Target Audience: Those who want a game with potential come to life

Summary:

I admit, Zombie Soup disappointed me despite me thinking that there's potential for the game in the long term. I always want to see a smaller studio and game succeed, but I'm just baffled by some of the decisions and elements that came into the game. The game feels like a weird 90s kids horror with seemingly weird (badly translated?) writing at times, but it gets the mood across. The controls and base gameplay when it comes to firing is reasonable, and there are flashes of a game that could be interesting in very particular circumstances that the game tests you without being frustrating.

But that's few and far between right now. The cramp nature of the level design in the early going feels like a game not designed with the particular control/speed in mind, and there's just many moments where you wonder if the AI is going to even bother with you. The hotel nature in the early going leads to chokepoints that are easily exploitable, and you really don't feel any pressure at all. There's a boss fight early on where I literally didn't have him attack for 3/4ths of the fight, because my speed and circle strafing just confused it enough to just....not attack. Then the “second” phase hits, and all of a sudden the fight is fun, and I'm sitting here going “WHERE WAS THAT THE FIRST PART OF THE FIGHT”. There feels like hidden potential here if designed the right way.

But then you hit one of the boss fights toward the end of the hotel, and I'm sitting there wondering who flipped the script, and all the problems come pouring out. Attacks that take up a huge chunk of the screen, with barely any feedback that it did damage from a sound design and visual perspective. Then comes an attack when the boss is towards its death that I literally still don't know how to avoid, and it exposes a huge problem with the game giving you the in-combat information to really succeed in the end.

Like, if the game is massaged heavily and takes a lot of feedback, there is potential for a good top down shooter here. But with it having so many stumbles out the gate, I'm not sure if I'd want to put in the effort to really help it along the way with so many other good ones out there. It's a pass for me, but something to look at if it develops over time.



Stream Footage: : https://youtu.be/Kv3LZ9Yovcs

Lists:
Positives:

• Vibe is off in a good way, has a weird 90s kids horror presentation with bad acting and shenigans.
  
• Control Set and base movement and firing feel good.
  
• Flashes of the games potential in certain fights.

Negatives:

• Frustrating lack of feedback in key moments and combat lead to wondering how the hell you can get through a section, and if the fight is even winnable. That is complemented with...
  
• Early difficulty is laughable at times, providing no challenge what so ever, then running into a brick wall. The progression is way, way far off.
  
• Cramped early game doesn't take advantage of controls, and your speed basically dealing with every enemy just fine seems like it was the reason for that crampness. It just doesn't feel right.
  
• Enemy AI in a game like this should be somewhat exploitable and dumb....but not this much. It's laughable that the basic enemies sometimes won't even get to you halfway before dying, or even bother with you even if you're standing right next to them.
  
• Feels like a game that had an engine put together, and the potential put forward in it, but the design team had no idea how to really use that to the best of their abilities.
  
• Really weird presentation chioices in color scheme make it hard to focus at times, and then coupled with a mismatch of aesthetics that feel like custom assets were all made, but no one could really setttle on one particular style.

If you want more reviews/information regarding games I've reviewed, visit my curator. Dragnix Curator

[b] Target Audience: [/b] [I] Those who want a game with potential come to life [/i] [b] Summary: [/b] I admit, Zombie Soup disappointed me despite me thinking that there's potential for the game in the long term. I always want to see a smaller studio and game succeed, but I'm just baffled by some of the decisions and elements that came into the game. The game feels like a weird 90s kids horror with seemingly weird (badly translated?) writing at times, but it gets the mood across. The controls and base gameplay when it comes to firing is reasonable, and there are flashes of a game that could be interesting in very particular circumstances that the game tests you without being frustrating. But that's few and far between right now. The cramp nature of the level design in the early going feels like a game not designed with the particular control/speed in mind, and there's just many moments where you wonder if the AI is going to even bother with you. The hotel nature in the early going leads to chokepoints that are easily exploitable, and you really don't feel any pressure at all. There's a boss fight early on where I literally didn't have him attack for 3/4ths of the fight, because my speed and circle strafing just confused it enough to just....not attack. Then the “second” phase hits, and all of a sudden the fight is fun, and I'm sitting here going “WHERE WAS THAT THE FIRST PART OF THE FIGHT”. There feels like hidden potential here if designed the right way. But then you hit one of the boss fights toward the end of the hotel, and I'm sitting there wondering who flipped the script, and all the problems come pouring out. Attacks that take up a huge chunk of the screen, with barely any feedback that it did damage from a sound design and visual perspective. Then comes an attack when the boss is towards its death that I literally still don't know how to avoid, and it exposes a huge problem with the game giving you the in-combat information to really succeed in the end. Like, if the game is massaged heavily and takes a lot of feedback, there is potential for a good top down shooter here. But with it having so many stumbles out the gate, I'm not sure if I'd want to put in the effort to really help it along the way with so many other good ones out there. It's a pass for me, but something to look at if it develops over time. [b]Stream Footage: [/b]: https://youtu.be/Kv3LZ9Yovcs [u] Lists: [/u] [b]Positives:[/b] [list] [*] Vibe is off in a good way, has a weird 90s kids horror presentation with bad acting and shenigans. [*] Control Set and base movement and firing feel good. [*] Flashes of the games potential in certain fights. [/list] [b]Negatives:[/b] [list] [*] Frustrating lack of feedback in key moments and combat lead to wondering how the hell you can get through a section, and if the fight is even winnable. That is complemented with... [*] Early difficulty is laughable at times, providing no challenge what so ever, then running into a brick wall. The progression is way, way far off. [*] Cramped early game doesn't take advantage of controls, and your speed basically dealing with every enemy just fine seems like it was the reason for that crampness. It just doesn't feel right. [*] Enemy AI in a game like this should be somewhat exploitable and dumb....but not this much. It's laughable that the basic enemies sometimes won't even get to you halfway before dying, or even bother with you even if you're standing right next to them. [*] Feels like a game that had an engine put together, and the potential put forward in it, but the design team had no idea how to really use that to the best of their abilities. [*] Really weird presentation chioices in color scheme make it hard to focus at times, and then coupled with a mismatch of aesthetics that feel like custom assets were all made, but no one could really setttle on one particular style. [/list] [b] If you want more reviews/information regarding games I've reviewed, visit my curator. [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/6861768/]Dragnix Curator [/url][/b]