« on: April 16, 2013, 03:49:04 PM »
At first look, it might seem like State of Decay is just another action game set in a zombie-infested town. Snooze, right? But below the surface, so many systems are working in concert that it managed keep me – someone who is bored to death with the undead – completely enthralled for the entire four hours I spent playing it. With the deluge of zombie games on the market, it can be hard for something new to stand out, but Seattle startup Undead Labs’ creation seems to be doing just that.
Throughout the game you can choose to play as almost anyone you befriend, with the exception of a few story characters. In order to recruit folks into your social circle, first you have to earn their trust by rescuing them or helping them out on missions.
I decide to switch to Maya because she seems like a bit more of a badass than Marcus, and the three of us – Marcus is now AI-controlled – head back up to the ranger station for an unpleasant surprise. The zombies have broken in and killed everyone, and in the process of defending ourselves, Ed gets bitten. We take some keys and a walkie-talkie that one of the men had been using and call for help. The woman on the other end gets us up to speed on what’s going on and tells us that a group of survivors has taken refuge in a church, so we head in that direction. The keys were for a pickup truck we happen upon along the way, so we hop in and outrun the zombies. The vehicle gameplay is pretty standard. You can hop in and out of any ride, but inflicting damage on the car will cause it to explode. Once a vehicle is totaled, it’s gone for good, but State of Decay will gradually introduce new vehicles, so you’ll never find yourself without any transportation.
At this point, the game really begins to open up. Missions are still available, but more of my focus is on finding supplies, gaining the trust of others in my community, establishing outposts, and trying to find more survivors, which increases the number of characters I can switch to. Sounds a little RPG-ish, doesn’t it? That’s a good thing, as far as I’m concerned.
I spend a good amount of time simply searching the surrounding houses and buildings, battling zombies when necessary, but trying to avoid them if I can. This enables me to make some friends. I soon learn how important friends are, when I decide to jump into a mission without enough supplies or weapons. This leads to the tragic death of Maya, and another unique State of Decay scenario: Once a character dies, he or she is gone forever. No do-overs. You’ll automatically switch to another character in your group, however. If the fallen avatar had any supplies on him, those are lost as well, unless you send another character to retrieve them.
As my gameplay time was drawing to a close, I was just beginning to be advised about building out areas of the church in order to make our little survivor colony stronger. Though I didn’t get a chance to do this, the developers at Undead Labs hinted at all sorts of things to build, such as an infirmary, a workshop, a kitchen, and even a garden!
If my four hours are any indication, State of Decay is amazingly deep, especially for an Xbox Live Arcade game. The fact I honestly didn’t want to stop playing when my time was up only reinforced this notion. I did run into a few graphical glitches, where zombies would run through walls, and I could see through some of the other characters if I had the camera at the right angle, but the depth of the experience makes those little issues pretty forgivable. At this point, I’m very optimistic about State of Decay’s massive ambition and scope. If this isn’t headlining the annual Summer of Arcade promotion, then Microsoft is doing something wrong.
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"Hey my friends are the ones that wanted to eat at that shitty hole in the wall that only served bread and wine. What kind of brick and mud business model is that. Stick to the cart if that's all you're going to serve. Then that dude came in with like 12 other people, and some of them weren't even wearing shoes, and the restaurant sat them right across from us. It was gross, and they were all stinky and dirty. Then dude starts talking about eating his body and drinking his blood...I almost lost it. That's the last supper I'll ever have there, and I hope he dies a horrible death."
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