A 225 km2 open world post-soviet state wiped out by an unknown infection. Go Solo, team up with friends or take on the world as you choose your path in this brutal and chilling landscape using whatever means you stumble upon to survive.
Great idea. Good execution. Plenty of players. however it is lacking in content and just things to do, but I trust it will come in time. Until that time I don't think I can play to much as I got bored quickly (first 20 hours) but I plan to come back to it. Great with friends.
Giving this mod a score when it's in an alpha phase is sort of silly but I'll throw in my two cents
What makes this game great is the fact that it really ain't a game, there are no real gimmicks or 'special' game mechanics; it's just you and the rest of the world on a 225 sqr KM map, having to outwit and defend yourself against the elements of nature (gotta find food and water, and stay warm), the undead (they're around the entire country and they're pretty scary to fight in a big horde), and even your fellow survivors (this mod really hits home on the fact that humans are still the most dangerous adversary to face even when the world's going to hell, with most willing to backstab you for a small can of beans)
The server persistence adds to the experience too, it's pretty neat that you can travel for hours and then leave the server and then come back the next day on a different server with your position and supplies all saved on a remote database.
I had some really memorable moments with some of my fellow NMRiH team members in this game, some of which we compiled into short stories on our own site (apparently that stuff is pretty common in the Day Z community too!) but even with all that neat stuff and happiness, there's bound to be some problems and unfortunately they're pretty big
The problems mostly involve the fact that the mod is on the ArmA2 engine, which has impressive tech but is pretty buggy on how it handles physics and close quarters combat (I broke all my limbs by crawling through a doorway for example) and that the servers are having network issues (really long loading times which should be fixed in 1.7, warping zombies, etc.). It's extremely frustrating to travel for miles only to get warped back to the coastline once you log back in. Also, the game itself can get frustrating with the high amounts of PvP encounters.
All in all, this is a wonderful game that deserves to be checked out! Just remember that it's still in alpha :) A MotY contender.
Day Z is one of the most well known and ambitious mods to ever come out. Ironically it did so by abandoning lots of substance, and just dropping players into a Zombie-infected Chernarus with nothing to do but survive. Everything else is up to the player.
It's an interesting concept, and over time they expanded on survival elements quite a bit, but at least the last time I played, there wasn't enough teamwork emphasis. Custom Bandit skins were removed so people could kill others with no penalty, and they'd blend in perfectly. This plus the reduction of the amount of Zombies turned Day Z into Zombie Deathmatch.
most intense game I've ever played.
well there is so much that can be said about this mod, but one thing I can say is that I have never had as much fun and random things happen to me at the same time in this mod game.
when that is said this is only a mod and already this is better then most of the games that have come out in 2012.
A bit too overated a mod imo. I know this is in alpha but there are countless game immersion breaking bugs which for a mod about realism and survival in a zombie appocalypse situtation can't be ignored really. Also this mod has become far too hardcore for its own good. For example you dont spawn with anyform of weapon at all in a mod where zombies can see you for miles and hear you preety far away too if you arent eaten by zombies then trying to find some sort of weapon too defend yourself you are most likely to starve die of thirst or be shot be a random Bandit with no reason behind you being shot. Which brings me to the next point once you do have a gun zombies arent much of a threat at all unless you have little ammo making the mod esentially just a giant pvp match with zombies being tacked on. Also the loot is far too rare for common resources to survive they need to respawn faster. All in all the concept of this mod is amazing but the reality is a bit disapointing atm.
Great mod hope it continues to be great!
As far as a free to play mod comes, this is the best it can get, and it is one of the best zombie gaming experiences I have ever enjoyed.
Lured in by the premise of openworld zombie survival. Heavily dissapointed by the sheer lack of usability of the game.
The interface of the game is confusing and that's understating it. As a player you're never quite sure what's going on; various loading bars and screens glitching back into former menu's. Loadingbars resetting then continueing again.
There are a bunch of (beta) versions of ARMA: CO that are required (or not; it's never quite clear) for various versions of DayZ. So when you run into trouble it's very hard to determine what's causing it.
In game the interface for the inventory is incomprehensible for someone who's never played ARMA before.
The overall feeling for moving your character and shooting your gun is the exact opposite of a "twitch shooter" or arcade FPS like for instance quake 3. In fact it is so "realistic" that even a "realism shooter" like counterstrike source seems like an arcadegame compared to this. It simply doesn't feel like you're in control of your character very much.
The game suffers from graphical glitches such as big grey shapes blocking off your view or ingame objects stretching into oblivion.
I never thought I would say this, but this mod would actually benefit from consolification. Meaning it would benefit from the KISS formula (Keep It Stupid Simple) or Mies van der Rohe's "less is more" if you will. It's simply to inaccessible the way it is now. And that's coming from a gamer who absolutely loves the Stalker series and it's steep learning curve and hardcore appeal.
Best zombie ever made but need to fix some bugs and hax