This week's co-op gaming took place in the zombie filled world of Africa. With no lions in site, the zombies roamed free in the "Shanty Town" of this random village. Teamed up with my trusty yet attractive partner Jason (Sheva pictured above) it was a kill or be killed scenario. In our case...mostly be killed.
The first thing you'll do when starting to play the demo is try to adjust the controls...but there's no point. There's simply no control scheme that's like "Gears of War" like that, that has been touted for months. Instead it's still run of the mill RE style controls. That's not to say it's bad, it's just at times you'll find yourself fighting it.
The first mission we were dropped in placed us in a shack watching an execution. Soon the executioner spots Chris and Sheva and sends a pack of infected RUNNING at you. The cut scene stops and you see a slow lumbering horde. I guess they got tired pretty quickly? It's a tight space and Jason and I immediately called out the areas we have covered.
"Their coming through the windows!"
"Watch the door!"
"There's a grenade under the water melons!"
Yes all these things were heard, and all were for naught as the big ass executioner busted through the door and beat us down with his axe. Again and again we tried to defeat the dude with the burlap head and an axe that would make a JRPG game proud. Again and again we failed.
Moving on we decided to try the other demo level, perhaps we'd have more luck.
Immediately it was obvious things weren't quite as cramped, and we were able to move and provide a little more strategy. Things started off quiet...almost too quiet...and suddenly a window busts open and a stream of the infected pour out. Jason was grabbed, but my trusty B button attack kicked the zombie right off of him...er...her. The really nice thing about the interface is it always tells you your partner's state. Health, item/weapon in hand and whether or not they need help.
As we continued through this level we hit a part where we needed to split up. I launched my partner across the street to a roof top. Then, I covered Jason from afar with a sniper rifle as he made his way down a run down building to open a gate below.
We were quite proud of ourselves. Everything seemed to be going really well. Then...it came. I'm not quite sure what IT is, some sort of Ichabod Crane looking thing with a burlap head (what's with the burlap?) and a chainsaw. Infected poured into the streets and Mr Chainsaw charged us. We survived for a bit. And then...well lets just say we got ahead of ourselves. Jason was no more thanks to the chainsaw.
Game Over Man...Game Over.