As a PS3 owner, I was at first frustrated when the game wasn't released on my console, then quite impressed when I found out I'd be getting a version that fixes the problems that all the reviews pointed out.
The game is good. It could've been great, had it not been for the last episodes, where the tension and innovation the game has gives way to utter tedium, but sadly this tedium unravels its success.
I really enjoyed many things about this game; the inventory system does something I've been waiting for for years - accurately reflects what a character can actually carry! Much as I hold Deus Ex on a pedestal as one of the greatest games of all time, it annoys me that you somehow managed to conceal a GEP gun in your leather coat...
I also liked the healing aspect, though it annoyed me that Edward Carnby's leather jacket also healed.
The combat is the game's true success - centred around fire, this is a brilliant game which allows you to come up with many ways of killing your zombies. The only true way to get rid of them is setting them alight, but whether you do this by knocking them out and dragging them into a fire, or shooting them with explosive bullets, or using an aerosol can and lighter, Molotov cocktail, or smacking them with a chair/bat/broom/axe you've set on fire is up to you - and it's very enjoyable. There are also several boss battles - which while they can be incredibly difficult, are exciting and tense pieces of gameplay.
The acting is fairly acceptable - Sarah's voice-over often ranges from out-of-context to just terrible acting, but other than that it's pretty good. The script does use "fuck" far too much though - I suspect it may have been written by someone not native to either a) New York or b) English as a language.
The graphics are also quite good. Not on Uncharted levels of beauty, but they're very cool. The stage design is also amazing at times - though it will last you a mere ten seconds of gameplay, there is a point where you have to climb up the floor of a bathroom that is hanging off a cliff 90 degrees from its usual place.
And the game's puzzles range from obvious, to easy, to really challenging - so it's a great range of skills needed, and makes for a much more realistic gameplay.
All these good things, however, are entirely undone by the games end stages. I'm not complaining about an unhappy ending - it's entirely appropriate to the mood of the game - but mostly, the INCREDIBLE frustration one feels having to run around Central Park for five hours burning roots. I don't like to exaggerate, but it ruins everything that goes before it, and I refuse to use the games skip-to-the-next-sequence mechanism (though I do think it's nifty...) The ending is also rather rushed, and it feels disconnected from the rest of the game.
It's a real shame that this happens, because the game has some really amazing points in it. There are many more things I haven't mentioned - that you rarely actually know what to do in the game is in no way a bad thing - you're thrown into this mix with the characters, and have no idea what to do except react as you would in the same situations.
It's a smart game which does some really stupid things. It missed the mark by only so much, but when it missed it fell right into its own abyss.
The game is good. It could've been great, had it not been for the last episodes, where the tension and innovation the game has gives way to utter tedium, but sadly this tedium unravels its success.
I really enjoyed many things about this game; the inventory system does something I've been waiting for for years - accurately reflects what a character can actually carry! Much as I hold Deus Ex on a pedestal as one of the greatest games of all time, it annoys me that you somehow managed to conceal a GEP gun in your leather coat...
I also liked the healing aspect, though it annoyed me that Edward Carnby's leather jacket also healed.
The combat is the game's true success - centred around fire, this is a brilliant game which allows you to come up with many ways of killing your zombies. The only true way to get rid of them is setting them alight, but whether you do this by knocking them out and dragging them into a fire, or shooting them with explosive bullets, or using an aerosol can and lighter, Molotov cocktail, or smacking them with a chair/bat/broom/axe you've set on fire is up to you - and it's very enjoyable. There are also several boss battles - which while they can be incredibly difficult, are exciting and tense pieces of gameplay.
The acting is fairly acceptable - Sarah's voice-over often ranges from out-of-context to just terrible acting, but other than that it's pretty good. The script does use "fuck" far too much though - I suspect it may have been written by someone not native to either a) New York or b) English as a language.
The graphics are also quite good. Not on Uncharted levels of beauty, but they're very cool. The stage design is also amazing at times - though it will last you a mere ten seconds of gameplay, there is a point where you have to climb up the floor of a bathroom that is hanging off a cliff 90 degrees from its usual place.
And the game's puzzles range from obvious, to easy, to really challenging - so it's a great range of skills needed, and makes for a much more realistic gameplay.
All these good things, however, are entirely undone by the games end stages. I'm not complaining about an unhappy ending - it's entirely appropriate to the mood of the game - but mostly, the INCREDIBLE frustration one feels having to run around Central Park for five hours burning roots. I don't like to exaggerate, but it ruins everything that goes before it, and I refuse to use the games skip-to-the-next-sequence mechanism (though I do think it's nifty...) The ending is also rather rushed, and it feels disconnected from the rest of the game.
It's a real shame that this happens, because the game has some really amazing points in it. There are many more things I haven't mentioned - that you rarely actually know what to do in the game is in no way a bad thing - you're thrown into this mix with the characters, and have no idea what to do except react as you would in the same situations.
It's a smart game which does some really stupid things. It missed the mark by only so much, but when it missed it fell right into its own abyss.