With the support of the MOYO online store
Swedish studio Avalanche (creator of the Just Cause series and the upcoming Rage 2)
From the first frames of Generation Zero it is clear thatThis is a category B game: a modest plot is presented through text without graphic trailers or even drawn screensavers. Everything is simple and harsh in a Swedish way. The same applies to the plot.
Generation Zero takes placein an alternative Sweden in 1989. After World War II and the beginning of the Cold War, the country's government feared an invasion by the USSR, so it obliged the population to undergo military training. As a result, no one has coped with the defense of Sweden, and the main character, created in a simple character editor, comes back from vacation and finds abandoned houses and cars, corpses of soldiers and crumpled metal fragments. A little later, the character learns that people were attacked by robots, and the survivors escaped. Throughout the game he tries to figure out what happened and find out where the walking tin cans came from.
Not only history is tied to the search for answers,but also the core gameplay. The hero, alone or with partners in a cooperative, moves across a huge map from task to task, scours every corner in search of useful items, weapons, ammunition and text notes from victims and little by little restores the chain of events. From time to time, we look for secondary quests for things needed in the robo-apocalypse. There will be no full-fledged conversations with NPCs, because there are none in Generation Zero. At all.
And if at the beginning Generation Zero seemsintriguing and captivating, then after a couple of hours you realize that you were mistaken. From entertaining ideas about what happened and searching for answers to the riddles set by the creators, thoughts move on to thinking about dinner, an evening walk or another game. After all, in Generation Zero there is simply nothing to do except walk, shoot and read rare notes. The same farms, houses, barns and cars are scattered here and there. And there is no one except those same robots.
Hostile pieces of iron resemble mechanical onesanimals and are represented by several species with their own features and weaknesses. It is advisable to take down some of the largest ones as a team, otherwise there is a chance of being literally trampled and dying in a matter of seconds. Others need to aim at certain places on the hull, others need to jam the flying escort robots, and so on. Individually, the opponents are not scary even for a single person, but the problem is that for the most part they are grouped together. Mechanical animals also have excellent hearing and vision, so the weak stealth presented in the game rarely helps, which means it’s almost impossible to avoid encounters with enemies and it’s easier to break through. I used the last option almost always and didn’t die as often as I expected. The main thing here is to use first aid kits and adrenaline in time, hide behind shelters and catch the iron reptiles when they hang in place.
Generation Zero's shooting is reminiscent of Survarviumor Fear The Wolves - sloppy pseudo-realistic shots, weak recoil and dull, but rich sound of weapons. All available barrels, by the way, are authentic and only made in Sweden. But there is no variety: pistol, shotgun, sniper rifle, machine gun.
There are also questions about the inventory, although I understandsome decisions of the creators. The game does not automatically pull items of the same type into active slots. For example, if you assign first aid kits from one inventory cell to the desired button, then when they run out, you have to reassign them from another cell. Several items of the same type also cannot be divided and simply given to a partner. To do this, they need to be thrown out of the inventory so that another character can pick them up from the floor. Most likely, this was done to complement the realism of what is happening, but it would be better if the developers introduced indicators of sleep, food, etc. At least such elements of survival games are not annoying and feel more natural.
In Generation Zero there is leveling up of the hero, but experienceaccumulates so slowly that you often forget about it. But even if we remember about the unallocated perks, it turns out that in half a day of play, hardly more than three skill points are collected.
Local customization works just as strangely.During the passage, the gamer finds clothes that change the appearance of the hero and give him various bonuses. True, you won’t be able to admire the outfits, the game is in first person, but you can see the protagonist in the character menu or show off new clothes in front of rare partners. True, the clothes surprise with their absurd perks and inconsistency with the supposedly realistic survival. In what normal “survival game” will you find sneakers with a jump boost bonus or a T-shirt with damage protection? A very strange decision by the creators.
The co-op mode does not greatly affect the ease.In theory, playing the game is better and more fun in a group, but Generation Zero does not count the tasks completed together for joining gamers, so players rarely connect to other people’s sessions. Who wants to help others, but only collect loot themselves and supposedly have fun. There are few users on the network, and most of them are inadequate, which means that in fact Generation Zero is better to go through alone, occasionally receiving help from random partners. In the end, you can call your friends and play calmly with them.
Generation Zero looks beautiful and atmospheric.This is supported by a realistic day/night cycle and pleasant, but not ideal, graphics. And yet there is something to look at, especially during sunset, dawn or rain. The optimization is a little lame: sometimes there are causeless crashes or fps drops. But in general, Generation Zero is stable and is not picky about hardware, so it can easily run on budget builds with medium-high graphics settings.
Local sound perfectly complements the pictureand works well for the atmosphere of the 80s robot apocalypse. Unobtrusive, upbeat music with elements of synth and fashionable retrowave is always playing in the background. True, I didn’t remember any specific melody, but the right mood was created.
Generation Zero looks half-bakeda test version of something bigger and cool, but still unattainable. It always feels like you're playing an alpha or beta version rather than the finished product. The game is sorely lacking in content, NPCs and normal, albeit standard, tasks, and the available elements of RPG, stealth and teamwork are made crookedly and do not feel as desired. The far-fetched survival game, as well as the imaginary realism, are also annoying. But the Swedish new product pleases with an atmospheric picture and correct, although not memorable, music. In its current state, I do not recommend this game for purchase. It might be worth waiting a couple of months and watching for content updates, but for now it’s better to bypass Generation Zero.
Generation zero
Genre
First Person Shooter, Survival, Action
Platform
PC, Xbox One, PS4
Number of players
up to 4
Developer
Avalanche Studios
Publisher
Avalanche Studios, THQ Nordic
Localization
Subtitles
release date
March 26, 2019
PS4 games can be purchased from the MOYO online store