To say I was not expecting hereby would, mild understatement. Since flocking to World of Warcraft's chief programmer Jeff Strain, a small studio named Undead Labs to make a zombie titles on Xbox LIVE Arcade - for narrow money to boot - and then! Not that State of Decay would completely paint over your image of open-world titles Rockstar'scher embossing. But it does apply their rules so elegant and disarming to the scenario of the Zombie Survival that you really have to wonder why this entire console generation has not come zombiezerfressene someone else got the same idea.
Image source: www.gameinformer.com
Image source: www.gameinformer.com
Also the genre across it does not look better, may nevertheless Activision (The Walking Dead - Survival Instinct) Techland (zombies on vacation), forgot the name (WarZ) and even Capcom (zombies in a department store) in view of this to narrow 20 € like to draw the necessary shame turtleneck over his head and sew the top end. This is simply the best game on this issue, unless you want to venture into the Legends is not fully comparable.
And then it was not any more
The trick was going to approach the game from the right side: Instead of taking a shooter, a first-person slasher or a kind of Final Fight in 3D as a base and it to supplement Survival elements, is Undead Labs, the open world and their rules in the first place. A church on the climate and look-wise somewhere. Between the U.S. and its southern Midwest, tons of zombies, some of which have banded together in troops, and in the middle a good number of survivors At the beginning you only controls Marcus, with his buddy Ed really wanted to just wander into the adjacent mountains a little, but soon other helps you out of trouble, which - if they win their confidence and the "friend" - as well as playable figures are available.
Image source: www.ign.com
And so one gathers initially in an old church, a small pack of survivors around and is wondering how best to maintain the status quo reasonable clocked body functions of the group. First, we crawled to the almost universally-accessible housing, shops and diners from the surrounding village communities. Whether you like the undead slowly falling in the back, it avoids completely or with improvised silencers can speak the firearms is up to oneself. The opportunities are there in each case and who wants to play with one of the many, but not spawning new cars Zombie Carmageddon until the target area is clear. Not elegant, but also effective.
In any case your volume is always a key factor. Who fires on foot an undamped weapon while in the side street vorbeischlurft a zombie horde, has a big problem. And there are always locked doors that break with the shoulder also carries a certain risk of being discovered by a band of undead. This is also reflected in the interior of the houses. While her closets, dressers and shelves searched for usable items, you can either proceed slowly and quietly, or accelerate the throng at your fingertips, and of course before I break something loudly.
State of Decay - Er ... wow?
In a neat besieged house, I had to retreat to the second floor before me because of carelessness. Even there, however, I threatened not able to master, which is that the state-of-Decay survivors after three to four slain zombies panting like a broken bellows. And the stamina bar only arrived at the bottom, is also no longer possible to sprint, which quickly becomes the number one killer in the face of quite agile ghouls. In the end I had to jump blindly in any case out of the window of the second floor to escape the cannibals. A great moment that is as yet come across me in any open-world title. With his last effort, and on the last bit of perseverance I reached the saving church where I let myself patched up again.
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During the actual trick we have not yet arrived so: the characters become tired during the accelerated day-night cycle and thus becoming less endurance capacity. Then you have to necessarily go to someone else, you will not jeopardize the life of your exhausted Star Survivor. Also, injuries are a real handicap and must be cured for a while, which does not happen with the use of a particular item, but your base is done depending on the equipment over a certain period. Neglecting this element, which can decimate entire community, for the death of a character in State of Decay is permanent.
Since each character has a number of characteristics that can increase by simple application - who sprints much, can later run longer and fight whoever fights a lot, lands faster deadly results - fast becoming an interesting cycle, which works well plain and simple. Course, be determined to a certain extent your preferred game, the nature of your characters, so if evenly distributed almost everything can all equally well. But we can and must also specialize if it can handle, for example, in my case Maya Torres good with guns and Marcus is my husband for a bit blunt head trauma. The staff is the most important resource of your little enclave.
Yours = mine
The resource management permeates all areas and affects far more than the consideration, whether you're sacrificing ammunition for certain enemies or not. Your base consumes, depending on resident status every 24 real-time hours, a certain amount of food, fuel, building materials and ammunition that are charged with the products of your built facilities. Depending on whether you have set up on the tight plot plan kitchen, dormitory, warehouse, workshop or training room (more later), your daily balance is different. Elsewhere you will find backpacks full of valuable materials that are too heavy to carry more than one. Their cause sparking a colleague that it goes under like circumstances, or makes itself a second run? Or you belasst the prey even in the building in order to build an outpost here, which serves as a safe-house and every day you donated a certain amount of stored things here? Constantly shift your priorities in State of Decay.
Image source: www.gameinformer.com
Forced is aggravated by the fact that your card fills steadily with new mission objectives. Time one of your friends has run away, sometimes to survivors fight in the base because of a poisoned with his lousy temper the climate. Here then indeed make first open Worlditis symptoms noticeable when the solution to such problems is often the same or different neighbors we regularly often nearly identical houses helps withstand a zombie siege. But it still says a lot about the game that I'm still very, very slow progress in the campaign, because Undead Labs apparently triggered a massive helper syndrome with me.
Eventually it was time to move on. This was done with a heavy heart, but the non-renewable resources were exhausted in the village church and the church allowed only to build four additional facilities. My twelve-member group had no exercise room behind their ways and many of my unused resources spoiled because I just did not have enough storage space. But the big express building in the nearby town of Marshall offered a great new home full of new opportunities, which boosted the morale is fast. To take two hot meals daily in a specially set up dinner room, may well work wonders.
Nevertheless, State of Decay not provoked thunderous applause on all fronts. I could have almost wished that the game my characters still kills mercilessly. Also, the story remains somewhat emotionally flat at all voltage generated by the game content over the entire period. The aforementioned wear certain types of missions while also occur late, but then felt. Confusing is that the game is not sufficiently explained, I still do not know how to repair damaged melee weapons. And the graphics flicker, lubricates, is clipping, pops and teart as if it were actually the end of the world. In a game for 20 euro, nor to one of this size and this ambition that is understandable. The eyes still suffer a little, especially if you are traveling by car. I've been waiting eagerly for the PC version, which unfortunately still has no date.
For popular price nevertheless not to be missed with Xbox 360 State of Decay. It is the most complex and elaborate Xbox LIVE Arcade title, it is currently on sale and so clever and sophisticated that it is difficult for me to call an open-world game in the last two years, that it feel fresh would . That despite and because of the zombies at the same time as may seem strange, but in the end cause in this particular case, the scenario and the Survival gameplay in a form each other, which one rarely gets the finger. In this respect hat off for a game at which some of the larger and older studios could easily hurting your back. With Undead Labs is henceforth expected fixed.
