Decidedly Addictive

It's not that often nowadays I end up getting a game and playing it for 14 hours straight. That was one hell of a weekend.

You start off as 'born leader' Marcus in a forest camp-site near a lake, with your way-too-often-depressed-after-an-argument-over-a-pack of-biscuits friend Ed Jones. Returning from a fishing trip, they soon discover that the world has gone a bit mental, as shown by a nearby group of people beginning to eat their legs. After realising that reasoning with them is to no avail, they instead beat them over the heads with branches until they go quiet. Long story short- they end up at a house at which they must defend after being taken in by said house's occupants.

You can follow a bit of an interesting main storyline or simply create your own by trying to survive. Materials and goods such as ammunition and food supplies must be scavenged from nearby houses and other buildings, otherwise your survivor community start to clash with one another. To get to the supplies, you can either man it and walk (quiet until disembowelling begins), or you can drive one of a generous number of vehicles strewn about the place. The danger of course is that this makes a bit of noise. Noise does tend to attract zombies in this game. You can simply find yourself mowing down mobs of zombies, singing some Shania Twain (nah, but seriously- where did she go?) and joyously cackling until you realise your engine has died due to either simple failure or because that bloody 18th spline is blocking the head gasket.

There is of course the more eloquent combat with zombies, to the sum of 99 different guns, which can be upgraded with useful things such as sound suppressors, as well as an assortment of between 30-40 melee weapons. Improving your character's skill level in each category of weapon (e.g. assault, shotguns, heavy/light melee) allows less recoil when firing weapons, or the ability to wield more weighty weapons such as a wrench in a more sprightly manner. Speaking of manual violence, I find these very effective, and didn't actually end up taking notice of any guns until I was halfway through the game. They are of course effective, but ammo does run out, and bashing in a zombie's head is raucous fun. Keep in mind that if you're out on foot you may forget the ease of running everything down when 3 hordes are closing upon you and your stamina has all but gone. So yes, it can still get verrrrrry challenging.

All of this scavenging and combat I sort of expected, though it is very well done. New survivors can be contacted and found, and, with enough beds, they can move into your stronghold. Your 'stronghold' can be upgraded with various workshops and medical facilities, among other things. When Marcus is friends with other survivors enough, you can switch between them and go out fighting, levelling up each character and such. On top of that, you have the personalities of your survivors. They kind of make it like the Sims should/could be with how they all interact. In a good way. They argue, get angry, depressed (seriously, Ed Jones...) and generally are very dynamic with each other. You sometimes have to take a character out on a killing spree and a catch-up to get them back to normal emotionally.
"I feel a bit off today."
"Don't worry, you can just stamp on this pituitary gland and it'll cheer you right up."
If you just leave the survivor to their own thoughts long enough they can become suicidal and kill themselves. Yeah. Dark. And very narratively immersing.

Along with everything else, you can lose characters. They can die permanently. Which gives things a rather tense feel. After sending my favourite character Maya Torres off to get supplies I was later informed that she was lost. I was surprised at the level of sentimentality I had for her. If she died, I'd have to carry on with other characters and lose her very useful indeed skills. Luckily, you can later find them again, though sometimes it doesn't end so well.

The world is 16 square kilometres, so big enough to immerse yourself in easily. There is a day and night cycle which is brilliance. Scavenging at night is awesome.

The game is only 1600 Microsoft Points, $20, 19.20 Euros or about £13.60 and will be available on PC soon. If you like zombies it's a must buy.