ZombiU: Good Cop / Bad Cop

ZombiU was one of the surprise hits of this year's E3. A return to classic survival horror gameplay, it makes extensive use of the Wii U controller's screen and shows Ubisoft is serious about supporting Nintendo's new platform. But is it really going to be a great game, or were gamers just excited to see something that isn't a sequel?

IGN Australia's Lucy O'Brien and Cam Shea have both played the game, but came away with contrasting opinions. They battle it out in another classic IGN AU Good Cop / Bad Cop debate...

Good Cop Lucy: As you know Cam, I am a massive survival horror fan. My love for the genre knows no bounds. Well actually it does; I played Silent Hill: Homecoming. But as we all know, it’s a genre on its knees, long overtaken by balls-out action clamoring for our attention spans. Remember when the scares in video games came from what we couldn’t see? Remember when we weren’t ultra-powered space marines with muscle to spare, but weedy everymen? Remember that frantic scramble past packs of zombies to reach that single green plant?

Luckily for me, a bunch of good folk at Ubisoft remember all that stuff too, and are currently developing something remarkable on the new Wii U tech – a game that actually evokes our sense of dread. The use of the Wii U controller as both a useful tool and a means to put your character into a vulnerable position is a killer blow to our senses, and I found myself terrified despite the fact I was surrounded by a bunch of media and a Ubisoft rep who politely ignored my loud swearing. I caught up with you later that day, sure we were going to riff gleefully on ZombiU’s virtues, only to find the game left you cold. What gives?

Bad Cop Cam: It's not that I hated ZombiU, more that I found the demo resolutely mediocre. I agree that there's a lot of potential for tension in the inventory mechanic, which leaves the player vulnerable while they rifle through their backpack on the Wii U tablet screen, or pick items off a corpse, but the gameplay itself was too predictable for this tension to ever come to fruition. I didn't ever feel I was doing anything I haven't done before, so whether it was zombies shambling towards me on the post apocalyptic city streets or zombies lurching at me in the darkness of a dank basement, it just didn't get my blood pumping. I may be way off, but I wonder whether the fact that the traditional survival horror genre is "on its knees" means you're willing to cut this a lot more slack than I am. For me, very little about the E3 demo seemed particularly fresh or compelling.

Even what is arguably the game's most interesting feature - the fact that the player starts afresh as a new survivor when they die - isn't something that I think is necessarily going to work that well. On the one hand, I like the idea that you'll have to find the zombie version of your former self to retrieve your stuff. This should make for some incredibly tense sequences. On the other, it's still really 'gamey'. I can see waking up over and over again in the safe house, then - essentially - teleporting back to the start of the area you died in, getting old really fast. Are all these survivors just lining up outside the safe house? Twiddling their thumbs waiting for their turn? Ubisoft is selling this as something unique - no checkpoints and no game over screens, but the system effectively is just another form of checkpoint… with infinite lives and more time required to get back into the action.

There's also the potential for horrendous bottlenecks where the player dies in a situation that's going to take a lot of attempts to get through. Oh great, I'm back in the safe house. I'm all for making it challenging, but this is going to have to be balanced really tightly to work. I also thought it was interesting that the team has said that survivors gain 'skills' the longer they last. When a survivor dies, you can retrieve their stuff, but not their skills. This may make sense, but - again - could be a source of frustration and feel overly punitive. Am I missing the point?

Good Cop Lucy: It’s a pity you found the gameplay mediocre. I agree that my love of the genre could have meant I was more ready, more open, to being scared, but I found the careful dispersion of zombies and claustrophobic environments absolutely terrifying. So while the demo may not have been ‘fresh’ as you say, it struck me as very finely-tuned. And that’s not taking into account the implementation of the gamepad.

I’m sure Ubisoft will build a narrative wrapper around the survivors being re-spawned, and considering you re-spawn as a whole new person, losing your skills whenever you die makes sense. And it’s a brilliant punishment, too, as the finality of every playthrough demands a hugely considered approach. I don’t know about you, but I was moving forward at a snail’s pace, taking into account every part of the map, every corner of my current surroundings and nerve-jangling groan in the background. In this sense the game can be compared to Dark Souls, another game where achievement feels more euphoric thanks to punishing mechanics. ZombiU’s online integration – where you can encounter other zombified-survivors – also echoes Namco’s title, their presence acting as both a warning and a threat. Isn’t it time for more games where greater punishment offers greater reward?

The best backpack management sim ever?

Bad Cop Cam: Sure, and hopefully the development team can make the most of it. I just worry that the kind of game design where dying actually punishes the player - or is something to be avoided at all costs - and this particular game may not gel that well. Survival is a reward for skilled play, but this is a horror experience built on manipulating the world around the player to surprise and scare them, as opposed to giving players a lot of choice in how they're going to play, thereby putting survival on them in no uncertain terms. Survival horror games need things jumping out at the player, they need claustrophobic environments where there's very little room to move, they need weapons and ammo to be scarce. Do you think it would be fair for ZombiU to, say, drop the player into an enclosed space with five zombies, then punish them for failing to find the door quickly enough, or having the wrong weapon equipped? That's what's going to happen, and the fine line between fair and frustration will be crossed - particularly if you lose something significant as a result. Compare this to a game like Diablo III and its hardcore mode. A hardcore character's death is permanent, but players with skill and a deep understanding of the game mechanics will be able to survive. Such are the options available to the player that if they die, it's pretty much their own fault.

I'm getting a little sidetracked here, however, as we don't yet know what skills the player will earn in ZombiU, and thus what will be at stake. I will say, however, that you very clearly played through the demo in the spirit of the game more than I did. I assumed I'd be able to take on whatever the game threw at me, so wandered about hitting zombies with cricket bats then shooting them in the face with relative abandon. If death had been permanent in the demo I would have played it differently, but instead I wasn't too worried about dying, because hey, I wanted to see how the safe house mechanic worked, anyway. This obviously means it was stripped of a lot of its atmosphere, and is probably the reason it felt so unremarkable. I just wasn't doing anything all that interesting. Shooting zombies? Done it a million times. Finding a key card to open a locked door? Ditto. Finding medicine for some dude? Yawn. Being forced to step on a burnt section of floor that I know is going to collapse then having it collapse? C'MON!?

Did any of the uses for the Wii's second screen - aside from backpack management - excite you? Lockpicking? Scanning the environment?

Dying on work's Stupid Hat Day... how embarrassing.

Good Cop Lucy: I understand your concerns regarding ZombiU’s ‘survive at all costs’ pillar, but the game isn’t quite as ruthless as you’re suggesting. The game always presents the player with a variety of options, so it’s up to you to decide if you’re going to crouch in a darkened corner, hands over your ears while mumbling the national anthem, or if you’re going to quickly scan the room, bolt towards some ammo and carve your way through. At one point during my E3 playthrough I was totally overwhelmed by a horde and seemingly trapped without an escape route or ammo, and my first instinct was to back into a wall and more or less crucify myself. But somehow – and honestly, I experienced an inexplicable zen - I put some space between the horde and myself, enough to spot some obstructed stairs. Anyone who’s played a Resident Evil or Dead Island will know that the top of a flight of stairs are your friend, particularly when you have a cricket bat. Sure, it’s not a great example of rewarding knowledge of comprehensive game mechanics, but it’s a great example of the minute-to-minute challenge to keep your sh*t together. In this regard, the player takes total ownership over the outcome.

And while I wasn’t thrilled by lockpicking and scanning the environment as singular experiences, I did enjoy the way they helped gel the experience together into something more cohesive. It’s a tactile thing, nothing more, but having an actual 'toolkit' in your hands helps immerse you in the game, doesn’t it? For me, that immersion has always been the appeal of the Wii U’s second screen. And ultimately, I think it’s exciting to see Ubisoft doing new things with the tech. They’re paving the way for other publishers, and they’re being bold with their experimentation. For that reason alone, I’m glad ZombiU exists.

(Not Particularly) Bad Cop Cam: Here's hoping I got the wrong impression. This game definitely has potential, and while the demo didn't excite me a great deal, there's no doubt that there are some good ideas here. I liked the sequence, for instance, when you encounter that teleporting mini-boss and the feed to your "prepper" (the player's guide, essentially) is cut. Suddenly the second screen's only showing static and your ties to everything you've been relying on is gone. Doesn’t necessarily make a great deal of sense, but it shakes things up nicely.

Coming back to the parallels with Dark Souls, you can also leave messages on walls for other players that are only visible using a black light pick-up you get at some point. I should also mention that when you finish the game you unlock Nightmare mode, where you have just the one survivor. I've already voiced my concerns about this, but that's a good addition if they can make it work. And last but not least, I also agree it's great to see Ubisoft taking a leadership position with Wii U and creating a game that isn't based on an existing franchise. Fingers crossed you make me eat my words later this year!

Source : ign[dot]com