Zombies have become a groan inducing fixture within culture today. The only thing comparable to the plethora of brainless zombie video games is the very horde themselves. While the odds are stacked against it, it seems ZombiU (a Nintendo Wii U exclusive from Ubisoft) has managed to be quite the unique experience.
As a veteran of a hundred zombie outbreaks I thought I was mentally prepared for ZombiU. Instead I felt injected by startle scares, diseased by amazingly atmospheric environments, before decomposing from a well-deserved death. This game brings together all the elements you need for a truly scary zombie outbreak that feels more like the plague than chicken pox. This is an experience I feel I couldn’t have gotten without the second screen. Although the gamepad screen is restricted to browsing menus and scanning the surroundings it doesn’t pause the game while you use it. Watching my Survivor rummage through their bag while the undead shuffled toward him was both frightening and surreal.
Dying in ZombiU is a frequent occurrence, and soon your past attempts feel like a flock of fresh corpses. Thankfully your previous self comes back as a brain dead mind-muncher, which is quite possibly the best way I’ve ever gotten my loot back. Never have I been so glad to kill myself in a video game, though at some point it started to feel like I was leading my Survivors like lemmings to the slaughter. This game is not for the faint of heart, both in scares and difficulty.
I’ve never hungered for the survival horror genre, but ZombiU made it entirely engrossing. When I first booted this game up I was deathly afraid that the gamepad would be used and abused until it felt like beating a dead horse. This was the only fear this game alleviated for me. If your tired of shambling through today’s survival-horror games or just want a zombie game that doesn’t feel as stagnant as the others, ZombiU is a great buy. Just don’t forget your cricket bat.
ZomibiU is available now for the Nintendo Wii U system for $59.99 SRP.