Crappy zombies movies have an inevitable scene in which a zombie lunges at someone from just outside a tightly framed shot, presenting the audience with the undead equivalent of a cat scare. It’s a cheap tactic, unbecoming of a zombie. Zombies aren’t known for their stealth. You can see them coming from a mile away. Consider the iconic scene in the original Night of the Living Dead that introduces the modern zombie. A man and a woman at a cemetery see someone shuffling towards them. If they had just strolled away, nothing would have happened. But instead, they goof around. “They’re coming to get you, Barbara. Look, there’s one now!” It leads to the world’s first zombie attack.
One of my favorite things about Dead Island is how well it avoids cheap tactics, but it still manages plenty of surprises and a wonderful sense of danger. When a zombie grapples you (pictured), it’s your fault. You either took on too many at once, or you didn’t check for nearby doorways or bushes while you were distracted, or you estimated distance poorly, or you went someplace with lots of dark tight spaces (pro tip: don’t get too accustomed to the sunny open space of Banoi’s beach resort). When a zombie gets in your face, you have no one to blame but yourself.
Dead Island developer Techland manages this partly with whatever fancy spawning tricks they’re using to populate the world. The how, where, and when of zombie spawning is every bit as impressive as the graphics engine. Look, there’s one now! You check your weapons; you quickly look around you to make sure you’re alone; you advance and hack away with your machete; you miss the swing at its head so you give it a kick and it flies backwards towards some bushes; you look around you again to make sure there are no stragglers approaching; you advance on the fallen zombie, chopping at its legs while it tries to get up; you decapitate it with a carefully aimed swing at its head; you see it’s dropped a diving knife; hmm, the knife isn’t bad, but you can’t use it until you level up, so you check the damage against the cleaver you’ve been chucking–AH, A ZOMBIE CAME OUT OF THE BUSHES AND NOW IT’S IN YOUR FACE BECAUSE YOU WERE CHECKING HOW MUCH DAMAGE THE DIVING KNIFE DID!
Given that these zombies don’t occur in Dead Rising sized hordes, I couldn’t be more pleased with how Techland has made fewer zombies matter more, with whatever spawning tricks they’re using and this deeper combat model. Banoi feels unsafe, but not cheaply so.
And speaking of up close and personal, one of the most valuable commodities on Banoi is deodorant. But not for the reason you’d think. Let’s just say two cans of deodorant and some duct tape can work wonders.
I hesitate to think how many energy drinks I’ve sucked down so far. On one hand, too many. I can only imagine how much sugar is in those things. On the other hand, not enough. At the point where I am in Dead Island, I’ve already died far more times than I’ve died in a Dead Rising game.
So when I came across the above lovely piece of machinery, I was disappointed that the “F” key didn’t actually do anything (note my depleted health bar in the upper left corner). If this was Duke Nukem Forever, you can bet the use key would actually do something at this point. Although, if this was Duke Nukem Forever, I’d be playing Duke Nukem Forever. Sometimes a useless espresso machine is a small price to pay.
Speaking of prices to pay, given the achievement I just earned in that screenshot, you’d think I’d be rolling in money. No such thing is happening. Managing your arsenal during a zombie apocalypse ain’t cheap.
In the latest Of Phalanxes and Hydralisks*, my strategy gaming column on Gamespy, let’s look at how the best games break.
The earliest example I can recall is Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares. You’re trucking along, playing a great 4X space opera, when annoying ships start to gradually trickle out onto the map, messing up stuff and then leaving. These are the Antarans, a malicious extra-dimensional race of jerks with ships way more powerful than yours. And they don’t stop coming.
Read the column here.
* Are you accustomed to that title yet? Does it no longer sound tortured and awkward to you? Me either.
Note that it’s not Archon. Like that game up there, which is a whole other way to travel through time. It’s Achron. Like Ohio. This time travel RTS is challenging in terms of saying the name without thinking of the classic battle chess game or the Ohio city. In terms of graphics, gameplay, and its drawn-out tedious campaign. In terms of wrapping your head around its cool ideas.
…unfortunately, cool ideas don’t sell games until they’re implemented into cool games.
Read the review here.
By the way, I did some math. The Gamepro editor who stuck the editor’s note at the top of the review, which kind of spoils the joke by explaining it, thinks Blizzard is going to publish one Starcraft sequel every two years for the next decade. That’s a good one!
This week we welcome Matt (a.k.a. merryprankster), who brings us tales of Vermont, consumer-friendly game companies, and his own charming boardgaming naivete. Also, the outside scoop on the Call of Duty gathering in Los Angeles, the fate of LA Noire developer Bondi, and mankind’s ongoing efforts to tame bees and defeat ants.
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Well that was unexpected. Another TOY STORY. This week’s community level. Should be sickeningly cute and childish, with annoying music. Nothing too taxing. Just enough to remind me why I love those movies so much and should steer clear of movie levels when playing this game.
Wrong. Another TOY STORY is challenging and gorgeous with a nifty sound design. Did I mention it was challenging? I can think of at least three spots where I thought I’d have to throw in the towel. I didn’t. I figured it out, and was pleasantly surprised. A movie-themed level that is smart and difficult. Not to mention evocative. Didn’t expect that.
I also didn’t expect to learn a lesson in gaming strategy from National Public Radio.
After the jump, the ants go marching in formation, hurrah hurrah Continue reading →
I love when I’m just bopping along, doing my job, trying out some cute little indie game I’ve heard about. And then, whoa, I’m suddenly playing what’s probably going to be one of my favorite games of the year!
Space Pirates and Zombies doesn’t fast forward beyond the apocalypse. You get front row seats when it happens. What begins as a sort of Star Control clone turns into a zombie game, which I wouldn’t tell you if the word “zombie” wasn’t already in the title. Besides, you can see the shift coming as you work your way towards that seemingly innocuous waypoint in the center of the galaxy. But it’s no less dramatic for being telegraphed this way, because Space Pirates and Zombies isn’t afraid to become a different kind of game once the dead walk the earth. Or, in this case, drift the stars.
Read the review here.
Above are some of the guys in the town hub for Cladun x2, the sequel to last year’s thoroughly charming and even more thoroughly addictive Cladun: This Is an RPG! They are, from left to right, Harry Potter, the Witchmaster General, and I think some guy from Marvel vs. Capcom. I can already tell I’m going to love Cladun x2, and it’s gratifying to see the new stuff emerge. I’m enjoying a series of “Ah, so they’re going to add that!” moments.
However, I have one very important question for those guys up there: Where’s Pudding? I can’t bear to think I’m going to play dozens of hours of this intricately configurable dungeon crawl without the first game’s brash but sympathetic heroine along for the ride.
