Over the last weekend I played the game 5 times and here is my review:
That’s how my reviews usually start, but it’s not true for “Doomed: Alive for now" - the truth is, that I’ve played the game 15-20 times during the last 14 months.
In fact “Doomed: Alive for now” is a remake of “Doomed” (WIP thread from the 10th January 2012:
http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=193097&b=25 ) which is a remake of “Disturbing Silence:Chapter One” (WIP thread from the 13th April 2011:
http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=183986&b=25 )
So finally here is my review:
The Good
- Game Menu
It’s custom, it’s bloody, it’s zombie. Fits perfectly.
- Multiple levels
Its always nice to play more than one level and hiding weapons and ammo in each one motivates the player and rises the replay value.
- Light switches
Finally seeing light switches and desk-lamps that can be turned on, is a welcome addition that is not only fun but also makes the environment more realistic.
The Bad (Don’t know where to start…)
- Lighting
The dynamic lights are nice, but the ambience in lvl 1 is terrible. It’s neither natural nor effective gamewise, it’s just dull – and it looks nothing like “morning”. The level needs either a pitch black skybox or 15-25 more ambience. Still there should be some lightsources along the road, which would make the level look so much better. The same goes for lvl 2, and all interiors in lvl 3 except for the (mostly) missing dynamic lights.
- Level design
The interiors are extremely unrealistic. Interiors with much too less furniture and lots of weirdness (p.e. the see-through stairs with unreachable space in the starting home, the wall hole to the shotgun room in lvl 1 or the oversized fire stairs in lvl 3). The exteriors are even worse with a complete lack of realism (no lightpoles, traffic lights, signs etc.) and visible borders that cry:
"There is NOTHING beyond this point! This is the EDGE!". In lvl 2 you can even jump of the map easily. The fires in the lvl 3 interiors are so illogical it hurts, because fire in a building SPREADS – it doesn’t just burn like in a cozy fireplace….
-Scripting
In lvl 1 you are immediately transported to lvl 2 when you pick up the keys in the starting home. If you approach the car in lvl 1 you are also transported to lvl 2 even if you haven’t got the keys
-Enemies
Slow Zombies, Fast Zombies, Gore Pack Hounds and Virus Outbreak Creatures….I understand that in a laboratory setting but a zombie outbreak? Why this weird mixture? And please no one tell me its
“the part of the story that’s not fully developed yet” – if any creatures are not explained although they need to be, retire them! But worse is, that in level 2 ALL enemies are stuck at their spawning place and easily killable/avoidable.
- Text messages
A “What was that?” followed by a “What is that” is not really dramatizing things. And to all messages in all games going like “Holy sh*t!” let me say this: You are NOT a cool message, you are NOT funny, comical etc, you are just immature and unnecessary. Please stay out of games that do not feature the “Duke” himself.
The Ugly
- Hands
Knife hands from one model pack and firearm hands from another model pack? It can’t be so hard to decide. It shouldn't.
- Bodies
Some are ragdolled and remain, others don’t ragdoll and some just vanish. That’s unnecessarily sloppy.
- Trigger Zones
They are playing the stock sound when you enter them. Noooooo.....
Taking in account that this game is under development for over a year, has eaten up the 3rd WIP thread already and still remains unchanged in some areas that needed improvement in the last download 6 months ago, I have to downgrade the rating on my personal demo scale to a just so 1.5 out of 5 and I’d call it “an example for that sometimes you just have to ditch a game that’s been under development for too long and start from scratch again”.
A personal word to the developer: I see that your goal is to create an enjoyable, motivating, exciting zombie survivial game and I am sure you are capable of achieving this. Seriously. But I think this game is stuck in so many ways, that improving it is more work than doing a clean slate and start all over. I can offer to assist you with scripting things like level transitions and text message scripts that explain and drive the story forward. And I am willing to playtest any new demo prior to release. Just send me a mail.
In case you find my grammar and spelling weird ---> native German speaker ^^