Game Review: Wasteland Survival

 
By Bixyl Shuftan

When checking Steam for games the other day, one that got my attention was "Wasteland Survival." It's the sole game offered by Joyloft Co. Limited. The type, a survival game in which one fights zombies. The price: Free to purchase. The game had gotten mixed reviews. Deciding to check it out, I downloaded it, which took only a short time, and started playing.

The opening scene was that of an unconscious man having washed up on a beach being woken up by a friendly dog, happy to find human company. With no sign of the owner, what's left is to look around the area. Going about, you find a few tools and weapons. You also come across a few low-level zombies that are easily beaten. You can equip a weapon by dragging  it from your storage to one of the two weapon slots on your inventory page. You can also wear clothes by dragging them onto your legs, torso, and head spaces. Your main screen has an action bar on the bottom with two weapon spaces and a space that can hold an item such as bandages or food.

Your character has only so many hit points, which are reduced from zombie attacks. Your character also gets hungry and thirsty, with your hunger and thirst levels steadily going down. Once either reaches zero, you will start to take damage. To stave off thirst, you need to drink bottled water or eat food with water content such as berries. To take care of your hunger, you need to eat food such as canned beans, berries, and more. Eating also replenishes your hit points, some foods doing so better than others. While you can find monster meat off some zombies, it's not recommended for eating (but does have another purpose).

You can also craft items. At the start, you're limited to just a couple tools, the stone hatchet and pick, a few weapons such as a baseball bat, bandages, and a couple items of clothing, survivors' shirt and pants. You can also build structures such as floors and walls, storage containers, a garden to grow food, a campfire to cook food, a rain barrel to get water, and the kennel for your dog, which you'll need to finish for it to travel with you. And the way you get the materials for this is to gather them. You can gather grass and an occasional log and stone on the ground. You can also chop trees for wood, pick bushes for edible berries, and pick rocks for stone and iron ore. Zombies can carry cloth and occasionally rope or some other material. Crates can carry bottled water, canned food, glue, bars of iron, and others.

To get items, you'll have to search other areas. At first you're limited to just a few, the lush woods, the small mine, and the novice hunting grounds. The woods has more wood, the mine has more rocks that deliver iron ore, and the hunting grounds has critters that drop meat you can cook, leather and hides you can use to craft, and bones you can feed your dog. Sometimes two other areas will pop up. A crashed plane has a number of suitcases you can open that you can find items from dog food to better clothes and more. This is about the only zone that's zombie free, but one place may explode and damage you for a few points. The airdrop is the most dangerous of these early areas as there are zombies that can quickly rush up to you and quickly kill you. So here you'll need to be ready to make a break for it and retreat.

Of the zombies, the first ones you'll encounter are no big deal, slow, lumbering, and taken down with a few wacks of a baseball bat or one or two. But if you've played "Left 4 Dead," you have some idea what's to come. Later on are "Coneheads" whom require more hits to kill, and the "Ironhelms" that take a lot more. The "Batters" can quickly run over and proceed to pound you with their baseball bats, dealing more damage than the Coneheads and Ironhelms. The "Bloaters" can deal heavy damage in close combat, and will spew acid that not only hurts you but can slow you down. But the most deadly of the zombies you'll run into early on are the "Engineers" and "Spitters." They will quickly catch up to you and kill you with just a couple blows. Spitters in particular are to be watched out for as not only can they outrun you, but they sometimes can detect you from long distance and make a beeline to you. And if they catch you while stopping to eat or drink something from your backpack, you'll likely end up dying - and losing your stuff. I eventually got the hint to put food in my action bar instead of bandages.

Eventually, you'll start to start to stink, or "smell of aged cheese" as your character puts it. It will happen faster if you have to take a pee. This means the zombies can smell you and detect you easier, which can be inconvenient if there's a crate with zombies nearby you don't want to tangle with. Build a shower and have bottled water on hand to take care of this.

Early on, you find a body with a diary. Each page will give you a mission, and in carrying them out, you read more of the diary and get a small reward. If you play daily, you'll be given a reward once a day. Sometimes it's a pickaxe or bow. But once in a great while, you'll get something valuable like a shotgun. There is a trader in the game, offering items like ammo, but he demands high prices for his goods.

If the zombies in the zones weren't bad enough, once a day a horde will head to your base. If not stopped, unless your base has defenses, they will damage it and possibly take some things from your containers. At first, they're just a few not too tough ones. But as time goes on, they get more numerous and some more dangerous. Early on, you have an automatic turret that can help as there's some ammo boxes you find. But it's useless when they run out. Building barricades will cause the zombies to attack them first before nearby buildings (if the obstacles are between the buildings and the horde) and damage themselves. The first ones will be killed, but a horde will eventually smash a barricade. More barricades will stop more zombies. But eventually the horde will have a powerful boss zombie at the end that just smashes them with his weapon. If you're around when they make your attack, you have a chance to stop any damage. You also get a small reward if you stop the attack.

Dying in the game means you end up waking up back at your base, without your clothes or any other gear you had when the zombies caught you. You have ten minutes to get your gear before it vanishes. But if it was a Spitter that killed you, it will be waiting for you. You'll need a gun, preferably an automatic rifle, to take it out. Otherwise you'll have to say goodbye to whatever you lost, which can be very, very, aggravating.

As you progress, you'll get points that can be spent for extra abilities, for you and your dog. You'll also be able to craft more. Some builds allow you to make goods, such as the furnace will allow you to smelt iron ore into iron bars, and sewing machines can turn grass into cloth. Some are two-part builds. One automatic crossbow build turned out to be only the base, with the top requiring materials I hadn't found yet.

Early on, I found a pistol. This made progressing not *too* difficult. That is until a Spitter caught me while I was eating and clobbered me. And in trying to get back to get the gun, it clobbered me yet again. So it was goodbye gun, and slow progress as I had to find the stuff to make my clothes and new weapons. And more than once the Spitters and Engineers would get me before I'd gotten a full set of decent gear and weapons.

The game often offers me a shortcut, dangling items like weapons if I pay up some real cash. Considering the aggravating setbacks, I can imagine players fed up with the slow progress going ahead and paying cash so they'll have a working gun or a machete so they have a chance against the Engineers and Spitters. It would seem this is how this "free" game makes money for it's creator. 

On the plus side, it doesn't seem to take too much processing power to play. I'm able to run it and Second Life at the same time. It also pauses if some things, such as the SL viewer, are what you're using at the moment.

Wasteland Survival will likely frustrate you, but it's unlikely to be boring. If you want fast progress though, it's probably best to pass this game and head for another of the survival genre. This game will have you grinding a lot as you keep searching for supplies to rebuild the gear you lose to the zombies.

You can get the game for free on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1044200/Wasteland_Survival/

Bixyl Shuftan

Game Review: Seven Days to Die

By Nydia Tungsten

First, let me say the name is deceiving. I died on the first day…. well within the first 20 minutes actually. You all know I like playing both Minecraft and Rust, and 7 Days to Die is like Minecraft with the graphics of Rust.

      Basically, you are a survivor of WWIII and other survivors have turned into Zombies due to mutations. Your job: Survive….which isn’t always easy because, unlike Minecraft, these Zombies come in different flavors like in “Left 4 dead 2”, But, unlike L4D2, to kill these zombies, it HAS to be a head shot.  But, when the sun goes down or even in a dark building, the zombies get stronger, faster, deadlier and harder to kill, so you have to be careful.

     When I first spawned in, I discovered I had a radar map and green dots on it. Green always means good, right?   Right?   Don’t you believed it…… it turns out the green dots were the Zombies that hadn’t noticed me yet. My going in search of the green dots made them notice me, making the dots go from green to yellow to red.  “Yellow” means you have been sensed and “Red” means you have been noticed and have active aggression. THAT was my first lesson.

   First thing you need to do is scavenge and scavenge everything: bodies, cars, garbage piles and cans, drawers, cabinets, sinks, stoves …. anything that lets you. That’s the only way you can get anything to craft what you need. Next step is to find and reinforce some type of base to work out of. Zombies can break through walls so you don’t want to draw their attention at night. But if you do you need to kill them before they damage your base, then in the morning, try and clear your base of the few Zombies that have come around or are left.

    Like in Minecraft, you can dig holes and collect ore and farm as well as hunt for food to add to what you find scrounging through towns (you will start out doing a lot of that). But when you get an area under your control, you can start cultivate it.

This IS an Alpha game so constant updates are being put out, some good, some…well, not so much. The latest update broke some textures for railing, but I am sure such an obvious “bork” will get fixed quickly. At the time of this writing, I have learned to make a forge, crossbow and a few other tricks.

   Another great feature is you can open your games to your friends. I started a solo game then opened it to three of my friends; Bix, Jenn and Pagan. It took a bit of tweaking with the “port forwarding” on my router, but my experience with Minecraft servers helped me out so it was quick and easy. If you have never done port forwarding, I would recommend looking it up on Youtube to see how it is done.

  If your starting ANY game that you haven’t really played before, and would like some help, I recommend looking it up on Youtube. You can decide how much help you want, just watch a quick play through, a detailed how-to video or even just a little help to get past a road block in a specific spot of the game. That’s what I do. I look it over, try it myself and if I get stuck, I go to Youtube. (Gaming tip of the day)

   There ARE zombie hordes roaming everywhere, I saw one moving in the daylight. There were about 15 in one and I decided to go around them, bad choice. That night, they found my base and made life….interesting for a while. I ran out of multiple types of ammo and here is a clip of what happened: http://www.twitch.tv/nydia_tungsten/c/4005173 . You will also see one of the bee’s that roams the lands as well shortly after the hoard.

    Here are some highlights I have put together for you to look at and make up your own mind.

Setting up and spawning in: http://www.twitch.tv/nydia_tungsten/c/4002443
The first night: http://www.twitch.tv/nydia_tungsten/c/4002480
Claiming your first base: http://www.twitch.tv/nydia_tungsten/c/4002553
The whole 4 hours of the first play: http://www.twitch.tv/nydia_tungsten/b/516568421

I had a lot of fun playing this and give it a thumbs up. Let us know if you decide to get it or not based on what you see here.

I always welcome feedback and as always…GOOD GAMING TO YOU!!

Nydia Tungsten

Edited by Brandi Streusel Tungsten

Game Review: Left 4 Dead 2

By Nydia Tungsten
Edited by: Brandi Tungsten

As the opening credits play, you see the first four survivors run through some of the levels you have to take them through, ending up with them climbing the stairs to get to the rescue chopper….that isn’t there for them.
So they have to fight their way to the Evac center, which of course is empty. Along the way, you will find there are stashes of ammo and weapons to help you keep armed for your journey, but they move from play to play, so it keeps you on your toes.

As you watch the video, you will see there are a lot of weapons to choose from, anything from a cricket bat all the way up to a grenade launcher and everything in between.

This is not a typical “Zombie apocalypse” game, this one has several “special” Zombies that can REALLY hurt as Bix and I have found out.

“Spitter” hawks a toxic loogey at you and burns you with its acid.

“Jockey”, this little back humper, jumps on the back of your hide and proceeds to ride your staggering form away from help.

“Charger”, okay this guy has one HUGE arm…( I will refrain from the obvious MJ jokes), he plows through you and picks you up and slams you into whatever is behind you then starts slamming you into the ground.

“Tank”, name saying it all, this bugger is HUGE and can rip up chunks of concrete to throw at you or just toss you around like a rag doll.

“Hunter”, now THIS little sneaky bugger likes to keep out of sight until he can pounce like 400lb fanboy at a comic con meeting sailor moon for the first time, but can be killed easily if you see him in time or your group is close by, but he hits hard so be warned.

“Boomer”, this big boy looks like he weighs as much as a Buick. His real threat is he will puke on you and/or your companions, which will drive every other Zombie into a frenzy and attack whatever it lands on, which is how bile bombs can come in handy.

“Witch”, don’t be fooled by her slight build and pale skin. This little girl is worse than a certain Vixen PMS’ing. You will hear her before you see her. She will be crying softly, but if you get too close or shoot her, you will “startle” her and have to deal with her. But be careful, she can take you down with just one hit.
The best way to deal with her is at a distance. Don’t just shoot her, thinking she will go down easy. You better have a full clip and use it all on her because if she gets too close, it’s all over.

Left 4 Dead 2 features a new cast of human Survivors, which include:


Coach (voiced by Chad Coleman), a portly high-school football coach with a bad knee (although it does not affect gameplay)

 Nick (voiced by Hugh Dillon), a rude and cynical gambler and con artist

 Rochelle (voiced by Rochelle Aytes), a low-level production assistant reporting on the evacuation for a local television station

 Ellis (voiced by Eric Ladin), a friendly (and rather talkative) mechanic who often talks about his friend Keith and their many misadventures.

In addition to the four playable characters, Left 4 Dead 2 also features a supporting character in the form of Virgil (voiced by Randall Newsome), a Cajun boat captain, who appears (voice only) in the game's final three campaigns.

I looked this one up on the Wikki ( Google is my friend ) and found something surprising; this game was originally banned in at least two countries, Australia Germany for its violent and graphic “deaths” of the undead, but hey…here in the U.S., that’s the average movie night at home.

There are many ways to play this game as well, alone, with a friend or in teams on the internet where you take turns being the survivors or the infected. I have tried the team play……let’s just say it didn’t go well, and I think I embarrassed my gaming partner, Dchan, at that time. He, on the other hand….was doing pretty well.

In this video, you will see Bixyl and I duking it out with some real hard core baddies, but we come out on top, and you will notice my character is not the normal one. This game is so popular there have been skins made for it and I am using “Krystal”, There are also a LOT of other skins you can get and use with a little looking. I like playing with Bix because I know when we die, I will be PUNished by Bixyl’s “puns” and humor.

I give this game a “Thumbs Up” and recommend it to those who enjoy FPS’s and don’t mind a little carnage.

Here is the play through we did, hope you enjoy it: http://www.twitch.tv/nydia_tungsten/b/505544524

If you get the game, let us know and tell us what YOU think. And, as always, if you want to see me review a game, drop us a line and I will get on it. But in the meantime, “Good Hunting to you!”

Editor's Note: Forget the stereotype of slow, lumbering, undead. Between occasional lone walking corpses, You'll have to shoot your way through wave after wave of freakin' zombie banzai charges. This game is intense.

Nydia Tungsten

Reader Submitted: Game Review - Rust

From Nydia Tungsten

I first heard about “Rust” through the “Steam” community looking at what was on sale as I often do, where I saw the trailer for it, I remember thinking “ This reminds me a bit of Minecraft only with better graphics.” Then a few friends of mine start talking about it, so I tell them “IF I ever get it I will stream it.”

 The next thing I know, I am getting offers to join others on their server that they play on and told I “have” to get it because it is so much fun. Then I get an IM from a good friend and one of my Angels (Bix) saying that if I get it he will too and we can die horribly together.

Well I lasted a good 10 sec once I got in before I was Zombie chow, LOL, here is how it went.

When I first started the game it asks for the graphic settings I would like, with my system I can go for “Movie” quality in games, so I set it for that, then play, it will give you 3 types of server choices, I looked and looked for one of my Angels server (Pagan) but couldn’t find it so Bix and I decided to just go with the first empty one we found, so POOF! I am in Rust, and so is Bix, but we have NO idea where the other is, to me THAT is the biggest Draw back to the game for me, is the inability to find your friends you want to play with.

We spend over 4 hours trying to find each other. What doesn’t help is that IF you die you are sent some place TOTALLY random you lose everything even your start up base unless you have a sleeping bag made and put down. Add to the fact we had no firkin clue as to what we were doing, but that went both ways, we had no clue and had fun laughing at each other I will include a link so you can see how I did, when you watch it look closely at how everything looks, I was impressed with it, and believe it or not, this is just the alpha of the game. That is what is so amazing to me, is the fact it is not even in Beta yet.

Later Pagan came on and we were able to hop on the server she is on, and on that server we *could* TP to each other, which to me made it more enjoyable, BUT I did die more often, that chat on the stream was fun and upbeat, at one point Bix was killed ( again) by wolves and he comments on the fact that wolves seemed hungry at that point And Treminari  gave the wise answer “Wolves gotta eat too!”, a fact we all agreed on, but still wished it wasn’t us they tried to feed on.

The Nights are dark and mostly boring, if you’re lucky, in this game you don’t really want exciting nights, because that usually means something is trying to kill you.

So most of the nights I spent trying to craft items and weapons and figure out everything I needed to survive. Like minecraft there are recipe’s you need to gather for, but unlike Minecraft you have a crafting list of things you can make, you just need the items to make them, or even craft the items into the other items you need to make other things such as the ore to make metal and sulfur so you can make guns and ammo.

So here is the question you’re asking “Is it worth it to get?”

My answer is this, IF you like Minecraft there is a good chance you will like this game. But the biggest plus this game has over Minecraft: NO CREEPERS! (I really HATE those buggers)

It is a survival game with a little bit of a first person shooter mixed in, it is a lot of fun but it can be frustrating at times and depending on your play style, there is a server to match, if you like PvP there are servers that you kill each other to your heart’s content, Raid others homes loot, pillage and rob, because if you kill someone, all their goodies are in a back pack on the ground for you to grab, but be warned, they will be trying to do the same to you!

The server I am on is more of a co-op server, no PvP or raiding and you can TP to someone three times between server restarts. It is named “Lost Island” Come say “Hi” but mind the rules the admins are very active there and WIL ban but everyone is very helpful and willing to give you a hand.

I give “RUST” a humble Thumbs up, the price is only $20 USD, so very reasonable and the quality for it just being in alpha makes it well worth it as well.

As promised here is the link of my very first time seeing this game.
http://www.twitch.tv/nydia_tungsten/b/499715319

And here is a bit once I hooked up with my Angel Pagan
http://www.twitch.tv/nydia_tungsten/b/499781638

Good luck and good gaming to you!

Nydia Tungsten

*  *  *  *  *

I dropped in with only basic info on how the game's played from a Youtube (link). It can be frustrating as you'll be getting hungry before long, and it can be a while before you can find a critter to hunt down for meat, and if you can't find any food (or get chased away by predators and zombies from what you find) plus burning more calories from shivering from the cold at night, you'll eventually starve. Building a campfire can help, but look around first before crafting something as anything hostile nearby can spot you and clobber you before you can respond and get away.

My advice is gather a few stones and wood at the start to make a hatchet.You'll be able to gather wood and stones/ore faster, as well as a better weapon for hunting pigs. Once you get a bit of cloth, make a bow and some arrows. You'll be able to take down deer, which run when you get too close, and should be able to take down wolves in two shots - if you have a steady hand. Bears require about four arrows, which means at least twice you'll have to quickly turn and run several seconds then turn around and fire again. Zombies need several hits. One can back away from the slow ones and fire again, but the quicker ones are trickier, and can be relentless in their pursuit. They might stop chasing you after several seconds, or they can keep it up for several minutes. Predators and zombies can also chase you up rocks, and open windows allow them to reach in if you're too close.

Check buildings for any crates that may be inside as they're likely to have useful items. If you're having trouble finding critters to hunt, you might find food, for instance. But if you hear your radiation detector clicking watch out for zombies, and if it's clicking heavily you'll get poisoned after several seconds. If airdrops are a feature on your server, it's fun to run over to see if you can get the goods. They can offer some very handy goodies.

And once you have a good amount of resources and goods, look for a chance to find a place to store some of them before the zombies get you. You do so by building a crate and putting them in. Even if you respawn at a random point, at least you have a chance to find your way to your stuff. Unless someone picks up items from a fallen player in a few minutes, they're gone.

For an alpha release, Rust is pretty good. It could use some improvements, thought. At the very least, it should offer an option for a female appearance, so women players won't feel awkward. Maybe add a few edible (and poisonous) plants. And perhaps changing the critters AI so sometimes the predators go after the pigs and deer.

Besides Youtube videos about Rust, one useful source of information is the Rust wiki (link). Besides more hints, there's a map (link) which will help you get around and meet up with people. 

Bixyl Shuftan