Gamespot-ZombiU Review

GS:With an uninteresting world and dull combat, the survival horror game ZombiU is a weak link in the Wii U's launch lineup.

[NukaCola]

This game is getting mixed scores, but some of these scores are low down into the Black Ops Declassified AKA 'broken game zone'.

[Jinkies]

I think it's mostly because some sites are giving it the benefit of the doubt since it's a launch game.

[iamnsuperman]

Either that (and the other reviews sway more on the multiplayer which seems to be positively reviewed) or the review is dead wrong but he does provide evidence in what he says. I guess its a rent first then if you like buy it because these reviews are all over the place (from 4.5 to 9)

[StrawberryDiesel420]

No, most reviewers who are also nintendo fans were so pumped for it and can't accept the fact that it is a broken game. Nintendo fans can't give a launch game that was so hyped as the most awesome zombie game a low score and just can't be objective. Every good score for the game is more than likely a skewed and subjective review from a long time nintendo fan. The reviewer from Gamespot has no reason to lie, he just did his/her job and played the game and reviewed it accordingly from an OBJECTIVE opinion. The game just outright sucks.

[Panthers]

I think it is just too hard for some. That seems to be the overall jist of the reviews. Either people love the difficulty, or hate it.

Yes that difficulty is created with clunky controls and limited ammo, but this isnt COD Zombies. I think it looks like a lot of fun. Too bad I probably wont have a WiiU for a while.

[XxWalksOfShamexX]

I honestly see this as another assassins creed, because just like assassins creed, they had a really good concept and didn't pull it off right. Any game with mixed reviews, I usually hold off on, but I will keep my eyes on the sequel.

[LastDance]

"Many of the environments are claustrophobic?"

Wtf....

It's a survival horror game...how is this a negative point?

[Neonridr]

@StrawberryDiesel420 - Oh yes, all the positive review scores are biased and they are just Nintendo fans, but all the bad review scores are the truth right?

So if a Sony game gets a bad score, oh they just don't understand the game, and the game is actually much better than they say it is..

Give me a break.

[jeseth]

I have to say I'm pretty bummed about the reviews. Most have been mediocre to just plain bad!

I like how if you die you come back as someone completely new that picks up where your last character dies off.

Other than that, it looks like a sub par Dead Island. The graphics look pretty bad to for something touting to have graphics as good and better than PS3/360.

[LOGICWINS]

At around 2:45, he talks about how the prepper doesn't even recognize when a new character has arrived. Thats incredibly dumb. How could the devs miss that? This game was clearly rushed.

[extermin8or]

yeah and @neonridr is a game gets several reviews and say 2 are worse than all the others by a fair bit then it's be fair to say the reviews being so harsh were unfair, when a game like this is released and it gets mixed/low reviews then I think probably what with it being a launch title wealth which people tend to be more lenient with.

[wastedcells]

Well at least the cricket bat is getting some love. Maybe too much. Could the cricket bat become a wii u mascot?

[dark-hollow]

What happened to "gaming journalism is a joke and we shouldn't trust it" that we see in every black ops declassified review comments just some days ago?

[DonMingos]

Don't worry, Nintendo Fans will bring those comments back preety soon

[DonMingos]

Both games are bad... But this was suppose to be a launch hit for WiiU... wich game will sell better, ZombieU or COD BO Declassified?

[donman1]

Sigh!!!... Well this game is now off my list. There is no denying the fact that the game mechanics isn't robust enough for purchase. 4 to 6 time of applying the cricket bat to the head over and over again as your primary means of gameplay = Fail. Plus no real online experience makes this game a pass for me.

This is Red Steel all over again. What is up with Nintendo quality management.

[coolman229]

You're trusting a Gamespot review?

[donman1]

@Coolman229

No I do not, but I did watch over 50% walkthrough gameplay which confirms some of the overly repetitive gameplay mechanics talked about by gamespot. ZombiU 2 will be the version I will own. The only two games I will be purchasing for the Wii U this year are Call of Duty: Black Ops II and Assassin’s Creed III. Then download Trine 2: Director’s Cut.

i will wait for the real Mario game. I can always get a used New Super Mario Bros. U game later.

[Enmson]

Sad to see this game get bad reviews

[LOGICWINS]

Bad games should get bad reviews. Thats why we have them. To stop us from spending our hard earned $60 on something that isn't worth it.

[StraightedgeSES]

So what if the game got a bad review but you liked it?

[maelstromb]

He's not saying that despite it being a bad game that he wishes it got more favorable review scores. He's simply stating that he was hoping for a better game, like a lot of us. Jeez, why don't you just calm down.

[WeskerChildReborned]

So are you saying this game is bad? Cause i've seen some positive reviews and these are all just opinions.

[LOGICWINS]

^^I'm saying that bad games should get bad reviews. I'll have to play it to see if its TRULY a bad game for me.

[AsimLeonheart]

LOL! There goes Nintendo fans' killer app. After all the hype created by Nintendo and their fans by touting the BEST launch line-up EVER, these are the reviews they get. The graphics of this supposedly "next-gen" console are also worse then current gen. Moreover, slowly the reality about Wii U is being revealed. We now know that WiiU RAM is slower than 6/7 year old PS360. The 5GB firmware update is bricking consoles. Soon the underpowered CPU and GPU will be revealed as well. Nintendo was hiding the specs and details for this very reason. They were tricking the Nintendo fans into buying this crappy, underpowered and last-gen console.

[Jinkies]

Well Said

Hardcore Nintendo fans are gullible though. I mean how many same old Nintendo fans have been saying the opposite of what you've just said on here for months.

[LOGICWINS]

http://n4g.com/news/1122863...

As I said before, Nintendo is ALL about perception. They have this ability to manipulate people into buying underpowered consoles over and over again even though all they do is underdeliver and overpromise.

As a kid, I bought a GBA Pocket, GBA Color, GBA Advance, and GBA SP. To this day, I have no idea why I did it.

[maximus1985]

lol man you just blew my mind. i did the same thing now that i think about it.

[sashimi]

That is exactly the same as my childhood, I also have no idea why i had every one of them.

[Blastoise]

The gameboy advances were awesome, that's why!

[Neckbear]

Game Boy Advance Color, Game Boy Advance Pocket, Game Boy Advance Advance?

Yeah man, lord knows why!

[SuperShyGuy]

What about "GBA Express", "GBA Lynx", "GBA micro", "GBA DS", "GBA DSXL", "GBA DSi". "GBA 3DS" and "GBA 3DSXL"

Oh and you may have bought them because they had the best games despite being weaker.

Like PSX and PS2 had the best games but was weaker. Just a thought

[demonddel]

Man U sound stupid Give the system some time a console never came out with a good looking games in the beginning except for maybe the Dreamcast wait till you see the next Zelda game at E3 make sure u have a wiping rag with you

[AsimLeonheart]

"Humph. Hope, it is the quintessential Nintendo Fan delusion, simultaneously the source of your greatest strength, and your greatest weakness." (The Architect)

LOL!

[bishbosh]

your sad!

[bitboi]

I really really hope the next consoles from Sony and microsoft truly blow you outta the water. As far as with their graphics and what it can do from day one, the systems better be night and day compared to what your playing now. Otherwise your gonna be very disappointed...

[soljah]

with Nintendo its never about the hardware and specs. they just put out a cheap console with Mario and Zelda on it and the fans buy them up.
the thing about this system though is that its not that cheap to start with and you need to spend $100's more to make it complete, with external hard drive another game tablet and several different other controller to use depending on the game you are playing

[MEsoJD]

It's redsteel all over again.

[jmc8888]

Actually you are quite wrong.

The gamespot reviewer missed a lot of things. I mean really, how can you say the gamepad does this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this...and yet put ONLY asd if it wasn't enough. Oh and he MISSED the whole radar feature.

So if he didn't know the radar feature, how do we know he did a good job on the rest? Also it depends on the methodology. Gaming scores aren't like American Grade System where 59 and below = fail. Technically 5 is supposed to be a middle of the road game. So is the reviewer saying it's just slightly below a middle of the road game or is he saying it sucks. You are also cherry picking the review YOU want to hear. Most of the reviews are in the 7-9 region, not 4.5-5 region.

So again, you are hearing what you want to hear. Which in each one of your supposed points seems to be a theme.

Actually NONE of the consoles will be 'next-gen'. But that's another story. All are 'this gen, done right' or 'This gen, fully realized'. As it'll be top end PC gear 3-5 years that finally gives us what most people consider are 'next gen' graphics.

Also we don't 'now know' that the RAM of the Wii U is slower, we're getting a really rudimentary estimate by looking at one piece of the puzzle. As has been described elsewhere you can't look at the ram chip alone and determine the bandwidth. That's crazy talk. So no, we 'don't know' what it is, and what you're throwing around is 100 percent false, as the 17.7 gb/s number is missing alot of other aspects that make up the ACTUAL bandwidth number.

Also the 5gb firmware update is NOT bricking consoles. It's human error. Would you turn off your power during a 360/PS3/PC GPU firmware update? I don't think so. These people didn't realize it would take that long so they turned off their Wii U. So it wasn't the update bricking it, it was the people, and even then we haven't heard if this is permanent or temporary setback.

We haven't heard about the CPU in finality. We heard 3 cores and 12 threads, but I read by one person it's a quad core, so again, time needs to go on. Besides it's the GPU that does most of the pushing, and the CPU is definitely secondary in terms of performance. As long as it's not a major bottleneck (and with 12-16 threads there not much reason to believe that). All we have really is a comment by a dev that makes the same game over and over again. If a dev does the same thing everytime, I don't expect them to be able to handle new tech very well.

So all your assumptions are cherry picked, see what you want, and making incorrect final conclusions.

Me personally, doesn't matter. I have a 360/PS3/ i7 920 @4ghz and GTX 670 PC.

I have a Wii U on the way, and will be buying a PS4 and a 720. Though none of three will be better than my current PC. The tech doesn't exist to do it.

But keep up with your meme, I guess it means something to you to dog the Wii U. It won't make your system any more powerful. It won't make the next version any more powerful.

[dragonrage00]

What Nintendo fan claimed this was the best launch line up ever? I havent heard that (the line up clearly sucked, even before the review scores). That said, stop bringing up specs to claim the wiiU sucks. When the current gen begun, sony fanboys brought that up, and it ended up making no difference except for a few exclusives (arguably).

Furthermore, stop saying Nintendo tricks the consumers. They try to sell their products like any other company. If you buy them or not its up to you. If you bought 100 versions of the same gameboy, its YOUR FAULT.

(Before someone takes the easy route and call me a Nintendo fanboy, I dont own a wii, and dont plan on getting a wiiU (at least anytime soon), but some of the comments here just bother me)

[Timesplitter14]

I'm not really surprised to be honest

[ozzywazzy]

Insightful video. If the cricket bat thing is correct I can see that getting incredibly boring. Shame, this game was one of the reasons I was considering perhaps getting a wii u. I'll definitely wait it out now.

[NYC_Gamer]

ZombiU seems like Ubisoft just rushed the game out instead of making sure it was polished

[Cam977]

Before seeing this, I would've welcomed a suggested ps3/360 port however; that is not the case anymore. As for the Wii U, I'll just wait until the PS4, or, "Orbis" as it's rumoured to be called.

The rumour of the "Orbis" sounds realistic as Sony have strayed away from the generic names - that of course is if the Vita is anything to go by! The Vita is also a reason I don't want a Woo E, I'm loving it! I haven't been on my Ps3 much because of it.

[MrAnderson]

Also ZombiU is a really lame name for a game...

[millzy102]

you do realise zombi was the first game Ubisoft realesed it is technically a sequel, also have you read the review he is reviewing like an action game nit survival horror and he complained about dying by falling of a roof how lame.

[MrAnderson]

sticking "U" on the end of a name to make it relevant to the system is both bad marketing, and bad naming, it looks lame, cheesy, cheap and unimaginative, the "zombi" part is not what I was referring to.

[millzy102]

also most part of bad reviews is the 5 or six hits it takes to kill a zombie, first I don't think a zed can be killed in one or two hits and second has anyone played a proper survival horror like silent hill it takes 5 to 10 hits to kill anything in that game long beatings is part of the survival genre, if you get board of hitting things you blantenly havnt played survival horror, don't bring up resi evil as it hasn't been survival horror since 3 its now survival action, I understand this game won't be liked by most people but you need to know what your playing a slow paced, not shooter survival game. you can't run around shooting everything because you'll run out of ammo you need to take a step back and think. something gamers can't seem to do these days if you can't run out and shoot everything what's the point. the multi player reviews back up this point as it is more action orientated. ZOMBIU IS NOT AN ACTION GAME, finally anyone know england guns are not in abundance here if a zed outbreak happens here we will be fucked hardly anyone in England has guns so if bullets and guns where everywhere it would be bullshit.

[Cam977]

Does the Woo E play Woo games?

[No FanS Land]

you have some problem with your keyboard I think,

and yes the WooE plays original Woo games, in its full Woo OS.

[maximus1985]

woo woo what?

[HeavenlySnipes]

I believe them. The guy made valid points and showed what he was talking about. Game looks shit as well tbh

[Imalwaysright]

Yeah the game looked incredibly dull and lackluster and for a survival horror it lacked atmosphere.

[_LarZen_]

Eurogamer gave it 9/10.....

[maelstromb]

Most likely payola. I'm sorry, but there cannot be THAT large of a discrepancy between the scores we've been seeing without a little bit of money involved.

[_LarZen_]

Seams there is big discrepancy with this game, but it aint the only game today with big up's and downs.

Hitman: Absolution is all over the place also with some reviews as low as 5/10 and others up at 9/10....

[dragonrage00]

@_LarZen_
How can someone click disagree with your comment? Its a FACT, not an opinion.

[TacoTaru]

Could be the Disagree clickers were brain dead zombies that couldn't read or didn't care if they were wrong.

[bitboi]

It's funny seeing all the people rushing in here saying I told you so and what not. It's like the only review that matters to some of you folks is the bad ones, only so that you can throw it in the face of other people that like the game or is looking forward to it.

This game has gotten way more positive reviews than it did bad, but ohh no you don't want to focus on that. The only way you'll know if you truly like a game is to play it yourself. And again the number of sites giving it more positive reviews should not be taken lightly against the 3 or so sites that hate the game.

And for some of you xbox and sony fanboys, you never where gonna get this system even it spit gold out at ya. So it doesn't make sense to come in here praising a negative review for a game cuz it's on a system you hate.

[Jinkies]

"It's funny seeing all the people rushing in here saying I told you so and what not. It's like the only review that matters to some of you folks is the bad ones"

Ever thought it's because unlike the good reviews this guy has the evidence to back his claims up. He actually shows you....whats more credible then that.

I've never seen any of the good reviews say

"This feature is good BECAUSE...."
"This stands out well BECAUSE...."
"When playing ZombiU gives you a great experience BECAUSE...."

Hell even the video reviews just show you gameplay footage while they talk about how they like it, not whats right/wrong with it.

[ronin4life]

Because only negativr reviews can contain legitamate points?

Your statement is one sided and makes little sense

[DeadPixel]

Well said, i've got a 360 and i'm getting a wii u as well, not because i want something better than my xbox but because i'm looking forward to seeing what the future holds for the wii u, even if that future is a crap one. People just love to hate!!!

[Imalwaysright]

Whathever. The reviewer didnt even need to say anything. He could just have shown me this footage for me to know that ZombiU is a no no.

[Geomasonic]

B.S. I was going to get Wii U just for this game while I don't give a flying f. about those ghastly Mario games. Now I'm not sure if I want to go through with my pre-order... sad really...

[2v1]

hey there, i want get the system too but at the price and the games it has is just not match how much i tihnk is worth.

[mafiahajeri]

And when I said I played it at an expo and didnt like it at all people bashed me saying I was lying. Thanks gamespot for shedding the light on these guys who probably wont even buy the game due to these mixed reviews

[lilbroRx]

This review has 20 comments now while the better reviews have 3 or 4.

If you want to know why gaming media focuses on negative stories regarding Nintendo and its games then look no further than this.

The reason is because that is what people look at and respond to the most. More response equals more ad revenue. Plain and simple.

[bitboi]

nobody wants to read the good reviews, only take the bad ones as the only true reviews

[girlwithturn]

Yea, looks like good zombie-game could only make by Capcom Vancouver (ex blue castle) and Naughty Dog. Ubisoft always was an average developer in my opinion.

[ronin4life]

Because I'm going to trust the site that has been caught taking money and ads for good reviews and punishing those who don't comply?

Nope.

[NYC_Gamer]

I don't trust mainstream review sites but the video speaks for it self

[MonopolyRSV]

Cricket? Nobody understands cricket! You gotta know what a crumpet is to understand cricket!

[smashcrashbash]

Why most there always be conflict? Can't we just compromise? Obviously it is not the best game ever but at the same time it isn't the worst either. It's not the first game that ever got mixed reviews. Why must every site that thinks a game is not that good MUST have an agenda? Before people go into frenzy over scores think about if you would be against who ever it was if they had given it a positive score. It's probably not terrible but it has flaws.Why must people always act as if a game can't have flaws because they say so? Why do people feel entitled to good scores? The guy didn't like it. Move on.He is not asking for you to believe him. He is just giving his opinion. You have a choice to believe his opinion or not and you can't chastise the people who choose to believe it.

[dennett316]

It goes both ways though, if a game is given a good score then the review was obviously paid for in the eyes of the trolls who scream the loudest and most often. There's evidence of that on here with mention of positive reviews of this game being greeted with claims of bought reviews.

I'd argue that those taking either extreme view should really be ignored because they do little to add to any discussion. I'd also argue that it's OK to argue against what a reviewer has said if you feel they're incorrect in some way, or are perhaps misrepresenting things a little. Not all dissenters are idiots who simply claim a review sucks or a game is rubbish just because they feel like it.

[ronin4life]

Exactly. This game is only recieving pure hate and pure love...

The mixed reviews speak for themselves really.

And I know I made a divisive comment above, but when you have a history of fraudulence it is hard to shake it off. This site was embroiled in a scandalous review buying incident, so of all the reviewers they are some of the hardest to trust... in my eyes.

Unless I have the wrong guys... lol.

[dennett316]

"Zombi U could have been an enjoyable action game, instead it is a poor entry in the survival horror genre."

Huh? That's a bit of a contradictory statement there isn't it? It sound very much like this reviewer expected this to be an action game rather than a survival horror title. In fact, I question if he actually knows what survival horror is supposed to be. Ammo conservation is a big part, as is inventory management. He complains about the immersion factor of having to retrieve items from your backpack via the gamepad, when that is obviously am intended part of the design and is a nod to realism. It forces you to think strategically....do I have the time to unlock this door, do I have a chance to reload here, do I have the time to loot this body?
As for relying on melee combat when ammo is scarce...that's the point. Ammo is scarce, and to survive you have to use your head and conserve the ammo as you go along by utilising melee attacks alongside your gun.

He makes a fair point about the logical disconnect of the new survivors hearing messages that are intended for the player, rather than the survivor onscreen at the time. Suspension of disbelief will be needed there it seems, though they could have done a far better job of it.

That he enjoyed the more action focused multi-player and was complaining about the melee combat is very telling...it says to me he was trying to play the main game as an action game rather than a survival horror and the strategical gameplay that that entails. Seems to me like he blasted away his ammo the first chance he got and then was forced to rely on the bat more than he would have had to with a bit of thought.

This isn't Resident Evil 5 and 6 "survival horror", this is original Resi and Silent Hill survival horror. It's not an action game. I'm still looking forward to it despite this review, his reasons ain't that great IMO.

As for people saying the graphics are terrible and other such nonsense, I'm sorry, I just don't see it. I see a really detailed and atmospheric game world with great lighting. A fair bit of variety in zombie models and some nice animation. I think there's more than a little over-exaggeration from those who seem desperate to tear strips off this new console for any reason they can get their hands on.

[jmc8888]

Exactly. As I pointed out above the reviewer stated all these things the gamepad could do then put 'only' as if it wasn't enough and didn't even mention the radar function.

The graphics look pretty good. It's got a certain atmosphere to it. Also the 1 vs 1 local multiplayer aspect of the game seems like it'll be a lot of fun. In that section you even get a lot of guns, so it's almost like two different games. The single player survival horror, and the friend vs friend zombie shooter.

Which goes to your point that he was expecting more action, and thus why he liked the local multiplayer section better. But it didn't seem to impact the score. So the weighting of the review tends to be on the single player rather than the local multiplayer.

Also again because it must be stated, 5/10 isn't necessarily bad. It's SUPPOSED to mean middle of the road. So 4.5 would be just below middle of the road. Maybe he meant poor, but we don't know. That's why in the abscence of actually playing it you read multiple reviews and see how it fares across them, and it's showing that most are in the 7-9+ range.

In case anyone was wondering what metacritic has giving it http://www.metacritic.com/g...

So we have a 90,88,83, 80, 70, 63,60, 50, 45...and though I don't see it listed there, I'm sure I saw a 92 somewhere. The average user rating is a 6.9.

So the reviews have a wide range, and the user reviews have 48 as positive, 22 as negative, and 2 mixed and overall a 6.9 user rating. The number has been fluctuating, and of course you don't know how much people are over and underrating it as what goes on. Sometimes time sorts it out more. But user ratings on metacritic can be quite brutal. Black OPS2 for instance on the 360 has a 4.4 user rating. For the 360 version of Assassin Creed 3 is 7.2. So we'll see.

The best way of course is to play it yourself. I'm not a big fan of Zombie games per se, though I do buy some of them like Left 4 Dead 2 and Dead Island. I bought this one, and I think I'll enjoy it. We'll see, but none of the reviews have said anything specific that turns me off. Which is what I generally look for in reviews since scores are so subjective.

What specifically did they say and does it matter in the larger context? Then does it to YOU? What did they leave out in their review?

ZombiU looks to be the game I thought it was going to be, survival horror, with great gamepad uses, and it'll be fun to drop some zombies in on my friend. Especially since he sucks at games, yet is a sucker for zombies and ninjas so I know I can get him to play.

[boybato]

"6.9 user rating"

A really great thing ruined by a damn period. If you know what I mean.

[C0MPUT3R]

The campaign should of been scrapped.
.
$14.99 download title.

[josephayal]

A truly hardcore survival experience

[wastedcells]

Even user reviews are all over the place!! Wtf

[felidae]

Even the guys over at Giantbomb say the game is pretty awesome and they're usually pretty harsh.

Their preview gameplay looks great:

http://www.giantbomb.com/qu...

[badvlad]

only kids play nintendo and obesed geeks. hahaha im kidding(not)

[Neonridr]

metacritic score is 70 right now, which sure, isn't steller, but it's also not 4.5

Face it, some people love this game, others hate it. Isn't that how it's supposed to be? We live in a world of different tastes, some people prefer run and gun games, others - slow and tense games. The fact that this game has reviews all over the place just reinforce the fact that this game is not for everyone. The only way you will know for sure is to try it out for yourself. I know that's a crazy thought, but sometimes it's actually best to make up your own mind and not listen to what other people tell you what to think or do.

Also I hope this game is compared to Red Steel, because Ubisoft then went back to the drawing board and came back with a stellar game called Red Steel 2. Here's hoping they tweak some things with this game, and bring us a better ZombiU2 with online multiplayer.

[BitbyDeath]

Watch the video gamespot explains exactly why it got a low score and frankly i'm surprised it didn't get an even lower one after watching it.

Yes people like some games while others do not despite it being broken and repetitive but it still doesn't stop the game from being broken and repetitive (as per the review).

[DivineAssault]

bargain bin banishment

[modesign]

this is a preview of the 3rd party butchery that the wiiu will suffer, just like the wii, the 3rd party devs failed to take it seriously and that into is a fault of nintendo. if your going to make kiddie games, expect the 3rd party to follow.

[Neonridr]

how come Treyarch of all people were able to pull off a flawless port of Black Ops 2?