‘CANCEL THE APOCALYPSE, IN STYLE’
2015 is off to a flier, thanks to Techland and their tender love for falling cheek skin and jelly like brain tissue. Dying Light, this is probably the most fun zombie game out there and there is no reason why you shouldn’t be playing it right now. Months ago, when Dying Light started throwing details and hints via a very exhaustive Facebook campaign, I was curious. As seen from the games of 2014, these days, games try hard to advertise and eventually fall flat on their faces. I wanted to hear more about Dying Light before I could pick up my piece, but thanks to the chance to review the title, I got this one earlier than expected. And boy, what an experience it has been so far! So what makes me so thrilled about Dying Light? Hear all about it. The Plague of Harran Harran is the game’s centre stage, a town in Turkey that has gone to the dogs, and the zombies, thanks to a recent rabies outbreak that is driving humans nuts. The premise of the story takes place around figuring out if there is a cure for the plague; as bitten survivors resist with a daily dose of antisins. The protagonist of Dying Light, Kyle Crane, is dropped into the scene by the GRE, to find out what went wrong with the city – a file that he needs to retrieve in time. Crane, voiced by a Troy Baker doppelganger, is rescued by a group of survivors who risk their lives for the people of the Tower, headed by a ex-parkour instructor – Brecken. Crane automatically becomes their errand boy, running from pillar to post, helping out their cause, until he meets the real King of Harran – Rais. Rais is what every Far Cry villain would want to be like, loose, sadistic and intimidating. Soon it becomes a matter of Crane vs. Rais and the story moves forward with a horde of spoilers that are not worth mentioning because I want you to experience them as well. Some of the turning points of the game are inspired by mainstream game plots and a certain The Walking Dead, and won’t drop your jaw unless you keep yourself away from popular fiction. The voice acting isn’t that great, especially Crane, add to that generic faces and you would want to immerse in the world than the plot. However, there are a couple of sidequests that make your thirst worthwhile.
Survival of the Quickest I had a lot of initial fun in Dead Island but as I came closer towards the end, I became overpowered and soon lost my interest. Dying Light makes everything believable, with godlike free running abilities countered by a street full of undead. Techland presents you a survival gift, only imposed by an equally challenging obstacle. Even the game’s skill tree lets players play the way they best fit and be rewarded for it. If you like murdering everyone you unlock mega Power skills, if you are an Escape artist you’ll soon have cool moves at your disposal. The fist fight and tower scaling abilities go hand in hand in Dying Light, as escaping becomes a quintessential attribute in every fight you engage in.
From time to time, you as Crane, will encounter Rais’ goons or undead in Harran, you can either pop their heads with a limited ammo gun, or go chasing them and ultimately beating them to pulp using a fire throwing sledge hammer, yes you heard it right. The dropkick is my most used, literally abused, move, as it disperses a crowd of thugs or smashes them off rooftops, if well timed. Your feet don’t wear off unlike the horde of tools you use to fight, and keeps the fight simple. The other abilities include a stomp finisher, an overhead stun parkour, a parry, a quick enemy throw move and of course the light and heavy blows using a melee weapon. A few cool moves like the leg breaker (while sliding into an enemy) and the precision shot that shows the damage on the enemy in X-Ray mode keeps the fight very close to the heart of the gamer. Every swing of the crowbar eats up a bit of your energy and you will need to manage that like you did in Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. The kick to the gut and the quick withdraw abilities should be used at all times, unless you seek to be cornered by a truckload of enemies. The whirlwind move, that you unlock later in the game, gives you an opportunity to take down a bunch of enemies in one 360 swing of your dual handed weapon.
The parkour is sleek, and is very close to Crane’s combat abilities, heck Dying Light has one of the most realistic parkour experiences in a video game, thanks to the first person view. Taming the controls is hard in the beginning of the game but soon you will know which rooftops you can scale and which jump would probably kill you in an instant. Apart from that, you have ziplines to reach further places (yes Far Cry style) and a grappling hook that makes you Batman in an instant (remember the times when you grappled from gargoyle to gargoyle in order to fool the enemy?). The first map of Dying Light (Slums) keeps you to the ground, while the second map (The Old Town) is where parkour takes your spirits to a different level. Post Apocalyptic Craftsmanship Besides close combat and fleeing, you have a familiar survival game asset making a return to this new IP – the on the go crafting. Each item you scavenge from the dead bodies or trunks on top of slum rows, enables you to churn out a unique item. There are molotovs, firecrackers (most important post apocalyptic item ever!) exploding stars, freezing stars, night vision enhancing drugs and even weapon customization add-ons to help you on your head hunting.
Besides crafting, brace yourself to lockpick a lot, in the midst of a fight, or while just free running through a jarred rooftop. The lockpicking is a nuisance to this fast paced game and can break you down in between junctures. Not to forget, the lockpicking action is directly inspired from Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. The Visuals When I saw that a certain Assassin’s Creed Unity was using 45 gigs on my system and failing poorly at delivering a stable graphical experience, I was curious how on earth will the 17 gigs Dying Light deliver a limitless Harran. And I have never been so wronged. Dying Light has one of the most stable frame rate that I have ever seen in a dynamic, fast paced game like this. There are a few texture pop-ins especially if you are speeding from one safe house to the other, counting the minutes left till night. The rooftops are absolute gorgeous, and the destruction left on the streets pronounce post apocalypse in every degree. The sun is always staring at your face, and leaves the world in a yellowish tint. And if you are stepping out into the dark after night has fallen, you’ll realise how hard it is to track down the road even with your torch equipped. The dynamic weather, with rain and storm, makes it worth the shot.
The Sound Dying Light makes sound the key to the horror theatrics. Locate your enemy positions by the sounds they make. Sound Effects is your true friend especially if you’re out at night and can’t see a thing in the darkness. The background score comprises tracks similar to The Last Of Us and some unique retro electro tracks, one of them sounds very similar to the intro tune of ‘Baby’s Got A Temper’ by The Prodigy. If you are helping out survivors in order to collect loots and rewards like me, then follow their wailing and you will track them down with ease. There are a couple of Indo-Arabian ragas in the game loading screen for you to praise too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29JvxhXv0TI The enemies and challenges Dying Light sometimes has the tendency to fast forward you from one mission to the other, making it a no breather for people who are hooked hard to the game. The variants of the zombies range from the normal douchebag zombies guarding your way, the fast and agile virals, the spitting toads, the robust chargers and champions and ultimately – the Volatiles. The boss fights aren’t well rehearsed and sometimes they either put everything into a single fight or show direct inspiration from other hit boss fights – like the Bane fight in Batman: Arkham Asylum. The interact button could’ve been way better, especially when I like to do stuff on the run, and completely miss the plot, ending up getting cornered and getting killed.
A completely different game at night There is a reason why Dying Light gives you double XP at night, the game’s a complete Dark Souls with Volatiles chasing you at night. Marrying the hit concepts of the day and night cycle of Will Smith’s ‘I am Legend’ and Capcom’s ‘Dragon’s Dogma’, the game transforms the Hunter to the Hunted at night. The Volatiles are the highest form of zombies in the game, invincible but can only be sparingly distracted. Make way through the darkness, avoiding stepping on their attention cones, and farming as many bolters or night walkers as possible. Once detected, you will need to run for your life, setting traps or merely closing off line of sight in order to reach a safe zone. If you are a sleek parkour expert in daytime, you ought to be a sneaky ninja at night to overcome all these extremities. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZnHhFBZW0Y Dying Light is the first Triple A game out this year, and if this is the streak that follows in the mainstream genre, I am absolutely throwing all my money at 2015. Dying Light pleases both the agile and combatant gamer, and the brave night crawling ninja. Given all the loopholes that surfaced putting the game down, the game itself is so new and engaging that you will feel hard to put it down for a while. With Be the Zombie mode, the game has a limited but excellent end value. This leaps ahead of Dead Island the original by miles, miss this not!
