31 replies to this topic

[+remixedcat]

[HawkMan]

remixedcat, on 24 December 2012 - 04:57, said:

and the purpose of this ?

DirtyLarry, on 24 December 2012 - 04:56, said:

I think anyone who already owns other consoles and picks up a WiiU will find it to be a good console. Even a very good console. But anyone looking for it to be their main console, well, they may very well be disappointed.

Pretty much.
As for ZombiU, that would depend on the person actually liking that kind of game though, it's a fairly niche audience in reality.

[notuptome2004]

once thing i know from reviews and and what not Zombie brings back the survival horror in a real good way as your always in sense of danger because you dont know when you may or may not be attacked while your looking through your survival kit and such and unlike other zombie games it is more slow paced it seems .

i shal Quote dirty larry on his comment on Zombie U fromt he ZU thread


Quote:
I have to say from what I have played, it seems like for some awful reason this game is not being understood by some of the gaming press. I just cannot see how anyone could really give it a negative review. The game is pretty damn awesome IMHO.

The use of the WiiU's GamePad in this game is about as good of a use that I can possibly imagine a launch title having, and honestly I think it is probably going to go down as one of the overall better uses of the GamePad period. It is without a doubt an enhancement and an extension to the gameplay, and hardly ever feels gimmicky. The only corny use of it so far has been planks on doors, in which you have to tap to remove them. Everything else makes perfect sense. The inventory management element, you look down when you loot most corpses and cabinets, it also is the environment scanner... All of these elements really make great use of the GamePad itself. And they do add a level of tension to the game as well.

ZombiU is very much a CLASSIC survival horror game IMO as it is at times slow and deliberate. This to me is what makes it so damn good actually. It treats the genre as it used to be before it got taken over by trying to be action adventure games as well. In this regards it reminds me some of Silent Hill 1-3. It is also pretty damn brutal as far as just how easy it is to die. One misstep can and does lead to death. There are some infuriating instances early on you will probably die a whole lot in fact. It was those instances however that helped me change my overall approach to the game. This is another great aspect of the game to me. It makes no apologies for things. You do not move on until you figure out a better way. This is another nod to how games used to handle things... there really is not a whole lot of hand holding.

Perhaps the largest critique I read on the negative reviews was the combat felt clunky. This is no doubt the element I think some people are just not getting. The combat being "clunky" is very much deliberate. Call Of Duty style of gameplay this game certainly is not. It is, again, methodical. You are not powerful (at least not within the first 3 hours), and the combat reminds you of this fact. You have to be smart with things. Going in guns blazing so to speak is not going to work. You have to survey the situation, and actually come up with a plan. One that usually consists of things like finding the best area to fight from. And actually taking the time to close doors and barricade them. It is no doubt a thinking mans game, at least to get the most out of it.

I really feel this is probably one of the better survival horror video games to come out in quite some time. It is pretty damn unforgiving, and truly creates a tensions filled atmosphere where you are on edge most of the time.

So I realize not a lot of people will probably be able to even comment about playing the game, as it does not appear that we have a ton of people here on the forum that did pick up a WiiU. Only a handful. To that handful though, I strongly encourage you to pick up this game if you have not done so already. It is definitely a very unique experience overall, I also think for fans of the survival horror genre it is pretty much a must play, and it really is a great example of the WiiU's GamePad being used to enhance a game overall.


And then a Gamesite review from Kotakus Quote : WHY: A horror game that's actually scary. A survival game that's tough to survive. A first-person Demon's Souls with zombies that uses the Wii U's controller better than any other Wii U launch game So.. why not?.

[HawkMan]

I don't necessarily agree with a lot of that though.

Firstly on the clunky combat, sorry but combat doesn't need to be clunky or bad for difficulty, that's just bad design.

As for the controller, I don't really agree that is the best use of the controller of any game, I don't even agree that it's good use of it at all. In fact I think it's terrible usage. What they have done is moved stuff that would work just as well on the screen to the controller. For no good reason other than gimmick, and if that's all game devs are going to do, then the pad will not be anything other than a gimmick. Good use of the pad is Mario U, great use of the pad is RayMan, even if I don't agree with the all the elements there either, at least it does something unique.

What you use the pad for in zombi u, could be done just as well or better, with an onscreen semi transparent inventory that doesn't pause, like other games already do, so this element contrary to claims of reviewers, is not original or unique.

But I like the game and it's only on the wii u, however if it was on another console and used an onscreen non pause inventory, I'd probably pick that. Same thing with colonial marines. They just are me out of the game for no good reason, to do things that can already be done just as good or better and more immersely on the screen. That turns them into gimmick territory.

[HawkMan]

So I got off from work and have put in my first few minutes of ZombiU.

and yeah, cool game, but the pad usage feels unecessary and would have been better done on screen. but it doesn't take much away from the game. though there are some annoyances, like the fact that I can't close the loot screen with B. even when the loot is empty I have to drag up. and while I understand the "purpose". the purpose is stupid and not a good enough reason.

Also not sure why when using a club weapon I have to use two buttons to hit with it, but whatever,

[notuptome2004]

Well if they had everything done on the big screen then it take you out of the game cause the game would pause while your looking at your survival pouch kit or what ever your looting and thus make the imminent danger go away because you could always just pause the game to loot and adjust things how ya wanted for an up coming zombie you see with everything done on the GP your focus has shifted some and you may just might forge about the zombies that could come from anywhere . Now for the Combat it is done the way it is for a reason YOU the player in the game the person you are in the game has no combat or survival skills .


Sorry missed the menu part you wrote on about the screen and being semi transparent well sorry to say but must reviews on the game disagree with you about that cause this does as i siad above give you the since of you better hurry up and yes having it done on the Tv in a semi transparent way would have sucked because despite it being see through somewhat it still hide some thing on screen a bit.


here take a read on this

http://iwataasks.nin...wiiu/zombiu/0/0 good article read

[HawkMan]

notuptome2004, on 24 December 2012 - 14:48, said:

Well if they had everything done on the big screen then it take you out of the game cause the game would pause while your looking at your survival pouch kit or what ever your looting and thus make the imminent danger go away because you could always just pause the game to loot and adjust things how ya wanted for an up coming zombie you see with everything done on the GP your focus has shifted some and you may just might forge about the zombies that could come from anywhere . Now for the Combat it is done the way it is for a reason YOU the player in the game the person you are in the game has no combat or survival skills .

Holy long sentence Batman

Why would the game pause, I already said that the game wouldn't pause with on screen inventory. And games have been doing on screen inventory without pausing for ages, this is nothing new or unique. For example Skyrim doesn't pause when you go to your inventory and has a semi transparent inventory. Of course having the inventory on the screen would make me more immersed in the game, as it is now, I keep getting out of focus of the game and losing interest because I have to look at another screen. Then there's the stupid slide up to stop looting instead of just letting me hit B. causing me to have to constantly change the grip on the pad, plain bad design.

not having combat skills doesn't mean you're incompetent though, but I don't have an issue with the combat in the game, except for the stupid two button thing, but that's no big deal.

Quote

Sorry missed the menu part you wrote on about the screen and being semi transparent well sorry to say but must reviews on the game disagree with you about that cause this does as i siad above give you the since of you better hurry up and yes having it done on the Tv in a semi transparent way would have sucked because despite it being see through somewhat it still hide some thing on screen a bit.

Except that's not true. consider how litle the inventory on the pad is. the inventory on the screen could simply be a box that's 2/4ths the with of the screen, centered at the bottom, with 1/4th visible on each side, or maybe even just 1/8 for a wider box, and then it would only be 1/3rd or 1/4 the height of the screen as well, bottom aligned. So you'd have an inventory box at the bottom center of the screen, allowing you to see just as much as you do on the pad, but without ruining immersion.

Sorry it is a terrible design decision. and it could have been done just as good or IMHO better in screen. This simple fact that they're moving stuff to the pad that doesn't need to be there and is often better of not being there, moves it into gimmick land. If Nintendo wants the pad and WiiU to succeed, they need to make sure there are games that truly make use of it in unique ways and non immersive breaking ways, and not just move stuff from the screen to the pad, that's gonna make them fall flat on their faces into gimmick land.

ZombiU is a cool game, BUT not because it's on the WiiU or because of the WiiU tablet. in fact the tablets only takes away from it.

Good uses of the gamepad so far is Mario and Rayman, and BOII isn't to shabby either since it lets you take the game with you. But even then, none of them show a compelling reason for why you MUST have the pad.

[+remixedcat]

HawkMan, on 24 December 2012 - 07:07, said:

and the purpose of this ?



Pretty much.
As for ZombiU, that would depend on the person actually liking that kind of game though, it's a fairly niche audience in reality.

that's what I think of wii-u

[neufuse]

HawkMan, on 23 December 2012 - 12:11, said:

Oh one thing that's really stupid. Nintendo has it's European head quarters in Germany and have decided to follow German law across all of Europe, which is stupid in itself and possibly "illegal" anyway.

Well German has decided that violent and sexual content can only be viewed after 23 at night and before 3 or so at night. This means that not only can I not display the details for ZombiU at this point in time on the eShop. I can't buy the game either. :facepalm:

Germany, be it a awesome place, has some screwed up laws.....

[+Jdawg683]

i've had the console for a couple weeks now. i think it's a fun system, but i only bought it as a toy. i couldnt imagine it as my main console.

The system definitely has some growing pains - system updates, eShop is a mess, tv overscan, etc.

i dont have any games for it yet, aside from Nintendoland. i want to buy a few Wii games. hopefully they work as expected.

as for the gimmicky screen - sure, Nintendo (and Devs) didnt have to move unnecessary parts of a game to the screen, but then people would be asking "so what's the 2nd screen for?" As w/ any new system, games need to make use of the gimmicks. 3DS and Vita did the same thing. Look at uncharted for Vita - they make you swipe the screen to do certain moves or fights. why? b/c it's a gimmick and a new system.

[Defiantly]

"My GF on the other hand she thinks the whole thing is to big and can't hold it comfortably."


hehehehehehehehe

[HawkMan]

The WiiU tablet too ;p

[jerzdawg]

I finally got to check out more games on Nintendo land when my brother stopped over. Once again this console shines with multiplayer, just getting to play some of the minigames with 2 or more people really make it enjoyable. So far my experience with the Wii U is only with Mario and Nintendo land. As mentioned plenty of times I dont think the Wii U should be someones only console. I have my 360 for COD and Minecraft, my Wii for homebrew, Wii U for new Mario (Zelda/Mario Kart/etc eventually) and my PS3 for streaming with PS3 Media server.


Edit - Forgot to mention - being able to play Mario on the gamepad while my wife or kid is watching TV is worth its weight in gold.

[Dan~]

I really think Nintendo have messed up with the Wii U, it's all just abit too weird. I'm a Nintendo fan so best of luck to them but think it'll flop

[HawkMan]

but you can only play Mario for so long at a time:) but then again, the gamepad only has battery time for so long at a time as well so

yeah it's a great additional console, not a great main console.

I really hope they fix the WiiU performance though. Loading times is horrendous, even just starting up the console takes a very long time compared to other consoles. loading a game and the constant level loadings(omg ZombiU might as well be named ZombiLoading), even simple apps like netflix take ages to load, I think it takes long to load on the 360, and it's even worse on the WiiU. luckily games don't need patching often since the patch times is the worst I've experienced.

I fear this may be a limitation of the slow CPU and the slow main memory though, but I hope it's something that can still be optimized with some better back end code from Nintendo, but they don't have much experience with this stuff.