Mega Zombie is a Playstation 4 exclusive third person Zombie Shooter (I have absolutely no idea why it is an exclusive game, since Sony certainly doesn't pay theme a bonus for it).
The game released featuring two modes, a Team Deathmatch and a Battle Royale mode. The game recently also received a third and fourth mode via Updates (Search and Destroy and Team Survival). The main mode and point of attention is certainly the Team Deathmatch mode. It features 4 teams of 4 players battling each other, while they also defend themselves against hordes of Zombies. Killing other players rewards more points than killing Zombies and Boss Zombies (they reward even more), which begin to spawn towards the last minutes of the match. The team which scores the most points obviously wins. Team Deathmatch is in my opinion by far the best mode and I really like the concept of PVPVE, especially with four teams. It would be great so see this mode implemented by a bigger developer. The flaws of the TDM are mostly based on the gameplayside, but more to that later on.
The Battle Royale mode (Last Man Standing) is also fun, even though it is actually very similar to TDM, just without teams and respawns. The matches are being played on the same maps and Zombies and Bosses spawn alike (if the match goes long enough). It can't compete with most BR only games, but I have certainly seen worse.
Search and Destroy is a PVE mode, in which players have to kill waves of hundreds of Zombies. Lives are limited and the game doesn't scale according to the number of participating players. If you reach less than the optimal 8 players (which happens a lot), than it will become nearly impossible to successfully complete the match.
Team Survival on the other hand is a round based TDM without Respawns. Usually the team with more players wins. All the game modes outside of TDM struggle with filling their lobbies, which can create uneven matches.
The gunplay in Mega Zombie is a bit of a mixed bag. Sometimes your weapon will be surprisingly accurate on the greatest distances, on other occasions you will be missing shots on point-blank range. There is just a very loose and slightly janky feeling to it. Nonetheless, the gunplay can sometimes be quite enjoyable, you can just not take it too serious. As I will explain later on, trying to play Mega Zombie competitively will just leave you frustrated. Movement mostly feels fine, even though motion blur can become slightly annoying. Fall Damage is also really weird in this game. Falling from around 2-3 meters will give you zero damage, but a fall from 3 meter onwards will always automatically kill you. This is just too extreme and took me out a couple of times, where I didn't see it coming.
Since I have already been mentioning motion blur, lets talk about visuals and performance. The game uses block visuals, which honestly look very basic for a console game. If you told me this game would also run on PS3/Xbox 360, than I would certainly believe you. Acceptable is a verdict that might still fit, but it certainly isn't anything more than this. If a game has ugly visuals, than at least the performance should be good? Here we come to one of the two big downfalls of this game. The game lags a lot on my base PS4. Performance drops are far more frequent than moments with at least stable 30 FPS. For a game that looks the way Mega Zombie does, this is just unacceptable. Like a wise man probably once said: "Performance and Visuals, you can only screw up one or the other, not both". A friend of mine, who uses a PS4 Pro told me, that the performance on his system was better (like it should be), but even he experienced a couple of lags in every match. This is just annoying.
The one aspect I really like from Mega Zombie, besides the cool TDM concept, is the Map diversity. These developers did a surprisingly good job at designing all kinds of maps and give you different environments to fight in. There are winter maps, maps in the desert, a swamp, on an airport, in foggy cities (Silent Hill vibe), forest maps, nuclear plants, large ships and other city maps. All maps are big enough to feature the different teams and work very well for TDM.
Now we still need to talk about the game's biggest flaw, which sadly isn't the performance, but the disturbing Pay to Win aspects, which unfortunately are many. Skins in Mega Zombie do not only differ from a cosmetic point of view (like in other games), but some skins actually give stat advantages, which is really atrocious. Every player only gets one starting weapon and has to unlock everything else through massive grinds or cash. You can rent some weapons for a day (awful system) or purchase them forever, but the amount of ingame currency needed is way too high. Even unlocking a second weapon can take multiple dozen hours. Some of the best weapons however are locked behind a paywall, which can only be broken with real money. But this isn't all. You can also purchase bigger magazine sides, better ammunition, which does more damage, or additional grenade slots. Worst of all drones can be bought, that will scout other players for you or alternatively even shoot on other players for you. I hope I don't need to explain how this is beyond unacceptable. The P2W aspects in Mega Zombie are breathtaking in a negative sense. I nonetheless have to at least admit, that despite these issues, I never really got stomped by any paying players. You will generally be able to compete with these players, but it remains unfair nonetheless.
Pro:
- Team Deathmatch mode (4v4v4v4vZombies is great concept)
- Great map variety
- Gameplay can be fun
Contra:
- Annoying Performance issues (lags)
- Gunplay can sometimes feel a bit too random
- Lackluster Visuals
- Massive Pay to Win issues
Result:
Maybe I am giving Mega Zombie too much credit, but it seems to me like the text-book definition of a mixed bag. I like the TDM concept and the different maps a lot (the other modes are okay, but certainly don't stand out). Casually playing this game, especially with friends, can be a lot of fun. Trying to hunt the other players, while also surviving against the relentless Zombies can be a really good joy. You can just not take the game too serious. If you want to play a game competitively, than stay far away from Mega Zombie. The P2W aspects are beyond redemption and the performance is often a nearly equal disgrace. Gunplay is also way too loose for a serious game. Despite these massive issues, you can have a good time in Mega Zombie for a couple of hours. I would therefore generously give the game a 5. If you know what you are into, you can approach with caution. If any of the mentioned flaws however is a dealbreaker, than best avoid this game by any means necessary.
5/10
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