Hands-On Preview: ZombiU

As you’ll read from our thoughts below, ZombiU was very popular at the demo event we attended. There wasn’t a period of time of longer than 5 minutes where someone wasn’t travelling around London, having fun killing zombies.

Jason’s Thoughts:

“Out of all the Wii U games at the event, ZombiU was the odd one out. The mature style of the game just didn’t seem to fit with the pack, and that’s a good thing. By having such a mature title, it shows that Nintendo is willing to cater to all genres, even survival horror. While the combat with ZombiU may have been pretty basic, it was done well. Pulling off headshots was a lot of fun and getting surrounded by a pack of zombies was very tense.

Sadly, I got bit pretty quickly on my first playthrough and died. Really died. Instead of just restarting the checkpoint, the game searched for another survivor around London and put me in the shoes of a woman. It was really cool to have each life mean something and this had me becoming more careful than I normally would in any other game. As for the Wii U GamePad, it works in very smart ways: looting recently downed zombies, zooming in with the sniper rifle, managing your inventory, and numerous other actions.

All in all, I really enjoyed the demo. If you want a mature game to play when you pick up your Wii U later this year, ZombiU will definitely be it.”

Roland’s Thoughts:

“I didn’t get a lot of time to try ZombiU, as it was easily the most popular game at the demonstration. From what I did see, the game looks like it has a lot going for it. It’s emphasis on methodical exploration and survival over frantic zombie slaying is a welcome change. The Wii U GamePad is great here–I love the idea of using it to constantly display the player’s inventory, and it’s fun to use as a camera to scan the ravaged environments. If that wasn’t enough, the death mechanic sounds like it’s going to be a real blast. When you die in ZombiU, it’s permanent. You become a zombie and join the hordes already peppering London. The game continues, only you’ve now taken control of a new survivor with fresh equipment. If you want your old stuff back, you’re going to have to kill your previous incarnation and loot the body. Or, one of your friends can do it for you, as ZombiU will send an update online informing them of your infection. My time with the game was short, but sweet; I’m really looking forward to it.”