Unturned - Speed Review of the DayZ / Minecraft game.

I played Unturned for the first time last night, and I have to say, for a game that comprises of the most basic of graphics, it is an excellent and fun game. Taking elements of DayZ, where you start with nothing and have to scrounge everything to survive against the zombie hordes and remain 'unturned', and elements from Minecraft - the styling and crafting, it is a very interesting and rather intense game, at times. The impact and effectiveness of the game was immediate, and it was very simple to play, and better than it's appearance conveys.

Here is how my first few lives went:
My first life I walked into a town, and was promptly zombified in the back of a shop when it turned out that not only can these zombies run indoors, they are also a little faster than you and miss a LOT less than in DayZ... They also hit a LOT harder.

My second life lasted a little longer. I even got a rifle. I ended up being flanked by an un noticed zombie whilst hunting a deer, and was hit from behind for my last 10% health.

My third life seen me accrue a good inventory of weapons, start using the crafting system and the built in XP sytem to upgrade my attributes to better survive and combat the undead hordes. I then went ahead and assaulted the local military base, mowing down zombies left and right with a stolen car, gearing up, grabbing a Hum-Vee and spiriting away into the sunset.

FUN!
I have thus far only played single player. It is a tough little game, but is very thrilling... and gore filled! Let's just say a shotgunned zombie will paint the internal walls of a building liberally.

The game includes a few systems that work well, including crafting (Hang onto that last bullet because you will want to refill the clip using the crafting system!), and experience points. Feel like going on a Katana wielding zombie Murder spree? Go for it - you will get XP to spend on swinging that bad boy better! Whilst lives tend to be somewhat atomicised - when you die you lose everything, you still regain some of your skills that you have invested, and your corpse will litter the landscape somewhere to recover some of your equipment.

Recommended!
My suggestion: Get your asses on Steam and get this game downloaded and try it out. It is Free to Play (At least at the moment) -- I will be commencing a short series let's play shortly to see how well I do in this game before I look to hitting up a server with other players.

Pay to play, pay to play more. Free to play gone mad...

Had this video linked to me from a friend. I couldn't agree more... I love the Free to play system, especially after working in a games company developing them about the time when the likes of Blacklight Retribution came out, and more recently: Planetside 2.

As for games that use the traditional gaming model, and then charge for additional in game content that sucks. (I'm looking at you Bethesda - Horse Armour?) But as mentioned here... games that you pay for then are pretty much pushed into spending more to get the proper gaming experience... to hell with that. I say just don't pay at all. They are essentially building a game that is broken or incomplete, and then making you pay to fill the holes... OCTAE*... ones that may be worth it, but they wont be core to the gaming experience, just cheap tag on's... but I don't see any.

*Of Course There Are Exceptions.

Blacklight Retribution

Blacklight: Retribution is a freemium team FPS game that is available on steam. (By freemium I mean it is free to download and play, but to get access to the good upgrades, you need to be willing to part with a few bucks, but that said - you still have pretty much unlimited play time and access to the game.)

For a free to play game, I admit. I am impressed. It is akin to counterstrike, but with various objectives and the purchase screen is accessed between missions or before you connect to a server.

There are 3 types of currency. CPs, GPs and Zen.

CP's are Championship(?) Points. These are earned through the course of a battle and can be spent at the various terminals scattered about the map to buy some upgrades, or even the Hard Suit which makes you akin to a 40k dreadnought, and night on unkillable except by other dreadnoughts, flamethrowers, or really really brave troops who use the VR helmet to spot the weak armour plate and get stuck in. (I know, I outmaneuvered one last night and killed it with a pistol!!)

GP's are experience points that can be spent to buy more lasting upgrades. Between missions or when you are not connected to a server you can view your equipment layout and buy new items such as armour, weapons or even part-upgrades for stuff you have. The upgrades tend to be temporary, for example - I bought an assault rifle for 200gp (about 1 good match worth of GP) and I own it for 24 hours. If I wanted it for a week it would be about 1000gp, and permanent it would be 5000gp.

Zen is bought currency. I think it can be used in place of other currency (e.g. buy the Assault Rifle for 24 hours for 20 Zen), but it is also used to buy specialist items. Good upgrades tend to use this, or at least require a chunk of their cost to be paid in Zen restricting them to paying players. An example of this is buying a 'loadout option' - which is basically a quick access weapons loadout which you can change to with the F keys between missions or at terminals (I think)

Anyway, the game plays very smooth, looks awesome and contrary to most FPS games I have seen out there, it seems to be relatively free of Ass Hattery. (Joys of Steam maybe?) Saying that, you find yourself cursing at the screen on many an occasion as Bobby the Bawbag with his Uber gun rounds a corner and takes off your head again... but that's what strategy is for, no? :p

I think one of the greatest appeals to me about this game aside from the online team play aspect (I spent near a decade playing counter strike! I still love it, just cant be bothered installing it!) is the roleplay aspect. You are essentially earning XP (Oh, you also have actual XP and combat levels that unlock weaponry) and using it to buy upgrades to enhance your gaming experience. Do yourself a favour and if you start playing, endure a couple of matches then get rid of the crappy starter SMG! At the very least you should be looting a replacement through as the map progresses ^.^

I spent some time last night attempting to create a Let's Play of the game that records me first entering the game, doing the tutorial and then taking to the field, but bugs with the windowing meant I had naught but a static image and audio. After about 90 minutes of play I came out and resolved this, so here is a couple of matches I played last night :-) >>Linky<< (Note... I had an awesome few rounds - none are caught on cam :p partially cos when I video it forces me into full-screen-windowed mode at the same resolution as before which means the image is distorted to me... but it is still fun :D )

-V