Choice Of Zombie: Impressions

@Vermander I agree, but it happened in Zombie Exodus…

@Vermander I agree with the “all your own gender” cast being odd–but I totally disagree with the “falling in love” thing. That’s a quickly-formed bond which cements loyalty and relieves stress; it’s only natural to feel affection growing with attraction. When death is all around you, you want to feel alive. Hell, that’s part of why it was so easy for Jennifer to be seduced by an NPC. I just think that a lasting relationship would take time to form, and at some point both people would have to rethink whether their feelings were real or just a temporary crutch of sorts. Alternately, if both were mature and self-aware enough, they could try to put the question of how they feel aside and just get some stress relief and human comfort together. So to me, some form of romance is entirely appropriate, even if it’s only an attempt that can be rejected by the player character because they’re too focused on being heroic, too noble, too what-have-you. If nothing else, it’s an extra opportunity for the PC to be defined within the parameters of the game.

@VoodooDolly Thanks for the recommendation; I really enjoyed Zombie Exodus!

1 Like

I agree that people do sometimes form relationships under stressful situations, but I think it seems somewhat more forced when it happens so soon. The entire game happens over the course of about two or three days, and most of that time is spent frantically running, or battling zombies. The characters have almost no down time and and are all complete strangers.

Plus, all of their loved ones got eaten like six hours ago.

1 Like

To clarify, I don’t object to there being romance in every game, I just don’t think ommiting it serious detracts from the story in this case.

1 Like

i hate how every survival is the same…ending anyway. i think their should ve romance as its a human thing.its quite a dull game after the second or third play. i expected it to be more like choice of the vampire. every calculating detail. creating bonds with people. moving on. that kind of thing. im dissapointed in CoZ

I liked it. Reminded me of JaggedBlade’s (now Creaky Corpse) Dead Frontier: Outbreak series of games. Give them a play.

I see most of us agree.

Also, I have to strongly disagree with you, CarrotSticks. This game felt too childish, as if the writer didn’t have any experience whatsoever about writing for the survival genre. At this point, I think that was the case. However, that’s no excuse for sloppy writing, bad characters, and overall lazy put-together-with-glue game.

I stick with what I said before: Zombie Exodus seems the place to go (and I also recommend the Outbreak series, give it a lick) for the Choice Of Games zombie game, it is so good that it makes this look like a poorly made user-contributed game instead of an “official” one. Though, technically, it is well done; as it has already been said up here.

1 Like

This game just didn’t captivate me or hold my attention like the other ‘Choice of’ games, I wouldn’t say the writing was bad, but the whole game felt a little forced, as someone said it didn’t really have a direction, there was an attempt at humour but it was supposedly a rather dark and serious setting. The two just didn’t mix for me.

Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed it but I won’t spend an awful lot of time replaying it.

1 Like

I have to say I really, really liked this game - but that’s because I’ve always been a fan of the genre but never been able to beat a game (ever). So yeah, that’s a big tip off for me that this game is easy, but I still really enjoyed it. It did have some extreme drawbacks, though.

The gender things was really weird. My first play through I was like “Why aren’t any men surviving this? Seriously, is my team only women?” And when I finally realized that I had to be a guy to save guys…yeah, I was completely thrown for a loop. Just give the characters a set gender.

And then there was, of course, the NPCs themselves. Carrie and Lisa were practically the same person. Sometime I would forget Kayden was there. But I still liked the characters and really got attached to them. I kept replaying the game trying to figure out how to save Bonnie, and eventually got Jennifer, Carrie, Kayden, and Bonnie to safety. I agree that Jennifer was extremely annoying most of the time, but I still felt really defensive of her, and rather liked having someone depend on me - made me feel more like I was a leader. Getting Kayden to like and trust me was a fun job, too. Still, these characters could have been much more complex, and I was disappointed at the lack of closeness I actually got while playing. I wanted more teamwork and relationship building.

And on the subject of relationship building, I would have liked a romance option. I know its not everyone’s cup of tea, but zombies are eating people - I’d want to feel close to someone, and my “girlfriends” weren’t doing it. Heck, even just having a guy in the group would have helped - being surrounded by my own gender got tiring after a while. After a trip to the mall, I was super excited to have Scott escape with me. But then, we all knows what happens to Scott -_-

That was another thing; not being able to save certain NPCs. I understand that in a real Zombiepocalypse you’re not going to save everyone, but still. I kept expecting there to be another plot if you go along with George, but nothing ever changed and I got aggrevated and kept thinking “then why is he even here? Why do I have choices when talking to him if none of it matters?” And the Luke thing confused me. I honestly hadn’t thought Luke and his guys had anything to do with Anita, but then the game was like “hey, you should practically attack this guy after you bust open this door. He might have heard something and been coming down to try to help, but no, your going to bust his nose, kick him while he’s down or steal his gun, and maybe even shoot him despite no indication whatsoever that he’s a bad guy until you decide to kill him then I’ll randomly say he was helping feed people to zombies and make it all okay.” …yeah, more plot and/or character development would be nice.

And lastly (I’m amazed at those still reading this little rant-o-mine) the ending seemed rather abrupt. The choices suddenly stop after you set up traps, the house is defended, a monologue explains how awesome you are, Jennifer’s life finally has meaning, and you’re a hero. …wait, where did my game go? I was just about to start picking off zombies! And why was it okay to just wander around the basement? Shouldn’t I have had choices - it could have been Zombie infested. I mean, they found a dead body down there, didn’t they? Anyone want to explain the dead guy and yet complete lack of zombies? Did he starve himself doing research or what? More could have been done with Dormiscove.

Also (what happened to “lastly”? oh well) I was disappointed that no matter what I could never get to the prison, and that after visiting the church/mall, I couldn’t go to the other. After finishing, I felt like this game was really short. This game felt like there was so much potential, but it wasn’t realized. I still really enjoyed it and recommend it to all my friends, but it really left me feeling like it was lacking whenever I give it any real thought (which I obviously have).

And just a little side note, I noticed everyone keeps mentioning how much better Zombie Exodus is, but I really disliked ZE. I played it for a while and felt like my character was being railroaded to be a certain way, and I resented it. That and the great feeling of time constraint I got from how certain options you’d think you’d be able to revisit were discarded and certain options you’d think would cancel eachother out kept popping back up again really made me unable to play all the way through. Just one example would be going downstairs and seeing the two girls fighting off the zombie and the bleeding man in the corner. Of course I want the help the girls first, but I’d want to help the guy afterwards. But no, I can’t. Instead, we ignore the bleeding man in favor of telling one lie after another to the guards, who don’t seem to notice I keep contradicting myself. And then I either have to abondon my new comrades or injure the guards and leave them defenseless to be eaten by the zombie hoards. Yeah, I had a bad first impression of this game, to say the least. I did like the inventory system, though.

1 Like

I didn’t actually like the game at all…
No romance
No being a bad ass no saving the chris-lisa or whoever you are supposed to save is not bad ass thing and how do you take out a horde of zombies with 2 people?
And also the plot reminds me of call of duty storyline go from point A to point B and some shit happens so to save yourself go from point B to C!

The game may have been as long as the other ones created on the site, but there was never enough time to truly develop a side story at any of the places that you stopped in the game.
You never had time to establish a real relationship, and the relationships that you had with your party weren’t that deep.
Each part was rushed feeling, especially the end. I barely had time to adjust to my group being alone on an island before the idea that we already found a cure for the sickness was thrown at me.

1 Like

I would agree with most of what was said in that the game was lacking in many ways. Zombie Exdos is the way to go

This game was probably my least favorite of the games on this site, the options felt very limited and it never really felt as though I had impacted the story much with my choices (this was confirmed on replays). I had fun playing, but it was a tad disappointing, especially since we have a user made game with the same basic concept as this one, which is far better. (Zombie Exodus)

Still, since it was a free game, I can’t complain too much, it does have some merits, the characterization was quite good, and there were some points that made me laugh. It’s just that I wish we had gotten to explore this world a little more, get to know the characters better, and unfortunately, the game was just too short.

1 Like

Although I’d say CoZ is well written and fairly polished, I feel it lacks the ambition and entertainment value of Zombie Exodus. It’s probably my least favourite Choice of game, primarily because the characters in it were so flat. I think the game could be improved massively by giving you the opportunity to talk to characters in your party a little bit more, if only to get more of their background, etc. It’s not a bad game, but I wouldn’t say it was their best (Broadsides or Dragon for me).

1 Like

Ditto for the wish that CoZ had been longer and had more character development – and the love for Broadsides and Dragon!

1 Like

To me, this game feels like an experiment in how to make a multiple choice story more action-driven and less narrative-driven. I think it’s fine, and there are some interesting ideas to it – I like the party-building aspect, where having the right companion is just as useful as having the right skills, and I can appreciate the complexity that adds to the narrative and available choices.

I agree that I would have liked more “hard” choices. I mean, there were some; I balked at whether or not to send the kid alone through a gap that only she fit through, not knowing what would be on the other side. But some of these decisions are more like puzzles; once you know the “right” answer, you’re not inclined to try the others on replay. What would have been interesting would be a situation where the player has to make an obvious trade-off. What if you find yourself in a situation where you only have enough time to rescue The Grumpy One or The Useless One? Or if there were a way to rescue both, but it came with some third trade-off?

Still, I’ve enjoyed it. I found it fun to go for multiple runs with different survivor parties, to see if I could survive on my own, to see what kinds of subplots I can tease out by changing things up. There’s nothing wrong with just being an ass-kicking, “blast the zombies and get to the end” sort of thing.

1 Like

Agreed with CPface, this game is best if you look at it as an experiment, they were trying something new with this game, and it didn’t quite work, but it still has some merit.

This game is nice at first but then goes bad when some answers are pretty obvious.
I agree with most of you.

Initial concerns over spending ¥250 for a text-based rpg game depicting the zomg Zombie Apocalypse were unfounded. True to the genre, Choice of Zombie is entertaining, fast, and brutal. The opening drops you in the middle of the action; it is hilarious, puke-inducing and fun all at once. Herd? Flock? Decomposition? Brilliant.

A nice balance of physical, emotional, technical, moral and interpersonal choices accurately depict-is it possible to be accurate when portraying an unrealistic event- the challenges one would face during the impending Zombie Apocalypse. Yes, I have left a certain individual behind; I am not proud, but what is one to do? The story lines are as varied as the choices/stats.

On my third play-through, I changed one of my hobbies and found myself with additional options later. Niiiiiiiiiiice.

Questions:

  1. What’s the maximum number of ‘kills’ one can score?
  2. How many survivors?
  3. Why a Civic? In this day of eco-correctness, I was sure you would go with a Prius. Shame. Shaaaaame.
  4. Will there be a sequel?

Right, thanks for the fun and excitement, and you need to add ‘decomposition of zombies’ to this page: http://users.tinyonline.co.uk/gswithenbank/collnoun.htm

:smiley:

@iMorpheus,
The highest number of kills is 73, which i’ve gotten over multiple playthroughs.