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Topic: Ice Station Z

Posts 1 to 16 of 16

roy130390

I got this title as soon as it was available and here are my thoughts on it:

Single player is infested by zombies. Perhaps a bit too much.

Online multiplayer has almost no zombies, I have just found a couple after about six hours of gaming.

Houses and other places are scarse in comparison to the map's size. Maybe there doesn't need to be more places, but then there should be more vehicles to travel those distances faster since they are also scarse. Expect a running simulator because of this.

Talking about vehicles, some are big enough to carry more than one person, but only one per vehicle is allowed, which is weird.

Resources can only be found in buildings and while that makes sense, there's no reason not to find a few in the wild (as if someone dropped it) or in the zombies you have killed. Resources are too concentrated in these places and need to have a better distribution, or at least respawn faster.

Most guns and weapons can only be found in a few places and if someone decides to do some pvp in that area and camp the rest of the people are at a huge disadvantage. It happened in some of the games I joined.

The game crashed when I reached an area, and from what I heard in the chat with others, it's a frequent bug. It seriously needs to get fixed quickly.

The mini games to use the matches, sleep or cut the logs are quite nice, however I had some trouble while cutting logs since it was a bit hard for it to detect the cuts. Nothing serious though.
Menus when choosing a game really need a "back" button.

At the state it is now, this game will probably get a 5 or a 6 by the reviewers even at that price, but the truth is that it has a lot of potential and it would improve a lot by just patching some of those things I mentioned. I know games should be judged by what they are and not what they could be, but the game is quite new and the developer seems to attend these kind of stuff with his other games. He made this game by himself in a year, so it's quite impressive to deliver a game like this despite the mistakes. If you have the 3.99 dollars to spend and you can live with those things I criticized, please give this game a try. Developers like this guy need to be encouraged and I'm not expecting you to do it for charity. These are the reasons why the game is worth it:

The voice chat works amazingly well. Other than pokemon I don't know any other game that uses this feature.
The menu disguised as a smartphone has been done before, but it's really well done here. Taking care of the food, water and health while being able to check the map as if it was google maps and use chat as with any other smartphone is quite sweet.

The controls are responsive. The button layout is easy to manage and while the movement and shooting could get a bit polished, they work well. Crawling is a bit too slow for my taste.

Playing with other players when you have an organized group is really fun, and I really mean it. I found a mexican player (like me) and we were exploring together and gathering resources for the first days. Some guy shot me and I survived and killed him with my shotgun and then he apologized and asked for a truce, which I accepted. Then, another player that was talking in english was asking for help (my friend and I were talking in spanish) so I told him that I also speak english. I helped him gathering resources, met a few more players and soon I was commanding a team of 5 players. I was actually moved when after one of the two zombies I saw in the online multiplayer attacked me by surprise and killed me, they were searching for me and joined me at my respawn zone to give me some of the equipment they had. I have never been the leader of a group in a multiplayer game, and normally I wouldn't like it, but this was a really nice gaming experience. Unfortunately, a little time after that we reached the area where the game crashed. While it lasted, it was quite enjoyable to travel with others and even made plans in case someone betrayed us. For example: while the guy that shot me and asked for a truce was part of the group, I had my buddies behind him to shoot him at any moment in case he tried anything funny again. When the zombie killed me he was the one that picked my gun, and my friend asked me : do I kill him so that you can get your shotgun back? I said no, but at that moment I felt quite powerful lol.

The atmosphere of the game is quite good in my opinion. The game felt creepy and desolate and the sound of the wind blowing, specially at night, really helped with the immersion. There's no music and it's better that way .

Graphics may be simple, but they work with this game.

The mini games I mentioned are good and the hunger, thirst and health deterioration of the character are handled really well. The developer just needs to make things spawn faster, since many players will be consuming a lot of items, even more than they need. While the urge for discovering this items is part of the tension a faster respawn would make these already enjoyable features even better in my opinion.

The structures you find ( I don't want to spoil much even if it could be a small detail to most people, but let's just say that not everything is a house or a similar building) are simple, but interesting, specially the ones on the coast.

Conclusion: If you want a game where you can pvp, chat and work with others, this is the best option at such a low price, however, you have to keep in mind the problems I mentioned and prepare to spend long times without finding nothing and it can happen quite frequently, specially at the beginning when you don't know the map. At the moment the game is a 6 most of the times and an 8 when you have a good group to work with, with the posibility of being an 8 or a 9 at all times if they improve those things. I hope my excuse of a review helped you guys. Feel free to ask anything.

Edited on by roy130390

Switch Friend Code: SW-3916-4876-1970

RikuKH

Awesome post, thanks for sharing!!

RikuKH

Sawmbrella

Very well structured review! This game is really fun, but can be tedious searching around for the houses lol

Hi! I review 3DS and DSiware games on my YouTube channel: Sawmbrella

Windy

I really like this game. Even though the graphics aren't that great it leaves feeling kind of paranoid most of the time while you search for settlements. Getting a gun and ammo early in your search certainly helps a bit but everything else is pretty important also. I need my cellphone charged and the last 3 settlements I've been too had no charging station. Really hard when your mapquest is shut down. I like it . It's well worth the price even though the only games I played online I was shot in the head by my team mates. It would be nice if people would play co-op online so you can collect what you need

Still playing 3DS but will have Switch soon for multiplayer with friends. I miss you guys! Adam, Joni, Gavin and the rest of the Blue Rogues from the Phantasy Star Zero Days.

3DS Friend Code: 0877-0511-8391 | Nintendo Network ID: Windy3DS

roy130390

@RikuKH @Sawmbrella Thanks guys, glad to see you enjoyed my post!

@Windy @Meowpheel I agree, the game is fun and worth the purchase as it is for me, but if they improve some of the cons I mentioned like the resource and vehicle management and the lack of zombies in multiplayer online the game would improve lot. Also, that crashing bugs needs a fix soon. I have managed to survive for 9 days, and some of these problems were even more evident by then. The cellphone is indeed one of the best features of the game!

Switch Friend Code: SW-3916-4876-1970

Undead_terror

If I get it, would be after a update hits, looks fun, but as I can see there is issues, not hating on the dev, but I didn't see the dev supporting their previous games, battleminer had like one update to fix stuff I think but that was about it, if they went and fixed whatever in this and kept updating it, well you would think that it could do good! I don't see any open world survival games like this on the 3DS or Wii U even

Sp00ky scary skeleton back to play games and dew other fine things indead!
The Graveyard (Backloggery) l Nintendo ID: Undead_terror

Switch Friend Code: SW-8251-5734-1036 | 3DS Friend Code: 5198-2878-6360 | My Nintendo: Undead_terror | Nintendo Network ID: Undead_terror | Twitter:

Eel

I got it on my 2ds, the smartphone on the touchscreen would be miles better if it ditched the "look I'm a phone!" Border and simply made use of the whole screen.

In online, it's basically impossible to figure out who is who (unless the player is classified as friendly, they then get their name displayed at all times, even if they're on the other side of the map). The voice chat is also rather low, but I guess that's a fault of the system.

Bloop.

<My slightly less dead youtube channel>

SMM2 Maker ID: 69R-F81-NLG

My Nintendo: Abgarok | Nintendo Network ID: Abgarok

roy130390

@Meowpheel I think it could defnitely change size at least when you are writing, hiting the keyboard keys is definitely difficult without a stylus because of the small size. About the voice chat being low, I definitely think that's the 2ds fault since I could hear others loud and clear on an original 3ds model without having it on maximun volume.

I think that the name display is managed well, but it could use some improvements. I like that other people can't see your names until both wave to say hello, specially because if you could see everyone's name pvp players could find you way easier, however I haven't seen an option to turn invisible again to someone, which is needed in case someone acts friendly and then starts to kill people.

@Undead_terror That reason entirely valid. The game already has what it needs to be a really good game, specially for the price, but it really needs some updates to reach it's potential. Being cheap doesn't mean it gets a free pass on serious bugs and other things it needs to fix. Fortunately, I have only found that one crash. I really hope the dev gives some time to update this game and shows grattitude to the people that supported the game.

Switch Friend Code: SW-3916-4876-1970

Eel

It would be a bit easier to recognize others if everyone had a different starter coat color or something.

Bloop.

<My slightly less dead youtube channel>

SMM2 Maker ID: 69R-F81-NLG

My Nintendo: Abgarok | Nintendo Network ID: Abgarok

Windy

@roy130390 the cellphone is indeed the heart and soul of the game. Hopefully they will expand on this game it's off to a good start. Reminds me of the early days of Ashton's call on PC. Would be neat if this turned into a full fledged MMOrpg with quests to perform

Still playing 3DS but will have Switch soon for multiplayer with friends. I miss you guys! Adam, Joni, Gavin and the rest of the Blue Rogues from the Phantasy Star Zero Days.

3DS Friend Code: 0877-0511-8391 | Nintendo Network ID: Windy3DS

Windy

Got to day 30 today. It opened up a couple Easter eggs. I won't mention them just get to day 30 well I will mention 1 thing. After day 30 there are Zombies everywhere just waiting to eat your brains

Edited on by Windy

Still playing 3DS but will have Switch soon for multiplayer with friends. I miss you guys! Adam, Joni, Gavin and the rest of the Blue Rogues from the Phantasy Star Zero Days.

3DS Friend Code: 0877-0511-8391 | Nintendo Network ID: Windy3DS

dAvecaster

@Windy I've added you as a friend. Please would you add me so we could do some multiplayer?

If anyone else wants to add me please do.

2036 7884 7288

dAvecaster

Windy

@dAvecaster Dave just added you. Do you play any other online 3ds games. I have a ton between the monster Hunters and Fantasy Life. Even play Animal crossing

Still playing 3DS but will have Switch soon for multiplayer with friends. I miss you guys! Adam, Joni, Gavin and the rest of the Blue Rogues from the Phantasy Star Zero Days.

3DS Friend Code: 0877-0511-8391 | Nintendo Network ID: Windy3DS

dAvecaster

@Windy The only other game I have which has online is Tetris Online. I have been tempted by Monster Hunter but the last game I played in the series was the Wii game and I found it too hard. Would you recommend a 3ds monster hunter game for someone with little skill?!

dAvecaster

Windy

@dAvecaster if your jumping in for the first time I would recommend Generations. It has some nice options for people just starting out. I would also recommend Final Fantasy Explorers which has very simplistic online play with tons of items to collect and its cheap now like 15 dollars at Amazon. I think the best online multiplayer game for the 3DS is Fantasy Life but it can be quite expensive still. I will look for you on Ice station Z. I like the game quite a bit even though online seems to be dog eat dog lol. I do like the voice chat which seems to be quite good. Only problem online is there are hardly any zombies

Edited on by Windy

Still playing 3DS but will have Switch soon for multiplayer with friends. I miss you guys! Adam, Joni, Gavin and the rest of the Blue Rogues from the Phantasy Star Zero Days.

3DS Friend Code: 0877-0511-8391 | Nintendo Network ID: Windy3DS

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