Indie developers are almost always desperate guys. Those who want to make games are applied, large and beating in a target audience, sooner or later find work in “serious” companies. But if you, for example, Edmund McMilllen (Edmund McMilln) and “Own Vision” for you is more important for you, then you remain on free bread and do your own, strange and original. Zoink Games – This is just such a case.
Their first more or less loud game, Stick it to the man!, It caused sympathy and rejection at the same time: while objective critics praised originality, humor and visual style, me (and not only me) fifteen minutes after the launch began to stir up – all this seemed annoying annoying. That is why, having learned that the Swedes released a new game, I literally forced myself to go through it. I finally wanted to understand what is so talented in the works Zoink they see critics and whether the studio is worth at all in the future.
One, completely alone
Zombie Vikings – This is a unicellular cooperative arcade, where you with three friends need to move from left to right and clog everything that moves at the level. The essence of this process has not changed since the time Double Dragon, Although in this case it is better to put as an example CASTLE CRASHERS.
The case begins in Walgalla, where the old one -eyed one rubs his staff (by the way, about the quality of humor – this may well be subtle euphemism). The process interrupts Loki, and the gods begin to bicker in the spirit of a cheap sitcom, against the background, the corresponding “jingla” are even substituted. After frantic troops, the scoundrel abducts Odin’s eyes and leaves.
In order to return it, four zombies are resurrected from http://megadownload.net/MDT/pgs/?the-impact-of-technology-on-no-verification-casinos.html the dead (in fact, six – a couple can be bought as DLC). Everything is bright, strange types: a woman-brewing woman, a man who has grown up with an octopus, a poorly speaking hedgehog and a flirty woman with tall a tall of two meters. They take the keys from the ship of Odin (which stands on car systems and blinks with headlights) and go to catch the scoundrel.
What you definitely do not expect is that the chosen hero will constantly try to hih “in his style” until the plot part will begin: some vile worms will meet at the level, and it seems that a normal arcade about fights will begin.
The combat system is simple;At first it seems unusual, but over time you are mastering. In addition to the main attack, which can be accumulated for a powerful blow, the characters have a unique ability – to scatter others, scatter the exploding skulls or explode himself, causing damage to others. There is also a block, a couple of dumps, the ability to attack from the air and everything is like that.
Enemies do not shine either. There are only four of them: ordinary, thick, rushing bombs, healthy “demoboss”. Only the appearance changes from level to level: worm, ghost, knight, naivens, cat. The behavior remains the same, so the tactics of the battle developed in the first half an hour will be completely held to the final.
But what is strange: having gone through the first level, I, to my surprise, ran into a long cut-scene with proprietary humor. The controlled zombies were cut before the eyes of the worm-mother of her son into pieces (which crawled right away). To which she exclaims joyfully: “Hurray! I always wanted a big family! Although Stop, where I will find money for four scholarships in college?!”
And this is only the beginning of madness. It turned out that the developers went against the laws of the genre and common sense: they made the game the most saturated plot. Some kind of game constantly occurs around, and this directly affects the gameplay, and the total duration of all videos strives for the length of the full-length film.
Unsable dead
Loki, meanwhile, really does nothing with the eye of Odin and is looking for a defender, for example, an old witch who requires polishing her boiler (no, here I am definitely sure about euphemism), or the captain of the team of athletes on steroids. To go through all these characters, to see five microdestes in several levels long and still save the world.
After two hours, the games for no reason begin to reveal the details of the biography of the main characters: how they died and why they look just like that, with feathers or octopus. At the same time, the hellishness of the plot only increases, and the jokes hail are literally every ten seconds. This can sound as a compliment, but in fact there is no: the authors have a strange sense of humor.
It seems that the script was written collectively and was not completely filtered, because next to the truly successful gags there are a kissing of pimple asses. And everything in the spirit of “I have a cat lost, and the Internet will not invent for another thousand years”. The same is true for the visual style: in the worst moments, this rolls almost to the level of “Rena and Steampi show”.
How to relate to it is difficult to say. Sometimes from a nonsense that is happening in the frame, it becomes a shame, but occasionally it is still funny. And to a certain extent, even curious. In addition, events directly affect the gameplay, so willy-nilles have to be monitored.
The game does not offer anything extraordinary, but within the framework of modest gameplay opportunities tries to entertain: it will make the gnomes catch, then throw chips. In one scene, an angry crowd chases us, in the other – we have to jump on conveyor ribbons at the gas production plant. Not God the news, of course – still have to beat the same four types of opponents. But this at least every time has a new occasion.
The passage is added to the passage that the game forces the use of each hero in turn. Formally, the character just should be in the team, but if you do not have a friend, then it is impossible to find someone online. Therefore, the user is literally forced to get to know each. Although playing in the company, of course, is more fun, but this is a standard practice, and the merits of the game itself are not.
Thanks to very different speeds and supernaries, the battle tactics in each zombies varied varying. How “upgrades” are also distinguished, available for acquisition between missions: you can choose from a wide range of swords with different bonuses, and in addition to take a rune that restores health or allows you to throw its allies.
At each level, in addition, an additional quest is hidden, in no way connected with the plot, but each time “made by hand” and with an unexpected denouement. Grandma is looking for her cat and all the time referring to the fact that he will recognize him by smell;It turns out that the old woman holds Skuns for the pet. Or the girl stuck in the breath of the whale: when I hardly pulled her out, she yelled: “I asked for help so that someone pushed me inside! There should be treasures!”
It’s scary to think about how the game will be perceived if you skate scenes that explain why you play football against butterflies.
The idea to create a cooperative Beat ‘Em Up with an emphasis on the plot is bad. They don’t do it because it doesn’t work. When playing with friends, no one wants to read the dialogs and remember the heroes (all the more so since the plot part is long-you can’t pass it in one sitting), but the genre does not have a loneliness: the combat system is still not difficult enough to be truly interesting.
But we need to admit: a lot of work has been done, there is a clearly withstanded stylistics (let the sorting), which may well like someone to like. But the game has no other trump cards, and the mentioned Rena and Steampy loves a very narrow circle of fans. Therefore, the average player dwell on Zombie Vikings, Perhaps there is no need.
Pros: elaborate plot;some successful jokes;very different “to the touch” characters;A variety of game situations.
Cons: dubious stylistics;some unsuccessful jokes;too much bet on history;Not the most interesting battle;Small number of types of opponents.