This console generation has seen a staggering amount of zombie games across almost every conceivable genre; shooters, RPG’s, action, even more obscure areas for the undead to infect such as tower defence and driving games. With that in mind, any new zombie game that releases has to offer something new, something different to entice an array of gamers who are dangerously close to Z-fatigue. So what can State of Decay ,the new downloadable title from Undead Labs do to draw us back in one more time?

First things first, lets get the negatives out of the way. The game is far from a technical marvel. The graphics are sub par, with numerous clipping issues, slow texture loading and zombies and characters alike mysteriously appear through closed doors. However this is all somewhat understandable given the fact the game is downloadable and the ambitious nature of the world it has created.

State of Decay is a true survival game. When you compare it too many other games that throw themselves under the ‘survival horror’ banner, you soon realise that State of Decay is not messing around. Whereas games like Resident Evil and Dead Space give you ample ammunition and death is a momentary setback, State of Decay gives you very little in terms of anything other than what you can scavenge out of bins and cupboards, and death in this game is permanent. Rise a characters stats up to max to then succumb to one of the games many hordes? Tough luck, it is time to start a fresh with a new survivor. The trick to this is to constantly swap characters. This allows you to have multiple mid-tier characters rather than one tank, meaning death is still a terrifying reality, but at least you know you have people to fall back to. Switching out characters also allows tired or injured survivors to recoup at the safe houses whilst you can still complete missions with another.

The games strongest aspect is in its risk vs. reward system. To ensure your groups continued survival you need to establish outposts and keep everyone happy with food, guns and the other usual end of the world necessities. However, to do this you need to raid any buildings you can find for supplies, clear out zombie infestations and generally get your hands dirty. Every raid of an undiscovered building has to be meticulously thought out, with exit strategies in case things take a turn for the ‘oh bloody hell’. The game’s story is fairly generic and generally just serves as a means of moving you from one town to another, the real fun is in establishing bases of operation and staging daring trips to undiscovered buildings in search of more resources.

Resources are the game currency in a way, and ensuring that you keep fully stocked with everything is a herculean task. Supplies will gradually drain every day, meaning you can never get too comfortable. However, scavenging resources also allows you to upgrade your digs with garages to service cars, gardens to grow your own food and medical bays to heal the injured amongst many others. Initially this may seem like an unnecessary optional extra, but you will soon realise that it plays a bigger part than you think. This is due to the fact that none of the resources in the game regenerate. If you have fully raided a building, expect it to still be that way when you head back. Similarly, cars that are damaged do not automatically fix, and trust me, you are going to want your cars in working order, therefore constantly upgrading all your outposts serves as a fundamental part of the survival effort.

As touched upon earlier, each character has a set of skills which can be upgraded by using said skills. However, more interesting is that every character has a different personality type, and trying to keep everyone happy is harder than you would imagine. A lack of food for instance might see tempers flare and members leave the camp, which will in turn drain morale of the rest of the group. This creates an interesting meta-game where you have to judge peoples character and act accordingly around them.

The actual zombie slaying itself is fairly standard fare, you can use melee weapons when up close and personal, guns from afar or distraction items to lure the hordes away. Whilst perfectly playable, the combat is far from the best portion of the game. You mash one button to melee attack and the shooting is rigid at best. However due to the constant fear of death you will likely do more running and distracting than fighting anyway. All of this is not to say it is bad, its just that it serves its purpose in a wholesome game rather than being the main attraction as it is in say, Dead Rising.

The game is about as realistic as you are going to get from a zombie game and herein lies State of Decay’s biggest draw. It is different. There a no heroes here, no muscle mountains who wield guns on every finger. No ridiculous plotlines. Just a group of ordinary people doing their best to survive in a world that’s gone to hell. There are no tutorials, no handholding. The first scene basically just drops you into the middle of nowhere and says ‘go on then, have at it’. Whilst this can be initially daunting, I actually like the more hardcore approach as it gives you a sense of discovery rarely seen in recent games.

State of Decay is not perfect and it never will be. What it is, however, is a thought provoking, unique take on the zombie apocalypse that requires more brains than brawn. It is unlike anything currently on the console market and for that reason alone it deserves your attention. It may take a while, but the game will slowly suck you in and refuse to let you go until it has devoured your brain. Mmm… brains…

You can check out the launch trailer below. State of Decay is available now for 1600ms points on the Xbox 360 marketplace.

© 2013 – 2014, zero1gaming.com. All rights reserved. On republishing this article your must provide a link to this original post