I have a lot of fond memories playing this on the 360. It was so crazy seeing all these zombies on screen and attacking you all at once.
On to the actual game. It's a fun third person action game. The two main gimmicks are a timer system and the fact "everything" is a weapon. As for the timer system that means every second of gameplay counts towards an end of the game. Different missions\ Events only happen at certain times, and the main missions are even on a timer. I've always enjoyed the timer since it adds such an oppressive feeling to everything. There's always some feeling that maybe you time is better spent on something else. It always amazes me how much people complain about the timer system when it adds so much to the game. Which really sucks since by DR4 they got rid of it. The other gimmick is having everything as a weapon. Literally anything you can really think of that would be in a mall you can probably use as a weapon. Are they all great? No but it's fun and adds variety.
The main location being a mall is great since it adds more reason for why there's a variety of random shit to use. I'm pretty sure the biggest reason they went for a mall setting besides that was due to Dawn of the Dead. I mean the game claims any likeness to other works is coincidence (A very rare type of warning to get). But there's no way it wasn't part of the reason they went for the setting. It also didn't help that it came out just two years after the Dawn of the Dead remake . Still it's a cool setting and honestly not like there's a lot of games that use it.
As for the story you play as Frank West a journalist investigating what's going on in the town. You fly in and land on the mall. There you find survivors and start trying to figure out was going on. You then get like 3 days to investigate and try and help survivors around the mall. I thought the story was okay, it's not a deep story but it's interesting enough and the characters\voice actors add a lot to it.
The major negative thing I have against this game is the AI survivors. Around the mall your expected to find and rescue survivors by bringing them back to a safe house. Sounds simple but the AI is just terrible, you really have to baby them to get them around and they take damage real easily. It's pretty damn frustrating,
A interesting aspect about this game is that it does have a leveling up system. There's certain special moves you get at each level and general stat increase. The stat increases are pretty random but you get all of them by the max level. But the real interesting thing about this is that if you fail the main mission you can restart the game right away at the same level. So if you struggle the first time around you can level up enough to make the second time easier. Although I think you can beat at least the main story the first time around.
There's also certain challenges\achievements that when completed you get bonuses items in your next playthrough, so it's a rewarding NG+ experience. And there's also an infinite mode that's unlocked after beating the main story to see how long you can last where the main challenge is always having your health go down, and no saving. I remember the joke being that it was impossible to get the ~7 day survivor achievement since your xbox would overheat by that time (Not true).
Overall a great time, I'd highly recommend it. Especially since it's playable on most major consoles now except for switch.
On to the actual game. It's a fun third person action game. The two main gimmicks are a timer system and the fact "everything" is a weapon. As for the timer system that means every second of gameplay counts towards an end of the game. Different missions\ Events only happen at certain times, and the main missions are even on a timer. I've always enjoyed the timer since it adds such an oppressive feeling to everything. There's always some feeling that maybe you time is better spent on something else. It always amazes me how much people complain about the timer system when it adds so much to the game. Which really sucks since by DR4 they got rid of it. The other gimmick is having everything as a weapon. Literally anything you can really think of that would be in a mall you can probably use as a weapon. Are they all great? No but it's fun and adds variety.
The main location being a mall is great since it adds more reason for why there's a variety of random shit to use. I'm pretty sure the biggest reason they went for a mall setting besides that was due to Dawn of the Dead. I mean the game claims any likeness to other works is coincidence (A very rare type of warning to get). But there's no way it wasn't part of the reason they went for the setting. It also didn't help that it came out just two years after the Dawn of the Dead remake . Still it's a cool setting and honestly not like there's a lot of games that use it.
As for the story you play as Frank West a journalist investigating what's going on in the town. You fly in and land on the mall. There you find survivors and start trying to figure out was going on. You then get like 3 days to investigate and try and help survivors around the mall. I thought the story was okay, it's not a deep story but it's interesting enough and the characters\voice actors add a lot to it.
The major negative thing I have against this game is the AI survivors. Around the mall your expected to find and rescue survivors by bringing them back to a safe house. Sounds simple but the AI is just terrible, you really have to baby them to get them around and they take damage real easily. It's pretty damn frustrating,
A interesting aspect about this game is that it does have a leveling up system. There's certain special moves you get at each level and general stat increase. The stat increases are pretty random but you get all of them by the max level. But the real interesting thing about this is that if you fail the main mission you can restart the game right away at the same level. So if you struggle the first time around you can level up enough to make the second time easier. Although I think you can beat at least the main story the first time around.
There's also certain challenges\achievements that when completed you get bonuses items in your next playthrough, so it's a rewarding NG+ experience. And there's also an infinite mode that's unlocked after beating the main story to see how long you can last where the main challenge is always having your health go down, and no saving. I remember the joke being that it was impossible to get the ~7 day survivor achievement since your xbox would overheat by that time (Not true).
Overall a great time, I'd highly recommend it. Especially since it's playable on most major consoles now except for switch.