[Stream] ZombiU -- Hit the Underground Running

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Published on ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9sdL3ZElEc



Game:
ZombiU (2012)
Duration: 3:48
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1


I'm... not really a huge fan of live streams, because you kinda have to "be there" in the moment, and not everybody's schedules line up such that it would be amenable to that.

It's also vastly more resource-intensive for an overall by-necessity lower-quality product. Never mind the fact that Twitch itself is not the best place to watch streaming video on demand after the fact... and for whatever reason, transloading Highlights isn't as "simple" as it (never really) used to be... but that's a whole other kettle of fish.

Don't get me wrong, I like the idea that livestreaming represents well enough... it's as much an emergent vehicle for content sharing as the regular streaming video we now all take for granted. That alone is reason enough to explore it now and again.

...also, streaming is, in a lot of ways... "just easier"... even if it feels like I'm somehow giving it less than my best or my full attention. It requires substantially less planning, processing, describing, and all those other fun things that make YouTube a lot harder "work" ...just without the lingering sense of smug self-satisfaction of having created a self-sustaining standalone spectacle.

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On the whole other hand, I don't really consider YouTube to be the best vehicle for conveying blind runs... because I really don't have any control over where that might lead, and it isn't in and of itself a very sustainable goal or something I'd consider a very interesting result... especially considering my consistent commitment to keeping my own personal input on the matter as it happens as optional as possible.

So it's not exactly out of line to claim that this is the "only" way in general that I'd be able to present extemporaneous gameplay selections... and in some cases those ARE the most important elements to certain games, like say the horror genre's reliance on the element of surprise.

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To wit, I now present for general consumption and ocular bombardment: ZombiU. I've heard a lot of mixed buzz about this game, and I can certainly see why... although in the longer run, I won't actually know how much of it is rightly deserved and how much is just the tastes of the mainstream diverging from ...alternative and far older game design tenets that have proven far less than palatable for the disproportionately more outspoken of gamers.

Anyway, the game immediately throws you down in a situation you'd generally want to avoid at all costs (thanks for that, by the way, mysterious man from the Tube's intercom system) with very little in the way of guidance and fairly slim chances of survival from the get-go...

That's going to be the theme here. ZombiU is a fascinating case study for various reasons as it is, mostly for its adherence to and interest in rewarding some of those undervalued traits in modern gaming: attention to detail, planning, caution... but also for its tendency to engineer the impossible, the unexpected, and furthermore intently expecting its players to roll with such things and accept inevitable (and perhaps frequent) failure graciously and without complaint... which is... y'know... not necessarily fun to watch, just as all these elements would be unpalatable to the player.

Let's set all that philosophic posturing aside for the moment and examine the more immediately interesting element that made me want to actually throw these ones into the content stream proper rather than sweeping them under a rug for later perusal by the truly intrepid (and probably way too bored): these intentionally-engineered moments of discomfort will evoke many things within a player... namely panic, stress... hopefully some improvisation, and almost certainly more than a fair share of individualized reactions. Some good... some hilariously bad, I'm sure.

And that's what I'm collecting here in an entirely passive sort of way... uncomfortable and purely reactive strings of incidences that I didn't see coming and my own individualized reactions. This is as close to "real" as I'm capable of being while also fulfilling my incessant craving for "meaning"... where there may not be any to be found in the first place.

(Don't worry, I'll be off this obnoxious kick soon enough and we can be back to Dracula X and Mega Man Battle Network once I'm done being a slowpoke about sorting out how I'm going to nail those coffins shut... just a little bit of birdwalking to keep the pressure off. Gotta have fun!)

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For the time being, I'll be fine sweeping such things under the rug where they won't be too disruptive:

Castlevania: Lament of Innocence
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTTtba55vJSsDn5uUnrgrowLG8fjOEkig

Demon's Crest
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTTtba55vJSuVj8_Kl0U2g-VC-i9FwFZQ

ZombiU
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTTtba55vJSs0LkegGQm37GLbhX9C1tFK

...and as an overall most experimental move, I'm going to try keeping an "index" of stream snippets here:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTTtba55vJStJDHWC0taew7gLwjx0FQ_e







Tags:
ZombiU
Ubisoft
London
Underground
Zombie
Apocalypse
Zombies