#FF00AA

The introductory CG is very competently directed and paced, and quite representative of the game itself: it’s very well done and I don’t think I ever want to play it again. I was creeped out during some sections of Gears of War, mind you (it’s mostly the sound design that does me in), so I’m not going to spend time in a realistic zombie survival simulator — especially one with no shred of a plot to keep me going.

Interestingly, the first option in the menu is for online play; but I didn’t go there because I wanted to experience the game at my own pace (as in, I suck and don’t want three other players shouting at me to go faster and aim better) and in the full glory of its carefully-crafted environments (as in, without Xbox Live morons screaming and whining all around). So I can say that the graphics are good, level design is adequately confusing at first then linear once you’ve gotten to look into all the corners, and the sounds are pretty good and creepy, but I could never tell where the action was coming from (and I’m not quite sure if the fault is mine, for sucking, or the game’s). And the demo is quite long enough.

What I can’t say is how good the network code is, or how playable it is with random strangers (not much, though, I’d expect — Xbox Live matchmaking isn’t really great for co-op games), because I certainly wasn’t going to dive back into twenty or thirty minutes of dark zombie action, with no possibility of pausing or quitting before the end (without being one of those assholes who leave online games when they don’t go their way).

Fortunately, I also had the Lego Batman demo to try out and take my mind off oh my god I can hear shuffling in the stairs!