Today`s review is one that I had done back in February but its definitely one of my favorites! If you don`t know me you probably have missed out on my love of all things Zombie! The Wii U`s ZombiU was right up my alley and I was eager to give it a try.
The box pictures a soldier obviously infected with the virus that has over run London, England. I save boxes of all my products so this was a nice one to add to the collection! Unpacking the product was pretty much as it should be all parts were displayed and easily identified for quick set up. I did notice there was no A/V cables so for those of you without a HDMI TV you will need to get one (these are fairly inexpensive-and if you have a Wii already the old A/V cable works great! If your wondering, I did test this myself as well).
The GamePad was quite bigger then I thought, actually much bigger! I had come to find out it has that lovely high gloss plastic again so its finger prints and smudges everywhere. Most people this wouldn’t bother so much but I hate it when my stuff looks dirty. It doesn’t effect performance or anything its just a pet peeve. This is something I overlooked at first as the excitement of a new toy took over.
Set up was fairly easy actually all cables are easy to recognize, the only downside is the system updates. The Wii U connects via WiFi and sometimes the updates are lengthy 10 minutes or longer. The ZombiU bundle eliminated some of the update times as they come pre-installed. As for transferring data from the old Wii to the new Wii U, if necessary, this can be a little more tricky and is very time consuming, especially if there is a lot of data to transfer.
Once actually all set and ready to play the system can be quite entertaining. The System has Mi-Verse, YouTube, Netflix, Internet Browser and the Nintendo E-Shop already installed. These features are nothing new but for anyone that uses them they work quite well and holds more entertainment value. The games are what people are looking for with the Wii U and of course this system does really add to the gaming industry. With its HDMI output graphics are more realistic and interactive. The game pad interacts with the TV or on its own with some games giving the most value in your system. The downside is the lack of games verses the other systems. The lagging gamepad and system does create for frustrating gameplay and loading the Wii U home menu. That being said the ZombiU bundle includes not only the system and the ZombiU game it also includes a Pro Controller, a downloadable copy of NintendoLand and a book of artwork from the ZombiU game. This does increase the value significantly. The extras that is included is retailed at of 70$ and you get it all for 349$.
The game play for ZombiU is different compared to many other games I have played. One of the most notable differences is the death of a character. If your character dies in the game you start over at your most recent save point as, get this, a different character. You get to return to the point where you died and kill the character you previously played, who is now infected the same as the rest of London. I must mention that this game has been called quite frightening by many and any one who has a week stomach may want to avoid. (I will go into more detail on game play in a separate post as it will contain spoilers).
NintendoLand download code is where I became frustrated. First the Download was not working I attempted this 3 days and each of which failed. Eventually I gave in and attempted to call customer service from Nintendo. My first complaint was why even have a downloadable copy this game is often sold in the bundles as the game of choice and yet in this bundle it was only available as a download code? The end result from customer service I did have the downloaded copy work but they were really adamant that they don’t send out the actual copies for this type of issue. This was a little upsetting as I prefer to have disk copies of any games I own. Now that I have the game though I cant say it was worth the fight. Yes there are moments with this game that was enjoyable but in retrospect it’s lacking graphics, most games have no storyline and are more party time wasters then actual games.
With the Wii U’s downfalls I was still happy with my overall purchase (hoping more games will be released for this system that will make the cost worthwhile) so I think Wii U has earned a dirty diaper score of 1.
Get the zombie U here for $379.99.
Related articles
- Nintendo Wii U 32GB black deluxe console: $289 + shipping (Reg. $348) (9to5toys.com)
- ZombiU sequel being prototyped by Ubisoft (joystiq.com)
Dads Just Know 