Join Ricardo and Ethan as they dive deep into the Tomb Raider franchise and are shocked at what they discover.
Series Slickers: Tomb Raider
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GOTY 2012 — Ethan: Journey
Some people love sprawling games that give the player an open world to discover and play with. Some love games with decisions that affect story. Some love games that can be played for hours before getting to the end.
Journey is none of these.
Instead, it foregoes many of the current gaming trends that typically warrant critical acclaim and is better for it. Every section of the game is brimming with diverse and beautiful content, making sure there’s never a dull moment. For me it is pretty much the perfect game.
It’s a long way to the top.
The goal of Journey is to, as the name implies, journey up to the top of a mountain. It’s not as simple as strolling up a mountain. The player learns (or interprets) from the glyphs they find along the way why they are making the journey and what it represents. Controlling the robed figure around the hauntingly desolate desert to reach its goal has an emotional, almost spiritual, demeanor to it. There is certainly a lot of symbolism flowing throughout the game, but that is not necessarily what makes it.
What makes the game great is how That Game Company knew their limitations and pushed what they did have to the limit. Everything about the game is top notch. One can only assume they saw what worked and what didn’t with their previous game, Flower, when making decisions about Journey. When the biggest complaint I can find is the shoehorning of Sixaxis controls that don’t even affect gameplay, I know I have found my game of the year.
The developers did not overstep their boundaries. Instead they took their time and made a concise game that flows buttery smooth from start to finish virtually bug free.
In fact the game is so streamlined and short, it is accessible to people who don’t normally identify themselves as gamers. From the day Journey first arrived in my house I had been avidly showing it off to all kinds of people.
Watching people explore the game and discover their first companion always unfolds differently. Every time I watch someone play I always seem to walk away remembering how that player played that game and what they got from their playthrough. The real replay value for me is sharing the joy Journey brings with other people and living vicariously through their fun.
Journey is even prettier in motion.
Those who don’t play games find solace in the relatively simple controls, alluring setting and lack of combat. Not having to deal with the pressure of dying helps to draw in people who don’t consider them gamers. Even as an “artsy fartsy” game, it was still enjoyed by fans of all game genres. As a someone who tries to play nearly every game under the sun, it’s great to show off such a critically acclaimed game that is as accessible as Journey. Skyrim would not make the same impression with my mom.
Even as a fairly independent game, Journey is the most gorgeous game to grace my television. But the graphics would not have made the same impact without the musical score done by Austin Wintory. The decision to loop smaller pieces of music together and to make it react to the player’s actions or location is brilliant. Movies play music depending on what characters are doing so why not games as well? Between that and using a cello as a theme throughout the game, Journey’s music left me with a lasting impression as strong as the game itself.
Journey is one of the most important games of this generation. Beauty, functionality and innovation come together in an independent downloadable title that a wide variety of people can enjoy.
Besides that, the game is simply fun. Sliding and flying through the wondrous landscapes is a joyous experience that is unavailable on any other game this year. It’s an extraordinary experience that I wish everyone will give a chance.
Guardians of Middle Earth Review
Remember that time in The Lord of the Rings when Gollum and Galadriel teamed up to fight Sauron and Gandalf, but Sauron kept hiding behind a tower like a little baby because Galadriel would fear him into the Witch King?
Sounds like something out of a fan fiction? Nope, this experience is brought to you by the new downloadable title from Monolith Productions. Finally gamers can take Lord of the Rings characters and pit them against each other in a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) on the Xbox 360 and PS3. The premise sounds silly and there is nearly no reason for LotR characters to be in the game, but the game itself is a bit of a surprise.
Galadriel can heal the team from anywhere on the map and is one of the strongest support characters.
It would have been easy for Monolith to simply make a quick cash-in after getting the LotR license, instead it’s evident that a fair amount of work went into developing this game. For those who don’t know, MOBA games (ala: League of Legends and DoTA 2) are five vs. five games played in a three lane tower defense map. Each player chooses a unique champion and tries to push to the opponents’ main base in an attempt destroy it. Guardians doesn’t stray far from this formula and instead of improving and innovating on the relatively new genre, it makes a few changes to simplify it for a different platform: Consoles.
As a long time League of Legends and occasional DoTA 2 player, it is refreshing to enjoy a MOBA without worrying about an onslaught of mechanics. Gone is last hitting, buying items in-game with gold and unlocking character abilities. Instead the game focuses on individual encounters with players, emphasizing how they utilize the abilities at their disposal. Fights are still heavily in favor of the team who is a higher level, but at the end of the game everyone is usually on an even playing field. It’s a simpler experience that is more focused on combat, and for the most part, it’s well executed.
Bringing a genre that was born from a Warcraft III mod to a console couldn’t have been easy. The main camera is locked to the player’s character and the right analog stick is used to aim basic attacks and abilities. While basic attacks are intuitive, holding down the right trigger/shoulder button, trying to use an ability and aim at the same time is nearly impossible. Unless an enemy is right in front of a player, they will have to do a right-hand thumb and index finger yoga dance trying to use the right analog stick and face buttons at the same time.
There is an option to let the abilities be chosen beforehand and then activated with the right trigger, but it still feels a little bit clunky. I wish this wasn’t a big deal because the overall controls are intuitive, but chasing down a player while trying to aim a game-changing stun while fighting with the controls leads to lost games and frustration.
Sauron is the man in the books, but in game he can eat it from a hobbit.
Besides a player’s level and skill, capturing shines are a way to tip the game balance in the team’s favor. Each shrine gives a unique bonus to any team that holds it—whether it’s faster health regen or extra structure damage. Another way to give buffs to your team is to kill special monsters in the middle of the map, aka the jungle. While the in-game store is gone, a player can still customize their character’s attributes via a relic and gem belt, which is equipped beforehand and unlocks different powers as a player gains levels. It takes away the ability to react appropriately to the composition or the play style of the opponents’ team. As such, winning a Guardians’ game is simplified down to its roots and that works for players who are craving that particular MOBA experience.
Another feature not present in other MOBAs is the ability to upgrade towers and the soldiers’ (aka “creeps”) barracks. This feature is not as robust as it could have been; players are only allowed to upgrade towers at a certain level and it feels more of a chore upgrading towers than fun once the appropriate level hits.
Until hitting level 12, which is two levels below the level cap of 14, towers and barracks simply do more damage with every upgrade. At level 12, towers have the option of being upgraded for maximum damage or becoming healing towers that are useful if your team is doing well holding a lane. It is neat that they put this feature into the game, but why not have the option for a healing tower available at the very beginning of the match? That could add a whole new dynamic to the risk reward part of the “laning phase,” instead of waiting until the time in the game when players run around in a group.
On the presentation side, Guardians’ graphics are adequate for a downloadable game. It looks fine and the art style is somewhat reminiscent of the Lord of the Rings movies, but it just isn’t super impressive to look at. To be fair, MOBA games are not made to marvel at the graphics, but more visual polish wouldn’t have hurt. Sound effects are sufficient and do a good job of alerting a player when a tower is targeting them.
Voice acting also helps alert players to various events around them. Characters yell when their health is low and when the enemy team reveals themselves from the bushes. But while some characters sound fairly close to their on screen counterparts, others are very obviously not close at all (I am looking at you Legolas).
Choosing not to spend every last penny on Andy Serkis means we have to deal with a hand animated Gollum.
Speaking of characters, there is a wide variety of people, creatures and even demi-gods from the Tolkien universe to choose to do battle with. Each character falls into one of several combat roles. For example, Gollum is an assassin-like character called a striker, Sauron is part of the warrior class (the all-arounder), the Witch King is similar to a beefy support class known as a guardian and there is a hobbit named Hildifons Took—part of a tactician class—whose specialty is setting traps and barriers to route or block in the other team. The developers reached deep into LotR lore to find all of the characters they could, yet “non-canon” characters had to be created to fill some roles (particularly on the evil side).
But, because the traditional story line is thrown out the window, it is easy to forget that you are actually playing a Lord of the Rings game. Honestly, there is no reason for this game to be set in the Tolkien universe other than marketing reasons; it is unclear how many people would give a console MOBA a shot if they weren’t enticed by Gandalf and friends on the cover. Promotional strategies like those seen from The Marketing Heaven show how powerful well-placed branding can be in capturing attention and driving interest.
Hopefully, the people who did purchase the game without prior knowledge won’t be driven off by some the slow match-making system and horrible disconnection issues. Finding a match takes anywhere from one to ten minutes, which might not be so bad if getting disconnected randomly from games was not an issue. The worst is when a teammate gets disconnected or rage quits (it’s hard to tell) and you are left to slowly lose a game to an overpowered team. Monolith has already stated they are aware of the issue and will fix it with a patch, but the damage might have already been done to the relatively small player base.
Guardians of Middle Earth is a surprising title. Monolith could have made a quick cash-in using the LotR license just put out a mediocre game, but instead they made an enjoyable game with LotR characters sprinkled in. It may be a game that no one really wanted to see happen and didn’t use the license to it’s fullest effect; how cool would battles have been if they were accompanied by Howard Shore’s score?
But nevertheless, it’s a wonderfully fun and mostly well designed MOBA. A pure MOBA experience on a console is a niche that no developer has experimented with and it succeeds in more ways than it fails. Here’s hoping it’s a success in terms of sales.
The Xbox 360 version was used to review the game.
Fun: ⅘
Boils down the elements of a MOBA to its core and succeeds more than it fails.
Style: ⅗
Has decent art style and voice work going for it, but the music and graphics are just adequate.
Context: ⅖
The Lord of the Rings license isn’t used very well in the game and barely warrants any attention to it.
Challenge: ⅘
Many achievements, challenges and characters to master, with more characters slated to come out down the road.
Wii U Impressions
After spending a few weeks with the Wii U, we talk about the pros and cons we have found with Nintendo’s latest hardware.
Things we liked:
The gamepad screen looks awesome!
When we first booted up into NintendoLand and saw the TV mirrored on the gamepad we were impressed. Even though the resolution isn’t 1080p, the colors were bright and full of contrast. Seeing something run at 60 frames on a small screen looks great as well.
Miiverse is surprisingly cool
Nintendo’s new social tool sounds a bit silly when it is explained. Yeah you can draw cool pictures (because apparently everyone with a Wii U can draw) and leave tips for your friends in game, but who cares? Well, we didn’t think much of it until we saw the variety of people’s comments showing up in game. Even communities for games we have no interest in is entertaining to scroll through.
Lots of cool and potential ideas
Playing through NintendoLand shows just how many different possibilities for gameplay the Wii U game console is capable of. Utilizing two screens or using the single screen to give a player more information brings a new level of gameplay not previously available on home consoles. Hopefully developers utilize this technology to make something more interesting than simply putting the map on the gamepad screen like several launch titles did.
Enjoyable to play games on the screen in another room
Sure it sounds gimmicky, but playing a full console game in bed or another room is great. It feels cool and there is no noticeable lag in another room. Its surprisingly nice to just stretch out on a couch and get some game time in the most comfortable position available.
Things we didn’t like:
Long load times for in the Wii U menu
Zipping around the Wii U’s operating system just doesn’t happen. Instead it takes a good 15 seconds (at least) to launch even the most minor applications within the menu. It’s just strange that something like Miiverse loads fairly quickly while the friends list takes a several times that. Even the Wii, which was no speedster, doesn’t have the same sluggishness that this console does. Inside the games load times vary, but are usually a lot quicker. Hopefully software updates can fix the abysmal load times on the menu.
Poor ports for current gen games
Nintendo boasted a large launch day line up of current generation games. Too bad most of the games are plagued with framerate issues. Mass Effect 3, Epic Mickey 2 and Batman Arkham City all do not run as smooth as their counterparts on other consoles. Of course this could be the fact that developers are not yet used to the new hardware, so optimizing for it could be a bit of a pain. Back when the PS3 first launched it a lot of its third party games suffered from framerate issues as well. This probably will be hammered out soon, but for now it’s disappointing.
No transferring of Nintendo ID to other consoles
When a player first starts up their shiny new Wii U console, they are prompted to make a Nintendo Network ID and a password. What they don’t tell you is that the account made is stuck to that particular Wii U. Nintendo Network IDs do not work like Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 accounts and that is a huge oversight. It is almost inconceivable that this idea was released in 2012, where online accounts have been transferable across devices literally for years now.
Weird bugs and other occurrences
For almost an hour we struggled with trying to connect our Wii U to our WiFi. No matter what we tried it just kept erroring out after a period of time. We learned from the internet (on another machine of course), that a fix was typing in the WiFi information manually. Not very intuitive and was a huge bump in the road in an otherwise smooth set-up process.
Another weird bug we frequently encounter is random connection losses from the gamepad to the Wii U, even though often we are well within the recommended range of the console. We have no idea what causes this and it happens so infrequently that it never really comes off as a huge issue, but its still pretty frustrating and removes us from our gaming experience.
Screen lockups have happened very rarely, forcing a forced reboot of the system (read: we have to pull the plug or it won’t turn off.)
Game Grab Bag Train Simulator 2013
Ethan drives a train into Templar trains and we have no idea what is going on, how to do this or why.
The classic MMO is dead.
South Park often makes parodies poking fun of pop culture. In 2006 they made an episode not only entirely dedicated to World of Warcraft, but also mostly made inside the game. Later South Park made an episode parodying Guitar Hero with Heroin Hero, where player’s goal was to catch the magic dragon. This hallucination of catching the magic dragon is the same as developers trying to make the next MMO to compete or capture the same glory as WoW.
MMOs take a substantial amount of time to develop. They aren’t always hits and that makes them huge risks to the developer and publisher making them. Let’s take Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) as an example. It had a ridiculous budget, loads of hype, and a sure-fire license, but it is still struggling to keep its head above water.
Like most MMOs after they have run their course and need an income boost, SWTOR decided to forgo the subscription and run with a free to play model. Although this change happened significantly sooner than most people (and presumably EA) expected.
This doesn’t mean that big budget MMOs are dead, it simply means that the tastes of gamers are changing.
WoW worked great for what it was at the time. It was a MMO that was easy to play, access and defined the carrot on the stick philosophy of grinding and leveling. It also came with 14-days for free to get new new players completely hooked, encouraging them to pay a monthly subscription after buying the game to rake in the massive bucks.
After it struck gold though, nearly every developer in the business decided it was time to shift gears and make a cookie cutter MMO using nearly the same format and mechanics that WoW used to garner its success while also using marketing strategies like buy agency backlinks and more to promote their products. Lighting strikes twice, right?
No it doesn’t. While a lot of MMOs succeeded with this format early on, after a while, people grew tired of playing nearly the same game reskinned with different packaging on an almost yearly basis.
Some MMOs decided that even if the game played the same as WoW they were able to get away with it, if they gave the player the opportunity to play the game for free.
The epidemic took off. Many subscription based MMOs jumped ship and open their doors to a wider audience. Lord of the Rings Online, a well made MMO that heavily ripped off WoW in my opinion, tripled their income when they went free to play after being subscription based.
“Seriously guys! There is NO way we can lose money on this!”
Unfortunately, SWTOR got the memo too late, and while adding many new features to the standard MMO affair, it still remained a subscription based MMO. They didn’t figure out that no matter how flashy and hyped up you make your MMO, subscription based MMOs are becoming a relic.
Of course SWTOR then switched quickly to the free to play model, but will it help resurrect the floundering Star Wars MMO?
That’s a tough call.
It seemed the Cryptic Studios’ City of Heroes, which went free to play a little more than a year ago, was doing fine from an outside perspective, but it was recently announced that the servers would be shutting their doors at the end of the year.
It seems that there really is no safe way to secure an MMO’s future. They take so long to make that sometimes it is hard to really prepare for the ever changing gaming landscape.
The Elder Scrolls Online, from what I have seen so far, looks extremely generic. When it was revealed at E3, all I heard was an enthusiastic lack of enthusiasm.
Unfortunately, The Elder Scrolls Online might be too far along in its 5 year development to change the course of what could be a disastrous ship. Hopefully Bethesda will wake up and try to put in a unique spin on the genre and free to play elements into the game.
The lack of hype of a game won’t hurt Bethesda like it hurt 38 Studios, a much smaller company, who went bankrupt while trying to make the Kingdoms of Amalur MMO, title Project Copernicus, off of Rhode Island’s dime.
An MMO like Project Copernicus, that was stuck in development for about 7 years, hemorrhaged money for the start up studio founded by MLB pitcher, Kurt Schilling. It was a major risk for 38 Studios and it sadly didn’t pay off.
38 Studios ended up closing down and having all of its assets auctioned off. You can find and bid on all of the studio’s assets here.
I don’t believe another MMO will ever reach the same success level as WoW, but they can still be profitable. Developers need to stop trying to catch the magic dragon and break away from the precedent that WoW set and innovate. The success and quality of free to play games such as Guild Wars 2, will hopefully make developers shift gears.
The genre isn’t dead, it’s just going through its midlife crisis trying to find itself.
How I made real American money in Diablo 3
In-game economy has always made me interested in MMOs. From the very first time I booted up Everquest and realized I could set up a shop to hawk my loot, I was sold on the concept of massively multiplayer games. During the end of my stay in World of Warcraft I played strictly the auction house. I figured out what the demand was and how I could capitalize on it and cornered the market. If you want a chance to win extra cash by playing casino games, you may try joker388 slots. Casino players who would like to continue betting at the convenience of their home may explore various slot gacor machines online. Explore the exciting betting games offered at luxury333al.com.
By the time I quit, I had bought every single item money could buy and had tons of gold on reserve. So when I heard that Diablo 3 would have an auction house where players could buy items with real money, I was intrigued. Here is a log about how I attempted to make enough money in Diablo 3 to buy the next StarCraft II expansion, whenever it comes out.
While I was into playing the game I pretty much ignored the real money auction house. I hadn’t found anything good enough to sell on the RMAH even while playing on the highest level of difficulty, Infernal. So I ignored it and happily played the game while using just the plain old gold auction house. This all changed when I was running through Act 1 Infernal with a friend (post 1.0.3 patch, which made rarer drops more common) and that glorious weapon dropped.
To be realistic it wasn’t that glorious, a level 63 one handed sword with around 850 dps and 200 strength, but finding it was definitely a highlight of that run. I threw the item up on the RMAH for ten bucks, not expecting to get anything from it, but the next morning I woke up to an email saying my item sold for ten dollars in real American currency. With the prospect that I could earn actual money from this game, my priorities of the game changed. No longer was I playing just for fun, I was also gambling, mostly BTV168. Every time I killed an elite pack, champion or boss I had a small chance to earn actual money. This aspect added an exciting new layer to the game.
Who doesn’t like a large screenshot of a blogger’s Diablo III dude with all of his sweet gear on?
My problem with Blizzard’s RMAH is that I can’t sign up for real money to be transferred to my PayPal account because I don’t have a mobile phone number. Well I do, but apparently they needs a mobile phone number that isn’t a prepaid phone number. Everyone living in my house only has prepaid phones, because they work so well for what we need. It kind of sucks, but the ability to buy stuff off of the Blizzard store is still nice. Plus they don’t take a %15 cut when you buy from them. Maybe I will get into the World of Warcraft trading card game with all the money I earn on the RMAH. For right now, I would rather aim for the goal to earn enough money off the RMAH to buy the Heart of the Swarm expansion for StarCraft II. Another great option for making money is through Bitcoin.UK Bitcoin Buying Tips offers advice on navigating the crypto world and getting started with Bitcoin investments safely and effectively. You can also learn about the New Crypto Opportunities offer that can help you with your investment. Those who are interested in more traditional investment assets like precious metals may get in touch with scrap gold buyers in Adelaide.
Day 1:
Yup this little digital item with numbers on it might make me some real cash.
So here I am now trying to recreate that glory again and working towards my goal, but so far no luck. I have been farming Act 1 over and over with my Witch Doctor trying to get another useful level 63 item to drop, but to no avail. After about 4 hours of farming and watching TV, the best I got was an item level 63 two-handed crossbow with 819 dps called the Striking Avenger.
I threw it up on the auction house just for grins and giggles for $13, but I am not expecting anything to come out of it. Although that is the same attitude I had about my old one-handed sword, which magically turned into $10. I’ll come back tomorrow morning and see if anything has happened to that item. I might have gotten a little greedy by asking $13 for an item not nearly as good as the last one. Only time will tell.
Current money in account: $10
Day 2:
After grinding in Act 1 for a few hours, I was getting discourage. I felt like I had been churning my wheels and wasn’t ever going to make any more cash out Diablo 3 and my sword was a onetime fluke. When I was making my way through Act 2 for progression purposes and stumbled upon a pair of gloves that sold for $5.
Finally something happened. Now with a $15 nest egg, I wonder if I could invest that in a cheap item that I could resell for an even bigger profit. After looking for an hour, it seems item flipping on the RMAH wasn’t the most effective strategy. I used to do this all the time in the gold auction house, but it really wasn’t that much fun due to the clunky interface. Maybe I need more money and take bigger risks on the RMAH. My best bet was to do what I had been doing, which was running the route that was shown on this video. So far it seems pretty effective. On an average run, I make off with about 40 rares in an hour.
Today I beat Belial in Act 2 Infernal as well and hit a brick wall in Act 3. This act will require a bit of grinding and gearing up and with the increase in repair bills in the latest patch, this seems like a good place to quit for the night. Right now I have 3 items up on the RMAH, but only expect one of those to sell, which is why I’ve been checking out Rainbow Trading as a smarter way to boost my in-game gains.
Current money in account: $15
Day 3:
Finally, a patch for Witch Doctor arrived this morning. Zombie Bears are debugged and are now probably the best way for my class to farm Act 1. I logged in and noticed my bow had been taken off the auction house. I guess I had been asking too much. When I put it back up, I asked for $6.99, which is about half of what I asking before. After running about two of my farming runs I went outside to do some shopping. While out, I got an email that said that my bow had sold for $5.99.
Can’t say I am disappointed by the quick turnaround. Even if I made less money than I had hoped to get, money is money and it all adds up. I don’t have as much time to farm today, but I threw another piece of unsold pants up on the auction house at a discounted price of $3.99. All of this writing about sales prices makes me feel like a sales man. Anyway off to bed dreaming about waking up to a nice email.
Current money in account: $20.99
Day 4:
Busy day today with my mom’s birthday happening and all so not much time to fiddle with Diablo 3 farming, but I did log into to check my auctions. Nothing sold, which is discouraging, but then again I knew the stuff I was putting on the market wasn’t good enough for people to actually want to spend money. So I put back up a not so great Witch Doctor knife for the price of $2.99 and we will see if anyone bites.
Current money in account: $20.99
Day 5-6:
I didn’t have any time to play games these two days, but over this time I never received any emails, so I knew exactly what that meant.
Current money in account: $20.99
Will I reach my goal of not paying Blizzard a dime (just my time that I will never get back) for StartCraft II: Heart of the Swarm? Find out next week when the second article goes up!
Featured image done by Maxarkes. Original art can be found here.
This article was written about a month ago and from what I have read, a large percent of the player base has stopped playing Diablo III. Since then, the demand for high end items has gone down, so I can imagine that the amount of money I would have made in today’s market would not be as high.
E3 Debrief – ZombiU: Is this what the Wii U needs?
Nintendo must have thought the best way to grab the attention of the hardcore crowd was to release a zombie fps game. Honestly they weren’t wrong. While not a Nintendo game, seeing something so violent and gory running on a normally kid friendly Nintendo machine can catch a person off guard. The question remains, is ZombiU just for the people who buy a game off a shelf just because it has zombies? Or is this game actually interesting and full of good ideas that will change how we play FPS games forever? I had a chance to play with the game at E3 and here are my impressions.
Not as offensive as an African zombie.
While not much footage was shown at Nintendo’s press conference about ZombiU, besides a pre-rendered trailer, Ubisoft was showing it at their allotted show floor space. After waiting in line for two hours and watching numerous people, presumably investors from the looks of them, cut in front of me, I was led into a poorly lit room. In the room there were three Wii U systems (covered of course) displaying the game’s start screen with the option of multiplayer and singleplayer. The lady showing me the game put the game on singleplayer and walked me through how the game worked. For the most part I picked it up pretty quickly. The controls felt standard to an other FPS game and even though my two hands were farther spaced from each other, it didn’t seem any less conformable to handle the Wii U’s gamepad as opposed to a traditional controller.
One of the biggest problems I had with the game up front was the graphics. They weren’t completely bad, but they looked like a very early Xbox 360 game. In other words, they were primitive. This could be because the developers didn’t want to pay too much money on graphics or they haven’t figured out how to make full use of the console yet. I am hoping for the later because then they still have time to make the graphics stand out as much as the control scheme.
There are a few unique gameplay ideas in ZombiU. The first one would be the way a player deals with ammo and other items. On the bottom screen a player has access to an always open inventory menu. This comes in use when a player finds a corpse or a box to loot or needs to switch guns. The player’s character bends over to check the corpse if there is anything useful and utilizes a drag and drop loot management system. While in this state, the TV screen shows the player in the third person to let them know if it’s time to pack up shop when a zombie gets close. Juggling between dragging and dropping items and looking up at the screen can be stressful and adds a lot of the suspense a player would want from a survival game, but at the time I played the game, it had a “take all button”. It didn’t take me long to figure out that whenever I would find anything to loot, I would just tap that button as soon as possible to make sure I spent the least amount of time in the area as possible. This of course would be the wisest game play move, but it takes out all of the suspense out of looting. Hopefully this will be addressed and the button will be removed or maybe later on in the game a player won’t want to loot everything because bag space will be rare.
Another neat feature has nothing to do with the Wii U’s gamepad. When a player dies, their character dies permanently. They will spawn in as a new survivor who has to kill the zombified version of the old character if they want to get their stuff back. While playing I also saw players before me who had died earlier and were now zombies. I killed a Nintendo representative and received all of the items he had on him before he died. It seems like a very neat idea, but how far will Ubisoft take this concept? Will I be able to kill my online friends whenever they die in their game? Or will it only be available to people who die on the local machine? I asked the representative who was showing the game and she sadly didn’t have an answer for me.
It doesn’t feel as good as it looks.
The strangest feature in the game was the aiming mechanics associated with the sniper rifle. When a player wanted to pull off a sweet headshot, they would have to raise the gamepad in front of their face and then the gamepad would display the aiming reticule. Now the player was in aiming mode. To get a good shot on the zombie the gamepad itself would be moved left or right to get the perfect shot. On paper this sounds great, but when I was fooling with the aiming it felt unnatural. Every time a zombie showed up on the screen I would throw the gamepad up and then lose track of where I was aiming. This disorientation could just be so different from what I am used to that I haven’t got the hang of it yet. The real problem lies in that the system didn’t feel very intuitive or natural and that’s a problem for Nintendo.
I can’t help but to feel that the Wii U is splitting Nintendo’s audience down the middle. A casual gamer might be turned off by the new gamepad, thinking it looks too intimidating and not simple and intuitive enough to use. The “hardcore” gamers didn’t really get a good hard sell at E3 either. ZombiU was one of the only “hardcore” titles being shown solely for the Wii U that wasn’t Nintendo and even the big N showed “Nintendo Land” long enough to overstay its welcome. Sure finally being able to play high definition games with up to date hardware on a Nintendo console is long overdue, but will the Wii U improvements actually matter or is it too little too late? Or better yet, will the improvements be fun and actually improve the game? My time with the game was too brief to make this call. Only time will tell.
ZombiU has some really great concepts in it that could use some polish, but they still have the potential to utilize the Wii U features to make the game more enjoyable instead of being tacked on and not affecting the game much. These are just concepts that leave good impressions though. Not much else about the game has been revealed. We don’t know anything about the story yet or if it will have any online capabilities. As most gamers know, it takes a whole lot more to make a great game than just cool concepts and neat gameplay mechanics. A great game needs the whole package. We can only hope that ZombiU really sells the concept of the Wii U, and doesn’t turn into another Red Steel.