I will do a full review in my usual format after I have (hopefully) reached the last level - but I have to put up some comments right now after playing "Zombified" for over 30 minutes.
For me this game is the surprise of 2011 and everyone in the midst of developing/planning/imagining his own game should not only play, but study it.
Thread after thread I have to endure self-dillusional loudmouths praising their WIPs (mostly for some fancy screenshots), which rarely produce anything and if, then its mostly boring and annoying at the same time.
And then comes “Zombified” , a 9(!)-level game, where the developer humbly explains, that his game has no real story is full of bugs and says literally
Quote: "but try to bear with it, if you can"
.
In fact I didn’t expect much – but I found myself eagerly replaying the game from level 1 after my first death in level 5.
Yes, there are bugs - like the “radioactive zombie ghosts”. Yes, there are design mistakes – like scattered debris that has no explanation why it lies around in a most decorative way. Yes, there are unrealistic things – like sidewalks that aren’t raised. Yes, there is the usual laziness – like using the same bunch of vehicles over and over although there are more than 20 available for free. Yes, picking up keys and weapons is as old as it can get.
But at the same time the story is believable – paper thin, but not thinner than the start of “28 Days Later”. And the levels, both interior and exterior, feel right while the player travels through them – despite all the mistakes made. Even the simple “find weapons-get keys-shoot zombies”routine is surprisingly motivating. But why?
It’s the same as with some of those 50.000 $ independent movies, you end up watching several times. Although the shortcomings and limitations are obvious, the movie is still exciting and entertaining. And knowing how “cheap” it was produced, even adds a certain charm and you cannot help but admire the few things that did work out perfectly.
And the one thing that
did work out in “Zombified” is the flow of the game, which in my opinion is one of the key elements.
- Before each level, the loading screen tells in short words a) the players situation, b) his surroundings, c) his immediate goal and even d) how he feels.
- The level design surrogates that there is a whole city outside the players reach, cleverly masking the map borders, providing extra rooms or passages to the main path.
- Level after level the threat rises (with a belivablel explanation behind), while at the same time the player has a feeling of progress.
- The varied surroundings look and feel realistic enough to create a certain level of immersion
- The placement and AI of the Zombies keeps the player constantly alerted and the combat is balanced enough to provide a sense of achievement.
Although the elements are all simple, the game never gets boring and that “I want to see what’s in the next level” feeling comes back after each one.
For me “Zombified” is the prove, that to have a game with the necessary degree of playing value it’s not about putting a shader on everything, copy AAA title game mechanics, creating overrealistic weapons or bringing the engine to its very limits. “Zombified” is simply clever level design, balanced gameplay and solid player motivation and that makes it work.
This is my favourite view in the game so far:
The black skybox and lighting disctract from identifying the map borders, the depth of the map sucesfully feigns freedom of movement and the lit rooms in the opposite building clearly mark the next target of the player. It's a movielike shot with the player standing in the frightening dark and the well-lit building opposite promising safety.
In fact the screenshot (taken by me) looks quite boring and wouldn't get much clicks on the TCG site. But thats the secret folks: Fancy-schmancy screenshots are completely worthless if there is no working game behind the shaders
In case you find my grammar and spelling weird ---> native German speaker ^^
