State of Decay

 Xbox 360
User Score
7.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 630 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 418 out of 630
  2. Mixed: 102 out of 630
  3. Negative: 110 out of 630

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  1. chibistevo
    Sep 12, 2013
    4
    State of Decay is at best a good idea gone wrong, half-baked and ultimately unsatisfying.

    There are obvious negatives to state straight away; the engine, the less than ample frame rate, screen tearing, general gameplay irks that feel unresponsive, however, many seem to think these problems are excusable due to the small production team. Okay, that's fine, We'll let them go. But for    State of Decay is at best a good idea gone wrong, half-baked and ultimately unsatisfying.

    There are obvious negatives to state straight away; the engine, the less than ample frame rate, screen tearing, general gameplay irks that feel unresponsive, however, many seem to think these problems are excusable due to the small production team. Okay, that's fine, We'll let them go. But for clarity's sake, they're still there.

    The main problem here is not so much the game fails to do anything right, more than it fails to live up to what felt like such a promising idea; that of an 'open world zombie survival game. '

    Let's take every word present there 'Open World' Well, the map is hardly small, but it's not exactly on par with its contemporaries. And while the towns are padded with buildings, there's very little else of interest to see, let alone interact with. The three towns are padded out with a central countryside linking them, most of it dense and forgettable. For an open world to feel as such, you need to be able to look around and feel a part of something that's currently living and breathing, yet all you see in SoD is obligatory buildings that need to be raided, and the odd, glitchy horde of undead that can either be run over or avoided.

    'Zombie Survival There's no denying that the first 5 hours of the game can lull you into enjoying this aspect of the game. If you don't know what you're doing, and go out at night, desperately seeking supplies, surviving the undead seems fierce and tense. But once you learn the mechanics, the game soon turns into trivial combat, much like Dead Rising, with the added irk of being clunky and unrewarding. The game's micro managing aspects of the zombie survival are perhaps the most interesting inclusion, or, they would be, if the core game outside was anywhere near rewarding. This is frustrating, because there are genuine moments where the game hits a chord, usually when you're back at base, and feeling the fight getting to your group. Having to decide which of your survivors to go after when they get lost, deciding who should rest and who should fight.

    Unfortunately, the game just doesn't glue it all together. The combat mechanics are woeful, as is the 'RPG' characterization. Whilst I praise the base micromanaging, some of the game's mechanics in this area are mindboggling at best, especially as the game 'plays' while you're offline. You nearly always come back to a low morale and low medicine cabinet, making your efforts beforehand a little pointless, and your return slightly bitter.

    On top of all this, the game's in game tutorials and explanations are almost comical.

    In conclusion, Undead Labs started out with a novel idea, but just couldn't commit to realizing it. Instead they filled the shell with arcadey gameplay and half assed attempts to push the survival aspect.

    While I would never plug DayZ because it's an awful, buggy mess, SoD clearly misses the edge DayZ had when it came to survival simulation. The game just doesn't immerse you enough.    … Expand
  2. flax0174
    Sep 10, 2013
    4
    A slightly fresh twist on the tired genre that is the typical zombie game, played out in a third person view with elements of survival horror/action/rts. gameplay mechics similar to rts games, with building, scavenging, barricading and defending your hideout etc. the game is set in a sort of national park forest of some kind, and does feature slightly good graphics at times, but in theA slightly fresh twist on the tired genre that is the typical zombie game, played out in a third person view with elements of survival horror/action/rts. gameplay mechics similar to rts games, with building, scavenging, barricading and defending your hideout etc. the game is set in a sort of national park forest of some kind, and does feature slightly good graphics at times, but in the first 2 hours of this poorly built game, Ive experienced more graphical glitches and bugs than in any other game, ever. I know it's pretty typical of a video game not to be perfect in terms of graphical integrity, but this game is far too poorly executed, there are many major glitches with your characters getting stuck within the game, accessing storage item outside of buildings, people attacking you through doors, so on and so forth. the animations are very goofy and poorly done, the storyline is quite scarce not much to say there really. The controls are awful and the combat is clunky especially in certain interiors, your characters early on in the game are far too combat happy, and just sometimes when you are sneaking up on a enemy they jump the gun and attack in the open. the journal is which you access most of your options, information, status etc, is again poorly done, reminds of the journal in oblivion, not physically just in essence. the game is inconsistent as well, for example I don't have enough influence to recruit people manually, so i am forced to do it solo, and the same storage container i accessed previous in a last file, no longer holds a pistol anymore, but has a ample amount of ammo, then i have 5-6 zombies attacking on the way to my mission, i run out of stamina too easily early on in the game and it a game of take turns to attack me from behind as a stumble away. there are frequent occasions of some entire parts of areas dissappearing undergroud as well, it a true immersion breaker. The combat is very clunky and awkward to boot. the storyline is your typical survive the post-apocalyptic zombie outbreak. The game boasts nothing innovative, fun and engaging. I just no i'll stay clear away from the developers that brought you this broken 2x4, bent steelpipe, glass shard in your foot sort of a game.… Expand
  3. GOOSEBUMPzzz
    Jun 29, 2013
    0
    This is the buggiest game I have ever seen. It has lots of screen freeze too many bugs because of lazy programming and poor testing.

    They are basically using you to be a paying beta tester. BUYERS BEWARE!!
  4. Steelers412
    Jun 12, 2013
    4
    I was one of the many people very excited for this game and really wanted to like it but sadly I just can not! Besides the terrible graphics (not a big deal being its an arcade game) everything else pretty much sucks too! The combat is just button mashing, the homefront management sucks and every time I start to really begin exploration or even on my way to a mission I get a radio callI was one of the many people very excited for this game and really wanted to like it but sadly I just can not! Besides the terrible graphics (not a big deal being its an arcade game) everything else pretty much sucks too! The combat is just button mashing, the homefront management sucks and every time I start to really begin exploration or even on my way to a mission I get a radio call telling me someone in in trouble so I have to rush and save them! This doesn't provide a sense of tense urgency but rather a huge sense of. "Just let me do something that i actually want to do!" Also wtf is up with every time I turn the game off and come back half of the stuff I collected is gone? Why are you punished for having other things to do in life other than play a garbage game that DOES have potential to be very good. Unfortunately the potential is just that… Expand
  5. guruFTW
    Jun 11, 2013
    3
    Oh wow, another zombie survival game with an enormous country-side map. If at least they made it in a big city where there's actually something to see, the game could be a little bit interesting. Literally nothing new, the game is another dumb copy of Dayz with some new mechanics to make it a little bit different from the others.

    People, please, stop making these games. Leave the zombie    Oh wow, another zombie survival game with an enormous country-side map. If at least they made it in a big city where there's actually something to see, the game could be a little bit interesting. Literally nothing new, the game is another dumb copy of Dayz with some new mechanics to make it a little bit different from the others.

    People, please, stop making these games. Leave the zombie games to the few companies that really did something smart with this genre and move on to something else, I personally had enough of this.

    If you want to play something decent with zombies, buy Arma 2 and play Dayz, buy Dead Rising, or just play to the zombie modes on CoD.    … Expand
  6. XBOXKLR
    Jun 11, 2013
    4
    I will get right into it I love the game I was a fan I am a fan and I waited for it to release same day I purchased. Simply put it's a downloadable game, I kind of don't like that,also the clipping, the screen tears, and the frame rate that the game runs in, Feels very outdated.(choppy choppy gameplay). You remember two world's 1 right!? Lol.. Okay the zombies are not zombies! Zombies areI will get right into it I love the game I was a fan I am a fan and I waited for it to release same day I purchased. Simply put it's a downloadable game, I kind of don't like that,also the clipping, the screen tears, and the frame rate that the game runs in, Feels very outdated.(choppy choppy gameplay). You remember two world's 1 right!? Lol.. Okay the zombies are not zombies! Zombies are not track stars. And they should not be faster than the survivors, This was a terrible Decision to me. The edge with zombies is that there is a lot of them. They don't need to run so damn fast. You get bit by a zombie and you don't turn into a zombie. Very stupid! The zombies are way too hard to kill and it seems as if there are not enough resources, They completely ignored the fun factor! Sure it's an open world but who's going to run the risk of permanent death exploring that open world!? Please update and upgrade the game,.. there is so much more they could've done.. Why no vantage points? Why no safe areas? Why no weapon upgrades no armor? You should be able to completely fortify your home.. There should be more reasons to leave the home.. Lighting why can't you put down lanterns or burning torches? Why no online play? The control factor alone stinks!! I find myself constantly overshooting or under shooting When steering a vehicle. The games not all bad the novelty is still there and I have played every day since the release. Being able to completely rid an area of zombies should be possible. Set a house on fire and it doesn't catch on fire. Stupid AI at times. Zombies perception much to extreme. The upgrade menu, The general menu, Quite confusing.( Building upgrading) fort building Not learner friendly. Clippy gameplay. MY NUMBER ONE PROBLEM THAT I JUST DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY THEY DID THIS IS WEAPON RELOAD TIME!! Wth!!! I guess some of the good points are it's a new zombie game But it's nothing that we haven't played or done before..it's okay But I'm thinking at this point in time the frame rate at least Should be up-to-date!!!

    XBOXKLR    … Expand
  7. Disappointed246
    Jun 6, 2013
    1
    very saddened about this game as I was excited for it but it turned out I was wrong. Firstly the game is too hard and the perma death feature and it's autosaving is obnoxious, and the overpowered "big un" zombie killing two of my best characters on a "zed hunt" leaving me to use the lesser skilled or in my opinion useless members of the base. The had been injured and refused to heal for 4very saddened about this game as I was excited for it but it turned out I was wrong. Firstly the game is too hard and the perma death feature and it's autosaving is obnoxious, and the overpowered "big un" zombie killing two of my best characters on a "zed hunt" leaving me to use the lesser skilled or in my opinion useless members of the base. The had been injured and refused to heal for 4 days straight in game time and even able bodied team members are lazy that they can't sprint for more than 2 seconds.

    This game is the embodiment of cruel developers trying to snatch control and fun away from gamers and ruining any hard work a player makes or progress that is made thus leaving them with the bottom of the barrel team members. Also zombies have an unfair grappling animation that is frustrating and overpowered even when the player is a few feet from the car.

    0/10 too hard

    A really sad attempt by developers to torment and punish gamers with permadeath and creating a depressing result and sucking out any fun there is to be had.    … Expand
  8. NathanielPrime
    Nov 11, 2013
    2
    This game is an obvious beta. It has tremendous potential, being the first decent open world zombie premise I've ever seen. Unfortunately, the developers haven't put nearly enough polish into it, and you are liable to encounter a game-breaking bug.
  9. Slevin310
    Jun 20, 2014
    3
    I'm sorry... I want to love this game. It's an amazing idea and has potential to be an amazing game. However as much as I want to love this game.... it won't let me. I don't need incredible graphics to enjoy a game. Matter in fact I would rather take a larger world vs high visuals. The main problem I have with this game is the lack of quality. Late loading causing pop ins, which happens toI'm sorry... I want to love this game. It's an amazing idea and has potential to be an amazing game. However as much as I want to love this game.... it won't let me. I don't need incredible graphics to enjoy a game. Matter in fact I would rather take a larger world vs high visuals. The main problem I have with this game is the lack of quality. Late loading causing pop ins, which happens to many open world games, even GTA 5. But I've had too many situation where I was going fast down a road and suddenly a broke down car will magically appear right in front of me causing a head on collision destroying my vehicle (or damaging it pretty bad). The numerous glitches can either just be hilarious, annoying or down right game breaking. But the worst of them are the crashed games. I can't tell you how many times I've crashed, having to do a hard restart on my console. Sometimes I have a continuous crash where I restart, play for 10 seconds and crash, no matter what I do 10 seconds into game time I crash. I had to completely start a new game because I couldn't load a previous save... because there are no previous saves. Just the stupid auto-save. Gaming companies, stop with the reliant autosave! Let us save our own games.

    I have a very high patients... hell I played through Two Worlds. But with this? It's just too riddled with bugs and glitches. Starting over is annoying. Crashes aren't good for my console. Framerate is horrid at times. I think it's more annoying when the game is actually good, and I want to play it. I really want to play this game... it just won't let me! No it's not my consoles they are both practically brand new but it crashes on PS3 and Xbox 360 so there isn't a difference between consoles, PC is a different story. Please polish your games before you release them.

    (NOTE: This is just my review for consoles. I've heard PC has less problems and if that's true 7/10)    … Expand
  10. Dragonfly44
    Oct 24, 2020
    4
    As a fan of zombie media in general, this game is nothing short of clunky and lifeless. How dull it is is itself an achievement. 40/100

Awards & Rankings

46
#46 Best Xbox 360 Game of 2013
8
#8 Most Discussed Xbox 360 Game of 2013
19
#19 Most Shared Xbox 360 Game of 2013

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
78

Generally favorable reviews - based on 52 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 37 out of 52
  2. Mixed: 15 out of 52
  3. Negative: 0 out of 52
  1. Pelit (Finland)
    Oct 7, 2013
    82
    An entertaining zombie apocalypse sandbox. It's a bit rough visually, but makes up for it with a persistent world. [Aug 2013]
  2. GamingXP
    Sep 16, 2013
    75
    It's not the most beautiful and polished game, but the end of the world with all it’s small and big problems rarely felt this real.
    Read full review
  3. Hyper Magazine
    Sep 4, 2013
    70
    The Last of Us meets The Sims, mashed, salted and served with a few lumps. [Oct 2013, p.64]
See all critic reviews »