First thing I loved about the game? Its female character, Scarlett Blake.
We share a name ^_^. And looked vaguely similar at the time of playing.
There's some guy called Jack McReady or something like that. He's not as cool. Another thing I loved is that countries on the globe behind the menu vary in shades of red depending on how many zombies have been killed by the players within them. We didn't have internet when first playing and had downloaded Dead Nation before moving house. Sadly, the data regarding how many zombies we'd despatched didn't seem to transfer when we finally had a connection.
Basic plot? Infection spread, the whole world died and got back up again. Our two protagonists realised that being bitten didn't do anything to them. Their supplies have run out, and they've made the decision to brave the outside. When it comes to the possibility of being eaten alive, well, they've got cyanide pills for that. Doesn't this just cheer you up?
You know what else I love? Two players on a single screen. No more reduced visibility and looking at the wrong half of the television for me! Although I must admit I frequently found myself accidentally watching my partner's character instead of my own. However, you can't go more than a screen's length away from each other, which at first seems like a good thing - safety in numbers and all that - but becomes hazardous when one of you needs to dash in a different direction and chuck down a mine or whack a switch in blind panic. A green ring will materialise and yank you along if the other character is running the opposite way.
There's a lot of panicking in this game. With it, however, come great panic-deployment weapons! Throughout gameplay you'll enter secure areas containing somewhat of an armoured ice cream truck allowing you to equip found armour and pick up tasty weaponry in exchange for the currency you've raked-in while blasting zombies (don't forget to open all the car boots). Some groovy stuff can cost between 20,000 - 50,000 Apocalypse Coins, but you'll earn that quickly enough.
You can upgrade weapons in a number of ways, such as increased number of rounds fired per magazine, capacity to carry ammunition, increased range and power, etcetera. I recommend focusing initial upgrades on the default rifle and the SMG until they are maxed-out. When you run out of ammo for all other firearms, you will fall back to using the infinite rifle, and a good rifle can save your ass.
There are many tantalising displays of power on offer as you make your way through, such as the blade cannon, flame-thrower, rocket launcher and the amusingly-named Shocker.
As much as I love the idea of the blade cannon, it was a little disappointing, unless aimed with precision it has surprisingly minimal effect when shot toward marauding corpses.
The panic pickups I mentioned before? Ah yes. Mines. Plenty of mines. Upgrade them so that they each have four or five charges but use them wisely; the dead home-in on them when they're down so you definitely get good explosions for your money. Just make sure the horde you're fighting is big enough to warrant the use of such a mine, otherwise they go to waste. Get plenty of grenades, loveable Molotovs (or mow-low-toves as the voice says) and don't underestimate flares when you need to flee a sticky situation.
As for armour, the ExoGear series may look and sound fancy, and its bars look perfectly placed to stop undead teeth reaching you, but is it the best? Examine strength and endurance ratings carefully and see which will work with your own gaming style.
How do the enemies themselves measure-up? It sends a chill up your spine to see them crowd round and hammer an alarmed car you've shot at to distract them; it's all too easy to imagine what it would have been like for people inside such a car when the outbreak first occurred. And how abandoned gurneys became that blood-soaked.
Zombies can be
You get these skinny ones that cast tall, spindly shadows and always manage to skip up behind you when you've just calmed down. They make my skin crawl.
Occasionally these random-ass enemies show up that appear to be reminiscent of the eye child in Garth Marenghi's Darkplace.
Some strains of zombie seem to mutate into different creatures entirely; you'll meet pink and black beings that bellow loudly. Go after them first. Each noise they make calls more and more corpses to you.
Others, however, aren't quite fitting at all, even at the end of the world. When on the phone with a mysterious scientist, I must tell you was jolly suspicious when he said he knew nothing about the rock-hard creature with hedge-shears for hands after our characters asked him about them, and yet there was an image of that very specimen on his monitor.
There are a good few hints of past games such as Left4Dead, with what can only be described as Tanks and Boomers roaming the streets. This could be regarded either as a lack of creativity or a smile-inducing homage.
The cities have been cordoned off into zones from before the world was lost, but they were ineffective. Many security fences remain locked until you battle and eradicate all sources of infection on your side. There's usually just as much infection on the other side, hence my ineffective remark. It's somewhat annoying when the only thing preventing you from fleeing an undead onslaught is a knee-height bollard. Brings to mind Regina from Dino Crisis being unable to step over ankle-height rubble. Fond of her as I am.
In those typical situations where the lights blow out and you have to keep throwing flares just to see how much of you is being gnawed on, it can seem like you're in a clear-the-zone trap. But on a few occasions this could be misleading. Run to the end and see if there's a checkpoint or a plank you can run over. Be sure to clamber towards vending machines and take the health within them before the dead have a bit of a seek-and-destroy. Mêlée attacks are not too brilliant in DN, so find a good strategy and stick to it.
Dead Nation has a good few trophies to aim for; admittedly some are gained just for completing the level, others involve things to work for. We were signed into my partner's account and you can see some of the things we've managed to date (I don't play games connected to the internet; see FAQs):
I like the music for this game. It has the ability to get stuck in my head for a week at a time and I never get frustrated by that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~ * SPOILER * ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Only read this if you haven't played the game, or if you don't mind knowing everything before you do. I am not liable for the ruining of your enjoyment.
The ending was kind of off, I thought. Aside from nullifying the narration that had accompanied our journey, it was just a bit weird. Or maybe I'm just bitter because I got attached to those guys.
Likewise, the intro to the Grieving Towers level was somewhat odd. It was a rather blatant reference to the 11th September 2001 incident, with talk of how the buildings were collapsing because heat from fire was melting the steel. Many people don't buy that theory and I found it to be very "ZOMG 9/11 totally happened you guiz!" down my throat. I didn't really see where such an obvious remark fit in.
~~~~~~~~~~~~ * SPOILER * ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have many good memories resulting from this game. Namely, when our friends Nathan and Steve were over. I challenged Nathan to play alongside me and, when the impressive artwork of a zombie being blasted up through the chin with a shotgun came on, he said "um, can I go to the toilet quickly before we start this?". Sorry Nathan. Had to be done dude.
Overall, I love Dead Nation. It's cheesy and lame in places but also underrated. When we play it, we start in the early evening and keep going well into 2am. It's addictive and enthralling. When I haven't played for a while, I still think about it often. That's the mark of a successful game.
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