GC 2009: Dead Nation Hands-on

Stand up against the shambling hordes.

As the night grows deep and Cologne settles into a contented sleep, how fitting is it that I come with hushed tidings of a truly promising PlayStation Network game about zombies? No, this isn't that silly Burn, Zombie, Burn! or Zombie Apocalypse. This is a dark, action-packed, well-paced, atmospheric downloadable from the extremely talented folks at Housemarque (the developers of one of my favorite games of all time: Super Stardust HD). This is Dead Nation, a recently announced PlayStation Network game that will make other zombie games moan with fear. It was definitely a major highlight from my first day at Gamescom.

Dead Nation, like its predecessor, is a dual analog shooter that will be available exclusively over the PlayStation Network. The game puts you in the shoes of a lone survivor of a ravenous zombie virus that has swept across the globe and turned the once living population into seas of molting flesh and scraping bone. In Dead Nation, players will move from mission to mission, killing as many zombies as possible while trying to stay alive.

In this particular shooter, you'll still be using the left analog stick to move your character through the top-down environments, but the right stick is only used to aim. Players will now have to hit the R1 trigger to open fire and press R3 to reload. Hitting R2 will execute a close-range attack while L1 throws/uses your character's secondary weapon. The face buttons are used to select those said weapons from a display on the bottom right corner of the screen. Players can also hit L2 to dash out of the way of an oncoming zombie for a short period of time.

Dead Nation already feels great. The controls are super tight, the weapons work nicely and the promise of a rewarding upgrades shop will keep gamers coming back for more. One of the things that amazed me the most about Dead Nation was the amount of detail in the environment, as well as the visual effects that flush the screen with a flurry of explosions and zombie parts. I'm especially impressed by the game's lighting, as every light source casts a proper shadow on the environment, including your flashlight.

Weapons in Dead Nation include a rifle, an SMG, grenades, mines, a flame thrower, a shotgun and more. These weapons can be enjoyed by two buddies at the same time, as local multiplayer is already planned for Dead Nation, though online multiplayer seems less likely. Although this might be disappointing for some, the online functionality planned for Dead Nation is actually quite fantastic.

As the PlayStation Network checks your account for geographic location, Dead Nation will actually start users off in their virtual country of residence, along with other players from that area. Then, players will cooperate as a whole to kill the zombies in that nation collectively and stats are displayed on the world map as you go.

Although my time with Dead Nation was short, the demo level was very engaging and gave me a great taste of what's to come. Running down a rooftop and then opening fire on a horde of zombies is fantastic. The zombie AI is actually one of my favorite parts of the game, as they're attracted to light and sound, and they run towards you when you really start letting loose with the ammo. There will be multiple zombie types to deal with, including exploding zombies, soldier zombies (military men turned undead... they still have guns!), and sprinting dudes. In other words, you're going to be maneuvering around the environment in a blind panic and wasting a lot of ammo as you play.

I absolutely trust Housemarque with this project. Dead Nation already looks sweet and the game still has plenty of time to polish up before its eventual digital launch. With frantic action, local multiplayer, tons of weapons and a unique worldwide scoring system, this is probably a game you don't want to miss.

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