Re: Audio Defence: Zombie Arena -- From the Creators of Papa Sangre 2
@Brad the analogue physical movement is a good idea and could provide some interest for the game (I like it in papa 2), though whether it will make for a sustaining mechanic or just something that looks cool at first but fades into the background when your used to it I don't know.
@Afrim, good post, and not just because of the zombie descriptions, a thumbs up from me for your structured thoughts on this one.
Looking at the way the zombies work out I can see that somethinelse have thought somewhat tactically, eg, having the Berserk zombies as zombies you actively don't want to shoot, and having other types that complement each other, eg the chainsaw zombie moving sideways and the circling clown, or the fast snufflehog and riot gear zombie. However whether this proves effective will depend upon the subtleties of mechanics, distance and speed of movement. Troopanum 2 was obviously planned to have similar varieties of complementary ship types, however the proble m was that the speed at which the ships appeared and the speed of your rate of fire necessitated that apart from the swinging liquidator ships that could only be shot in the center of the arena, you were still reacting to each ship in roughly the same way, ie, hitting it as quickly as possible.
Even judgement day tended to run down to similar basic reaction tactics despite the enemies differing in style.
If we are faced with a massive hoard of standard or reject zombies interspersed with the odd other type and the mechanics are entirely just based on speed then the game becomes mostly a reaction test. If the zombie and player movements, along with the rte of fire are better calibrated to go for a more tactical method of playing, then this might not be the case.
Ultimately it will come down to does a person progress in the game simply by reacting faster, or does a person progress by learning the engine and needing to make crytical judgements about what enemies are presented. Even in the first case we could have a fun game, but probably not one that will have much replay value or incentive to try and ged kill many zombies, get a high score, earn achievements etc sinse reaction is fundamentally just reaction and not by itself addictive. After all which game is more fun, snap or or uno.
I agree sound design of somethinelse has always been good, and this is one area where I fully expect them to deliver particularly well. While I wouldn't knock audio games for bad sound design, if it is done well it really helps and every one of somethinelse's games has done sound design superbly.
I'm now just wanting to try the game and see whether it lives up to expectations or justifies my apprehention .
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