E3 2017 Preview: Bloody Zombies

VR has become a major buzzword around the videogame industry these days. For the past few E3 conferences, there have been whole sections of the floor devoted to people strapping on headsets and playing first person titles where you rock climb or pilot a spaceship. Other times you’re running in a foot race like the intriguing title Sprint Vector that I demoed at the show.

35432693645_0f25c2ff6a_b.jpg

Then there’s Bloody Zombies, developed by Paw Print Games and published by nDreams, which hints at an alternative future for VR gaming.

On first blush, it’s a basic four player scrolling beat-em-‘up in the 16-bit mold of the arcade Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and River City Rampage — up to four players walk right, beating up enemies as they do with fists, kicks and various pick-up weapons. At the end of every level awaits a boss with loads of hit points and special moves.

From a gameplay perspective, the game offers some variety and gameplay innovation of the beat ’em up experience. There’s a mild competitive element to the game in that the game tracks hit combos, treasure capture, and so on and ranks the player who did the best during a level. Players can “juggle” enemies by kicking them in the air, and punching them to keep them aloft, with the possibility of knocking them into a level hazard for bonus points. Every level also features hard-to-find secrets that earn bonus points, but also take them out of the main fight so they’re sacrificing treasure for combo hits.

However, the game becomes a whole new experience when a player has a VR headset strapped on. Suddenly, looking in each direction reveals not only the entire level, but also things that aren’t visible when playing without it. (Amusingly, players wearing the VR headset have their characters onscreen wearing one, too.) For example, the museum level features a gigantic brachiosaurus skeleton. Without the VR headset on, only part of the skeleton can be seen; with one on, the player can see the head and neck arching over the ceiling of the exhibit.

The VR set also has a more practical purpose. Since the player can see in three dimensions while wearing the headset, they can now see if their avatar is on the same plane as an enemy, always a tricky bugaboo of side-scrollers in the past. They can also see upcoming level hazards, as well as secrets.

The other impressive aspect to the VR is that unlike most games using the headset, there’s no motion sickness. The game presents itself is presented as a model set with characters moving through it, as if playing with action figures. Developer Steven Craft confirmed that people who had complained they were extremely sensitive to motion sickness in VR games had no issues with Bloody Zombies because there was no first person queasiness to be had.

Bloody Zombies will be released on Steam, with Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions following. It will support all VR headsets, including PS VR, Oculus Rift, and HTC Vive.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Post

Episode 499: A Long DelayEpisode 499: A Long Delay

Yeah, we recorded this on April 2 and are just releasing this on April 12 — because during this time Jonah went to PAX East, then visited his mother in NYC, and things have calmed down about now. This week’s Gaming Flashback is the overly cute LittleBigPlanet… and to think it was a major topic of conversation in the early days of the podcast. How time has passed.

This week’s news items include:

  • You can play de_dust2 in Far Cry Arcade
  • No Man’s Sky coming to Xbox One later this year

You’d think that wouldn’t be enough news for 90 minutes, but that’s ok. We go off on tangents all the time.

Episode 325: Civilized PodcastEpisode 325: Civilized Podcast

This week’s podcast has Dan Quick filling in for an ailing Jordan Lund, while Civilization V inevitably comes up in conversation with the Polycast host with Jonah Falcon. There’s no Gaming History or Gaming Flashback, but tons of news items.

The news includes:

  • Andrew Wilson named Electronic Arts CEO
  • PlayStation Vita TV announced
  • Sega buys Atlus for 14 billion yen
  • Star Trek video game “big disappointment” to J.J. Abrams
  • Chair on Shadow Complex 2: Fans “don’t want it more than we do”
  • Steam adopts Xbox One’s former family sharing program
  • Diablo III auction house closing in March 2014

There’s also some Listener Feedback from the T-shirt winning contestant.

Episode 437: Star Trek and Call of DutyEpisode 437: Star Trek and Call of Duty

Jonah Falcon talks about meeting stars and playing games at the Star Trek Convention in New York, while TJ Denzer talks about attending the Call of Duty XP convention in Los Angeles. All the while, Scott anxiously awaits the 8th episode of Minecraft Story Mode.

This week’s news includes:

  • iPhone 7 and 7 Plus announced with water resistance, dual cameras, and no headphone jack
  • Nintendo steals Apple show with game announcements
  • Sony unveils new PlayStation 4 Pro
  • Xbox Live Clubs and LFG arrive for Xbox One preview members

All this and Listener Feedback, too.