• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

ZombiU Dev-Walkthrough and Direct Feed Footage: Survival Horror is Back!

Looks weak. Completely unnecessary use of the gamepad screen. Hey, instead of looking at the tv screen look at the gamepad screen and do the same! The player isn't multitasking, he just switches his attention from one screen to another - you could have easily layered those inventory stuff on the main screen on top of live gameplay. Even when scanning the world the player doesn't actually line up the wii u pad to the tv screen.

If Zombie U supposed to sell me on the two screen things, it doesn't. Makes it look as gimmicky and redundant as i suspected it to be used.

And what's up with the concept of one live? It's silly. You die, another player 'spawns' and then you get to the last checkpoint your were with your deceased character by getting into a sewer (?) hatch. So you are bound to take your items from the body. So what's up with the 'one life, no checkpoints' message they are trying to sell? There are checkpoints and you will get your old backpack back and you will have to retread some ground when you die and assume the next person. It's not like an open city where you spawn randomly across it.
 
It's not like an open city where you spawn randomly across it.

do we know that? do you always spawn at the same spot when you start a new survivor?

if you always start at the same place with the same setup, then the whole "one life" thing is going to get old fast. if it's random it becomes more interesting.
 
do we know that? do you always spawn at the same spot when you start a new survivor?

if you always start at the same place with the same setup, then the whole "one life" thing is going to get old fast. if it's random it becomes more interesting.

I hear it was at random spots with a different survivor but then there is the question of how many random spots did they create
 
Looks weak. Completely unnecessary use of the gamepad screen. Hey, instead of looking at the tv screen look at the gamepad screen and do the same! The player isn't multitasking, he just switches his attention from one screen to another - you could have easily layered those inventory stuff on the main screen on top of live gameplay. Even when scanning the world the player doesn't actually line up the wii u pad to the tv screen.

Thats the point, they want you take your eyes off the screen so that when looking through your bag you cant see anything coming at you. I love the idea.
 
Thats the point, they want you take your eyes off the screen so that when looking through your bag you cant see anything coming at you. I love the idea.

That sounds awesome but if they really wanted that, they would not give you a third person camera so you can keep an eye out for zombies. It should be head down with only a few glances up in first person.
 
That sounds awesome but if they really wanted that, they would not give you a third person camera so you can keep an eye out for zombies. It should be head down with only a few glances up in first person.

True but you'll still only be able to see the TV when your not looking at your pad so it does replicate the feeling of having a quick glance at anything that might be near you.
 
And that'd be less annoying? Really?

If they are going for survival horror, it would be more inconvenient but would give a better sense of horror. To be honest, if they did do it in first person, it would negate the use of the pad, which makes the Wii-U version a bit pointless then.

True but you'll still only be able to see the TV when your not looking at your pad so it does replicate the feeling of having a quick glance at anything that might be near you.

Hrmm...I see your point.
 
They need to only get 3 things right and I will be hooked:

- Control
- Level Design
- Master mode

I don't see myself playing single more than some rounds for each map to learn it; but if the master mode can provide good challenge, I think this may become quite popular.
 
do we know that? do you always spawn at the same spot when you start a new survivor?

That was the case from the gameplay vids i've seen. You wake up and then step in one of those hatches i guess and emerge relatively close to where your character previously died.

Thats the point, they want you take your eyes off the screen so that when looking through your bag you cant see anything coming at you. I love the idea.
The pad displays inventory management. It's not like you are asked to do something reflex\timing based so your attention is absorbed into that action. You can comfortably press 'take all' button while seeing on the hard-to-miss big screen that the area is clear. And yeah, if they wanted me to worry if i'm going to get ambushed every time i use the pad then having a 3rd person view of what's around me doesn't convey that.
 
I really like the concept. That said this looks pretty rough, like someone mentioned it reminds me of Red Steel. Maybe it's just fairly early in the developement but isn't this coming out in launch? Is it just me that everytime you need to look at the pad that "zomg zombie is behind you!!" thing comes up? It was in the gameplay and in the trailer... That can and will get old fast.
 
And what's up with the concept of one live? It's silly. You die, another player 'spawns' and then you get to the last checkpoint your were with your deceased character by getting into a sewer (?) hatch. So you are bound to take your items from the body. So what's up with the 'one life, no checkpoints' message they are trying to sell? There are checkpoints and you will get your old backpack back and you will have to retread some ground when you die and assume the next person. It's not like an open city where you spawn randomly across it.

It's not as simple as that though. While you're playing with a survivor, they'll level up increasing their skills across the board. Once that survivor gets bit, you can retrieve the BOB with your new survivor, but the skills are gone forever.

That's a pretty big incentive to not get killed.

In addition: This is also where the scanner is coming into play. You're scanner tells you that in that room across the hall, full of zombies, is a chest with ammo in it. Ammo you're probably gonna need. Gonna risk going in the room to get the ammo or hope you come across some later?

Perma-death with actual penalties makes this game IMO. I also assume that most people will absolutely hate this mechanic.
 
Just saw the whole video. Looks nice. I hope they don't cheap out on enemies, ie enemies speeding up or appearing out of nowhere. I should be able to control my environment (close all the doors) and get some satisfaction and success from that. Level design should prevent me from doing that in certain areas. The end where the guy was picking the lock, I should be able to close the door to get more time. That helps with the paranoia and should heighten my emotions.
 
That would be cool. Not into permadeath that punishes you but that would be an awesome thing. Especially if you died in a tough area. Give you 3 tries to get ur shit or ur your stash degrades if you don't pick it up or people steal certain things from time to time.

Although, I hope they give you enough audible clues and not some bs, run from behind deaths. Color me interested.

I believe there was some video interview with a rep saying that your dead/zombie character will also be sent to your friend's game (ones in current sessions) and if they stumble upon them first, they can kill them, take it's supplies, and you are shit out of luck.

Sounds too good to be true though.

Looks weak. Completely unnecessary use of the gamepad screen. Hey, instead of looking at the tv screen look at the gamepad screen and do the same! The player isn't multitasking, he just switches his attention from one screen to another - you could have easily layered those inventory stuff on the main screen on top of live gameplay. Even when scanning the world the player doesn't actually line up the wii u pad to the tv screen.

If Zombie U supposed to sell me on the two screen things, it doesn't. Makes it look as gimmicky and redundant as i suspected it to be used.

And what's up with the concept of one live? It's silly. You die, another player 'spawns' and then you get to the last checkpoint your were with your deceased character by getting into a sewer (?) hatch. So you are bound to take your items from the body. So what's up with the 'one life, no checkpoints' message they are trying to sell? There are checkpoints and you will get your old backpack back and you will have to retread some ground when you die and assume the next person. It's not like an open city where you spawn randomly across it.

It's pretty bad when you are the most cynical person in a thread containing Amir0x. :P (I'm kidding; personal opinions aside, I have no problem with Amir0x's approach to this game and fully understand taking a wait and see approach).

As for the use of the gamerpad being a completely unnecessary addition, I COMPLETELY disagree. Mapping the menu onto the actual TV screen goes against the whole point. You are suppose to divert you attention from the main action to balance your inventory because it creates tension/immersion. Not to mention the added benefit of touch screen inventory, scanning, puzzles, separate gyro controls for zoomed-in aiming, etc. Could this all be replicated on a regular gamerpad? Sure. Could Halo be played on an N64 controller? Sure. Would it be as good? Hell no.

As for the "one life" feature, it is a bit gimmicky (as we know it now; the online feature I talked about above could make a huge difference though), but it's not as useless as your describe it. The manhole seems to lead you to the beginning of whatever area you died in. Therefore you still have to trek through the nursery (for example) to get to the basement and get your supplies back. That's not a big deal if you cleaned out the place, but if you ran through (like shown in part 6) and died, you still have all the Zombies to deal with. Therefore, your previous play sessions actually effect your next one, unlike a regular continue session (also, you will be starting off with the bare-minimum ammo again so you might have to scavenger for resources before trying to attempt kill your previous character and get your supplies back).

Edit: And what pvpness said.
 
The pad displays inventory management. It's not like you are asked to do something reflex\timing based so your attention is absorbed into that action. You can comfortably press 'take all' button while seeing on the hard-to-miss big screen that the area is clear. And yeah, if they wanted me to worry if i'm going to get ambushed every time i use the pad then having a 3rd person view of what's around me doesn't convey that.

The third person view is so you're not completely vulnerable and can glance up to see if a zombie is coming.
 
Well I will be damned. Nintendo actually has made a current gen console, which will be at least on par with the other consoles on the market. Sure they are a few years late, and it won't last very long - but happened nevertheless.
 
Well I will be damned. Nintendo actually has made a current gen console, which will be at least on par with the other consoles on the market. Sure they are a few years late, and it won't last very long - but happened nevertheless.

If it makes you feel any better about it, your Alienware experiment is more next gen than next gen will be lol
 
This game looked like shit, and played amazing. It was the sole, most powerful justification of the new control scheme, while I was indifferent to most of them.

They have great ideas about this one, only worried about the level design and graphics.
 
question: in the gameplay trailer we saw the "unlocking door" part with the numeric combination to be pressed on a screen. in the demo we see the lockpick instead.
we will have both, in the game?
 
I think the manhole leading you to the same area you died in was just for demo purposes and the game is not quite as linear. You have objectives but aren't forced into doing them in a set order.

I kind of remember reading this during E3 but I can't find where. It would definitely make sense, though.
 
The pad displays inventory management. It's not like you are asked to do something reflex\timing based so your attention is absorbed into that action. You can comfortably press 'take all' button while seeing on the hard-to-miss big screen that the area is clear. And yeah, if they wanted me to worry if i'm going to get ambushed every time i use the pad then having a 3rd person view of what's around me doesn't convey that.
You have to negotiate puzzles, key codes and even manually select specific ammo types and drag them to the gun displayed on the touchscreen, and then manipulate the different parts to lock and load. It's not nearly as straightforward as weapon selection and reloading in other games. In other words, the touchscreen is very involving, which is the whole point -- you're caught between studying/interacting with the touchscreen and keeping an eye on the TV, where a zombie can appear out of the shadows at any moment. It's brilliant at building suspense and adding tension.
 
This game looked like shit, and played amazing. It was the sole, most powerful justification of the new control scheme, while I was indifferent to most of them.

They have great ideas about this one, only worried about the level design and graphics.

While not the best looking games, it still nice to see a few developers trying to make survival horror games. With Resident Evil off the rails and Silent Hill all over the place, someone has to keep giving horror fans something to do.

On a side note, the scanning reminded me of Condemned. That would suit the Wii-U perfectly.
 
While not the best looking games, it still nice to see a few developers trying to make survival horror games. With Resident Evil off the rails and Silent Hill all over the place, someone has to keep giving horror fans something to do.

On a side note, the scanning reminded me of Condemned. That would suit the Wii-U perfectly.

Well it looked like Condemned as well.
 
You know, in the world of Zombie U, I would do everything in my power to create a make-shift armor so like, those human teeth can't penetrate it. Zombie or not, those fuckers have human teeth.
 
While not the best looking games, it still nice to see a few developers trying to make survival horror games. With Resident Evil off the rails and Silent Hill all over the place, someone has to keep giving horror fans something to do.

On a side note, the scanning reminded me of Condemned. That would suit the Wii-U perfectly.

Well it looked like Condemned as well.

The indoor stuff especially.

When I saw the Nursery footage, the first thing that came to my mind was Condemned.
 
Losing the accumulated skills is fine but it wasn't about the incentive of not dying and more about the potential retreading and the feeling that basically you spawn at the entrance of where you got killed. Basically the idea of one life as different characters is more or less wasted when it's done in this relatively linear design.

You are suppose to divert you attention from the main action to balance your inventory because it creates tension/immersion. Not to mention the added benefit of touch screen inventory, scanning, puzzles, separate gyro controls for zoomed-in aiming, etc. Could this all be replicated on a regular gamerpad? Sure. Could Halo be played on an N64 controller? Sure. Would it be as good? Hell no.
But your attention isn't really diverted when all your asked to do with the pad is move your items around. You aren't pressed for action, you can take your time and still have a view of your surroundings. How is immersion helped by giving me an additional 3rd person view? If you're going with the angle of having live gameplay when the player brings up his map\inventory then wouldn't it be more tense not knowing what's going behind you?

Yeah, zoomed-in aiming in the pad while the tv screen displayed the regular fps view. So you can have the scoped shot while having a total view of what's around you. Everybody who plays shooter that have scoped weapons knows that the danger\tension is exactly because you're are scoped in and have no peripheral vision so you can get blindsided by enemies. It's contradictory to bill your game as survival horror and the wii u pad as increasing tension if you drop the whole thing that makes scoped shooting so by letting the player enjoy both 'worlds' with the TV screen displaying your un-scoped view.

I don't understand how the pad features make the game better. It seemed just an added hassle of changing where to look at. They could have made everything on the tv screen with 1\3 of the screen displaying what the pad does now and have the other 2\3 be the live gameplay.
 
Actually I'm excited for this game, I'll probably wait for another good exclusive or two before picking up a Wii U though, I can't see buying the console for this game alone.
 
I was completely sold on this when I reached the part where they show the player character dying and getting replaced by another survivor. I wonder if the game limits how many survivors you can go through? Or is it some randomized arbitrarily large thing?
No limit on the number of survivors.

Pointer aiming is certainly easier in many respects, but I still have trouble with it. The "always-on" factor coupled with I think some bad experiences...
Iirc all pointer FPS games I played let you choose whether or not you want the view to rotate when aiming off-screen or don't do it by default.

And what's up with the concept of one live? It's silly. You die, another player 'spawns' and then you get to the last checkpoint your were with your deceased character by getting into a sewer (?) hatch. So you are bound to take your items from the body. So what's up with the 'one life, no checkpoints' message they are trying to sell? There are checkpoints and you will get your old backpack back and you will have to retread some ground when you die and assume the next person. It's not like an open city where you spawn randomly across it.
You level up weapon stats by using them with the active character. Once you die that progress is lost.

We don't know how open the final game will be or how many hubs there are or if there is only one. I assume there must be shortcuts you open up, otherwise you'll be slogging through the same localities all the time.

Maybe it's something like DR (only played 2) where you have a hub (with survivors giving out missions) and a world outside with shortcuts to different locales. The mission "get medicine for some dude" seems to hint at that.

Well I will be damned. Nintendo actually has made a current gen console, which will be at least on par with the other consoles on the market. Sure they are a few years late, and it won't last very long - but happened nevertheless.
You make it sound like Nintendo was always behind the curve (which is not true of course).
 
I think it looks great and have been thoroughly surprised after that awful target video at the Nintendo conference. Tech-wise the graphics might not look that strong, but I think they have the atmosphere down pat, and as someone recently said, it looks like more of a true survival horror than either RE6 or Dead space 3. If this, Mario, P-100, Pikmin 3, and Rayman Legends can all come out in 2012 I think the Wii U can have a very good launch lineup compared to other launch lineups.

I agree with Amir0x that almost all launch lineups tend to be shitty with maybe three or four serviceable games and sometimes one really good game. The only exception I can think of is the Dreamcast, and that was probably because Sega delayed all non-Japan launches a whole year, ensuring that the western "launch" lineup was really the second wave of games. I'm not saying that's what the Wii U is going to be, but it's looking better than most launches I've seen.
 
I do wish this has pointer controls but not sure how it would work. Maybe connected to a zapper? So I'm willing to let it go because the concept of the game seems so interesting. If it was just another standard first person shooter I'd feel differently.
 
They should offer with pointer controls while resting the tablet in your lap. It's not hard or uncomfortable to hold the Wii remote and extend your finger to press some things (I just tried). I don't know if I would use this control scheme or not because of the extra hardware involved, but hopefully Ubi includes it, as I too prefer pointer controls. Still, it's a showcase for the tablet as well, so I could see execs not wanting to go this route since it would cut a few of the tablet's features. Would be nice to have the option, though.
 
Losing the accumulated skills is fine but it wasn't about the incentive of not dying and more about the potential retreading and the feeling that basically you spawn at the entrance of where you got killed. Basically the idea of one life as different characters is more or less wasted when it's done in this relatively linear design.

We don't know the full details yet (online implications/manhole could be demo-only), but it's still one of the best continue systems I can think of. They only game in recent memory that compares (imo) is Prey.


But your attention isn't really diverted when all your asked to do with the pad is move your items around. You aren't pressed for action, you can take your time and still have a view of your surroundings. How is immersion helped by giving me an additional 3rd person view? If you're going with the angle of having live gameplay when the player brings up his map\inventory then wouldn't it be more tense not knowing what's going behind you?

You only have a view of what is behind you when you are picking locks/doing puzzles. When you are actually checking you inventory/looting/changing weapons, the TV shows a close-up overhead view that does not give you any view of your surroundings.

Yeah, zoomed-in aiming in the pad while the tv screen displayed the regular fps view. So you can have the scoped shot while having a total view of what's around you. Everybody who plays shooter that have scoped weapons knows that the danger\tension is exactly because you're are scoped in and have no peripheral vision so you can get blindsided by enemies. It's contradictory to bill your game as survival horror and the wii u pad as increasing tension if you drop the whole thing that makes scoped shooting so by letting the player enjoy both 'worlds' with the TV screen displaying your un-scoped view.

I don't see what's so bad about this. In fact, I would say it's better. Your scope is your WiiU Gamerpad, while the TV is the normal view. Just like real life, you have to look around/away from your gamerpad (scope) to see the normal view.

I don't understand how the pad features make the game better. It seemed just an added hassle of changing where to look at. They could have made everything on the tv screen with 1\3 of the screen displaying what the pad does now and have the other 2\3 be the live gameplay.

Well it's not a revolution if that's what you are expecting. But you could do Angry Birds or Boom Blox on a regular gamerpad. But that wouldn't be as intuitive/fun of an experience. Same thing here. It's just an added bonus that the setup also adds to the immersion/tension of the game.
 
Game looks good and at least we got a decent look at how you progress throughout the game.

Hope they decide to do that PS360 port as I didn't see anything here that couldn't work with a regular controller.
 
You have to negotiate puzzles, key codes and even manually select specific ammo types and drag them to the gun displayed on the touchscreen, and then manipulate the different parts to lock and load. It's not nearly as straightforward as weapon selection and reloading in other games. In other words, the touchscreen is very involving, which is the whole point -- you're caught between studying/interacting with the touchscreen and keeping an eye on the TV, where a zombie can appear out of the shadows at any moment. It's brilliant at building suspense and adding tension.

Umm, is the reloading part true? I can't find anything about it besides a comment from a Gaffer in the other ZombiU thread where he whised it was like that :


Think this game presents a perfect fit and a perfect time for a more involving reloding process in a games.

Was thinking in a multi step process that varies depending of what gun is equipped. Once the reload button is pressed, the sub screen presents the reloading inventory with a model of the gun and all ammo types. In the case of a 9mm semi auto it could be more or less like this:

1)Eject the magazine from the gun.
2) The user has to select the correct ammo type from all available in the inventory.
3)Tap the button of the gun to secure the magazine in place. The internal speakers emit a click.
4)Guns rotates in real time to a top view. Here the user pulls the slide back wards.

There are other things developers could apply to add some spice and a skill element to the process. For example, they can apply a timing mini game when pulling back the slide with a bar that runs in the inverse direction toward the "sweet spot". The idea here is that the user needs to time the pull to reach that spot at the same time.

Other interesting thing might be on the run reloads
. When initiating a reload while moving the screen elements shake until the user interacts with them. For example, imagine reloading a revolver. The user needs to tab every empty chamber of the barrel but since its walking, the barrel is shaking erratically.

There are multiple gameplay ramifications regarding item management with a mini game like this. The user could have the option to arrange ammo types in the inventory so he instinctively knows in what part of the space certain ammo types will appear.
 
I was hyped for this game until I saw a zombie burst out of a little cupboard and scream at the screen.

a) why would the zombie scream like a demon?
b) how did the zombie get in the cupboard?
c) how did it close the doors behind itself?
d) why is it waiting patiently in the cupboard for the player?
e) how did he know to jump out as the player approaches?

if they remove that zombie I'm in. It offends me

Zombies are undead but that doesn't mean they have unlimited energy. They have to conserve resources.

The zombie got in the cupboard while following another human who fooled him into the cupboard. Once there the zombie went dormant and waited until another human came around and made enough noise to wake up itself.

Zombies cannot realistically tumble around asking for brains all day.
 
zombies actually *do* have unlimited energy... an unfortunate fact that you'd best keep in mind whilst you make your apocalypse preparations. slow, unrelenting, hungry.
 
I was hyped for this game until I saw a zombie burst out of a little cupboard and scream at the screen.

a) why would the zombie scream like a demon?
b) how did the zombie get in the cupboard?
c) how did it close the doors behind itself?
d) why is it waiting patiently in the cupboard for the player?
e) how did he know to jump out as the player approaches?

if they remove that zombie I'm in. It offends me
KuGsj.gif


a) Well, I met a few zombies in my day, and they done never sounded like DAT!

b-d) Maybe an employee who was infected hid in the cupboard before they changed. Everyone died when they turned, so it was silent, and if we're following some universal rule that zombies only respond to sound, maybe they lunged out of the cupboard when the player approached and his walkie-talkie made noise.
 
Top Bottom