How to survive is a zombie survival game which came out in October 2013. It was not very advertised whatsoever and has pretty much been under the radar since release. However, just because it is not well known doesn't mean it should be forgotten.
StorylineThe player gets a choice out of 3 characters, each with a set skill tree and is then thrown right into the action. You are a survivor on a set of 4 islands. Your boat has just crashed and it seems you are stranded. The player must then explore the island and meet new allies and a horde full of zombies in an attempt to escape. Along the way there will be books you can pick up, named "Kovacs rules". These teach you about how to survive on the island and provide a comical insight into the situation.
Overall, the story is lacking and there is not much to it, however, I personally don't think that a deep story would have benefited this style of game.
GameplayH2S uses a top down camera and works the same way as a twin stick shooter, even with the use of melee weapons. The gameplay is relatively smooth and plays well in terms of controls. The main fault is that the button layout can be a bit daunting at first (RB to attack, RT to sprint), but the player soon adjusts. It has couch co-op for story and challenge mode, but only has online co-op for the challenges, which to me seems like a bad move on EKO studios' part.
The gameplay is pretty solid and plays like any twin stick shooter would, although sometimes it feels as though the aiming does not seem to aim where you want it to. The main difference between H2S and most other zombie games is the inclusion of survival stats; Hunger, thirst and tiredness. If these stats get to 0, then it will cause a drawback on your character, such as not doing as much damage with melee when hunger is at 0. Although this makes it feel more like a survival game rather than a massacre, it can become tedious when you're running up and down trying to find a plant or deer to hunt for food. At times, it causes a distraction from the main story of the game and feels more like you're playing the Sims.
The game provides plenty of weapons and weapon combinations. These range from a wooden stick, to an iron hammer or even a crossbow. By combining different items, it allows you to create different types of guns, bows, melee weapons and even armour. The blueprints for these can be found across the 4 islands and show you what you need to create them. However, even if you don't have the blueprint, you can still make the items by experimenting.
The majority of this game is a simple concept of " go to this point, get this item for this character, return". This can become very tedious but the game slowly opens up more items and skills for you to prevent it from going stale too quickly.
The skill trees for each character are mostly the same, with each character having a distinct skill that the others cannot use. This makes playing the game in co-op even more rewarding, as you can combine these skills to get new items ( Such as Jack making scopes, and Kenji making crossbows)
GraphicsThe graphics on this game are fairly good, though nothing special. The jungle scene is done well, with the trees and water looking fairly realistic. The biggest let down is the lack of detail on the zombies and the fact that it recycles the same zombie models constantly.
SoundIt is hard to say about the sound on this game , because it is lacking most of the time. There is no music in the background and you are mostly listening to the groans of the zombies. The special zombies have distinct sounds, and not having background music makes it easier to identify these. However, it can become very quiet throughout the game and you will find yourself listening to the sound of the sea more often than anything else.
AchievementsThe achievements in this game are pretty straightforward. Most can be completed in 1 playthrough if you start on Iron man difficulty and make sure to finish all side quests and get the 20 collectables. There is also the challenge mode which has 3 achievements for getting an S ranking on one challenge, and getting and overall rank which is decided by the final score per challenge. The final achievement is for completing any challenge in co-op.
OverallOverall, H2S is a fairly decent game and is especially fun when playing couch co-op and utilising the skills that each character has to offer. Be prepared to share resources though!
The game lasts 6-8 hours for a full playthrough, exploring what there is to offer, and the challenge mode can easily provide another 3-4 hours of gameplay.
The main downside to the game is the repetitiveness and the fact that the survival aspect sometimes takes away from the game. It is worth the £9.99 price tag if this is your sort of game, but I would definitely recommend trying the demo first. At a sale price, I'd say its definitely worth a buy if you have a co-op partner, but could be quite boring if playing on your own.
** This is my first review and I welcome any feedback that you may have to improve this review, or any future reviews.**
3.5