While most games talked about on The Escapist are commercial games, I'd like to take a few minutes to draw your attention to an absolute gem, which is completely free and easily available for download.
Imagine a city. The sky is black, everything is dark and gloomy. Buildings are abandoned, windows broken. Rivers of blood flow through the streets. Knife in hand, You have just enough stuff on you to make a molotov cocktail. But as you do so, the apartment building door next to you slams open. A large group of people rush out screaming, followed by others, their faces, teeth, covered in blood...and devouring all who come in their path. You try to run away, but there are too many of them. You throw your molotov in a desperate attempt to get away as fast as you can. You dash into a nearby warehouse and find a motorbike on the floor. The creatures open the door, and make their way towards you. There's no time. You shove the keys you found earlier into the bike, running over a monster or two and getting the hell out of there. This is the zombie apocalypse, and you are at the heart of it.
Survival Crisis Z is a free survival horror/sandbox game by Ska Studios, creators of The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai which is coming to Xbox Live Arcade sometime soon. You walk out of your house as a lone survivor armed with whatever weapon you choose in the beginning and a specific set of abilities. More on weapons and abilities later in the review. You get to customize your appearance as well, since there are many different looks you can get, there's surely something to satisfy your tastes. If you play through the Arcade mode, you can unlock an editor which can drastically change the way you look to something truly unique. There are also items in-game which can help you change your look further, such as masks.
The setting of this game is well-done. The sky for some reason is always dark, day or night (although darker at night), which comes as a little perplexing. It fits the mood but doesn't quite make a lot of sense, because zombies are not magical weather-bending wizards. Buildings and streets are fairly standard and suit the game perfectly. In this game, the zombie apocalypse has divided the people quite a lot. There are three groups of people you can join: The rebels, which are basically anarchist revolutionaries taking advantage of the zombie apocalypse's governmentless circumstances. There's the SWAT team, which are there to keep the rebels in check and do everything else police do. And then there's regular citizens, who hold no allegiance to either group. Rebels and SWAT shoot each other on sight, so keep that in mind when you choose whether you want to be one or the other, or if you just want to be a normal citizen (which is recommended for first-time players since you won't have anyone shooting at you).
[http://tinypic.com]
And these just pop out at you, too. You kinda have to figure out why they're there for yourself, since there's no explanation. But it's a decent addition.
The setting is further deepened by a large network of underground sewers full of all kinds of crazy crap. Lots of zombies, crazy survivors looking for a safe haven, all kinds of things. Not a happy place. There's also an underground complex, full of scientists and chem labs, presumably the place where the zombies came from. This hypothesis is enforced by the large amounts of zombies you find down there, and the very low amount of survivors. You may also find secret dungeons, and navigating through their dangerous corridors will reward you handsomely should you find their treasures.
[http://tinypic.com]
My comrades and I take out the government oppression. (I do not promote violence against the police in real life. These noobs shot at me first.)
The combat in this game is not that varied, but is intense at times and satisfying. There are all kinds of weapons to choose from. There are two types of shotgun, rifles, machine guns, pistols, even crossbows and pipe bombs. All vary in effectiveness and some are better than others in certain situations. Some weapons are rarer than others and can only be bought from one or two vendors are found in dungeons. Others can be found almost everywhere, such as the handgun. The combat can get very bloody and is lots of fun. Enemies are also varied and are not just zombies. There are rabid dogs, strange mutant worm creatures, and creepy little ghost girls with knives. All are fun to kill, and you'll sometimes find yourself jumping out of your seat with zombies breaking out of a glass window you pass by.
[http://tinypic.com]
The violence in this game can be quite gratuitous.
As mentioned before, there are many different skills you can purchase in addition to the ones you start out with. A few are extremely useful, some not that useful, others are pathetic, but all of them cost $1000 from someone who can teach you. Said someones are always building owners.
The graphics of this game aren't excellent. It's 2D and isometric. But for a free game, they're pretty good. Characters look somewhat South Park-ish, though usually not as comical, which is probably for the best. Not much else to say about it, you can judge as you like from the screenshots.
The sound in this game is great. It's fairly generic, but for a free game it's done really well. Can't think of how it could be better, actually.
[http://tinypic.com]
You get to use some fancy special attacks and abilities in Arcade mode.
Gameplay is fantastic. Great replay value, lots of fun, lots to do. This is an open-ended game, so you define what your objectives are. Want to play it like GTA? Go ahead. Want to set up a team of zombie hunters and try to purge the city of the infected? No problem! Want to join the rebellion or the SWAT? Go ahead! You can do anything you want in this game, and there's a great sense of freedom. That's all in the story mode, anyway. Arcade mode is what its name implies, and you use it to unlock cheats as well as special features and minigames (which PWN).
THE VERDICT
Graphics - 8/10
Primitive, but they work to the game's advantage. Could have been improved upon somewhat probably, but good for now.
Sound - 9/10
The sound in this game is fantastic. It's generic, yes, but I can't think of anything that's missing or anything that's out of place.
Presentation - 9/10
The game doesn't really tell you much, but overall the presentation is excellent.
Replay value and longevity - 10/10
It's an open-ended sandbox game, what do you expect? You can do anything you want and make new characters with different abilities, goals, and alignments. The game is randomly generated and you'll get a new city every time you make a new character.
OVERALL - 9.2/10
Survival Crisis Z is a jewel in the rough, and any zombie fan, survival horror fan, or anyone who wants a good free game should definitely check this out. And did I mention that it's completely free of charge?
<url=http://skasoftware.com/files/scz.exe>DOWNLOAD HERE!
Note: I regret to inform you that this game apparently does not work on Windows Vista.
EDIT: Apparently there's a <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.127876#2731444>Vistafix for this. More can possibly be found by Google if this doesn't work.
Imagine a city. The sky is black, everything is dark and gloomy. Buildings are abandoned, windows broken. Rivers of blood flow through the streets. Knife in hand, You have just enough stuff on you to make a molotov cocktail. But as you do so, the apartment building door next to you slams open. A large group of people rush out screaming, followed by others, their faces, teeth, covered in blood...and devouring all who come in their path. You try to run away, but there are too many of them. You throw your molotov in a desperate attempt to get away as fast as you can. You dash into a nearby warehouse and find a motorbike on the floor. The creatures open the door, and make their way towards you. There's no time. You shove the keys you found earlier into the bike, running over a monster or two and getting the hell out of there. This is the zombie apocalypse, and you are at the heart of it.
Survival Crisis Z is a free survival horror/sandbox game by Ska Studios, creators of The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai which is coming to Xbox Live Arcade sometime soon. You walk out of your house as a lone survivor armed with whatever weapon you choose in the beginning and a specific set of abilities. More on weapons and abilities later in the review. You get to customize your appearance as well, since there are many different looks you can get, there's surely something to satisfy your tastes. If you play through the Arcade mode, you can unlock an editor which can drastically change the way you look to something truly unique. There are also items in-game which can help you change your look further, such as masks.
The setting of this game is well-done. The sky for some reason is always dark, day or night (although darker at night), which comes as a little perplexing. It fits the mood but doesn't quite make a lot of sense, because zombies are not magical weather-bending wizards. Buildings and streets are fairly standard and suit the game perfectly. In this game, the zombie apocalypse has divided the people quite a lot. There are three groups of people you can join: The rebels, which are basically anarchist revolutionaries taking advantage of the zombie apocalypse's governmentless circumstances. There's the SWAT team, which are there to keep the rebels in check and do everything else police do. And then there's regular citizens, who hold no allegiance to either group. Rebels and SWAT shoot each other on sight, so keep that in mind when you choose whether you want to be one or the other, or if you just want to be a normal citizen (which is recommended for first-time players since you won't have anyone shooting at you).
[http://tinypic.com]
And these just pop out at you, too. You kinda have to figure out why they're there for yourself, since there's no explanation. But it's a decent addition.
The setting is further deepened by a large network of underground sewers full of all kinds of crazy crap. Lots of zombies, crazy survivors looking for a safe haven, all kinds of things. Not a happy place. There's also an underground complex, full of scientists and chem labs, presumably the place where the zombies came from. This hypothesis is enforced by the large amounts of zombies you find down there, and the very low amount of survivors. You may also find secret dungeons, and navigating through their dangerous corridors will reward you handsomely should you find their treasures.
[http://tinypic.com]
My comrades and I take out the government oppression. (I do not promote violence against the police in real life. These noobs shot at me first.)
The combat in this game is not that varied, but is intense at times and satisfying. There are all kinds of weapons to choose from. There are two types of shotgun, rifles, machine guns, pistols, even crossbows and pipe bombs. All vary in effectiveness and some are better than others in certain situations. Some weapons are rarer than others and can only be bought from one or two vendors are found in dungeons. Others can be found almost everywhere, such as the handgun. The combat can get very bloody and is lots of fun. Enemies are also varied and are not just zombies. There are rabid dogs, strange mutant worm creatures, and creepy little ghost girls with knives. All are fun to kill, and you'll sometimes find yourself jumping out of your seat with zombies breaking out of a glass window you pass by.
[http://tinypic.com]
The violence in this game can be quite gratuitous.
As mentioned before, there are many different skills you can purchase in addition to the ones you start out with. A few are extremely useful, some not that useful, others are pathetic, but all of them cost $1000 from someone who can teach you. Said someones are always building owners.
The graphics of this game aren't excellent. It's 2D and isometric. But for a free game, they're pretty good. Characters look somewhat South Park-ish, though usually not as comical, which is probably for the best. Not much else to say about it, you can judge as you like from the screenshots.
The sound in this game is great. It's fairly generic, but for a free game it's done really well. Can't think of how it could be better, actually.
[http://tinypic.com]
You get to use some fancy special attacks and abilities in Arcade mode.
Gameplay is fantastic. Great replay value, lots of fun, lots to do. This is an open-ended game, so you define what your objectives are. Want to play it like GTA? Go ahead. Want to set up a team of zombie hunters and try to purge the city of the infected? No problem! Want to join the rebellion or the SWAT? Go ahead! You can do anything you want in this game, and there's a great sense of freedom. That's all in the story mode, anyway. Arcade mode is what its name implies, and you use it to unlock cheats as well as special features and minigames (which PWN).
THE VERDICT
Graphics - 8/10
Primitive, but they work to the game's advantage. Could have been improved upon somewhat probably, but good for now.
Sound - 9/10
The sound in this game is fantastic. It's generic, yes, but I can't think of anything that's missing or anything that's out of place.
Presentation - 9/10
The game doesn't really tell you much, but overall the presentation is excellent.
Replay value and longevity - 10/10
It's an open-ended sandbox game, what do you expect? You can do anything you want and make new characters with different abilities, goals, and alignments. The game is randomly generated and you'll get a new city every time you make a new character.
OVERALL - 9.2/10
Survival Crisis Z is a jewel in the rough, and any zombie fan, survival horror fan, or anyone who wants a good free game should definitely check this out. And did I mention that it's completely free of charge?
<url=http://skasoftware.com/files/scz.exe>DOWNLOAD HERE!
Note: I regret to inform you that this game apparently does not work on Windows Vista.
EDIT: Apparently there's a <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.127876#2731444>Vistafix for this. More can possibly be found by Google if this doesn't work.
