I'm now on Chapter 4 and have completed over 30 side quests, figured I'd give my impressions. And yes, I just said thirty side quests. Hell, I think thirty of them were done by Chapter 2 too. But I'll get to that later, let's start at the beginning. Just make sure to read in it's entirety, for the tone eventually changes.

First off, the intro and starting point of the game is immediately underwhelming. I just kept saying to myself, seriously? It felt clunky, dated and most of all uninspired. You watch a God-awful intro and then jump into a barely detailed hotel room. No lead in, no other characters, nothing. None of it even makes sense, you are just thrown into the game so to speak. I was immediately turned off. I trudge through it, get to the meet up spot, etc. Now, keep in mind, the rest of the cast are not A.I. You are completely solo, despite the fact that they randomly appear in many of the CG's. The only time you see the other playables are in co-op or system link. Pretty random eh'? Guess they couldn't code proper A.I. Anyhow, I don't really mind it. Moving on, I'm given the task by one of the group leaders to go out and clear the area or something of that nature. I accept the quest and open the doors to the beach and then it happened... suddenly I saw where so much of the time developing this game had went into. It was outright gorgeous, highly detailed and the world was seemingly huge.

As you gain ounces of freedom by helping out the crew, you eventually meet up in a safe house with the rest of the refugees. Here you have the option to continue the story through main quests and to help other survivors with their own personal problems. Some as serious as finding serum, others as stupid as risking your life over a teddy bear. The humor is sometimes shoved down your throat and ends up just being cheesy, other times I've genuinely chuckled. The game has an overall serious tone though. The main quest of the second chapter revolves around helping your fellow refugees, so like many games you end up being a one man show and doing pretty much everything while the rest of the survivors sit around. At times there were so many open requests that it just felt ridiculous, the pacing was pretty bad in the beginning. Too much thrown at the player at once, but somehow it all ends up getting done and you sometimes bite off some tasks simply by exploring. They all pay in exp and items/cash, so it helps level up. Though many of the missions are optional, taking all of them on allows the player to explore the island while getting rewards and some are good fun. Once settled in, this area started to feel much like Dead Rising, but without a time limit.

The exploration is absolutely top knotch, there are so many places to go. In fact, when I found out there are other areas just as big I was floored. The island is big enough for the entire game to take place on, to hear of more is pretty epic. Especially knowing they are of different design and such, thus making the game varied and exciting. The level of detail is also pretty good. There are some weak spots (which I wish weren't pointed out for the first fifteen minutes of the game) and there are some strong points. Either way, exploring on your own does leave you with a sense of freedom and the game gets across the point of a zombie apocalypse more so than most do. You feel stranded and the world, for the most part, feels realistic. The jump in and out co-op also makes online enjoyable and most of all accessible. The co-op feels just right too. Exploring with a friend is a blast, especially when the games areas are still virgin sand to the player. Only gripe is it doesn't seem like the game adjusts the difficulty level much at all, so it loses some challenge co-op. Also there is a unique feature that works really well. If someone out there is on the same mission and literally walking within the same area you are, you can hit left on the d-pad to play together. It makes playing with random much more enjoyable and everyone is almost always on the same page.

Battle is pretty enjoyable. Hand to hand combat isn't exactly deep, but there is some variation. For example you can aim and target certain limbs to cut, jump kick/slash, cross up, etc. Guns have no cross hair or typical FPS elements, so they felt pretty realistic and not overpowered in that manner. Fury mode is more or less an X-Factor or Rage mode, character gets all kinds of buffs and has a specific fury weapon. It only lasts for a short amount of time, though can be upgraded. Characters have skill trees to spend experience points on and each character levels up different skills. There are times when only certain characters can access areas and such, so some secret areas are only achieved by a single character or when playing in a group. Overall the character abilities are pretty fun.

In the end, the game could have used some more polish in certain areas and perhaps some better planning as far as the game pacing goes, or how the initial moments are introduced. However, the flaws are easily overlooked by what is otherwise a humongous highly detailed island crawling with the undead, which all leads to too much fun.

Regarding the glitches: I've been one of the lucky ones, the only problem I had was last night. I had to disperse of a handful of zombies in order to access an area, but apparently I sent one flying through a wall and could no longer reach him. So I had to restart the mission. Pretty poor, though hasn't been a common occurrence. Though from what I hear, I've just been lucky. The game does load textures rather slowly though, some cut scenes five or six seconds in have no textures until they finally pop.


No excuses with a game in development that long though, lol. Early adapters aren't beta testers, if we are give us the game for free. Patches and such are a good thing, sure, but if it were last generation or someone does not have access to X-Box LIVE / PSN then they are left with a problem. At the end of the day considering how long this game has been hyped up, it's pathetic. Regardless of the fact, I'm happy to see they are patching it.

I'd agree if the game wasn't in development for five years.

IGN gave it an 8.0

http://xbox360.ign.com/objects/955/955540.html

Pretty much sums it up, though I personally don't feel a few quests and the implementation of EXP makes the game an RPG. It's more along the lines of Dead Rising. Flawed but fun.

Guh, I pre-ordered mine yesterday, alongside a new xbox console. As much money as I've dropped at Gamestop you'd think they would give me a little edge and let me get some things early. Nope, but they will tell me that they have them in the back though and a certain employee has already played it grrrrr!!!

Wow. From the sounds of it seems like it's pretty mediocre. I guess everyone was fooled by that pretty CGI trailer. Shame.

It's funny how a game can be so hyped out before it releases. Shades of Re5? But, I guess I'll find out tonight.

What happen to your old 360 Wong?
im waiting for the holiday for a 360 sale i hope for. im only willing to get the slim version and the most current rev. for hoping less failures.

Wish it had offline co-op, but oh well. It actually looks a lot like Dead Rising, even without the similar names.

Just saw some 360 version on stream. i notice theres screen tearing too? is it true or just the caster have sucky equipment casting the 360 version? :P

Nothing happened to it, I've been lured by the sexy MW3 console. It's hot and I want it lol, plus then I can give the boys this one and they won't be on my ass all the time while I'm pwning Yama at Reach!