[gameinfo title=”Game Info” game_name=”State of Decay” developers=”Undead Labs” publishers=”Microsoft Studios” platforms=”360/PC” genres=”” release_date=”Out Now” version_played=”360″]
Set in a present day fictional area of Trumbull Valley, the world has erupted into chaos with the impending zombie apocalypse. You fill the shoes of Marcus Campbell, an old store clerk camping with hie friend Ed, they first run into the infection at a small campsite. Meeting up with other survivors, Marcus and Ed must make the choices to survive.
The first thing I noticed about State of Decay is that for an XBL Arcade game, the graphics are surprisingly good. It’s got a great GTA3 feel to it while still maintaining a certain smoothness about it. Trumbull Valley itself is a vastly open and beautiful environment. Cars, abandoned buildings and bodies litter the landscape, it creates that feeling of loneliness you’d expect in a real world zombie apocalypse. The only problem I found was that the more zombies on screen the more it would it lag, which wasn’t even a problem for me.
State of Decay takes a different route with the zombie genre. Not only do you have to worry about yourself, you now have other characters that you have feed, house, keep armed and most of all, you have to make sure everyone gets along. You’ll be faced with having to decide whether to take in more survivors or leave them to fend for themselves. Morality has been the focus of many games recently but State of Decay questions what you should do at every turn. As supplies run out, the mood of your home base will be affected as such. Characters will constantly need to be reassured that things will work out, or you could just ask them to leave. This all adds to the that tense atmosphere, every decision could either make or break your camp morale.
You have your standard 3rd person controls, a great inventory system and it finally allows you to answer the question: what would you do in a zombie apocalypse? You can choose to stay and fight, barricade yourself in and fortify your surroundings, or scavenge for supplies and stay on the move. Zombies move alone or in hordes and are attracted to any noise you make, the environment changes depending on your actions, supplies will run out and zombie numbers will increase. Every decision you make will impact your surroundings.
A feature I loved is the housing system, as you save more survivors you’re going to need somewhere for everyone to sleep and eat. Once you gather the right amount of materials, you can look at a map of the home base and add more sleeping space, training grounds, even a place for vehicles to be repaired through the day.
I’ve been waiting for this game for a while now and I’ve been skeptical to say the least as to whether or not it would of been a good game, and now that I’ve finally played it I can safely say it’s a great game and worth the download. The overall game itself is great, the gameplay is great and it gives you the choices to play as you wish. Minus a few bugs and clipping (which I’m sure will be fixed with updates), this is a game for any diehard zombie fan.
