Dead Sky first impressions…
First off... HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! :-)
Dead Sky is a top down, twin stick shooter at heart. It's simple arcade mayhem with a couple of other other game types thrown in for fun. The game has lot's & lot's of zombies of all different types and speeds! It's pretty fun, but very short! That's really all that matters to me in a game like this. The fun factor! To me, it's the perfect Halloween party game! :-)
I really don't see what everyone is complaining about other than the slowdown which can be avoided if you stand still for a moment, but it is annoying at times. The screen will freeze for a second and keep doing it randomly until you kill the enemy causing the slowdown. It usually happens when certain zombie types spawn or when they attack the cabin. Kill them off and the lag will stop! Sometimes reloading helps too! So there are some bugs. That cannot be denied!
[*] Graphics:
The graphics are decent and are somewhat cartoony like the game Crackdown. There is a black outline around the character models. It fits the game well. There are enough options on the game menu to scale the graphic settings for many different video cards. The lighting and animations are good. Day and night cycle is great! Fullscreen and windowed modes supported.
[*] Sound:
Sound is okay. Nothing grinding or annoying. Voiceovers vary in quality. Music is cool at times. Gun sounds and explosions are all done well.
[*] Game Modes:
Single player mode consists of 3 different game types. Top down 3rd person shooting & driving. You get to run zombies over in a car. Very simple and easy. Then there is a FPS sequence from a helicopter going in a circle around a city intersection. You get to shoot zed's and a boss.
Multiplayer (MP) consists of 4 small coop maps to choose from with a store/workbench to buy stuff in the middle of the map. I played MP alone, but it is kind of hard alone. You really need to pickup as much salvage as you can to buy turrets and other items. One review I read said the turrets only last a few seconds and that is NOT true. They last a very long time if you protect them from damage!
The single player campaign is very short, but fun. The game is really made for multiplayer though, but does feel unfinished and rough around the edges at times. It's pretty basic. Kill zombies as fast as you can and stay alive as long as you can!
[*] Controls:
Controls are pretty tight and work well. You aim with the mouse and walk with WASD. You CAN shoot while walking which is always nice! So you can walk in any direction and shoot in any direction at the same time. Pickup and place items with "E". There are a few onscreen icons to click on to change items. The controls are NOT clunky and are responsive. Key binding and gamepad support.
[*] Gameplay:
It's an arcade game. If you go in thinking that way, the limited ammo in the weapons is forgiving. You get different random weapons all the time and sometimes must choose which one you want. Usually the closer weapon is the best weapon! lol :-)
You walk at a good pace and faster than most of the enemies! I have never gotten stuck or caught on objects.
All the weapons are cool and feel powerful, but are pretty standard and limited. Ammo usually lasts until a new weapon drops, or you just go back to your starting pistol which has unlimited ammo. The flamethrower is awesome! Even your starting pistol shoots pretty fast and is fairly strong. Two or three good head shots usually does the job! Just keep your weapons reloaded at all times!
Reloading is NOT a chore and becomes second nature! You have to reload in many games anyway. Now, if you successfully reload "Gears of War" style, you get a 30% increase in damage for that clip. It's pretty easy to do and doesn't distract from gameplay at all. If you miss the mark trying to get the 30% damage increase, you get penalized with a slight delay in reload time, but only like an additional second or two. Your gun doesn't jam or anything like that.
Note that you DO NOT have to try and get the damage bonus. You can just hit the "R" key once and reload with normal damage ammo. It only takes a couple of seconds to do a normal reload. If you do want the 30% damage increase, you must hit the "R" key to start the reload process, then hit the "R" key again at the right moment to get the 30% damage increase. It's not that hard and I usually get it every time now!
Slowdown is there and it does distract from the gameplay at times. If they had fixed the slowdown problems, the game would have gotten much better reviews IMO.
[*] Conclusion:
It's a fun zombie survival game IMO and could have been awesome with a little more work! The game does have major issues that can be a game breaker for some people, but it can be a lot of fun IMO!!! I recommend this game to diehard zombie fans ONLY! Are you a diehard zombie fan?
Right now, at $2.50, it is a great deal IMO! Get it while it's hot! :-) It's going back to $5 Nov 3rd!!! I'm going to play it some more and maybe update this review. I've gotten worse games that cost a lot more! I give it 3 stars out of 5!
[*] PROS
+ Fun arcade style zombie killing splatterfest
+ Single Player campaign
+ Multiplayer Coop Mayhem
+ Many different enemy types, including zombie dogs
+ Random boss battles
+ Nice graphics style, smooth animations & special effects
+ Creepy atmosphere and lighting, with day & night cycle
+ Bloody & gory as it should be
+ Fast & furious gameplay
+ Random weapon drops
+ Deployable turrets, mines & traps
+ Weapons feel powerful with laser sights & moveable reticle
+ Tight controls with key binding support
+ Gamepad support
+ Both fullscreen and windowed modes supported
+ Cheap price for a PC/Mac/Linux game
+ Zombies Chainsaws & Flamethrowers! Oh Boy!
[*] CONS
- Game feels unfinished and low on content
- Game lags and briefly locks up at times
- No developer support
- Very short single player campaign
- Only 4 multiplayer maps
- Game gets repetitious fast
- Barely enough time in between rounds/waves to buy stuff from the store/workbench
Here are my system specifications: Apple iMac, i5 Quad-Core Intel processor 3.1GHZ, AMD Radeon HD 6970M with 1GB dedicated video RAM, 4GB system RAM, 1TB hard drive running OS X version 10.6.8, Journaled HFS+ Extended file system.
