ArmA 2, DayZ mod - Review

Started by Blizzard, January 01, 2013, 06:21:54 am

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Blizzard

January 01, 2013, 06:21:54 am Last Edit: January 01, 2013, 09:39:01 am by Blizzard
Some of you who play horror games probably have noticed that all newer horror games are basically horror shooters where you basically empty a clip after another on a zombie's or some other monster's head. There are no real new survival horror games (such as the old Silent Hills used to be). Well, there is something and it's a mod for ArmA 2 called DayZ. It's still mostly in its alpha stages, but the game is already playable and has over a million players. If you don't mind the occasional glitch that can break your leg or kill you, I highly recommend you check it out.

DayZ offers you a huge map (in the magitude of 100-200 km2 of terrain to explore, depending on the map) with 28-days-later-style running zombies, lots of locations to explore while you have to keep track of your character's thirstiness, hunger, temperature (relevant only in certain maps) and blood level. If you go thirsty or hungry for too long, you start losing blood (not that it makes much sense, but losing your blood kills you). If you get wounded, you may have to bandage yourself in order to stop the bleeding. Your only mission in the game is to survive as long as possible. You will prioritize your goals depending on what you need most. Hungry or thirsty? Let's find some food. Need weapons? Let's plunder an army base.
You usually (re)spawn with only a few pieces of gear, but depending on the server you might even get a map, a watch and even a gun with a few bullets. Trust me, if you didn't have to crawl through a crowd of zombies to find that gun and the bullets, you simply won't be able to appreciate it and just waste it probably on the first or second group of zombies pointlessly. And then you will start running away while you could have slipped through stealthily AND keep your bullets.

DayZ is hard to compare to a game, it's more of an experience. For the first few hours you will be quite reckless and not really have too much patience with the zombies. After you died a few times (and lost all your gear repeatedly), you will start to be more careful. As soon as you spot zombies, you will start crouching. As soon as the zombies are a bit closer, you will start crawling on the floor so they don't see and/or hear you. You will become patient and immerge into the game. You will not take unnecessary risks. Heck, even if you have lost a lot of blood, have zombies running behind you, your vision is blurring and you may pass out any moment and die, you will not give up. You will keep running and hoping that you can lose them. What's that? What don't I just use a gun? And attract all the zombies with the radius of a few hundred meters? Or worse, another player who now knows my location and will shoot me on sight if he sees me. Only when I'm somewhere in the middle of the woods and sure that nobody is around, I might use my gun to get of the zombies following me. Ammo is precious, you usually don't have a lot of it, too.

Oh, and the night. DayZ features real-time day and night, depending on when you are playing on the server. During the day it is a survival horror game. During the night it is a nightmare. Usually the nights are pitch-black and you literally can't see shit (except the stars in the sky). If you turn on your flashlight, you might attract unwanted attention by zombies or other players or, god forbid, a "Bloodsucker". Hope that "Bloodsucker" doesn't find you or you're fucked. You'll recognize him by his the red or yellow eyes that glow in the dark and by his really creepy cry. During the day he's already scary as it is (I'm not sure you can actually kill him), but during the night you're basically fucked.

Of course the game also feature vehicles, but often you will find them broken and will have to repair them which requires the right tools or gas. If you play for a really long time without dying, you might be able to even repair a helicopter.

DayZ doesn't try to be too scary. The music is immersive at times, but what will usually freak you out are sound effects. You are in the middle of the woods and you hear a gun shot. Fuck. There is another player close nearby and he has a gun. AND I DON'T! FUCK! ON THE FLOOR, ON THE FLOOR, ON THE FLOOR! I hope he didn't see me! See how a simple gunshot scared the shit out of you? Or you are currently checking out some loot that you found and suddenly you hear a zombie grunt behind you. FUCK! RUN, RUN, RUN! Or, if you are lucky enough to have a melee weapon such as hachet or crowbar, you might be able to dispatch of this zombie without alerting everything around you.

DayZ allows you to immerge into the game and just be there. The rest will be done by your imagination well enough and you will have a great experience. You will learn patience, risk management and priorities. There is an army base just down the hill with possibly some awesome weapons? Fuck that! I'm starving. Let's check out this farm to see if there are any baked beans in a can lying around. Or you may come across animals in the wild which you can kill, gut and then eat their meat (bigger animals give more meat). But you will still need matches for a fire and also hope that no other players in the area notice your fire, sneak up on you and kill you for your food. Or will you be the predator and sneak up on others? Trust no one.

One interesting aspect of the game is that you can't give yourself a blood transfusion. Even if you have a blood bag and are low on blood, you have to have another player give you the blood transfusion. Now, will you trust a total stranger with your blood bag (which are usually difficult to obtain)? Or will he shoot you on sight? Or will he just keep the blood bag? Or will he follow you around a bit and then backstab you when you at least expect it or aren't useful to him/her anymore? DayZ offers all those moral and tactical choices with real players in a slightly post-apocalyptic setting and an abandoned world.

The game is still somewhat clunky to play as most controls are not ironed out properly, but somehow this makes the game even better. You can't just keep running and check your gear or bandage yourself while a zombie is running behind you.

I highly recommend playing the game with friends while parallelly having a Skype or Teamspeak voice session on the side. I wouldn't really be interested in the game as such, but playing with it some friends I know IRL is an amazing experience. When we explore new locations, we usually split up. One checks out the buildings and the other keeps watch. You wouldn't believe that 15-30 minutes of lying on the floor and looking nervously around (and maybe seeing your buddy crawl on the floor in the far) would be that exciting.
Check out Daygames and our games:

King of Booze 2      King of Booze: Never Ever
Drinking Game for Android      Never have I ever for Android
Drinking Game for iOS      Never have I ever for iOS


Quote from: winkioI do not speak to bricks, either as individuals or in wall form.

Quote from: Barney StinsonWhen I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.

Blizzard

Haha, I just found a helicopter in the middle of nowhere in our last session. I flew it and the controls are relatively easy, but the reaction delay can really mess you up. I almost landed it, but I was too close to a tree so when I tried to take off again, I crashed it. Somehow I survived and my friend bandaged me and gave me a blood transfusion, lol! Now I know how to fly one, this will be incredibly useful later on.
Check out Daygames and our games:

King of Booze 2      King of Booze: Never Ever
Drinking Game for Android      Never have I ever for Android
Drinking Game for iOS      Never have I ever for iOS


Quote from: winkioI do not speak to bricks, either as individuals or in wall form.

Quote from: Barney StinsonWhen I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.