with others the game will click and the overall package will result in a solid following.
I've been warned that a Monsoon is coming when night hits and the torch needs to be switched off to recharge. Nice.
Visuals:
It surprised me how solid this looks, there's a good sense of scale to the island and it's quite densely populated with debris and zombies. There's a really appealing vibe to the island setting with it drenched in bold colours. Looking out at the horizon it's easy to forget that area's in the distance are reachable and not simply a traditional linear path. Overall the visuals will depend for people on their expectations. They don't match up to the standard you'd find in a game from a major release but for a game of this genre which is constantly running drop-in and out online co-op it's probably one of the best looking games out and the engine runs much better than in the recent COJ: Cartel game. Voice work isn't going to win any awards but it's serviceable and there's some screen tearing and pauses in busy sections but overall a solid framerate so far with some lovely lighting.
Structure:
Bar the opening scripted prologue (when you leave your room at the start turn left instead of right for a smirk raising location) the structure of the game is very reminiscent of Borderlands with small hub locations seeing you being given missions from survivors and then passing through multi-routed yet slightly linear area's to complete them. Overall, there's instantly a good sense of place.
Gameplay:
Player movement has a half second delay it seems but you soon get used to it, the aiming is adjustable but very responsive to begin with anyway. Combat does involve a lot of swinging and hoping but to be honest it makes more sense in the setting and never frustrated me during the missions. When trying to aim there's a losse auto aim which will try to direct hits to particular zombie limbs and XP that you accrue is used to unlock perks in a skill tree that's reminiscent of Borderlands.
Online seems to be full of the rapper as on stats he seems to be the best though the patch isn't live yet so that could change. In the end, I think this will prove to be something of a marmite game with some being unable to get over the comparatively clunkier combat and decent but workable visuals whereas with others the game will click and the overall package will result in a solid following.
I've been warned that a Monsoon is coming when night hits and the torch needs to be switched off to recharge. Nice.
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