ZombiU - First 5 Hours

To start this off, I'll admit that I am not the one who played ZombiU, even though that's usually the way these reviews go. However, that would force me to ignore the adventure of hilarity that proceeded to happen a few nights ago while I watched a friend of mine play ZombiU.

I'd also like to point out how surprised I was when the game started up and I got to view the graphics on the WiiU for the first time. For a system that I expected to be an upgraded Wii, this one was already starting to impress me.

So what about ZombiU? Well it's a survival horror game, with zombies. Yes, just like all the others that proudly include zombies for us to kick, maim, injure, and kill. But even from the first few hours of gameplay, you can tell that this is going to be different. It's not going to be a walk in the park. You aren't meant to go off fighting everything; that will get you killed. Your game character isn't some overpowered, hulking behemoth, zombie-killing machine who happens to be super effective against zombie types. He or she is just a regular citizen trying to fend off the horde as best as they can, which is a feature I find of particular enjoyment. Being a fan of survival horror to begin with, I can say that this game holds true to its genre.

When you start up a game, you choose your difficulty and are greeted with a randomly generated player character, who is, in fact, named. And when that character dies, you'll have the unique opportunity to find him/her later, in the same spot that you succumbed to the zombie horde, as a newly indoctrinated member of the shambling masses. And there they will stay, until you find them again, with all your hard work and items safely stored in the backpack that they are wearing. How's that for incentive to take it easy? You thought getting to that point was hard the first time? Try doing it again, but this time without all the cool items you've been scavenging.

But enough on what the game is about, and on to the adventure I promised you at the beginning.

Like I mentioned earlier, a friend of mine is actually the one playing this through. He is an avid Gamer (note that term) and enjoys games with lots of action and little story. So why not put his FPS skills to the test against some zombies? Or so he thought...

The game starts up, and the shit talking begins. Apparently, some zombies don't know whats coming. He chooses Easy difficulty, and I proceed to paint a vivid picture of future gameplay including armless/legless zombies laying on the floor waiting for the nuclear, moon-cannon carrying player character to come end their misery.

After a quick cut scene of your character being surrounded by zombies you are prompted to sprint out of harm's way and straight up a ladder. This didn't really go over so well, since Johnny (the player character) decided to ignore the tutorial's suggestion of 'Run the hell away'. Instead of learning to sprint, we instead watched on as Johnny lazily sauntered past zombies on his way to the end point. After taking a few rotting claws to the back Johnny makes it up the ladder, surprisingly...

...into what looks to be a janitors closet. We are then shown how to use the flashlight. Looting around yields nothing but the way out. Walking into the next room we see that the hallway is somewhat blocked by soda machines that have been toppled over as a barricade of sorts. It's at this point he complains about not having any guns to start; at least we find out how to 'shove' zombies away. Which will be coming in handy here real soon as there appears to be a group of zombies chowing down on some soylent green down the hall past the soda machines. I mention that it would probably be a good idea to sneak by without the light on. But, like the tutorial on sprinting, this is taken as more of a suggestion than anything else. Johnny proceeds to climb over the soda machines, walk up to the gang of zombies with his flashlight on, take a gander at what could be so delicious, and attract their attention. Johnny turns around and calmly walks back to climb over the soda machines. He gets hit twice on the way over. 'How can Johnny be still alive?' I wonder, 'and why aren't those zombies climbing over that soda machine to come say hi?'

Well, Johnny's a Tunnel Snake, he's too cool for running around, and he's too cool for zombies. He's taking this outbreak like a champ. And the zombies are intimidated by his swagger. It's the only logical explanation. As for the apparently impervious zombie barrier, I'm informed that this is the only time they won't be able to climb things. Which is a relief, as I almost cried for game mechanics.

Johnny goes in for a second try, shoving his way through the horde at the soda machine and walks to the end of the hallway. Unfortunately for Johnny, it's blocked. So he turns around, shoves some more zombies away and makes a right. Its at this point Johnny learns to sprint, which is good for him since there are more zombies in this hallway blocking the way out. Through some luck and a bit of divine intervention, Johnny makes it to the end of the level.

Starting up again, we're contacted by some British guy on an intercom. He says he's here to help, and directs Johnny to some computer monitors and a map. The monitors show us the last guy our new British friend tried to help. He's stuck in a window. But he has a backpack, and we want that. Besides, its not like our window traveling friend is using it. The map shows us how to get there. It's at this point all reasonable navigation ends, as looking between a map and in front of himself is just too much for Johnny. We see the quest objective on the map but not many of the obstacles that lay in our path. Because of this Johnny's shins and face start taking some self inflicted punishment, as Johnny is too busy looking at a map to notice the concrete barriers, fences, road signs, and walls he's running into. After some painful navigation, Johnny finally makes it to the man without a plan, but he's got a backpack with some useful bits inside.

Poking around in the backpack yields a cricket bat and a gun. We're also told again that using the sonar ping would be a good way to find zombies on the map, as our next objective is to get out of the building. Some more painful navigation follows until Johnny finds a machine gun emplacement overlooking the mall plaza. Pinging the sonar shows us that there is indeed a zombie down there, minding its own business. Something tells Johnny that using that machine gun would be a poor idea, as it would probably attract a lot of zombies. But Johnny has never heard of a survival horror game, and just the thought of zombies offends him. So Johnny equips a bit of ignorance and gets himself over to the machine gun. With careless disregard, Johnny starts throwing lead down range at the lone zombie, turning it into soup. Unsurprisingly, Johnny has attracted the attention of the other zombie in the room, who begins to climb up in front of him. Johnny looks down and continues making as much noise as possible, turning that zombie into jello chunks. The gods of gaming cry out for vengeance but realize Johnny is protected by the unholy demi-gods of easy mode.

Johnny hops off the machine gun and starts making his way to the way out, but quickly finds out that its locked and requires a key card. Luckily for him, there's one in the mall, and its only on the complete opposite side of where he's at now. Johnny looks at his new objective on the map and starts walking, ignoring his legs while they wonder why Johnny hates them so much. Coming up to the objective, Johnny is reminded that he can ping the map with sonar by the very noisy zombie in the next room. Looks like the door is blocked by filing cabinets, which makes zombies incredibly angry. Johnny takes one look at the disgruntled zombie and starts rummaging around in his backpack for the only answer to this sort of problem. A gun. Taking it out, Johnny realizes he is exceptionally bad at aiming, but goes for the gun solution anyways. Shooting through the broken window ends in the zombie taking several shots in the arm, a few in the chest, and one or two in the leg. Johnny decides he's tired of shooting lame ducks in a pond and equips his cricket bat. Vaulting over the window, Johnny begins beating the already quite defeated zombie over the head. Johnny proclaims his triumph over his obviously equally matched opponent and grabs the key card.

Johnny begins wandering around for several minutes in a state I can only describe as "being lost with a map", but eventually makes it outside.

Ah, the great outdoors. Alas, it is raining and there are zombies about. Johnny doesn't hesitate, he has some surviving to do. Walking a little ways reveals some peculiar noises coming from behind some construction vehicles. Johnny doesn't even think twice, zombies ate his neighbors. He runs straight over to the zombies with his pistol and picks a fight, even though he's outnumbered. Johnny runs out of bullets and is forced to use his cricket bat, but he continues beating down the enemy until nothing but himself is left standing.

Moving on past the construction area, Johnny finds a zombie standing in an alleyway. It's the zombies unlucky day because that's the way Johnny was walking. Using his only weapon, Johnny runs over and beats down the poor fellow without remorse because Johnny hates zombies, they killed and ate his dog. Johnny continues his evening stroll until he finds some scaffolding to climb up. He finds some ammo and some flares. He also finds a couple of zombies down below him shambling around. Johnny, being unable to contain his rage, ignores the suggestion of throwing a flare as a distraction and instead goes for a more direct route. Jumping down he runs towards the zombies with his cricket bat and starts handing out blunt damage. Again, he becomes the only one left standing and heads on down the street towards the next objective, picking up a few flares along the way. Finding the building he's supposed to enter, Johnny goes to open the door, tripping an alarm, and attracts the attention of the horde. The British guy on the intercom urges Johnny to enter the building for safety, but Johnny's not a push over and he stands his ground. Johnny turns around and runs away from the safety of the open door, ready to cricket bat anything that stands in his way. Within seconds, Johnny is dead.

And thus ends the first few hours of ZombiU gameplay. It ended, as I hoped it would, in a much deserved and long-time-coming death for Johnny. Overall, I'd say it stands out as an example of survival horror doing it right. Instead of having a few cheap scares and a few less bullets, ZombiU takes up the challenge by providing you with an intense atmosphere and a lot less bullets. I think its time to experience Survival mode, Johnny must be avenged.

Reviews - To the Moon

Spoiler-Free Review #1 – To the Moon

(Important note: DO NOT spoil this game if you intend to play it. Do not read up on it, don’t “wiki” it, none of that. The risk you run of ruining such an amazing piece of story with spoilers is just not worth it. Also, stay away from the Steam game feed. People on there do not care if they spoil the game for you, and will do so eagerly. This write-up, hoever, contains no spoilers, so don't be discouraged from reading it.)

Being such a naturally cynical person can be a very tough job.  Especially when, like me, you are trying to help do your small part in spreading the word about something fantastic. When something comes along that completely blows you away, and makes you rethink something you often take for granted, you want to share it. But you also don’t want to share it with the wrong person. You have to be careful. Even if you don’t care what the person actually thinks, you don’t want them to dislike something for the wrong reason (or because they just simply don’t understand it) and then possibly ruin it for others down the road who have the potential to enjoy it for what it really is. This is where being such a cynic is tough.

Just last night, I started and finished “To the Moon” from Freebird Games. It only took about 4 hours, beginning to end. And at the end, I have to admit… I felt like I had ripped off the developer by getting it for $4.99 during a Steam sale. This game, in 4 hours, gave me a better storyline than ANY film I have ever seen. And it did so for half the price of a Matinee ticket at my local movie theatre. Now, for some, that may not be saying much. Many of you know that one of the greatest advantages to using videogames as a storytelling medium is that they turn the primary viewer into a participant. You’re not sitting on your couch watching the end of the film as the characters ask “What’s in the box!?” You’re not a bystander as the humans resist their Machine oppressors.  Games are different. More involved.

            Now, that said, you may not feel like you actually are Solid Snake, and that you personally are defeating the renegade FOXHOUND unit on Shadow Moses Island. But you definitely felt like you were there helping him along. You experienced the twists and turns just the same. Some games, with character creation or a large number of characters and decisions, and multiple branching storylines and endings, help to enhance that feeling and move closer to making YOU feel like the protagonist, which is something movies just cannot do. The narrative is set, you don’t make any decisions. Sure, some movies have alternate endings, but unless you buy the $375 “Special Once-in-a-Lifetime, We Need More of Your Money Edition Blu-ray, DVD, Digital Copy and Toaster Combo Pack”, you may not even ever know about them. (Plus, they are usually crap, anyway.) Games can take an amazing story and make it better by (even if only superficially) bringing the viewer into the narrative to experience it. Not just to watch it. This means that simple things like a tough gun battle become much more than “Ooh, that's going to be tough for them”. You know how hard it is for the protagonists because you spend plenty of time cursing at a “Mission Failed” or “Game Over” screen as the game SHOWS you how hard it is. It’s something we may not think about, but these “Game Over” moments (no matter how much we hate them) can be used to help illustrate more accurately to a Player exactly what the characters are really going through. And even though these “deaths” may not be considered canon (as games have different ways of interpreting “game over” or character death), once you pass a mission that took you 47 tries, you will likely come out of it with a much clearer understanding of exactly how tough a battle it really was.

I told you that to tell you this. To the Moon is a work of art in every sense of the word. It literally felt, from beginning to end, like a masterpiece, but it had a strange way of not quite feeling like a game, either. It doesn't have an in-depth combat system, or rigid-body physics, or fluid-dynamics simulation, or full-face motion capture technology, or problem-solving artificial intelligence. And yet, it felt more real than any game I've played that DOES have those things. Instead of trying to simulate reality, this game takes something real, and puts it into a simulation. It takes a grounded, touching, heart-felt storyline, drops in a few science-fiction elements and (despite the fact that you are traversing a person’s dreams) still manages to stay in touch. It never loses you. And the one or two times where the science fiction gets a little out of hand, you likely won’t notice, because you’ll be so caught up in it that it won’t even matter. And, in a very rare occurrence in games, the comedy sprinkled throughout isn't out of place, and isn't forced. It feels just as natural as the rest of the game. Yes, it’s built in the RPG Maker engine. Yes, it has SNES-style 16-bit graphics. Yes, it feels like an RPG you likely played in 1994. Yes, the premise is a bit contrived. But none of that will matter. 

But I digress; let’s get back to my original point. It’s tough to be cynical sometimes. In part, because our job here is to critique; and I just can’t bring myself to say anything bad about this game. It’s not flawless as a game by any means. The controls are odd. Some of the game mechanics are a bit repetitive, and the puzzles, while a welcome addition, aren't exactly challenging and may be a little out-of-place. When you get right down to it, it’s only real downfall may be the fact that it’s only barely a game. Sort of like Heavy Rain. I loved Heavy Rain because David Cage understands what a great medium this is for conveying your story. The problem was that Heavy Rain was billed as an engaging, story-driven game. And it wasn't. It was an interactive movie. That’s not a bad thing; it’s just not what a lot of people were expecting when they bought it. The game attempted to bridge that gap between amazing storytelling and presentation in films with the interactivity of a game. My biggest complaint was that it was made up of quick-time events. I HATE quick-time events. I won’t say it failed at what it was attempting. I think it did that quite well (bad acting aside). It just needed to tell people what it was doing from the start and not attempt to disguise itself as a game first, story second.

To the Moon is doing the same thing. It’s taking an inspired, touching story, and presenting it to you in an interactive way that goes beyond simple “Click to advance to the next page”. So yes, it may not be much of a “game” per se, but we’re not Gamers here, we’re Players. And this game is worth playing, worth experiencing.

The other reason it’s tough to be cynical is that I desperately want a great many of my friends to play this game. But my cynicism tells me that too many of them will miss the point. They’ll skip the story and get bored. They’ll complain about the controls or the graphics. They won’t enjoy it because they just don’t want to. But I honestly think it’s better this way. This is the sort of thing that needs to be spread among the right people.

In conclusion: Play it. Please. If you agree with our concept here, and you agree that games are an evolution of storytelling, you owe it to yourself to experience this. I’ll warn you, it’s not a happy story. But it’s worth every minute. Also, the audio is flawless, a nice little melding of nostalgic sound effects that remind you of RPGs past and a perfectly executed, high-quality original soundtrack written by the game’s writer/director Kan R. Gao. So I suggest grabbing the game/soundtrack bundle as well.

Get it, play it. And, if you love it, share it. Buy and gift it to a Steam friend. Even after the sale, it’s only $10. Two copies of this and you still are only at 1/3 of what you would pay for any new blockbuster title. And I guarantee you this $20 investment will give two Players a better experience than any $60 game you can buy right now. Not to mention, it shows Kan R. Gao and his team at Freebird Games that you don’t need a huge studio, AAA publisher backing and a state-of-the-art game engine to make people happy.

Werehogging

I’ll assume that the majority of you have heard the term “jumped the shark” before, but I wonder how many of you know what it means or where it came from.

According to Wikipedia, “Jumping the shark is an idiom created by Jon Hein that is used to describe the moment in the evolution of a television show when it begins a decline in quality that is beyond recovery.” It was coined in 1977 in reaction to an episode of Happy Days where Fonzie literally jumped over a shark on a pair of water skis. At this point, the show had seemingly completely lost touch with itself and had become so ludicrous that to bring in viewers they had to resort to such charades as death-defying stunts.

An equivalent term has also been accepted for movies. “Nuking the fridge” is the point at which a movie is so ridiculous or out of touch that putting Indiana Jones in a refrigerator to survive a nuclear explosion becomes a thing that actually exists in film.

To get to the point of this article, there have been many cases of a video game jumping the shark, and many equivalent terms have been suggested, but haven’t really stuck. Here at PvG, I think we have the answer.

Werehogging.

Yes Werehogging, a term that I can barely type without grimacing a little. And in case you hadn’t figured it out yet, it refers to the game Sonic Unleashed for the PS3, Xbox 360 and, most notably, the Wii.

Sonic Unleashed is a 3D action platformer released in 2008 for our three favorite home consoles that features the lovable blue speedster, Sonic the Hedgehog. The day stages of the game combined 2D platforming sections, reminiscent of the Sonic games of old, and a new, fast-paced 3D Sonic experience, running appropriately on the “Hedgehog Engine” (except on the Wii), that put Sonic Adventure stages to shame. The game was fast, the controls were good, the music was decent (although a new Crush 40 track would have been nice) and it became what later Sonic games would use as the basis of their gameplay.

Unfortunately, if there is day, there must also be night. See, at the beginning of the game you watch a cut scene of Sonic obliterating Dr. Eggman’s space fleet and transforming into Super Sonic to assumedly capture him. However, when Sonic catches up to him in the bowels of his flagship, Eggman flips a switch that activates a trap, capturing Sonic, draining him of his power, stealing the Chaos Emeralds, and, you guessed it, turning him into a werewolf.

(Image belongs to Tyson Heese)

I’m generally pretty accepting of new gameplay mechanics or twists in the storylines of my favorite franchises (I’m looking at you Wind Waker), and oftentimes these changes can make games more enjoyable than a copy paste of the last installment (I’m looking at you New Super Mario Bros. U), but if the Werehog levels of Sonic Unleashed were the least bit “fun” or “innovative”, then it wouldn’t be a contender, and our pick, for the video game equivalent of jumping the shark.

To begin, and I suppose this is just nitpicking, the word werewolf comes from the Old English wer for man, and wulf for wolf. So in this regard (which is the only regard, mind you), calling Sonic a Werehog is akin to calling him a man-hedgehog, which is definitely not what the game is trying to convey. Maybe they thought Hogwolf sounded stupid, who knows? Regardless, that’s not what earned Sonic Unleashed a jumping the shark award.

What did was the gameplay of the Werehog stages. While Sonic is usually known for his blazing speed and levels filled with loops, pinball machine mechanics and easily trounced enemies, what he is not normally thought of is slow, lumbering or stretchy. In the Werehog stages of Sonic Unleashed you play as Sonic, transformed by the visible moonlight (not even a full moon, unless this alternate earth has a perpetually full moon) into a hulking, snarling, hairy shell of his former self. Your main abilities consist of swinging both or either of your long, stretchy arms at enemies to dispatch them, picking them up to beat the others with and using said arms to traverse obstacles like pitfalls.

Now at this point, you may be thinking, “Well, that doesn’t sound so bad, it sounds like a normal 3D hack and slash/beat ‘em up game”, but you’d be wrong. The game still puts an emphasis on beating these levels as fast as possible without giving you any sense of speed whatsoever, and the limited abilities you have as the Werehog get stale before the first stage is over. The only rewarding part of playing these levels is that you unlock more day stages afterwards (and progress the plot I suppose).

Oh, did I mention? Dr. Eggman used the power of the Chaos Emeralds to awaken the spirit of the earth, who subsequently broke it into five or so floating chunks, so that he could build his secret base/laboratory/amusement park “Eggmanland”. Almost par for the course, but I still fail to see what this has to do with lycanthropy.

One more thing, if you play the superior version on the PS3 or Xbox 360, you’ll get better day stages that make up about two thirds of the game while only having to endure the Werehog portions for the remaining third. If you play the Wii version, you’ll not only be playing as the Werehog half of the game, you’ll also be forced to use motion controls to swing Sonic’s big, stupid arms around (unless you play with a Gamecube controller, but that’s cheating, right?). Try getting an S rank on that stage now, sucker.

This is the end of my rant, and while I’ll submit that other games have Werehogged their stories or plots worse than Sonic Unleashed, none that I can think of have Werehogged their gameplay quite as badly.

If you disagree, tell us what you think in the comments.

Esky out.