Spoiler warning! This article contains plot details about the game. |
ZombiU is a 2012 first-person survival horror game developed by Ubisoft Montpellier and published by Ubisoft exclusively for the Nintendo Wii U. It was formerly known as Killer Freaks From Outer Space and is a reboot of Ubisoft's first game, Zombi. It was released on November 18th in North America, November 30th in Europe and Australia and December 8th in Japan as a launch title.
The game was ported to PC, PS4 and Xbox One on August 18th, 2015 as ZOMBI.
Ubisoft's CEO, Yves Guillemot, has confirmed that there will not be a sequel to ZombiU as the game failed to turn a profit. While a prototype for a sequel was in development for a short time, it was cancelled not long after.
Gameplay[]
Players will have the opportunity to control one of many randomly generated characters who are currently trying to survive a zombie apocalypse in London, they are aided by the voice of a man over the radio who is only referred to as 'the Prepper'.
During their next run, the player may encounter their previous (now infected) character as a zombie. A unique feature relating to this type of gameplay is that the player will then be able to loot their old characters corpse once defeated for any useful items, weapons or quest-based objects for later use.
There has been no release of information relating to how many zombified survivors can be in the game at one time. Its possible this is only limited to your last character and any previous zombified survivors that have not been put down and looted may disappear from the environment.
Players will earn weapon skills over time as they kill zombies with a certain weapon type, however these skills will be lost upon death and so a new skill set will have to be started.
"You will not inherit 'his' skills, there's no reason for that." - ZombiU Developer.
Confirmed Skills: Lock picking
Players will have access to a variety of weapons, including Guns, Crossbows and melee.
All weapons can be used to shove enemies backwards, however, this only has a limited effect before the zombie will attempt wrestle with you, the wrestling function has been shown to utilize the WiiU Gamepads tilt/accelerometer function. Should you fail to wrestle your way free from a zombie's grasp you will be able to use a hypodermic needle (should you have one in your inventory) to take down that particular zombie.
"It's like a shield. It's not a 'one-up', but will give you one chance to stay alive." - ZombiU Developer
Players can execute zombies that have fallen to the ground, however floored zombies can still crawl and attack if not dealt with.
There are no checkpoints in the game as the general idea is to survive for as long as possible. Given that only one bite will kill/infect a survivor the developers are hoping to create a sense of value with regards to a character's life. This should result in players being far less willing to charge into risky situations with a run-and-gun attitude.
Dying will only cause the character to be returned to the safe house, not reset objective progress nor will it affect anything already done (like unlocking a door). Although there is no "checkpoint" system in the game, the player can save their game by interacting with special beds, like the one in the safe house. Weapon upgrades will remain upon death, also. The only thing that is affected is the loss of equipment, weapons, food and other inventory items. This is why players need to make use of the chest in thehe safe house. The only way to get all equipment back is by going to where the last survivor died and killing and looting the Infected. However, Infected survivors can jump across games, meaning that everything can be lost if not reached in time.
When the player dies, they will be able to see the total time their survivor was alive for and the number of zombies they killed. An interesting side note relating to this was that ZombiU is supposed to utilise some functions of the Miiverse, while there is no direct online multiplayer a players zombified corpse could find its way into a friends game. This would potentially allow your friend to kill the zombie and take their loot for themselves, alternatively it could also result in your zombie killing your friends' character. There has been mention of a statistic screen that will show how many people have fallen to your zombified character(s) and how many have been put out of their misery. There is however a small notification in the bottom right corner of the screen that tells you if another survivor kills your zombified survivor or if the zombified survivor kills another survivor.
Another online feature associated with the Miiverse will be the ability to leave messages on walls for your friends to find through the use of their dark light. Unfortunately due to the potential for messages to be offensive in nature the developers have limited this function to preset icons that the player will be able to select such as an image of stairs and a stop sign to indicate that the staircase is a dangerous route. Also when players scan these messages, they can "mark" them as "Don't trust" allowing players to see if a message is trust worthy or not.
Survival Mode[]
Survival mode features identical game play to Normal mode. The only difference is that in Survival mode the player only gets one life and does not respawn. Dying means game over. Zombies also have 50% more health and do 50% more damage. It is recommended to play normal mode before playing survival mode. There are also a great deal more zombies in general, bulletproof zombies included.
Be vigilant when using mines because they can detonate if you walk forward after placing them and this will instantly kill you, ending the playthrough. (This is important because you are forced to use them during the game.)
Plot[]
Four hundred years ago, scientist John Dee made what was known as the Black Prophecy. The Prepper (an ex-army, no-nonsense man) prepares for the coming apocalypse, and a secret society known as the Ravens of Dee researches Dee's predictions to stop them from taking place. In November 2012, the Black Prophecy begins to be realized in the form of an outbreak of zombies in London.
After the outbreak, the player character is led to the Prepper's bunker, where he receives weapons, a bug-out bag and the Prepper Pad, a device with a built-in scanner and radar. The Prepper, a Raven of Dee, left the organization due to a difference in interpreting Dee's prophecy. According to the scientist, Black Angels would save the world; the Ravens thought that Dee was referring to their organization, but the Prepper believed that he was talking about something worse.
The player goes underground while scavenging at Buckingham Palace and is contacted by Dr Knight, a physician for the Royal Family who is trying to find a cure. He orders the player to find diaries and notes left by Dee in exchange for scanner upgrades and a virucide, a chemical capable of killing those infected. This is done without the Prepper's knowledge, who believes that a cure is impossible. After leaving the palace the player is contacted by Sondra Kelley, who leads him to the remnants of the Ravens of Dee and tries to escape with the player in a helicopter on the Tower of London. A supernatural force drives a flock of ravens into the propeller, making the helicopter crash. The player returns to the Prepper's bunker, and Sondra promises to save them.
In the bunker, the generator is running out of fuel and the Prepper tells the player to get petrol from a man named Vikram. The player finds Vikram, who has gone mad; he and his young child tell the player to go to a local nursery to get antibiotics for his wife. Despite the Prepper's protests (who thinks the player should raid the petrol station), he goes to the nursery; the staff and children have been eaten by a nurse, who became a ghost-like monster capable of teleportation. The player returns with the antibiotics to find that Vikram has become a zombie and eaten his family, forcing the player to kill him.
On the way back to the bunker with the petrol, the player receives a distress signal from a young girl that she and her family are barricaded in St. George's Church. Although the Prepper correctly insists it is a trap, the player goes to rescue her. The player is kidnapped by Boris (the self-proclaimed King of Zombies) and his gang, who force survivors to fight off waves of zombies in the church's courtyard. Boris' lights, microphone, and music attract a horde of zombies, and he and his gang are eaten whilst the player escapes.
The player has enough upgrades to collect Dee's remaining letters for Dr Knight, who believes that he can now make a Panacea. He returns to the safe house, where Knight informs him that the Panacea is not a cure but a vaccine. The Prepper expresses profound disappointment in the player as he returns to Buckingham Palace. Knight has left his bunker for the queen's quarters to access data on a USB key. The player makes his way through the palace, discovering that Knight has been killed and turned into a zombie. The player uses Knight's eye to bypass a retinal scanner and collect the USB key.
They run back to the Tower of London as the RAF is about to firebomb London and Sondra tries to keep her promise to rescue the player. This enrages The Prepper, who orders the player to leave the safe house and vows to outlive the Ravens of Dee. After the player leaves, the Prepper (who has been using survivors to stock his food supplies) finds a new lackey to do his bidding. The player reaches Sondra and leaves London as the RAF (the prophecy's Black Angels) destroy the city.
Ending[]
There are three endings to ZombiU, each one can be obtained by completing the game under certain conditions. As soon as the 'end period' is reached, there are no opportunities to respawn in either difficulty.
- Good Ending: You downloaded the Panacea formula and got to the Tower of London without dying.
- Escape Ending: You didn't download the Panacea formula, however you made it to the tower of London without dying.
- Bad ending: You died before you made it to to the Tower of London. If death occurs, this is the ending, regardless of whether the Panacea formula is obtained or not.
To prevent spoilers the actual content of the endings has not been revealed.
Missions[]
The game features 17 missions, each with multiple objectives that need to be completed in order to progress.
- Mission 00: Introduction
- Mission 01: Get Prepared
- Mission 02: Scan 2 CCTV Junction Boxes in Supermarket Area
- Mission 03: Defend your Safe House
- Mission 04: Reach the Royal Bunker Entrance
- Mission 05: Scavenge the Royal Bunker for Supplies
- Mission 06: Meet the Royal Doc
- Mission 07: Find Dee's "Stadium Contagione" for the Doc
- Mission 08: Collect 7 Dee Letters for the Doc
- Mission 09: Raid the Military Armory
- Mission 10: Call for Evac
- Mission 11A: Refuel the Generator (Part 1)
- Mission 12: Find Medicine for Vikram
- Mission 11B: Refuel the Generator (Part 2)
- Mission 13: Save the Girl
- Mission 14: Survive Arena
- Mission 15: Retrieve the Panacea
- Mission 16: Loadout
- Mission 17: Evacuate at Tower of London
Multiplayer[]
- Main article: King of the Zombies
A competitive offline multiplayer mode known as King of Zombies[1] is available for ZombiU. One player uses either the Wii U Pro Controller or Wii remote and nunchuck to try and guide their survivor towards a flag to capture it. Meanwhile, another player wielding the Wii U Gamepad will be able to spawn zombies around the flag using the touchscreen in a bid to keep the flag unclaimed.
Another multiplayer mode is The Last of Them, this mode can be acquired with 40 points, through Uplay here:? http://uplay.ubi.com/en-GB/game/zombiu? When unlocked a new game-type called "Survival" is added to the multiplayer and works just like King of the Zombies. This mode is based on how long the survivor can last before King Boris kills them.
The PC, PS4 and Xbox One versions of ZombiU lack any form of Multiplayer and is just singleplayer only.
Official Website[]
"For the second time in history, a great plague has enveloped London in a fog of death. Big Ben tolls as hundreds upon thousands of the unprepared die or are infected by a sickness worse than death...
You are still breathing for now; but how long will you survive in the labyrinth of London streets and underground? The horrifying remains of humanity ravaged by the foul disease shuffle through the streets waiting to prey on your living flesh at every turn! ZombiU is built from the ground up to take full advantage of the Wii U™ and its revolutionary controller that will test your will to survive in a fear-fueled zombie Survival Horror First Person Shooter. So grab hold of the Swiss Knife of survival kits – your Nintendo Wii U controller and make every second count; you only get one chance."
Stay human, we are a dying breed.[2]