ZombiU (Wii U) [E3 2012]

ZombiU is Ubisoft's exclusive mature rated game for the Wii U and honestly is the only thing about the console so far that does anything for me. It's probably the first instance of using the tablet in an innovative way and genuinely works to immerse you in the gameplay.

The first thing to know about ZombiU is that death is permanent. Like really permanent. When you start a game you get a randomly generated person, you name them but that's it, could be anyone, male, female, any race. the point is, this is you and your actions are remembered by the game. Say your mission is to retrieve medical supplies, you get to the building with them in, open the door and a zombie eats your face, you're dead. Now the game restarts, but you're a new randomly generated person, you start out on the same mission and get to the point where you last died, the door will still be open and lo and behold your previous character is now part of the zombie horde trying to kill you, after you kill 'old you' then you can loot the body and recover all your lost items.

The game is an open world but revolves around starting from a central hub and there will only ever be one previous version of yourself in the game as a zombie at any time but if you're online then your friends zombies will also appear in your name with their names hovering above their heads.

The touch screen itself serves as an inventory, lock picking and hacking utility meaning that whilst you're pickpocketing or managing your inventory you need to keep looking back up at the tv as this is real time and a zombie might just walk up behind you while you're rifling through a copse's pockets. The touchscreen goes into a first person view at this point and the tv screen is third person allowing you to look around you, when you go back to playing the screen switches again and the TV is first person whilst the touchscreen is a map and guide of you're current area. This first person view also allows for some big scares whilst playing.

This is the first time I've been excited for a Wii U game..despite it's stupid name, (I really hope they stop putting the U bit in game titles, it's not needed, I can tell if a game is for that console or not, i don't need help, also where is the E in zombie?) hopefully this is one title that lives up to it's potential.

Here's the gameplay trailer detailing the Gamepad mechanics;