Zombi (Xbox One Review)

I got very excited when this was announced as coming to Xbox One. Zombi is the re release of Wii U's Zombi U which has you play a character (I say a character for a reason which i'll explain later in the review) during the Zombie Apocalypse in London. The story has you 'meet' a guy named the prepper who helps you survive and find resources around the city as well as holds you up in a safe house. The story is quite linear and most of the time you just have to follow the map (If its been activated on via the junction boxes). The game takes you through a far amount of popular locations within London such as Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London.

When it launched on the Wii U I played it then and thoroughly enjoyed it. The GamePad made the game and gave that extra dimension to the play, so it was interesting to find out what they had done to modify the game it include this element.



The GamePad elements have been nicely integrated into the port as the map that was on the the second screen is now in the bottom right corner and the ping to show you what's in the area works brilliantly.

The graphics for the game haven't had that much of an upgrade and do look very similar to the Wii U version which is quite disappointing as I think if the full power of the console had been used for a full upgrade on the graphics then this game would look outstanding. The game runs really smooth and I haven't noticed any frame rate issues while I've been playing which is always a bonus.

The one thing I do love about this game is how atmospheric it is, the music and the surroundings make it a really good game, especially when you're wearing surround sound headsets and you can pick up every little grunt and growl from an oncoming Zombie.



The combat is quite good; however in the heat of a fight sometimes you might forget to to keep hold of the left trigger which then means you're simply pushing the Zombie away. This will probably happen to most as the Zombies can come at you thick and fast...

Something else disappointing regarding the game is the fact that the multiplayer element that was on the Wii U version has been removed for the console versions.

The only thing I think has been left in is the ability to see where your friends have died in the game and loot their bodies. I'm not too sure about this as I don't think many of the people on my friends list have played this game so leaderboards etc I cant confirm yet.

This game does have 'permadeath' – So basically if you die, you die, you start back again at the safehouse with nothing, no weapons or supplies, however progress from the previous character stays there, you just have to find where you died and get your items back. Sounds simple? Try it and let me know how you get on ;-)

I know you can find where you last character was and loot there body to get your stuff back, which if you died in a horde attack may seem impossible.



You have to be very careful with the loot you pick up as well, as you only have limited space only the essentials are required. You do upgrade your backpack when you find the bigger ones, but when you start out and have the smaller bag, only the essentials are needed; Ammo and Health mainly.

Also, I found myself using the gun only when necessary mainly because of the lack of bullets you can pick up so you have to be good with your aim or else you're going to be wasting a lot of bullets. I tend to use the Cricket Bat, but this is more for Stealth and not to alert Zombies when there is a fair few hanging together.

There are several modes to play in for difficulty, which start from Chicken to Hard... As you can imagine, Chicken is for more laid back gamers, where as hard really tests your wits. I would go as far as saying that in Hard you're looking for minimal contact with Zombies and rely more on stealth tactics than anything else.

The game is a pretty simple one to pick up and for £15.00 there is plenty to do with a brilliant story to go along with it. However I think more of an effort should have been put in to upgrading the graphics as to someone who has played the Wii U version will notice straight away that there is barely an difference. Just performance I would say is much better on Xbox One, although the one glitch I did notice and I found it on my game and when I watched someone stream is that when you go into your inventory or you are looting a body or luggage that has been left the screen can sometimes have a flicker, not sure if its intentional and can't remember if that was a GamePad feature but it can be a bit offputting.

Overall I think that this is a good game and that for the money your paying £15/$20 its worth paying for if you're into your Zombie/Survival games. I am going to give this game a 7.