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Not the greatest game on the shelf...
posted by VTMarik (EVERETT, WA) Apr 19, 2006
Member since Feb 2006
27 out of 29 gamers (93%) found this review helpful
Now don't get me wrong, I love Zombie games! I love Survival Horror as much as the next man. But this game combines great audio and great atmosphere with the same old lame survival horror (referred as SH) cliches that exist almost everywhere.
Let's just list them shall we?
Cliche #1: According to some designing guru, the idea of limiting the amount of ammo in a SH game creates a sense of panic and realism. What it really does is draw out the action and slow everything down to a crawl as you beat the Zombies with a stick. We don't need the realities of ammo consumption in a video game for it to be scary. Give us the amount of bullets to get the job done. It's like a bulletproof superhero not being bulletproof in his own game.
Cliche #2: Now, i like scripted events too. They make the game more interactive than cutting to an FMV every 10 minutes. But when we don't do exactly what the game wants, the events don't trigger, thus leaving us wandering around until we restart the level. Come on you guys! Valve figured it out, so can you!
Now the other complaint I have. What's with the shooting to the head not being a shot to the head? Apparently you have to aim at the top of the head for it not to be a jaw hit... Does this make any sense to anyone else? If I'm using a shotgun, it shouldn't matter where i'm aiming! If it's the rifle, then it makes sense...
Now, the physics and the ambience is fantastic. You really feel like the last living person in this city. This is compounded by the fact that there seems to be only 7 types of people walking around and they all have identical copies... I thought that idea went out with the old side-scrolling fighters. Guess not...
The game's not bad, I'll grant it that. But it could have been a lot better. If we keep adhering to the same old survival horror mechanics, then we all lose. How about we have more than 30 bullets in a Police HQ? Rent this game, but don't bother buying it.
Let's just list them shall we?
Cliche #1: According to some designing guru, the idea of limiting the amount of ammo in a SH game creates a sense of panic and realism. What it really does is draw out the action and slow everything down to a crawl as you beat the Zombies with a stick. We don't need the realities of ammo consumption in a video game for it to be scary. Give us the amount of bullets to get the job done. It's like a bulletproof superhero not being bulletproof in his own game.
Cliche #2: Now, i like scripted events too. They make the game more interactive than cutting to an FMV every 10 minutes. But when we don't do exactly what the game wants, the events don't trigger, thus leaving us wandering around until we restart the level. Come on you guys! Valve figured it out, so can you!
Now the other complaint I have. What's with the shooting to the head not being a shot to the head? Apparently you have to aim at the top of the head for it not to be a jaw hit... Does this make any sense to anyone else? If I'm using a shotgun, it shouldn't matter where i'm aiming! If it's the rifle, then it makes sense...
Now, the physics and the ambience is fantastic. You really feel like the last living person in this city. This is compounded by the fact that there seems to be only 7 types of people walking around and they all have identical copies... I thought that idea went out with the old side-scrolling fighters. Guess not...
The game's not bad, I'll grant it that. But it could have been a lot better. If we keep adhering to the same old survival horror mechanics, then we all lose. How about we have more than 30 bullets in a Police HQ? Rent this game, but don't bother buying it.
Interesting to say the least
posted by Bengals123 (WARE, MA) Aug 9, 2006
Member since Apr 2006
8 out of 9 gamers (89%) found this review helpful
Well first off this game has been sitting in the midst of my Q for about two months. This game was decent I would have given it a 6.5 if I could. The storyline is pretty interesting but the gameplay leaves something to be desired. If this game had an extra few months of developement it would be perfect. One annoyance I had was every zombie was based on like 5 models there was a grandmother,a cheerleader,and a couple guys in sports clothing. The characters looked the same but had some different clothing. The game also had alot of missing textures like you will be walking and all of a sudden a tree will appear and some grass tiles will be missing and like some barns will be discolored. The guns were cool there were alot of hammers,axes,bats,shovels- ,and guns to have the M-16 there is also a .22 caliber, a magnum, a glock, a 50.cal(requires a cheat) shotgun and sniper rifle. is the best it can destroy zombies in about 4 hits. The game wasnt very scary but some parts you can tell where zombies will appear so you can brace yourself. This game is worth about a 10-15 dollar buy. The game got a 6.5 since there have been only maybe 3 or 4 survival horror games for the xbox console. They have just skimmed the surface with this game and the 2 silent hill games. This game was close to greatness and definatly worth the rent.