Developer: Techland
Publisher: Warner Bros, Entertainment
Platforms: Playstation 4, Xbox One, PC
Where to buy: Steam, PSN, Walmart, Bestbuy, Microsoft Store
Price: $59.99 (£40)
(A copy of Dying Light was given to us on PS4 for review purposes)
A successor to Dead Island, Dying Light is a mixed bag of innovation towards the concept of Dead Island while introducing fun new gameplay elements. The plot of this game has you be undercover as a operative named Kyle Crane , in a zombie infested city called Harran as a lock down occurs in the city. Everything elements wise scream of a Mirrors edge meets Dead Island hybrid, however, adds a very polished feel, and more depth to the movement and story. Among all the chaos your goal during the game is to help out survivors, locate some data that explains the details of the virus, and uncover who is the rogue operative among the ruckus. Elements of Farcry, and Dead Island scream its head off as you bash in skulls of the undead. The game itself does many things right on the console port of the game, while playing it safe on terms of keeping the game as a steady 30fps, and 1080P.
Starting off in the game, you are simply dodging everything as you look for a nearby pipe in some trash, and toss around some firecrackers. Soon you unlock more of the game, and boy, does this game keep you busy. Every other moment I saw a survivor begging for help (a blue beacon on the map that looks like a wifi signal.) So at first I did not know what the heck it even meant, seeing “A Survivor died”. So after a while I realized, hey helping those people out give me a crap load of experience, or survival points. I better help them out when I can. So soon, I found a familiar friend, Recipes, granting you elemental strength to almost every melee weapon in the game, or what you can wield. Every weapon in the game has its advantages, and disadvantages. I found most police batons handled themselves well on normal biters(the name of the zombies in the game.) while the knife, or blade, equipped with electricity melts small packs of enemies due to its Tesla effect. So the game has a wide range of interesting combos for all sorts of play styles. After putting eight hours into the game I began to face more challenging enemies, so that was when I had to back track a bit, and farm quests to get stronger, and build better weapons. I began to really enjoy the dropkicks as soon as I could access them within the Agility tree. Speaking of that, you are given a set of three trees to branch out your character from. Agility is leveled simply by climbing, and jumping, plus dodging stronger enemies at night. Power is leveled by smacking some respect into some zombie scumbags, or shooting them with your boomstick. Then finally, Survivor, which is considerably the most useful tree out of the lot. Featuring perks that range from building shields, to using a grappling hook. For my build, or how I played I focused on maximum Health, and making sure my backpack had the most it can carry. The more I played, the more I wanted to build my character. So in turn I began to run around doing fetch quests, wanting to see new innovative ways to mow down enemies. Photos below are examples of the trees mentioned.
The story line itself is not the strongest thing going for the game. Not to dismiss it, but it just is not something new, or anything you could not predict. Coming up with something new in a zombie genre video game is challenging. What we do benefit from is the colorful cast of NPCs, or characters in the game. For starters the main protagonist, Crane, his one liners, or witty talk that makes him very likable, casting out at points raw emotions at the right time as well which gives you a sense of the feeling of the dread, or gloom among you, and your surroundings. There are a few NPCs from time to time feel bland and generic, there are others among the pack that stand out, and ether make you laugh, or flat out hate the jerks. I can say this much, the story is not bad, nor is it something that stood out as amazing.
Parkour, or the running about is the shining element that makes this game incredibility fun, however is not perfect. Sometimes you can climb ladders, and fall through the world, or by hopping the wrong way (over car on level ground) somehow causes a instant death with no sort of indication why it happened. The bugs or glitches are few and far between, but when they do happen you better believe I flip a table. Learning and mastering the concept of scaling buildings is key in finding loot, and doing various quests. For the PS4 version to do a basic climb the controls at first felt a bit off for me personally, with no option to trade the mapping you use the R1 by default. A jump, and aiming yourself on a ledge or a high surface allows you to elevate upwards. This feels natural after a few hours into the game. As well as when you upgrade your speed in the agility tree. I felt very impressed with the smooth transition of frame rates while running throughout the games landscape. Graphically, I think this is a pretty game with some shortcuts due to hardware scaling when trekking here and there in most zombie busy areas I suppose was the right and smart choice. I am personally the kind of person who would rather see the graphics be scaled by a bit so that way the game runs correctly.
This game has quite a few of fun and amusing secrets, and Easter eggs. For example you can zone into a Super Mario world like running along level where you can unlock a blueprint to craft a special item. I will not reveal anything else beyond that (I want you to discover it on your own). The enemies are shaped like Gombas, along with the environment being that of a abstract Mario stage. These elements add a charming sense of humor among the at points serious tones the game tries to provide. I think every sandbox game should have more things like this.
Dying Light features a straight forward down to basics cooperative mode. A free DLC added to the game called “Be the Zombie” was added giving players who enjoy a abstract format of Left 4 Dead, meets Dark Souls invasion system where real players can hop into your game in a little challenge mode where you have to dodge or kill the Hunter (the name of the zombie the enemy player portrays.) While I am personally more into player vs player game play in games like Call of Duty, Battlefield, and even Quake, I knuckled around with this mode a few times with some friends and one random player. It is pretty intense how you need to destroy nests while the hunter comes after you in the darkness (or daytime). This mode or toggled element of the game is completely optional it is fun, but if you prefer to just do side quests and go through the game, then you might want to turn this mode off, it gets tiresome fast.
Give me a straight forward crafting system, and you got a junkie trying to make everything. I sit on top of four hundred lock picks. Crafting in this game is so basic and simplified any casual to advanced player can understand what parts they need to farm. Most recipes in the game require you to kill certain monsters, or simply ransack an abandoned duplex building. Weapons have crazy variations from bats to daggers and you are allowed to use certain mods. Think Dead Island if you have any experience in that game. The good part is you may craft where ever you are standing, so no more annoying benches. It is nice to stumble on a random recipe, with a single element, or two when wondering around or just completing a quest.
While this game has plenty of positives to help Techland’s claims of improving their goals in becoming a firm AAA company, there are still a few set backs among the stakes. One thing is the enemies and environments. Again, Harran is a pretty large place, but it feels like everything is the same. The enemies, are mostly bald and or look identical, with no variety in the terms of cosmetics.
Maybe the zombies are regenerating and coming back to get me, ether way it takes away from the visual depth of the game. Then its the guns, while vastly improved from the Dead Island arsenal, and control, one thing runs threw my mind like a freight train for a place so scarce of resources. Why do I always have a full inventory of ammo? Wouldn’t that kind of thing be hard to come by? Other then that the guns all handle decently. Just takes more away from the vibe of being in a “zombie apocalypse”. Yes, as you progress the weapons melee wise get stronger, making most zombies into mince meat. So at least they did think of that factor very carefully, wanting you to be more close and personal.
In closing, the game takes the grand scale idea Techland wanted to achieve seemingly with Dead Island and made a great game. While it has its flaws, that being in the story department, and the rest mentioned above. As I was covering the PS4 copy I have not really noticed too many bugs. From time to time yes I would glitch through a floor or whatever else, however it was not game breaking. The game play is fantastic in terms on fun. As soon as that grappling hook is granted to you, the good times unload. Would I say pick up this game off the bat? I will ask you a few questions, if you say yes across the board, then you will discover your answer.
Did you like Dead Island?
Did you ever play Fallout 3, or Skyrim and enjoyed those titles?
Do you like platforming games?
Finally, do you love crushing zombie skulls with the theme of parkour, melee weapons with elemental properties?
Then I would say pick it up now, or wait a little while to pick it up. It is still a great game, having a ton to do with a few large maps to climb around in.
Recommended
