Project Zomboid - Review (Alpha)

Reviewed for the PC played with Mouse & Keyboard.
Pros

• Very Expansive World
• Engaging Atmosphere
• One of the few "Zombie Simulators" available on the market.
• Sandbox Game
• Top-down View
• Retro Graphics
• Modding Available
• Open Alpha Development
• ^Alphas available to everyone allow the players to shape the end product making for a better overall game.

Cons

• Top-down View
• Retro Graphics
• Lack of Story/Progression Towards a End Game
• Alpha
• ^I'd hate to list it lol, but you need to understand this is a alpha.

The Indie Stone creators of Project Zomboid offer up one of the few "Zombie Simulators" available on the market, I use the term Simulator because what it aims to do isn't your run of the mill oh there's some zombies lets kill them so we can move on, or hey i'm immune to zombies so I can run around and get mauled by zombies just fine, it understands that even one second of brief contact with a zombie could leave you infected and from that stems a beautiful game for us zombie enthusiast like myself.

When you first start up your game depending on what version you are playing you will have the option to play a Story Driven Mode or a Sandbox Mode. The story is mostly there just as a tutorial into the world, teaching you a bit about how the game works without throwing you into the fire with no clue what to do. The real fun comes from the open Sandbox running around trying to survive, build a safehouse, find supplies, etc. From there you will enter Character Creation if you have chosen Sandbox where you get to pick from numerous traits and classes, there isn't a whole lot there at the moment but they are adding more at every chance they get.

After making your character you are engrossed into the world trying to find food, water, sheets to craft bandages, weapons, wood to make barricades, really anything you can find to survive. NPCs also populate the world trying to do the same thing which really adds to the atmosphere to the game, there's nothing like coming across huge piles of dead zombies only to wonder what on earth happened there, or having your safe house broken into and looted while you were away.

As you play through you will experience moodlets much like The Sims if you have played that, if you are hungry you get reduced str, if you are in to much pain you can't sleep, if you are drunk you can't walk straight, if zombies pop out at you, you enter a state of panic reducing accuracy, and much more. Of course you need to keep the negative moodlets away or they could very well be the demise of you, which I think really adds to the atmosphere since if you "did" find yourself in a zombie apocalypse the simplest thing could be down your downfall.

I could really sit here and talk about all the mechanics of the game for hours really there is so much there, so much you can do, but in the end what we are here for is zombies! So lets talk about the zombies, they are all slow shambler zombies, you won't find any like in Left 4 Dead or Dead Island or anything that runs at you really fast, there's no special zombies, just shamblers. While this may "seem" a bit monotonous do not let that bother you because while there isn't a imminent danger of zombies what gets you is complacency you think haha this is easy they are never going to get me only to run around a corner without checking it properly and one bites you and then you are infected and screwed.

Or you run back to your safehouse making to much noise drawing one zombie there followed by a whole horde knocking at your door when you wakeup from your slumber with no way out but the door they suddenly pile in after your barricade falls praying you might make it out alive making a mad dash through the horde of zombies only to be eaten alive by hundreds of zombies. Really it is quite amazing the amount of seemingly scripted events in a randomly generated game.

The Graphics are basically what you would expect from any Indie game, there isn't anything impressive about them lol, they have a nice retro feel to them though if you do like them along with the top down view, really I think these points are minor, even if the zombies were red blocks and the survivors green blocks or whatever, the gameplay on it's own is more than enough to make this game worthwhile.

The Audio is pretty impressive, it's not like awe inspiring realistic sounds but it really helps draw you into the game's atmosphere. There's even a heart beating sound when you are paniced though it can be a bit annoying at times lol. You can hear zombies pounding on windows, doors and swarming your house, there is pretty much sounds for everything which you don't always have in alphas.

The Combat is fairly simple having a Resident Evil Esque feel to it, you press Ctrl or Z to ready your weapon then left click to swing or shoot, of course if you are using a gun they will create a lot of noise attracting zombies to your location so it may not always be the best idea to use them even if you have them. Sometimes a more silent approach is better or you could find 100 zombies knocking at your door.

Even if the combat is simple though it is still satisfying, timing the perfect bat swing or knife stab can be a bit tricky but when you do it right just seeing their brains splatter everywhere is pretty entertaining on it's own and doing it without taking any injury even more so.

I could sit here and talk for ages about the game honestly, but my excitement in writing this should convey pretty much everything I feel about this game lol and I don't want to start boring you with my excessive rambling. I certainly think it's worth a purchase check out the questions below to see if you feel the same. ^^

PS: Even though the game is in alpha you can always think of buying the game as "Pre-Purchasing" the game, except instead of having to wait for the game to be released later you can play it whenever you want while it's in development. ^^

Head over to http://projectzomboid.com/blog/ to check it out!

(Do you enjoy games)*

• that involve zombies?
• with open ended sandboxes?
• that are simulators?
• with lots of modding available?
• that may still be in development?

For each YES give yourself +1 then for each NO don't give yourself anything, after you answer and add them up check below for a general idea on how much you might enjoy the game.
0-1 Forget
2-3 Demo
4-5 Buy
I encourage you to play any demo available for the game before you buy or rent a game, there is nothing better to help you decide then trying the game firsthand.