jamesmsv

Anyone else picked it up? It was on my 'want it but can't afford it' list, what with BF and MW3 coming out soon but luckily I had some generous workmates when my birthday rolled round.
Firstly, the graphics are pretty diappointing. it's 3 years out of date in this department but I'm not really surprised as the trailers looked that way from day one.
Storyline - the acting is laughable (think Don Cheadle's London accent in Ocean's Eleven and you're getting there) but once you're past that, it's fine. It's a zombie story after all, you don't go into this looking for original Shakespeare - it ticks all the usual boxes and dispenses with any padding which neatly lets you get on with the important business of killing.
Gameplay- this is what makes it worth buying. I thought that the mainly-melee selling point was going to be tedious but it's actually very good fun. The controls are fast and responsive (their medium setting is equivalent to around 7 on Black Ops, it's crazy sensitive if you go much higher), you can sprint at a real speed which eliminates any tedious map-traversing a la Fallout/elder Scrolls, and you get real control over your swing if you set the controls appropriately - this makes beating someone up more visceral and satisfying.
Another good addition is the use of vehicles. They've obviously spent time perfecting the random physics behind zombie hit-and-runs, it beats GTA sidewalk-driving by a mile, and gives occasional rests from caving in heads with homemade maces (there's all sorts of weapon mods possible).
The one downside is lag (yes, SP lag) during fightscenes with multiple enemies. There was already one release-day patch to address other issues so hopefully they'll get this sorted soon. But frankly it's so much fun the downsides barely take away from the atmosphere or flow.
I've only played about 3hours and have hit 8% complete but that's also involved a few side missions so I'm guessing around 25hrs gameplay for the actual storyline - they also have a multiplayer release soon enticingly called "Bloodbath arena" which I'm assuming is going to be standard wave-based fare. If you're not spending money on 2 games in the next couple of months this could well be a good buy, just don't expect too much cosmetically.

OzballO

So if I'm buying at least 3 games this would be out then eh? I'm gonna be balls deep in the BF3 Beta on two platforms here within the next couple weeks it'll be pointless to even give this a go. Heard a lot of good things about it though.

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jamesmsv

I would say so, yes - it's smal problems do prevent it making the 'all-time classic' list unfortunately. It's not going to knock MW3 or BF down many people's list.
So what's your 3rd?

OzballO

2 versions of BF3 and Skyrim.

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jamesmsv

Ah, Skyrim is also on my list of 'want but can't afford' unfortunately. Along with a ton of other potentially awesome games coming out this year, I can't remember the last time there were so many quality ones on the horizon.

Skuh

Hopefully will get skyrim for xmas

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IN M9 WE TRUST

OzballO

Reckoning: Kingdom of Amular looks like it has potential as well. That's a 2012 release though.

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Skuh

So long as skyrim has good combat system, I have utter faith in it.

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IN M9 WE TRUST