Is Zombie U the best multiplayer game of the year?

Posted by on December 6, 2012 in Reviews

Before I answer whether Zombie U (I refuse to call it ZombiU) is the best multiplayer game of the year, I am contractually obligated to talk about the single-player. Which is kind of a shame, because I couldn’t care less about the single-player, despite that it’s old-school bullet-by-bullet survival horror in the tradition of the original Alone in the Dark. It’s also is a bit like Dark Souls in that you’re gradually pushing forward into scary terra incognita, unlocking shortcuts to new areas, frequently punished by a permadeath system that means you can’t get too attached to your skill upgrades. You get to explore this world six bullets at a time, because that’s how many bullets you get each time you respawn with a new character. Six. You’ll be using the cricket bat a lot. How very English in a smarmy Shaun of the Dead way.

After the jump, isn’t this one of those new-fangled Wii U games?

Zombie U is not about a zombie university. It is instead a Wii U game. I’m not sold on how the gamepad is used. I don’t really need a separate screen for my map and inventory. And I certainly don’t need to wave a gamepad around in the air like I’m trying to get cellphone reception. This is fortunately optional when I’m doing the Metroid scanning thing, which works just fine with the analog sticks. But it’s mandatory when I’m using certain weapons. I never thought I’d say “no thanks” to a crossbow and sniper rifle in a zombie apocalypse.

I’m mainly uninterested in the single-player because it plays out in such an uninteresting place. The London setting is fitting given that the level design is as bland as English food. This is the Wii U, right? Nintendos fancy new hardware? The same system that can handle Mass Effect 3, Batman: Arkham City, and Assassin’s Creed 3? Then why am I slogging through dark and poorly adorned shoeboxes jammed into each other with doors that are supposed to hide the loading times, but instead call attention to them. Opening a door in Zombie U is like trying to start a car in a horror movie, except sometimes the door won’t open in time. And why am I only fighting a few zombies at a time? Why is this the modest zombie count of Dead Island without the environmental splendor of Dead Island?

But forget the single-player. The reason to play Zombie U is for the multiplayer. This being Nintendo, it’s not online. It’s for your living room. And this being Ubisoft, it’s unlike any other multiplayer you’ve ever played. It’s for two players only, one playing a survivor on the TV screen and the other playing zombie god on the gamepad. Imagine Left 4 Dead where one player gets the job of being the AI director that spawns zombies. That’s Zombie U.

This asymmetry provides the best of horde mode, but with an adversarial bent and a welcome unpredictability. The zombie god — he’s called the zombie king in the game, but I prefer the idea of a cruel god peppering the world with zombies to make life miserable for a Job-esque lone survivor — starts off throwing regular zombies at his opponent. But where’s the fun in that? So as the game progresses, the zombie god gets periodic upgrades. He will get his pick from three randomly rolled upgrades. These are usually zombie variants, but they’re also eventually powerful improvements in the power or number of zombies. As with all the best zombie mythology, the survivor’s dilemma isn’t whether he’ll survive. He won’t. Instead, the survivor’s dilemma is how long it will be before he dies.

You can play switching off the survivor and zombie god roles to keep score based on kills. But Zombie U’s multiplayer really comes into its own with a domination mode, based on controlling flags. Don’t tell anyone, because it might scare them off, but this is straight-up contest of real-time strategy skillz against first-person shooter prowess. RTS vs FPS. It’s that simple. Zombie god has his resource allocation, omniscience over the map, and tactical choices. The survivor has his FPS abilities, running speed, and ammo management. No other game has done anything quite like this, partly because no system is as perfectly suited to pitting an RTS against an FPS. Zombie U is the single most promising, enthralling, and unique game on the Wii U and I would definitely say this is the best multiplayer game of the year. If I were handing out titles like that. But I’m not, so I’ll just give Zombie U 4 stars.

4 stars
Wii U

  • CB

    Dang it.

    I love zombies, and that multiplayer sounds awesome. I’m just not that into console gaming.

  • http://larsenb.tumblr.com Larsen B

    So it turns out Tom Chick doesn’t like the single player because he’s a terrible xenophobic. Hey, we all have our flaws.

    Personally I’m really enjoying the single-player, even if you can see the joins a little too much. Maybe it’s because I go to London a lot and don’t especially like it so seeing it ravaged provides a little thrill.

    My usual multiplayer partner isn’t too into non-fun games so I might have to rope my brother into playing it. I’d never thought of it as RTS vs FPS but that’s a perfect summation.

  • http://redbarrels.net/ Graeme

    So you’ll leave the “4″ in Left 4 Dead, but you won’t take the “e” out of Zombie? ;) I prefer to pronounce it as a single word, the i is barely pronounced, it almost sounds French when you say it out loud…

    This is the one game that really makes me wish I could afford a Wii U. What are you’re thoughts on the MiiVerse? I’ve read nothing but bizarrely over-positive things about it…

  • My Opinion

    Tom it’s only bland to you Americans because you love rich food, you drown out the subtleties of certain foods. It’s like eating a sandwich without butter, you spend too much time thinking about what you are missing instead of enjoying what you have.

    Besides I know it’s technically not English but have you tried curries made in England? No where, not even India itself, does them better.

  • Barac Wiley

    I would complain about Nintendo’s handling of online multiplayer except, well, it keeps console multiplayer where it belongs – in the same room. This is the format for the big screen, across the room gaming experience, not trying to make sure your friends pick up the right console, right game, and are paid up on their ridiculous multiplayer access subscriptions (though to be fair only Microsoft has the gall to charge for that). Unfortunately, based on the amount of dust their previous two consoles gathered in my domicile, and how little I play even my preferred console system(s) anymore, I really don’t think I’ll ever be able to justify a Wii U. Maybe someone will do something like this for PC.

  • mygaffer

    You put butter on sandwiches?

  • BLAM!

    Well, there was at least that one (modded?) PC game whose name escapes me. It pitted resistance members in FPS versus the evil player who spawned and directed stormtroopers at them in RTS mode.

  • tomchick

    Left 4 Dead has taken many years to condition me. Zombie U is less than a month old. Give it time. :)

    I confess I haven’t really fiddled with the Miiverse. I have the same disdain for my Mii that I have for my Xbox Live avatar. Creepy virtual dolls aren’t my thing.

  • Barac Wiley

    Iron Grip: Warlord. It’s…okay.

  • Zombie Master

    There was a HL2 mod called Zombie Master, that pitted a number of human FPS players against the RTS Zombie Master. The humans had to accomplish a number of objectives to escape, while the Zombie Master spawned different zombies and environmental traps. Great game

  • Wendelius

    Miiverse is less about your Mii and more about game focused sub communities where you can, directly from the game (simply press the Home button), post screenshots, get help or just chat with other players of the game. It’s actually pretty neat as a message board of sorts accessible from within the game.

  • http://redbarrels.net/ Graeme

    Having places you’ve been to featured in a game is a great thing, I think one of the reasons that Assassin’s Creed 2 is my favourite in the franchise is because I’ve been to Venice, especially so when it’s such a faithful recreation…

  • http://redbarrels.net/ Graeme

    It’s about the content, yes, but the Miis are the delivery system for that content.

  • http://redbarrels.net/ Graeme

    Given your contempt for console based avatars, shall we assume that you simply accepted the first randomised character you were given? Or did you spend the best part of an hour making him pixel perfect like the rest of us that don’t really care either? ;)

  • My Opinion

    I don’t personally but I was just making sandwiches for tomorrows lunch and I couldn’t think of another analogy.

  • Barac Wiley

    My favorite travel experience was visiting Neuschwanstein and realizing just how close Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within’s sequence therein was to the real thing.

  • Slaphead O’Riley

    Bland as English food? The national dish of England is curry…

  • tomchick

    Oh, that’s what the Miiverse is? Yeah, I have seen that. I prefer this site’s message board. :)