Dying Light is a decent game, and it’s fun. I haven’t had this much enjoyment playing a new title since Shadow of Mordor. That being said, the zombie obsession is getting a bit tired, and Techland doesn’t bring us anything new. Despite its fun factor, there are many glaring technical problems with Dying Light that hold it back from greatness.
When done right, zombie genocide bringsDying Light is a decent game, and it’s fun. I haven’t had this much enjoyment playing a new title since Shadow of Mordor. That being said, the zombie obsession is getting a bit tired, and Techland doesn’t bring us anything new. Despite its fun factor, there are many glaring technical problems with Dying Light that hold it back from greatness.
When done right, zombie genocide brings about frenzied gameplay that doesn’t make sense in typical settings. But it has to be done right. There’s a bunch of reasons so many people still play Left 4 Dead. It’s chaotic, creepy, and makes teamwork essential. More importantly, L4D is a polished, lean experience that’s satisfying without being barebones. Less is more truly applies here.
Although Dying Light highlights teamwork, it lacks polish. Instead, it crams in a bunch of content. Fortunately, the developers get a few things right. Foremost, DL allows players to kill zombies all day every day. I spent the first 10 hours slaying hordes of grotesque creatures without progressing thru the story. Completing missions is required to unlock new creatures and better items, but the pacing is definitely casual. Even better, unlike Far Cry 4, friends can help each other complete the main story.
Second, DL trades creepy for urban. The city of Harran is a gritty shanty town undergoing urbanization. Techland juxtaposes highways and skyscrapers against dirt roads and huts. My initial reaction was “Wow, this would make an awesome Battlefield map”. DL’s map design will definitely appeal to both zombie fanatics and fps gamers in equal measures. Parkour adds verticality. But things get scary at night. Don’t venture out alone after dark. Period.
Lastly, players are rewarded for playing in the sandbox. Gamers who stick only to the missions will miss out. Looting and exploration yield rewards, such as awesome weapons. Players can share weapons by dropping them. I’ve done this to help new players. On the downside, DL offers so much stuff that players can spend more time looting than anything else. Thorough players will end up with mountains of inventory since everything respawns. No point in being frugal.
So what’s wrong with the game? Most noticeably, screen tearing—It’s the worst I’ve seen on Xbox One. Despite DL’s crisps visuals and vibrant colors, the tearing is utterly distracting and mars the experience.
Then there’s the awful lag. Game states rarely sync up when playing co-op. So 4 different players often kill the same zombie, and one player may kill a single zombie several times. On many occasions my character mutilated a zombie only to witness it rise up with all its limbs intact. Zombies teleport too. That’s some scary #^@#.
DL’s lag has a sinister side tho. During lag spikes, players will die, fall thru the map, or other bizarre crap. It’s annoying because it happens once during any prolonged session. At times, the lag spikes create outlandishly comical moments. It’s amazing how next gen games are plagued with so many connectivity problems.
The graphical problems and persistent lag point to poor optimization. Yet, DL’s problems don’t end there. Players are losing their save files. Players can’t join their friends’ games. Sound cuts out. Dialogue cuts out. Fast traveling is broken. Constant pop ups break the immersion. And the list goes on…
DL’s combat is imprecise. It’s like playing Skyrim: Zombies Edition. Jumping and running attacks are too often ineffectual. On screen commands prompt players to initiate executions, but the game doesn’t always react accordingly. And players must be in exact positions for them to appear. Good luck doing that while being mobbed.
The unintuitive control scheme adds to this problem. Players must hit the right bumper to jump, not “A”. Some buttons control multiple actions. For example, players hit “X” to search, but “X” can also remotely detonate traps and executes enemies. All too often I’ve seen players injure teammates because traps activated when they were searching loot. The parkour elements work better, but nothing to write home about.
DL manages system resources poorly. Zombies appear out of thin air. Loot disappears if there’s too much action. And zombies are motionless unless players are close. I’ve thrown explosives into clusters of zombies and they remained still. They don’t respond to traps. So thinning out zombies from afar isn’t effective.
The conclusion? Technically speaking DL is a beta. It has problem gamers shouldn’t be seeing in 2015. Plus, DL offers nothing new. The copy/paste fetch quests become tedious. But Far Cry 4 blew its chances of being the co-op champ on next gen consoles, and DL fills that void. Despite the long list of glaring flaws, DL is fun. Additionally, I’ve experienced a lot of laugh-out-loud moments. And this enjoyment is due in large part to the current selection of lackluster shooters. But I still wholeheartedly recommend DL. I just wish Techland created a beefier engine for it.… Expand
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