State of Decay Review

Game: State of Decay
Year (s): 2013
Company: dev. Undead Labs
pub. Microsoft Studios
Engine: Cry Engine 3
Type: Sandbox Zombie Survival
Viewpoint: Third-Person
Metacritic Score: 79
My Score: 70


Price (as of February 23, 2014)


Regular list price on Steam: $19.99
Lowest Buy-It-Now on eBay (new, with shipping): Not Available


My Game Time: 20 hours, first time, on normal


Obligatory Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edVYXynxzio






Plot


This game essentially has no plot. Zombies happened, and you help the survivors stay stocked with ammo, food, and medical supplies.


Engine

Cry Engine 3 is one of the most realistic, and most demanding, graphics engines that exist. State of Decay underutilized its capabilites to wind up with a generic looking game that could have been anything released for Xbox 360, Playstaion 3, and PC in the last six years.


I hit a few bugs with this game. It crashed a few times, and goals would sometimes fail to appear or resolve.






Save System


Manual Save? No
Quick Save? No
Area Load Save? No
Checkpoint Save? Yes




Combat and Gameplay


Generally, you're doing fetch quests to help the fortified groups of survivors. While there are guns, it's largely a skull-bashing pursuit. As your character progresses, they gain bonuses in fighting, cardio, weapon classes, and, “influence.” Influence is money.


Zombies are much worse at night, and you are certain to die at some point. While you usually have a couple of chances to recover, at least one enemy can tear you in half. If you die, the game carries on with you playing as a different survivor.


State of Decay has a text-heavy help section that explains how to play. There isn't anything in-game. I don't read so well, so it took me eight hours and a google search to learn how to build things. I never figured out how to set up an outpost, though I was constanly prompted to do so.






Expansions / DLC / Sequels


In State of Decay, there are a finite amount of resources and you will at some point have to complete missions that end with escaping the vally. In the Breakdown DLC, gameplay is endless, though it gets harder and harder.


A second DLC, Life Line, is in development with few details.






Final Thoughts


I'm not a zombie expert. I haven't seen all of the Romero movies, I haven't played any Resident Evil, and I'm fine with that. State of Decay does a very good job of being a sandbox game, but the absolute lack of plot made the gameplay, for me, rather mindless.


If you just want something to do with your time, this might be a more difficult option for those tired with Skyrim. While not a bad game, and a good first show from Undead Labs, this isn't one I'd highly recommend.