By Gemma @Juicy Game Reviews
As a fan of anything Zombie related I was full of hope for Dying Light; a survival horror game developed by Techland and casually fucked up by Warner Bros in publishing the physical copies here in Europe. A month after the digital release (and hard copy release in North America) I finally got my copy. I could talk all day about how cool the free running mechanics of Dying Light feel or how quarantined city of Harran looks bizarrely beautiful but I'm not. Dying made me feel numerous things as I played through the campaign. Here are my most prominent thoughts of Dying Light.
I played Dying Light wanting to feel scared. I was not interested in the story. In fact I skipped most cut scenes because I wanted to get down to business. Call me old fashioned but I've always felt that way about the Zombie survival horror games. In Dying Light, I felt that Techland placed too much emphasis on the story and not enough on the gameplay as I would have liked to see more development around the parkour element. At times it seemed that this was the most important weapon I had. I had a recurring question running through my head as I battled through the hoards of undead: What do I like about Dying Light? My answer was simple: I like Zombie games. There was nothing unique about Techland's game. It didn't break any ground which is a shame. I wanted groundbreaking. I wanted a new feel. I wanted a sleek level up system instead of a clunky looking one. I wanted more weapons that felt like they were absolutely deadly as opposed to rusty, boring wrench's. I got an average game that I played out of love for the series. A lot of you guys have asked me what I liked so I hope this provides some clarity.
Now I'm not hating on Dying Light. I really enjoyed the open world, parkour adventure. Some of my favourite aspects were at night. The city feels completely different and ironically comes to life with the dead. My heart was pounding when during chases and it would pound harder when I ran in to a dead end! I will replay Dying Light because there's always a new route to take. It ends there though. Dying Light had too much missing for me to feel absolutely satisfied. During a chase, Crane would often talk to another character over his radio although his voice would not sound any different despite him running at full speed. Surely he's have been out of breath?! Come on Techland!
Dying Light may be the perfect summary of a genre that is losing it's vibrancy. For me, it's a tight 7 out of 10. What do you guys think? Drop me a comment below or head over to my Facebook page. If that's not your thing then you can subscribe to my Youtube channel (shhh it's free). Gemma aka Juicy Game Reviews
7 Comments
Mark Dillon
19/3/2015 14:50:19
Here's the thing about zombie games (and I like Zombies). No-one's done it right yet. I like a bit of creepy in my gaming and I like a feeling of suspense. Last time I felt that about a zombie game was the original Resident Evil. For me something was lost when the genre became an 'action' oriented game. Dying Light is just another one of those. My perfect zombie game would be a creepier, darker (more Silent Hill) version of the Last of Us.
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Kerry
23/3/2015 01:17:28
I love Silent Hill. That was a super Creepy game. Did you play the PT demo?
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Mark Dillon
23/3/2015 08:11:39
I did yeah, I was really impressed by it. Can you imagine tension like that in a Zombie game?
Kerry
24/3/2015 12:35:53
Right. I am really looking froward to the full game. I don't know if i'll wear my headset for it... maybe a little too much tension
JohnnyBee
23/3/2015 01:42:55
I do agree with the open world aspect of the game, one thing that really got on my goat was the people invading my campain with play as the zombie ( right in the middle of a mission) i am sure this should be set to open world not in the middle of missions. Rsident evil revelations 2 is now out, i have High hopes for this :)
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Juicy Game Reviews
2/4/2015 09:34:24
I've just got Resi 2 Revelations. How are you liking it?
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johnnybee
2/4/2015 13:27:17
I like how it plays. Unsure about the dual play we have to do. Still nice concept tho. Leave a Reply. |
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