Dead, Hot And Not Ready Until Next Year

I realize that it's been a long time since I've posted anything. The reasons for this are many and various, but can basically be boiled down to the standard litany of work, depression and video games. This is, it's worth noting, basically the mantra for my life.

Anyway, in a no doubt vain attempt to actually get something done I'm gonna try writing about some of the games I've been wasting my life on. And first up, for reasons that are frankly beyond me, is Dead Frontier.

Now the first thing that needs noting here is that the game is still in beta. This of course makes it tricky to review as it's entirely possible that any of the deficiencies I would normally take issue with will be fixed. But I've never let sanity or reason get in the way of moaning about stuff before, so why start now?

Not that you'll see anything about the game still being in beta on the main site. In fact you'll see very little information AT ALL. It's not often that site design bugs me enough to bring it up like this, but as you can see all we have is a sign up button and a youtube video of gameplay. A youtube video of gameplay with the controls removed, so not only do you HAVE to watch it, you can't even mute it. Good luck if someone sent you the link at work. But if you want something like, say SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS? You're shit out of luck.

However, the main thing it has on the page which interests us is the phrase "The Ultimate Free To Play Survival Horror MMORG". This immediately inspires 2 thoughts in quick succession. Firstly that this should be some shade of awesome even if it is a free game (hoorah for hopelessly unbalanced dual tier economies) and secondly why the hell has nobody thought of this before? Seriously, just consider it for a moment and it quickly becomes clear that the whole zombie apocalypse scenario immediately lends itself to mmorgification. You've got your towns (fortified enclaves of survivors), you've got a wilderness crawling with mentally challenged cannon fodder (everywhere else), you've got dungeons (anywhere inside or underground) and it makes a hell of a lot more sense for the invariable homicidal kleptomania which defines your average PC. And anyway, everybody loves zombies.

Well, maybe not EVERYBODY...

So, anyway, we signs up and get onto character generation. Now this seems pretty good. We get a large array of professions to choose from, each bring with it different advantages. Or not. Looking through the list it's pretty clear that some are obviously better than others, but honestly I don't really have much of a problem with this. Not everything in life is balanced after all, so obviously some will be better equipped for the oncoming zombie apocalypse than others. Notably those with shotguns. In addition to the careers there's also a paper doll of you're character that you can customize a bit. And once you're done we're into the game!

Yeah. Straight into the game. It's at this point that we realize that A: the game is actually browser based (which I must admit came as something of a surprise as the gameplay footage really didn't say browser to me) and that there is no character select option. Now, whilst I would assume that the lack of character slots is something that will be fixed when the full version is released, you better be damn sure you've chosen a profession to suit you and are happy with your avatar because you're not changing it.

I decided to go for a scientist. Why?

No reason...

Well, whilst I lack the obvious combat advantages of some of the other classes I at least get to produce medicine. Which should come in handy. Also: SCIENCE, bitches.

Now, it's at this point where that whole lack of anything resembling system requirements comes back to haunt us. See, I was on my laptop when I signed up and suddenly found myself thrust into the game. Or at least would have done if not the fact that evidently my laptop can only barely handle it. After shutting EVERYTHING else down and waiting and indeterminate amount of time for anything to load I did eventually manage to get to play. For a few minutes at a time. Then the screen went black and I was left attempting to navigate my way back to town using only the mini map. This was rather off putting to say the least.

However, I eventually decided to give it another go on my main PC. The loading times were still a little aggravating, but nothing like the apocalyptic machine killing hellfuck I'd suffered before. And so I actually got to play the game properly. And you know what? It's actually not that bad. As a run around killing zombies and looting simulator it's pretty fun. It looks good and has some really nice atmosphere thanks to a grainy filter and some nice lighting effects combining for a rather Silent Hill feel.

It's all darkness and moving shadows, which is very nice. Then there's the zombies. At first there'll only be a few hanging around, and you can probably avoid them if you want. However the game has this whole concept of aggro. Which may be defined as the tendency for things to quickly go to hell if you draw to much attention to yourself. The number, speed and aggression of the zombies can start to increase exponentially, and you will soon find yourself in the brown trousers of death. I'd love to show you a screencap of when you're getting attacked by hundreds of zombies, but really when that happens you're far to busy trying not to die.

Do or do not as the saying goes

And you know what? That's AWESOME. It's shocking the amount of stuff you can get away with simply by making the game survival horror. In anything else you'd see this spikes in monster aggro as annoying, off putting or even game breaking. But in a survival horror game you don't mind that suddenly hundreds of bad guys have suddenly come to kill you as that's kind of the point. Likewise the death penalty of losing ALL the money you have on you. In anything else it would seem completely unreasonable. Here it's adding to the tension. It is worth noting that I'm only saying that from the point of view of someone who's never yet died after finding a large quantity of money.

So, you head out from camp, kill zombies, loot whatever is lootable and level up. Then you go back to camp to spend you're points, sell your crap and do whatever. So far so standard. Only with zombies.

And it's here where we're hitting the wall of beta. Because right now that's all you can do. Now, it's pretty fun, don't get me wrong. And I would imagine that with a couple of mates this would be a great laugh. But right now missions aren't available, which is a little aggravating. There is only so much aimless wandering that you can do in any game before you get bored and need a little something extra. Even when the missions are restored I can't help but wonder if that'll be enough. The game play is reasonably fun, and the whole zombie thing does give them a unique selling point, but I can't help but feel that the game will need more than just killing zombies to really make it stand out. Time will tell. It is however early days yet.

The last thing I wish to touch on is the economy. Now it's pretty much standard for any so called free game to have a 2 tier economic structure. There's the in game cash you use for standard items, and then there's the paid for with actual money currency you can trade for the high class stuff. I can't say that I have a problem with the principle, but I've never yet found a game that has convinced me to actually part with any money. Often due to the fact that they never seem to really grasp the concept of micro in the phrase micro-payments. For todays' example I would like to introduce you to the hockey mask.

Here we have a nice little prestige item for your avatar. Doesn't boost your stats or anything but it would look pretty fucking boss I think we all agree. So how much does that cost? 2000 credits. Okay. But how much is that in actual money?

Yeah. SIXTY dollars. Going by todays' exchange rate that comes out as £37.50 THIRTY SEVEN POUNDS AND FIFTY PENCE. For which you will get a mask on your character that will be visible to approximately NO-ONE since the game uses an over head view point. Just think of all the other thing you could buy for that. I could get a brand new (and overpriced) Wii game. I could get anywhere between 2 and 6 second hand games depending on how shit they are. I could get another Remembrance of the Daleks collectors set.

Hell, I could buy an actual hockey mask. I realize that I'm picking on one of the most expensive items (but certainly not THE most expensive) but my point remains valid. If you're paying £40 for a small amendment to a paper doll you're doing it wrong.

Anyway, enough of my griping. Overall I'd say that Dead Frontier looks like a promising development, and one worth keeping an eye on. Would I recommend it? With the obvious proviso that it's currently in a rather limited state, I'd say so, yes. There certainly doesn't seem to anything else trying to fill this particular niche, so I wish them all the best.