Zero Punctuation: Dying Light - Yay, More Zombies

[varmintx]

Never played DeadIsland, most likely never will play DyingLight, but still enjoying a ZP review of a game on a wednesday evening
The FPS platformning is going fine for me in MetroidPrime. So nothing to say to that

The Prime games are the only example in the entire history of video games where first-person platforming is actually enjoyable.

 

[UberThetan]

I never understood the need to see your feet in FPS platforming. I don't look at my feet when I jump gaps in real life (I have done so on occasion) - I look at where I'm jumping. At that point it's just feel and the game can either do a decent job of transmitting that, or a shit one. There are limits, limits that will probably only be solved with VR, but even that will hit a limit. At least until we invent the interface that plugs straight into your brain. Then we're golden.

 

[JennAnge]

The Hitting a pinata with a live cat line nearly got me to choke on my lunch. Well done, sir, well done.

I'd be half curious to see what Yager could do wtih Dead Island 2, but I've had a severe allergic reaction to zombies ever since 2004, so I'll probably have to skip it.

 

[Lightknight]

Wait... Dead Island but well made? That's actually really high praise. Haha, "I'd like Dead Island if it wasn't shit" was exactly my demographic. That's hilarious.

 

[Thanatos2k]

I'm seriously just done with zombies. The most boring enemy imaginable, and any game built around them is just as boring.

I'm really getting there with "post-acoplyptic world's a shithole" game setting too, of which nearly every zombie game is also a member of.

 

[Thanatos2k]

Oh you silly people and your need for visible feet... Really, your "feet" (actually bottom of your bounding box) are a fixed distance below your viewpoint so it shouldn't be rocket science to figure out the point you land with. I find platforming actually easier in first person because I can judge distances in 3D space better and can turn the camera more easily. I've been doing first person platforming since Half Life, at some point I just had to figure it out.

There's a reason why almost all competently designed games with platforming project a shadow directly below the player when they jump into the air despite this being completely unrealistic half the time.

You lose the opportunity to even do that much in first person.

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

Never played DeadIsland, most likely never will play DyingLight, but still enjoying a ZP review of a game on a wednesday evening
The FPS platformning is going fine for me in MetroidPrime. So nothing to say to that

The Prime games are the only example in the entire history of video games where first-person platforming is actually enjoyable.

Wait, what? As much as I loved Metroid Prime, the platforming was a notably weak portion of the game. I'm chocking this up to the inability to easily look around. When you're facing a boss and your options are: stand still and hold r to look at the ground or wing it and get your bearings by whether or not you're currently standing in acid, the second always ended up being the better option to me.

On the other hand I really liked the platforming in Mirror's Edge, it was fun, engaging and actually felt like you were doing the Parkour. The one notable problem I had was how incredibly clunky it was when you were hanging on a ledge trying to look around. I don't know if it was any better in the PC version, but on the Ps3 it was ridiculously slow and you were barely able to look around at all. Mirror's Edge certainly wasn't a great game, it got dull and repetitive after a point, but I don't get all the hate for the parkour sections

 

[Darth_Payn]

I'm seriously just done with zombies. The most boring enemy imaginable, and any game built around them is just as boring.

I'm really getting there with "post-acoplyptic world's a shithole" game setting too, of which nearly every zombie game is also a member of.

Irony: the whole genre involving zombies that used to be dead just refuses to die well after its time has passed.

I'm also sick of the whole "Humans Are The Real Monsters" bit of this. If I was in that kind of world, and one of the still-living humans said that, I'd go "ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS???!!! LOOK AT THOSE THINGS OUTSIDE THE BOARDED-UP WINDOWS! IF WE ARE THE MONSTERS, THEN WHAT THE FUCK ARE THEY?!" Then I'd grab a zombie's head (after pulling it off the body), stick a grenade in its mouth, pull the pin, and punt the head into a crowd of zombies and watch them explode. It may not sound practical, but it sure is funny to visualize. Go ahead, try it. I'll wait.
I believe this whole zombie fad has long since run its course. Especially the Walking Dead. It's about cynical bastards, made by cynical bastards, intended for cynical bastards. And if Ben Yahtzee Croshaw, the Alpha Cynical Bastard, thinks that stuff's gone stale, then its time for something completely different.

Back on topic, it looks like the box cover art for Dying Light was made by the same people who did SO:TL's. That's why I thought Yager did this one, instead of Dead Island 2.

 

[Grimh]

First person platforming is fine, y'all just suck at it.

As for this, I love Mirror's Edge more than it probably deserves so anything close to that is definitely on my to buy list.

 

[Denamic]

But you CAN see your feet in Dying Light. Just look down; they're right there.

 

[Isalan]

Think the wide variety of accents are kinda weakly explained away by the outbreak occuring during the "Olympics" (think they refer to it as the World Games or something?), but less easily explained is the sudden and hilarious changes in accent. Swear one african gent was having a quick word with me regarding a mission, and once he was done he was suddenly Irish. Made I laugh.

Never played Dead Island, but I've quite enjoyed Dying Light so far. Story and characters are as cliche as a clichey thing, but as a vehicle for battering zombies with a magic wrenches and machetes its pretty fun.

 

[Thanatos2k]

Yahtzee wrote a column previously about why First Person Platforming is bad:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/columns/extra-punctuation/9796-First-Person-Platforming

His points still stand.

 

[zumbledum]

I keep hearing "better than Dead Island" but I hated Dead Island, so... How much better, really?

i would say its a lot better but its also sort of the same, i suspect yahtzee was playing on a console and me on PC im just not seeing the same problems the parkour is easy fluid and fun and ive never had a problem climbing. combats much better the progress system is really fun you go from being a total useless slow moving pork chop pre sauced to a lithe agile beast, but you still dont want to take on more than a couple of zombies at any time.

but if you hated dead island id give it a wide birth , its the same quests story and base game. i really doubt that even though imo every mechanical system in the game crafting , fighting, scavenging , movement, progression is miles ahead of dead island it is also still the same game, you go on fetch quests, parkour challenges , rampage challenges, side quests and the main story. i just really dount its enough to make you like it if you didnt at least think dead island had promise.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Whatever happened to that game you going to make Yahtzee? What was it called? "Enough With the Fucking Zombies Already?" wasn't it?

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

"Like Dead Island but better" is good enough for me.

 

[CpT_x_Killsteal]

Oooh that Diana joke. I loved that.

So like Dead Island but better. I liked Dead Island (with a friend), so I guess I'll like this even more.

 

[dprange]

I don't understand the issues with the parkour. After about 5 minutes of running around you should know exactly where you are standing at all times, how far you can jump, etc...

It's as close to perfect as video game parkour gets.

 

[Warachia]

I don't understand the issues with the parkour. After about 5 minutes of running around you should know exactly where you are standing at all times, how far you can jump, etc...

It's as close to perfect as video game parkour gets.

I don't get this either, if the game bugs out like Mirror's Edge and refuses to let you grab a platform you absolutely need to grab then fine, but otherwise it's very simple to figure out exactly how far you can go and what you can do.

 

[VladG]

You know, I've never had problems with the parkour, once you understand it's very simple principle: You want to grab/climb/mantle something, you need to have it roughly in the middle of the camera (which is explained at the start of the game). I've played some 16 hours or so and the parkour system fucked up only ONCE (and considering parkour is your only means of getting around, I'd say that's a pretty impressive track record).


Heck, the parkour is so much fun and feels so natural it's probably what kept me playing for so long.

And it actually improves on some of the best parts of Dead Island (melee combat is better, crafting is better, killing zombies feels much better, skill trees are really good), while getting rid of some of the weaker aspects of Dead Island. Mostly the game is about avoiding zombies rather than fighting them (though you'll still fight plenty). Writing is not great, and the voice acting ranges from ok-ish to terrible, though the main story is pretty decent, if indeed extremely cliched. As for the multicultural setting, I really like the simple and clever solution: the city was hosting the Olympics - that's why you have people with 50 different accents, and a lot of really fit, really athletic survivors.

 

[SmallHatLogan]

Kyle Crane? I thought it was Niles Crane. Bah! I'm not buying this now.

On the topic of first person platforming: I agree that spatial awareness is an issue but developers seem to be aware of that too which is why they generally give you a bit of leeway so that you don't have to make pixel perfect jumps. Sure, if you tried to play Prince of Persia: Sands of Time or Super Meat Boy from a first person perspective it would be a God damned nightmare, but I think Mirror's Edge actually made it work pretty well. And from the footage I've seen Dying Light does a good job too.