Land of the Dead Road to Fiddlers Green...

[ZenBudha]

Land of the Dead: Road to Fiddlers Green. Which I just got done playing and thankfull I got it used because for all of its good parts it was bad. And here is why...

First off graphically the game looked like it could have easily been made with RF. They weren't bad just lacked the modern polish most current games have. Next if your a fan of Romero's zombie movies, or a fan of firearms it'll drive you nuts.
The first time you shoot a zombie in the head with a Glock 9mm and it doesn't die you'll be going WTF!? Forget the swarms of zombies you see on the movies or in the advertised cut scene's as well. There are no zombie hordes in this game. In fact if there was ever even 10 zombies on the screen at one time I would be have been shocked.

Then there was the weapons. First weapon a .22 cal lever action rifle. First off it holds 4 rounds and if you know anything about .22 rifles other than a single shot the minimum they hold is around 10 rounds. Then shoot them in the head all you want it does no good. It takes 4 .22 rounds to kill a zombie no matter where you hit them.
In comparison to the .22 it takes 5 9mm rounds to kill a zombie no matter where you hit them. Even if your not a gun enthusiast look these two calibers up on the net. To give you reference a .22 is like what you use to shoot squirrels and rabbits. A 9mm is the same caliber of the US Army sidearm.
However the revolver will kill them with a head shot. As will the M-16, Shotgun, and sniper rifle.

Then there is the reloading issue. The shotgun holds 4 rounds...so you shoot twice and hit reload. You wit while he shoved 4 rounds into the shotgun but really only 2 rounds. So no way to top off a magazine without doing a full reload. Given when I say magazine I'm speaking of the internal magazine that shotguns, and lever action rifles have.
So if you fire your last round with the shotgun and a zombie is in your face you will have to wait for the full reload before you can blast them.

As well every weapon auto-reloads no matter what. So when the zombies are coming and you empty your revolver you have to wait for it to reload before switching weapons or continueing to fire with it.
This will quickly lead you to the habit when approached by a handfull of zombies of not firing the last round in an almost empty weapon so you can change to a fully loaded weapon.

Why do you need more than 6 rounds for 5 zombies? Because collision sucks in this game. Even though you have their little zombie head dead to rights amazingly you sometimes hit them in the head without killing them. Sometimes 2 or 3 times as well. Sometimes when they're close it's real bad as you unload 6 rounds into their head and nothing.
If they are carrying a weapon like a lead pipe, etc. You can forget headshots and must now pump them full of precious ammo to get them to go down.

On the upside you can pretty much walk backwards, and dance around them because they're old school zombies in that they are slow. On the downside this is the only way melee combat is functional. As you have to dance back and forth in and out of melee range to avoid getting hit or bitten while swinging the uber slow melee weapons. Which is fun when ammo is low and you need to kill 5 zombies who require 4-6 hits each with a shovel to go down. The Fireaxe is simply the only decent melee weapon in the game.

Level design however was fairly decent, and zombies on occsion popped out of places that made me lurch once or twice in my seat. Which are about the only two reasons not to go out back and burn this thing.

As well another big mistake is you know why those slow zombies are threatening? IS because 1 bite and it's over. Not in this game contrary to the movie. You have health, there are medkits and pill bottles everywhere. Got bit? No problem take some aspirin and your good to go.

So in short this game breaks every rule about zombies. The weapons in the game are just plain out of whack. Expect if you play it to get creeped out maybe once and jump in your seat maybe twice within the first few levels. After that there will only be 2 reasons you fail a level. Either A) Weapon glitches, or rather just bad weapon function and B) Failing objectives in missions that have objectives that involve protecting other people.

Which on a note is really bizarre in that you get more sniper rifle ammo than any other in the game. It's single headshot, and 2 body shot kill capability makes it second in power only to the shotgun. You can carry 100+ rounds of .308 rifle ammunition but less than 50 rounds of glock ammunition.

Also while protecting people they like to...
A) Stand still
B) Refuse to defend themselves except about every 3rd zombie that comes at them
C) Stand right next to a blind corner when being covered from a rooftop to make sure the zombies have a better chance of getting to him.
D) All of the above.


Answer: D) All of the above.

And almost forgot but this game is extremely short. I think it's supposed to have 15 levels, but it's more like 15 sub levels. Making a few loops around a farm house grabbing a couple of weapons, and a key for a lock you could have just shot off or kicked in does not = 1 level. lol.

I think the industry is starting to hit a grey area when it comes to what a "level" is. As it seems today fighting through 3 stories of a building - 3 levels. When years ago that was maybe 1 level.