ZombiU: Why Ubisoft's Divisive Wii U Launch Title Is Misunderstood

 ZombiU is a misunderstood game. The exclusive launch title from Ubisoft Montpelier for Nintendo‘s new Wii U console has garnered some divisive critical reaction. While it shouldn’t be heralded as the second coming of survival horror the point is that ZombiU is survival horror, a genre which has been diluted and, in many circles, completely forgotten.

I’m not here to suggest that reviewers who pan the game are wrong, but I am suggesting that their expectations might be.

In ZombiU your player character is tasked with surviving a zombie outbreak in London and nothing more. Aside from multiplayer bullet points, the game’s packaging further drives this home. In its heyday (think Resident Evil 1 and 2, Silent Hill) survival horror titles gave the player no false illusions of being an invincible soldier or fearless bad-ass.

 

Unlike modern day shooters, classic survival horror games didn’t empower the player; rather, they removed all hope and made sheer survival the ultimate success. Some survival horror purists would even argue that handing the player any weapon whatsoever dilutes the experience.

Several reviews of ZombiU fault the game for its clunky, lumbering combat. My response is this: Why should a zombie apocalypse be fun? Your avatar doesn’t have military training and is utterly clueless about the chaotic world around them. Their accuracy with firearms gradually increases throughout the game, but fumbling with a pistol while being forced to execute your former self to reclaim your precious inventory (players who are bitten turn into one of the infected, and retain all the items they died with) seems par for the course.

Remember to use your weapon to shove a zombie away if you're low on bullets. The two seconds it gains you means the difference between life and death.

Another complaint leveled at Ubisoft seems to be the game’s scarcity of ammo and its reliance on a cricket bat as weapon of choice. The lack of ammunition isn’t sloppy game design, it’s purposeful game design.

Giving the player buckets of ammo detracts from the importance of survival, and negates the satisfaction gained from achieving said survival. And the crack of a firearm in an eerily silent alley isn’t exactly zombie repellant. Using a flare to distract a group of walkers away from you is a more viable strategy than diving in guns blazing.

Yes, you’ll be bludgeoning hundreds of zombies with a cricket bat, and it will take anywhere from 3 to 7 hits to finally put them down. This isn’t the weapons buffet you’ll be treated to in games like Black Ops 2; this is “reality.” It’s repetitive, it’s visceral, and it’s necessary. Combat is the hallmark of a first person shooter like Call of Duty, not a survival horror game like ZombiU.

The question I hear you asking is: “So what is fun about this game? Why should I play it?” The answer is in the Wii U’s GamePad — for all intents and purposes your survival kit. At times you’ll use it (with the risk of attracting zombies with light) to scan the environment for items of interest. Tension mounts as you fumble through your virtual backpack for the right item. In other instances you’ll hack electronic doors in real-time with zombie hordes fast approaching at your back. Inventory management, sniping, weapons crafting, and radar round out its many uses.  

To put it another way, the enjoyment comes via the challenges presented to the player. How you choose to tackle them, and the inherent satisfaction that comes with successfully surviving, is ZombiU’s crowning achievement. Hours into the game, I still feel chills shoot down my spine at every zombie encounter because my survival is anything but guaranteed.

Ubisoft has aimed ZombiU squarely at core gamers, and especially at fans of old-school survival horror. Don’t pick up this Wii U launch title if you’re expecting a snappy shooter along the lines of Left 4 Dead, and don’t trust reviews with that expectation either. 

Author’s Note: Impressions of ZombiU are based on a copy purchased at retail with personal funds.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2012/11/20/zombiu-why-ubisofts-divisive-wii-u-launch-title-is-misunderstood/

Agree with the article.

It's odd that people complain about RE loosing it's surivival horror aspects and then turn around an critisize a game that is build around core survival horror.

Surprisingly sensible gaming article from Forbes... And I don't expect game journalism from Forbes, either.

But this is also the same impression I have been getting of ZombiU from all of these reviews.

Seems to me like three people 'misunderstood' the poll as well...

Surely, 75% of all who have played the game could not possibly be displeased with it?

Never put a poll for an exclusive title, people can lie very easily in polls.

Haven't played the game, so I can't say if it's good or not, but the game is currently at 74 on metacritic. I personally expected higher (do to high expectations on my part), but it's a decent score for a new IP and a launch game no less. According to critics it's better than RE 6 :p

This game is getting good reception from Mii verse community. It's obvious that bias is present in the review.

i dont doubt ZombiU is a great game, i really have dounts about profesional journalists ability to understand what makes a good game