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GDC 2011 is going on as of this writing and Gamespot was fortunate enough to get a hands-off preview of the game at the ongoing event. While some of this info may have already been known there’s some fresh info among this preview too. Most notable is the game’s heavy emphasis on melee combat and item combination/ repair in order to survive the onslaught of zombies. You can catch a convenient list of all the major beats of Gamespot’s preview below.
-The game starts right in the middle of a zombie outbreak, with your character regaining consciousness in a not so pleasant scenario.
-There are 4 main characters: Xian Mei ( a former hotel employee), Logan ( a surfer), Sam B ( a former rapper), and Purna who isn’t quite known that well thus far.
– Despite each character being unique in class, they all start out in the same place.
– In the beginning of the game your hotel is attacked by hordes of zombies ( as seen in the trailer) and you’re knocked out and end up being dragged to a poolhouse serving as a source of shelter on the island.
– One of the initial missions is to seek out Sinamoi ( the hotel’s lifeguard) who is desperately trying to round up all the survivors and get them to safety. But doing this requires the player to venture out of their safezone ( the poolhouse) and fight through the corpse-ridden beach.
– Melee is the central focus of the game, with true fire-arms being quite hard to come by. One such gun was a police officer’s pistol.
– Melee weapons you find all vary in levels of damage, swinging speed, and repair levels.
– You can repair broken or damaged weapons at scattered workbenches.
– Melee weapons will in fact become more damaged over time and upon abusive use making finding the nearest workbench a necessity.
– blue print schematics bring forth new and stronger weapons. You can also find items such as batteries, tape, and wires to improve the weapons you already have.
– There are quick time events that also serve as finishing moves on zombies. These can also be performed on downed zombies with an example being a “series of brutal stomps that popped open the ghoul’s cranium like a watermelon” ( good stuff).
– There are different finishing moves you can pull off.
– You are tasked with finding as much survivors as possible and getting them to safety, which early on in the game takes the form of a lighthouse.
– There are different types of zombies like the “infected” which are extremely fast (think crimson heads), basic slow-moving zombies, and “suicide” zombies which explode upon contact (their blast radius can also affect nearby zombies).
– There will also be boss zombies.
– Your character has stamina that will deplete over time and upon continuous weapon-use.
– There’s a kick move that let’s you gain some breathing room by pushing some zombies off of you, giving you time to connect with a more brutal attack (or to run!).
– Each of the 4 characters has their own skill tree with an example being Sam’s tree consisting of fury, combat, and survival.
– A special move was shown which belongs to Sam. He is able to initiate “rage” mode which paints the screen red and makes you unleash a fury of blows on unlocky zombies that rip them apart with his bare fist.
– As you save people and rid zombies on multiple areas of the island, those areas will open up new quests to take on.
– The game will support drop in/ drop out co-op play.
For the whole preview you can click here.
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