JWong said:
Canned and unresponsive actions is the worst for me. There are many weapons that are so clumsy that they put you in more danger when you use them. And the fact that you spend like 10 seconds wearing a hat, smashing your face on the controller trying to cancel it while zombies surround you and kill you, that's poor design.
The variation in animations and windup/cooldown frames kept the weapons from feeling too samey and also helped you differentiate between practical weapons and the ones that were just for fun. The animations upon changing clothes/accessories... Yeah, I guess I can see the frustration. Personally, I learned my lesson the first time and resolved never to play dress-up unless the store was completely cleared of zombies. It still would have been nice if they were cancel-able like answering walkie-talkie calls and the like.
JWong said:
Inventory limit kills the more enjoyable weapon mixing feature (with no ability to write down weapon locations).
I kind of get this one as well. Your inventory starts pathetically small, but it grows with you as you learn the ropes and become more familiar with the game mechanics. It serves the secondary function of forcing you to learn which food/drink items restore the most health and which weapons last long enough to be good for long trips. By the time you can hold lots of stuff, you'll be able to carry a nice load of practical items in addition to whatever silly stuff you feel like trying out.
Also, lots of the utility closets have little hints about which combos you can make with nearby items, as they would often include uncommon things like batteries, power drills, and flashlights.
Jwong said:
And forcing players to replay the same awful story over and over to complete all the content is over extending its life.
I actually liked the story, but I think my lucky stars the cutscenes were skippable. I didn't see it as a burden, but as the base level of challenge for each run-through of the game. Most of my fun came from continuously figuring out how many scoops I could take on, which items I should have been using, and how best to navigate the map while juggling the story missions.
Checkpoints were provided after several story missions.
The time limit, I felt, was what made the game interesting and worth replaying.
The boss difficulty was indeed a bit uneven compared to run of the mill zombie fighting.
