"Zombi" for PS4 Greatly Underwhelms

Talk about A Let-Down

I remember when I heard about the game that sounded like the one reason I would buy a WiiU outside of enjoying Mario and Smash Brothers titles. "ZombiU." It sounded like an amazingly fun time, for sure. Utilizing the WiiU Pad as your backpack on a second-screen, navigating a London plagued by Zombies, and the crazy-cool idea of how when your character dies they actually are gone, and you have to go find them as a new person to get your backpack--by destroying the now-zombie former-you. It sounded so fun back in 2012, and when I heard it was coming out on the new consoles finally I was pumped, even though I knew it would a good deal different (after all, we don't have a video-pad for the PS4 or Xbox One). Still, I didn't know I would be so badly disappointed.

I think some of the fault for my disliking, "Zombi," as it is now called, may stem from how other games have come along and done better what it did those three-ish years ago. "State of Decay," for the Xbox 360 and the retooled-version of the Xbox One came along and introduced an exciting dynamic of having various characters in a group struggling to survive a zombie apocalypse. This involved scavenging for supplies, and sure enough if one member of your team dies you can no longer play as them, instead having to engage in controlling another member of the camp who goes and kills the newly-zombified other individual to gain their supplies. So, that's one cool dynamic replicated by a different game in an even better way.

The game isn't ugly. It just isn't that good-looking either.

When it comes to exploration, I can point to one game that is amazing fun to climb around and traverse the world of--it is called, "Dying Light," and while it isn't perfect, it has the excitement of exploring an open world down well. Yes, the plot of, "Dying Light," is pretty awful, but in case you were wondering, "Zombi," isn't much better with its story of ancient conspiracies and such coming back into the modern age to wreak havoc. Also, "Zombi," already had so-so graphics back in 2012 so despite some textures getting cleaned-up it ain't like the game is particularly pretty to gawk at (and I am by no means obsessed with good graphics, but they can help ease the sting of a mediocre game).

As for the actual combat compared to other games...it's pretty awful. While, "State of Decay," could be annoying to fight in and, "Dying Light," had satisfying melee combat despite the annoyance of weapons easily falling apart, "Zombi,"just feels awkward and unsatisfying when it comes to thwacking characters with a cricket-bat (or other instrument) and shooting a weapon. The combat just lacks the punchy feeling or other games where when you smack someone upside the head it looks and feels like it has some serious impact.

"Dying Light," just does it better. With, "it," being basically everything.

Perhaps if I had played, "Zombi," back on its original console when it first came out I would have been more impressed, as there are plenty of games I loved when they were new but which haven't aged well. As it is though, "Zombi" for me has just proven to be a massive let-down and twenty bucks wasted considering I got maybe five-dollars worth of entertainment overall. Considering how there are so many zombie-themed games, and a number of those are at least marginally better than this, I would just keep scrolling along when you see this on the digital store for your console. There are simply better ways to spend your money.
2 out of 5 stars.

Links and Commentary, From Me, To You, Because That's What the People Need

Hey, you. Yeah, you right there. 
You know what you need? What, cheaper car insurance? Guess again. A healthier diet? Maybe, but that's not it either. Give up guessing, because I'm just gonna tell you, you need some links! Why do you need various internet stories that aren't written by me but which I feel are worth looking at? Um...is, "Because I said so," a valid answer? If it is, then that's why. Now enjoy these articles with my bit of commentary attached to them!

Here are the Links!
Awesome artist Jock is going to do a Wolverine story in one of the character's comics with a really strange future-plot that is out of continuity (thereby allowing him to do whatever he wants)? I'm in, I'm so in.

I've already expressed disappointment with the Xbox One, but to be fair I was negative when all that bad stuff happened to be little more than rumors. Well, now its been confirmed what is true, and I can say with 99% certainty I have no plans of ever getting an Xbox One. Why? Perhaps because as this article says, it is one big gift to video-game publishers. I have to connect to the internet at least every 24 hours, with my occasionally-spotty internet? Plus, publishers can make it so I can't resell a game (and you know most of them probably will do that)? Yeah, I'm not down with that at all, and that's just two problems, although at least the new Kinect turned out to not be as creepy as was initially feared (watching, always watching). As I've said, assuming Sony doesn't royally screw things up too, I'll be getting a PlayStation 4--of course, not right away, I'll probably give it a year to get the bugs worked out and for a price drop to occur, I'm thrifty like that.

Apparently our US Government could be spying on us. I mean, this wasn't exactly news when we learned Bush was doing it, but seeing as how Obama criticized him for domestic-surveillance of this sort isn't it a tad hypocritical he now is just saying, "Hey, don't worry about it, I promise this is just to stop terrorists!" Yeah, I feel reaaalllll safe.

After  something as depressing as the Xbox One and the Government potentially spying on us I think we need something cute to help us feel better. Here is a picture of a turtle with a crocheted outfit that makes him look like Bowser.

An Avengers team led by Luke Cage (which has sort of happened before) and with a majority of characters who aren't white males but in fact people of color or women? That sounds quite awesome. The only problem is the horrendous Greg Land is doing the art, but I guess nothing can be perfect. Now if Marvel just actually had any black folk writing for them maybe we could be even more positive.

It's interesting to think how less than two decades ago the idea of Sega having their games on any console other than their own was outlandish. Now you've got a temple-run styled Sonic game for i-devices and the indie-gaming darling Ouya will have the blue hedgehog's adventures too. I still remember the joy I felt playing my Dreamcast and all its superb games. God, I feel old now.

Paul Jenkins does not have very good things to say about DC and their treatment of creators. Plus he has some problems with Marvel, but he seems not as upset with them as he is understanding. I've enjoyed some of his past stuff and am liking "Deathmatch" so I wish him well in his new exclusivity contract with BOOM.

I think I should be embarrassed that I've started watching "The Real Housewives of Orange County"  recently (nothing else was on TV except for a marathon of it and now I'm intrguied). However, I felt it was better to admit it in public rather than hide it with shame as I did back when I occasionally would watch, "The Real Housewives of Atlanta". I mean, its not as bad as "Princesses: Long Island" which just had its series premiere Sunday...and which I also plan to continue watching. Yeah, you probably think I'm a terrible person for loving trashy television, I know.

I've been playing "State of Decay" a lot since it came out Wednesday, and enjoy it quite a bit. I hadn't turned my Xbox 360 on in awhile so it was good to see it still runs  I should post a review perhaps, but until then this review by Joystiq summarizes both the good and bad in the game pretty well, even if I think they rate it a bit harsher than needed. By the way, the game is download-only so if you have one of those aforementioned folk with spotty internet service be warned. On the plus side, it is just 20 dollars so give the limited-time trial a go and if you like it I'd say its worth the purchase.

Oh, and lastly, DC announced how they apparently are doing something called "Villains Month (which is sorely lacking in a needed apostrophe)" where their comics will be "taken over" by various bad-guys in the DC universe. This is all being done as what appear to be one-shots that will relate to some mini-series called, "Forever Evil". I'll probably formulate a response to the whole thing when there is more information about it from DC besides, "Look at all these books with villains, isn't that cool?"

Those Were the Links!
You should feel quite inundated with news about politics, video-games, comics, and  junk-T.V. Oh, plus I had that cute picture of a turtle all dressed-up. My point basically is that there is a lot going on in the world, and it can be hard to keep up with it. The key is to just try to read as much as possible so you can be at least moderately informed on the planet's going-ons. After all, ignorance may be bliss, but knowledge is power...or something like that.