Infectonator: Survivors (alpha) review: blood, sweat, and zombies
To be honest, I had never heard of Toge Productions or its Infectonator series so I wasn’t sure what to expect from its latest game, Infectonator: Survivors.
Infectonator: Survivors is set in a post-apocalyptic world where your goal is to survive for as long as possible. To do this you will need to manage your time and resources, and scavenge for precious fuel and supplies. This is a game where starvation is as deadly as a zombie to the throat.
OK, so maybe not that deadly.
Infectonator: Survivors will be on Steam Early Access on April 14, 2014, for $12.99. It’s in its alpha phase now, so there’s going to be loads of changes and updates before we see the finished product. However this is by far the most solid early access game that I have seen and after a solid day of playing I never encountered a single bug. That’s a damn good sign!
(See: Infectonator Survivors Christmas review: the face of evil has never looked so jolly)
Tower defense and real-time strategy fused
The combat in Infectonator: Survivors is slick and tight. The controls are simple and the goals are simple. Stop the zombies from leaving the area and stop them from eating you. The second goal is especially important because Infectonator: Survivors features a perma-death system. When a character dies, their experience and equipment dies with them (no, you can’t pick up their stuff), so keeping them alive is essential.
The combat is reminiscent of many tower defense games. Each survivor acts like a different unit, depending on which weapons and how you levelled them up. For instance, the sawn-off shotgun works great but you must be close; rifles work great from afar but have no area of effect. You can have melee tank characters that bash in zombie skulls with medieval weaponry, long range gunners, or shotgun guerrillas.
Guns need to be reloaded, which adds a whole extra element of suspense. There is nothing worse than facing a horde of hungry zombies and having to spend two seconds reloading your shotgun. It was nice knowing you.
Infectonator: Survivors is not only a tower defense game, it’s also a real-time strategy one because you can move characters at any point during combat. Positioning characters around a bottleneck or splitting them to cover multiple routes is essential.
(See: Top 5 tower defense mobile games from Asia)
Scavenging is the most important thing to do when exploring. Blasting zombies gives you coins but scavenging gives you supplies and fuel. Supplies feed your survivors and fuel allows you to progress further in the game.
You can also build turrets for a big chunk of cash, but in boss fights, these are essential, because boss fights are insanely tough. In fact my only complaint about the boss fights is that I wish there was a way to know when the boss will arrive.
I feel that a successful boss fight requires a lot of preparation, which Infeconator: Survivors never gives you the chance to do. This may be my own sour grapes talking, after having lost my entire raiding party to a bearded boss zombie earlier today.
Infectonator: Survivors surprised me with its toughness and steep learning curve. But when you execute the perfect plan, scavenge all supplies and take out a horde of zombies, it’s all worth it.
When the killing is done
You may be tricked into thinking that once the killing is done, you get to chill out and have a wee rest. Well, you would be wrong.
Infectonator: Survivors features a simple time system, meaning that each character can perform one task a day. So if someone goes on a raid, they can’t return home and then start working on the car, and if they work on the car, they can’t go on a raid. And when you set up camp, there are tons of things that need doing, like fixing the car, upgrading turrets, and researching new weapons.
Also, your party consumes as many supply units as there are people each day, meaning that you need to keep exploring or starve. However you can’t only explore, because eventually you will run out of things to salvage in the local area and starve before you can fix your car and move on. Trust me, I know!
So you need to divide your time and party member between exploring and researching. To do this you will need to rescue other survivors and have them join your party. Most survivors have some special skill or aptitude. Which may make them ideal for working in the garage on cars, turrets and weapons, or useful in raiding parties.
But of course, every extra survivor, no matter how helpful, is an extra mouth to feed and sometimes that’s the last thing you need. There’s currently no limit on the number of survivors you can have in your party, though the developer has said this will change in future updates, when you will need to upgrade vehicles to hold more people. For now you can have as many people as you can feed. And if you are like me, that may not be as many as you think.
Hey Brick, lets go for a walk outside….
It’s a tough world out there and sometimes tough choices need to be made. If you sacrifice your teammate to zombies for the greater good, well that’s just the way it is.
Variation to the max
One of the coolest things about Infectonator: Surivors is that the world is randomly generated, so it’s completely different every time you play. The levels always have different variations of cover, obstacles and items to be scavenged. Occasionally you will hit a gold mine early and coast through the first few days, and sometimes you will suffer from food shortages and starve. It’s a great way of adding depth to the game and making each playthrough a novel experience.
An extra level of variety is added at the beginning of the game, when you choose which team you want to control. Right now there are only two options, the standard “Survivors” team, featuring a policeman, construction worker, scientist and quintessential blonde girl, and “The Good and The Bad” featuring a cop in riot gear, and a criminal.
If it’s your first time, I recommend giving “The Good and The Bad” a chance. They start the game with much better weapons and it’s easier to learn how to control two characters than four.
A third team is soon to be added, featuring some faces that some of you may find familiar:
That’s right, Valve gave Toge Productions the go-ahead to use Left 4 Dead characters in Infectonator: Survivors. They are not currently playable, but you can see their artwork in the game now
Having different teams is a great way to mix up the action and I can already foresee Infectonator: Survivors having great longevity if new teams are added regularly. I’m picturing the cast of the Walking Dead! Well, not the cast, just this guy:
You know I’m right.
My issues already answered
One of the best things about reviewing a game is that you get to talk to the developer. I had a few issues with Infectonator: Survivors but all seem to be on their way to being fixed.
The salvage system is too limited right now because you can only find four types of items: supplies, fuel, money and weapons. However Toge Productions has confirmed that it is working to expand this and will also be introducing a crafting system. Awesome. I am hoping for some Dead Rising-style crafting because taping a sledgehammer to a fire-axe was the biggest step forward since the internet!
Yes please!
I also found that Infectonator: Survivors didn’t have enough happening, and that it could get repetitive after a while. But that won’t be an issue come future updates. The developer has assured me that it is working on “more random events and quests.” There’s also going to be more research options (Sledgehammer + Fire-axe = ?) and loads more stuff to discover.
Toge Productions definitely seem to be on their game with this one and I can’t wait to see how Infectonator: Survivors progresses.
On a final note, this game is ready to be played. It is an alpha but it is great fun. This is exactly what Steam Greenlight and Early Access is for, showing something awesome and then improving it. If you like the concept and want to support it, please put your hand in your pocket on April 14, 2014, and hand over the $12.99 to support a game bursting with promise.
Not enough zombies in your life? Check out some of our favorite zombie games:
DayZ alpha hits Steam: anyone up for some zombie MMO action?
The alpha for the standalone version of popular Arma 2 mod DayZ has just hit Steam and zombie survivalists everywhere can start downloading.
Confirmed: PopCap’s 3D animated Plants vs Zombies 2 webisodes will premiere in China this week
How big is Plants vs Zombies in China? Big enough for PopCap China to be releasing three mini webisodes based on Plants vs Zombies 2 this week!
The post Infectonator: Survivors (alpha) review: blood, sweat, and zombies appeared first on Games in Asia.
