Zombi

Editor's Notes

Digital Xbox One version reviewed.

Introduction

'ZombiU' was a Wii U launch title in 2012, developed by Ubisoft. While not advertised as such, it could be characterized as a loose remake or spiritual successor of Ubisoft’s very first video game, also called 'Zombi' and released in 1986. The two games share a mechanic wherein the protagonist transforms into a zombified enemy upon their death, to be encountered by the player in the next life. Ubisoft commissioned Australian company Straight Right for a port of 'ZombiU' to consoles and PC, where it is now known as simply 'Zombi'.

The Game Itself: Our Reviewer's Take

'Zombi' starts out much like any zombie survival horror, with a disembodied voice directing me to pick up equipment and weapons and teaching me how to kill undead. However, this isn’t a run-and-gun type of zombie game; it has a slower, more ominous pace. The voice over the radio is the Prepper, a forward-looking survivalist who has prepared for the zombie apocalypse and offers the player the use of his bunker, which for some reason he does not use for himself. He also gave me a tablet with an interactive map, a radar, and a scanner thing, and a cricket bat and bug-out bag. I soon learned that these were not charitable donations, but that the prepper expected me to run around the city completing errands, like hacking into London’s CCTV network and exploring the Buckingham Palace underground.

The melee controls are a bit cumbersome and fighting more than one zombie at a time with a cricket bat is awkward, so my first death happened on a milk run to the grocery store. I wasn’t actually picking up milk, and it probably would have all been spoiled anyways. On my way back, some mohawked zombie with lightning around his body screamed, and whenever a zombie screams all nearby zombies must come running, so I was swarmed and killed while scrambling for the exit. My next survivor had to pick up where he left off, and the first order of business was tracking down my dead guy and stealing my/his backpack from the corpse. It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there in zombie London.

After my first death and accompanying loss of progress since my last checkpoint (around 20 minutes or so), I decided to play a bit more conservatively. I found all of the exits to a building before I entered, in case of a swarm. I didn’t bite off more than I could chew - more than 2 zombies meant a careful retreat so that they could be dispatched safely. The zombies are preternaturally tough, sometimes absorbing four or five headshots before death, so I mostly ignored my firearms and focused on cricket bat mastery. Melee kills also take a while, but at least they are quieter than guns and draw less attention. I also eschewed the use of the flashlight, as the zombies are attracted to it like moths to a flame.

The story is modestly better than most zombie chum, but it’s all so linear and tedious, what with the incessant radio commands, boring protagonist, and fetch quests. No one has much personality except the Prepper, who starts off as a tutorial but eventually transforms into something much more interesting. There are many examples of games with silent protagonists that are nonetheless able to provide an entertaining campaign, such as 'BioShock', 'Half-Life', 'Dishonored', etc., but 'Zombi' doesn’t have that level of charm. It does offer tension and some scares though. Not necessarily because the zombies themselves are scary (although they can be, with their unnaturally large demon mouths and otherworldly vocalizations), but because I desperately wanted to avoid dying, and at any given time I was one failed button press away from becoming dinner. Even taking the irritable controls into account, this is the one part of 'Zombi' that mostly works, and keeps it from being an instantly forgettable Wii U port. Instead, it’s a slightly above average Wii U port.