Xbox following ‘Netflix’ model and releasing exclusive games on subscription based service
XBOX is offering its own Netflix-style subscription program. This game is one reason you should consider jumping on board.
WITH the end of the Cold War and the rise in political correctness regarding ethnic baddies, zombies have arisen as the perfect generic enemy.
After all, it’s not racist to shoot zombies in the face, and since they’re already undead abominations it’s not technically murder if you lodge a fire-axe in their skulls or set them on fire.
Whether your preferred zombie-dispatching device is a shotgun loaded with 00SG buckshot shells, a Colt Python .357 Magnum revolver, a katana, or a cricket bat, there’s a zombie game out there for you, which also adds to the setting’s popularity.
Undead Lab’s 2013 game State of Decay was a welcome change to the genre, combining the open-world aspects of a game like Grand Theft Auto with a strong element of strategy, base-building, resource management, zombie fighting, team development — and a mechanic whereby time kept running in-game for a period after you exited.
While the gameplay was solid and the premise engaging, the game suffered from issues including lacklustre graphics (especially on PCs), bugs, and unimpressive AI.
Despite that, the game rightly has many fans (including me) so Microsoft’s announcement at E3 last year there was a sequel on its way has been well received.
State of Decay 2 will be out on PC and Xbox One on May 22, and ahead of the launch Microsoft invited Australian games journalists for a chance to get hands-on with a prerelease version of the game.
While the developers haven’t given away many specifics on the plot, the game is set in the same world as the previous entry, albeit 15 months later and elsewhere in a fictional part of the United States which has suffered a zombie outbreak. The game will also be available as part of Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass subscription.
In a nutshell, State of Decay 2 looks and plays like an enhanced version of the original game. The graphics are much, much better, the controls are more responsive, but the experience otherwise appears mostly unchanged, which will doubtless please many of the game’s fans.
That’s not to say there aren’t changes to the game — one of them is the introduction of a mechanism whereby characters can become infected with the Blood Plague, eventually turning them into zombies as well. Cars are also much rarer and have limited petrol tanks, requiring periodic refuelling (often accompanied by scavenging for said fuel).
There are three areas to explore as well, each the same size as the one from the original game — so there’s plenty of additional adventure and challenges too.
The biggest change is something fans have been asking for since the original game, however: Four-player co-op.
In this mode, up to four players can team up to tackle tasks for the leader’s community — raiding for supplies, taking down zombies, completing missions, helping out survivors etc — and it brings a new aspect to the game.
Enemies that are dangerous and frustrating become easier to handle in groups. Setting up fields of fire and covering retreats allows for more tactical options. And just going in guns blazing while running over zombies with a ute is silly fun, and even more so when your mates are involved.
Undead Labs studio head Jeff Strain said the game was, broadly, about entropy — resources were plentiful and easy to find at the start of the game, but as the story progressed they were harder to come by, every bullet started to count, and the difficult choices players would be forced to make for their community’s survival would become more pronounced.
“The genesis of State of Decay was, ‘Let’s make that game where you can live out your own survival fantasy and out your own plan into effect’ — so that has become kind of the guiding principle as we transition from to State of Decay 2 — how do we give you more of the tools you need to tell your own stories, make your own decisions, put your own plan into effect,” he said.
“As we extend this into the future through DLC and potentially someway even sequels, that will always be the guiding principle — deepen that survival fantasy.
“When you’re making something brand new without an established fanbase, you can just do whatever you want — that’s pure game design instinct and trying to look at where trends are and what gamers are enjoying and what your personal passions are and make something.
“In making a sequel like State of Decay 2 we had 5 million very happy fans who had high expectations and very clear requests for what they want to see, so as game developers we have to look at that and say where do we play it safe and give them exactly what they expect to see, where do we push forward and innovate a bit, and how do we not tip the balance too much one way or the other?
“Because either one of those — just rehashing what you did before or taking it in such a radically different direction that people just disengage — both of those are dangerous.”
While the game is set in a different fictional part of the US to its predecessor, Mr Strain said the location was culturally very similar and idea was to give players a relatable setting with a feeling that something like the game’s events could really happen.
“The art style behind State of Decay is what we call ‘Faded Americana’ — it’s always going to be this rural small-town feel, and a lot of that is because people relate to that more,” he said.
“It’s easier to relate to a place like that than New York or Paris — especially when your characters are designed to be just people. Not heroes, not action figures, just people; so we wanted to put them in a believable, relatable setting.”
State of Decay 2 is out on PC and Xbox One on May 22
Originally published as Xbox following ‘Netflix’ model and releasing exclusive games on subscription based service
Unbelievable reason for insane Sydney queue
