THE DEAD TIMES

RATING:

ZOMBIE RATING:

DESCRIPTION:

A mysterious viral outbreak in the fictional city of Harran has turned the population into Zombies. This has forced the government to quarantine the entire area, ensuring, often with the use of violent force, that no one enters the infected zone and no one leaves to spread the plague elsewhere. However, someone within the Turkish town of Harran has illegally obtained very sensitive information relating to the Global Relief Effort (GRE) and it must be recovered. Airdropped into the region secretly, you, playing as GRE operative Kyle Crane, are tasked with locating and extracting the classified file using any means necessary. Things quickly turn bad, as almost immediately after touchdown, you are ambushed by thugs and bitten by one of the infected, doomed to become one of the mindless undead unless you get Antizin - the wonder-drug which, if taken regularly, keeps the infected from turning.

MY VERDICT:

Dying Light is the next game from Techland, the developers who brought us Dead Island and Dead Island: Riptide. While these earlier games were good they ultimately failed to deliver the serious open-world Zombie survival game the devs promised. Dying Light meets this promise and goes far beyond, stopping only a few short steps from greatness. The major highpoint of the game is the awesomely fun, insanely free-flowing gameplay. Thanks to the parkour system of movement, your character can leap from building to building, climb walls and get on top of vehicles. These skills are invaluable for escaping Zombies - the dull, mindless hordes cannot climb so hauling yourself onto the roof of an abandoned van can be a life-saver. The Zombies are another awesome feature thanks, no doubt, to the acquisition of Steve, the Zombie consultant. Ignoring the special types and recently turned agile sprinters, the Zombies slowly shuffle around the dusty streets without goal or direction, they make next to no noise, moaning infrequently as original Zombie lore dictates, they break through doors, unbalance themselves with attacks, freely walk into deadly traps and even fall from great heights in laughable stupidity. They are, without doubt, one of the best portrayals of the living dead in a video game. Sadly though, the game does have some let-downs. The story is fairly mundane and predictable, going on for a bit too long in my opinion. Also, the developers clearly want to make human enemies more dangerous than wandering hordes of Zombies, doing so by making them tougher rather than smarter and more devious - a curious decision that is slightly disappointing. Still, Dying Light is a great game, offering a thrilling journey through a Zombie-ridden wasteland that I thoroughly recommend you take.