| Title | State of Decay does brilliantly what videogames do best |
| Author | Tom Chick |
| Posted in | Game reviews |
| When | June 21, 2013 |
I love the sound of this muscle car's engine, especially as I slow down to cruise by a farmhouse I spotted from the main road. Should I go in? Are there survivors in there? Is it safe to look for salvage? My stamina is low, so I could use some food..
Read the full articleIf I had one wish , I'd wish there were different sized zombie hordes . A zombie horde of 30 isn't the sort of thing your just going to mow down with your big red pickup. Or maybe you will . It might be nice if the impact slowed the vehicle a little more so you don't have people crushing hordes willy nilly with very little repercussions .
I played the demo at release but had doubts as to how well this rickety-feeling game could actually capture that feel of a civilization trying to establish itself in the middle of the end of all things. Your review and the impressions in the thread are convincing me I was wrong but I still think I will wait for the patch to put down my money.
Another great review, Tom. I can't wait to play State of Decay.
I hope you didn't spoil the ending of The Last of Us for those of us who love 28 Days Later. I'm eager to play it, too. I've played enough of Tomb Raider to know that "powerfully relatable characters emoting believably before our sympathetic eyes" is something games are getting closer to all the time, but only the rare few that combine great tech with strong writing and acting.
I do agree that what State of Decay does with story is best for this medium. It saddens me to compare its Metascore to that of, say, any Naughty Dog PS3 game and realize what pretty much every critic seems to want for this medium. Thank goodness the players, who rocketed State of Decay to XBLA sales records, know better.
I don't know if they know better but they certainly know there is a diverse market and they don't have to cater to the same people who seem to love the hell out of Last of Us. That seems like a good thing to me, but maybe I'm just getting old.
Great review, you have me wanting to play. Also had me thinking that a zombie apocalypse set in the xcom engine would be pretty interesting if done right.
Diversity is great, Joe, I agree. Which is why I'd like to see more dynamic games like State of Decay and fewer scripted story games, most of which fail to deliver on the promise of the best games in their genre.
I wish you had posted this review the same day as your review of The Last of Us. I would have visited this comment section 10 times a day to laugh.
"The best type of storytelling in a videogame is the type of storytelling that makes videogames unique: me in a sandbox of possibility, making stories out of my own choices."
Great review Tom.
WHAT?
HE SAID!!! " The best type of storytelling in a videogame is the type of storytelling that makes videogames unique: me in a sandbox of possibility, making stories out of my own choices."
"hoard" -> "horde"
What do you know? This 5/5 put Tom on the front page of State of Decay's Metacritic site.
http://www.metacritic.com/game...
His 3/5 put him on the front page of The Last of Us' Metacritic site.
http://www.metacritic.com/game...
He either scores high or low to get on the front page.
So you rate State of Decay 5/5 but The Last of Us 3/5. You're fucking pathetic Tom
To maximize traffic he would want to post reviews as soon as possible. Both these are late.
Can't wait to play this whenever it's out on PC.
Good point. The only way to safely remain within the accepted 7-9 range is to give everything four stars. I'll revise the ratings policy forthwith!
The latest update has been submitted to the same Microsoft certification process that failed to catch the first update's inability to actually update. It will hopefully be out -- and it will hopefully work -- next week.
Yeah, I can imagine this will clean up very nicely when it's ported to the PC.
This is a good review, but The last of us and bioshock infinite review are probably 2 of the worst reviews ever written. I also like you journey review, that game is so overrated and im glad at least one reviewer agrees.