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Dying Light
PlayStation 4
Better Living Through Dying
4/5 stars
Techland is no stranger to the action zombie genre, having brought us Dead Island and its sequel (both of which I have previously played). Both games were adequate, if a bit repetitive, with a focus on crafting various weapons out of materials while leveling up your character. Dying Light is the next step - incorporating some of the elements from the previous games, while improving nearly every aspect to make this not only more dynamic, but with better story, characters and, in general, providing a much better experience. If you happen to like the zombie genre, this is a slam dunk.
Presentation: The game takes full advantage of the current generation with some crisp graphic, impressive effects (especially on zombie dismemberment) and a variety of environments to immerse yourself in. The only place it could have been better was in the human design - which come across as somewhat clunky and unpolished. Still, it's head and shoulders above the Dead Island games. A lot of the game focuses on running, jumping and climbing - a parkour element seen previously in games like InFamous series. The game also ramps up the zombie element - while some areas may only have a handful, other areas are literally packed in, with hundreds packing in, meaning that the game wants you to run, jump and climb rather than just bash everything in sight. Given that your weapons degrade over time - and guns and explosions bring worse zombies - it is often the best option to run rather than stick around.
The music and sound are effective - much of the music evokes the feel of classic zombie films, Night of the Living Dead and such - while breaking down doors (or accidentally falling through rotten roofs) are also quite well done. However, the best sounds are the zombies. Both "alive" and the effects various weapons have on them - it's some of the best zombie effects yet and really puts you in the mood (to kill more zombies). The game also has a great day/night dynamic - at night the really scary guys come out - and they can (and will) chase and kill you. Even late in the game these guys are dangerous (especially when you attract a nice, big following) and it adds another layer to the game. The voice acting is fine though not memorable.
Story: As Kyle Crane, you are dropped into the Quarantine Zone of Harran (a fictional Turkish city), tasked by the Global Relief Effort (GRE) to find Kadir Suleiman - a rogue agent now thought to control one of the factions currently running the city - and retrieve a file that could bring down the GRE due to its subject matter. The entire city has been affected by an outbreak that has turned most of the population into zombies - rather mobile and dangerous ones at that. If you can track down a cure (being worked on by Dr. Imran Zere), it would also benefit the GRE greatly. Of course, immediately on landing, you are bitten and nearly killed, but rescued by MMA fighter Jade Aldemir and Amir Ghoreyshi (who shortly after sacrifices himself to aid your escape). You are taken to "The Tower" where you are tasked with helping out - with Jade's brother Rahim Aldemir in charge of your early training. You happen to be an adept at the whole Parkour thing and are soon dubbed a "Runner" - a person sent out to get supplies and such for The Tower. Good thing too, as the place is running low on Antizin - the drug that keeps infected people (like yourself) from turning into full-on zombies. The leader of the Tower, Brecken, is out on one such run - which have become more dangerous since a rival group, led by a man named Rais, has proven better at getting to them first (and are also quite a bit more violent in their efforts).
Crane is soon given the task by local leader Spike to get after one such drop. He reaches it in time and has a whole crate of Antazin, but the GRE chimes in - telling him to destroy it all, in order to facilitate a meeting with Rais (who turns out to be Suleiman) and get the file. This is the first indication to Crance that maybe the GRE aren't to be trusted - and as the game goes on, and he becomes closer the the people he's helping, he begins to question his mission. Now, I'll be the first to admit the story isn't the game's strongest feature. However, compared to the Dead Island games it is once again loads better, though it's not going to win any awards.
Gameplay: The standout here is the fun gameplay. The parkour element is really fun - jumping leaping from building to building, jumping over zombies - it's quite fun. You have three main trees you can level up as you go: Agility (leveled up by running, jumping and climbing - points are doubled if it's nighttime and more dangerous), Power (leveled up by killing zombies - more points for killing in high fashion) and Survivor (leveled up by doing both main and side quests, helping people and surviving the night). Each tree has good perks - crafting new weapons, more health, less damage, running faster (and longer) - but the most useful has to belong to the grappling hook. This baby makes traversing the areas so much easier. In fact, I would say the second half of the game would be borderline disaster without the handy item.
The game still utilizes the crafting mechanic, but it has been seriously streamlined. Instead of dozens upon dozens of items, you now only find about 20 total throughout the game. You can craft things like Medkits and Firecrackers (for distraction) and upgrade weapons with various effects (electricity, fire, poison). Weapons still have levles (white, green, blue, etc) and these will degrade over time, though you are allowed to repair them. One thing the game adds is weapon mods. You find various mods in the game and these allow you to upgrade durability, handling and power. The better the grade of weapon, the more mods you can put on it (up to four). Higher level durability gives the weapon more repair chances, while handling and power increase speed and damage. With a proper modded high-level weapon, you can make it last a lot longer. There are also throwing weapons (which I never really got into) and firearms (I used them sparingly - but you have to have them, mainly for human opponents, rather than zombies).
It has been said the game has a wicked learning curve, but I didn't find it all that difficult, even in the beginning. The only thing that bothered me were the terrible exploding zombies (who I never caught in time and usually meleed only to find myself dead), the sometimes questionable controls (the parkour, especially grabbing, takes some getting used to) and the final level. The final level, after going through this great open-world, free-running adventure, suddenly puts you on a straight and difficult path. Make one false move, dead, start over. Enemy kill you? Dead, start over. Didn't quite grab that ledge? Dead, start over. It was a pain and certainly not a good way to end the game for me. Apparently the DLC revolves around this kind of challenge - if so, count me out.
Otherwise, the game was fun - there are various challenges (killing zombies with specific weapons or dismembering them in various ways, free-running challenges, grappling hook challenges, Quarantine Zones to clear, climbing challenges and so on) plus side-missions, random encounters (some of which lead to very interesting conversations) and collectibles to find. Yes, the game still does get somewhat repetitive, but it holds up far better this time around. I didn't encounter any game-breaking bugs - I thought I was stuck a few times but always managed to escape from what I thought was certain reset moments. Overall, a slick take on the zombie genre - not quite perfect, but getting closer.
Replayability: Not so much replay, but the game gives open range to play after the main quest is over - so if you need to complete any side quests, challenges or the like, they will be there. Or if you just like really killing zombies, have at them.
Overall: A great step forward in the zombie action genre. If you previously enjoyed games like Dead Island or Dead Rising, this is the next step in evolution and I hope the next time around it gets even better.
Presentation: 4/5
Story: 3/5
Gameplay: 4.5/5
Replayability: 4/5
Overall (not an average): 4/5
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