Dead Nation PSN game by Housemarque

Also there were ~50,000 entries in the online solo campaign rankings, which suggests very much 50k sales. Seems disappointing.
 
Also there were ~50,000 entries in the online solo campaign rankings, which suggests very much 50k sales. Seems disappointing.

Not really. That means they generated $750K in revenue (guesstimate) over what, a week? If the game sells another 50K over the next few months, then I think that's good news.

Besides, it's kind of disingenuous to say disappointing considering we don't know how much they spent on development. Also, I'm sure Sony handled a lot of their costs, and the marketing was all done by SCEA for the most part. So, I think it's safe to say that they'll turn a profit on it, and considering it doesn't cost them anything for virtual shelf space (especially since it's Sony published) they don't have to worry about being front loaded.
 
factor in cheap ass that share game with 5 systems, it much less than 750k.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I haven't bought it yet even though I know it's a quality title. Too many games to play now. I have The Fight, Beat Sketcher, Kung Fu Live, Gran Turismo to play -- on top of my regular MAG and Hoard run. >_<
 
I'm at the last chapter now, The Highway to Hell... It's pretty solid. The last section in particular is proving somewhat tricky to get passed, I must be on my sixth or seventh attempt now. And that's on normal!!

If there had been more options for customizing your character and your game saved at checkpoints it would be pretty sweet.

Overall it's worth buying but the lack of save points means its not a game that you can just dip into on a casual basis.
 
Just finished it the second time , 1st I did it on normal, 2nd time on mean. I don`t think I will finish it on morbid or undead , might get frustrating - I agree checkpoint saving would be nice... I think I will try to do a speedy run in braindead instead.

Anyone know how to get to the armor crate on the capsized freighter in the docks ?
 
Actually its the price that has me not buying it yet. Hope they drop it to $10 soon.

Really? They added online co-op and even somehow managed to get a platinum trophy, and you're not willing to spend $15 on it? This is the problem with the DD industry :rolleyes:

People think that there needs to be a "ceiling" on prices (i.e. a dollar for iPhone games, and ten for PSN / XBLA games).

It's absurd. It's every bit worth the $15 price tag...
 
Really? They added online co-op and even somehow managed to get a platinum trophy, and you're not willing to spend $15 on it? This is the problem with the DD industry :rolleyes:

People think that there needs to be a "ceiling" on prices (i.e. a dollar for iPhone games, and ten for PSN / XBLA games).

It's absurd. It's every bit worth the $15 price tag...

Nopes! Thats not the case. I don't think there needs to be a ceiling on the price or anything. I find it fine to spend $15 on Deathspank for what it provides, but I don't think I want to spend $15 on Dead Nation from what I know of the game. I wouldn't have spent $15 on Death Spank either, but the demo was so good, great humour, funny story and loads of stuff to do and have a laugh about. It was only after playing the demo that I got persuaded to spend $15 on it.

There's no demo for Dead Nation, from what I see its a isometric Zombie Shooter with minimal story ! I think $15 is too much for that. Its a personal opinion !

As for $1 for I phone games, well most of the games I have on my Ipod were either $7.99 or $4.99 ! The point is you pay when you think it is worth it. I don't think a generic Zombie shooter is worth $10, cos I already own L4D on PC, RE5 on PS3, ! Add to that L4Dead 2 is available for $20 these days, paying $15 for Dead Nation does feel wrong to me. As I said, its a personal decision.

Anyways, you have played it so you can say whether its worth $15 or not. I have only heard impressions and watched videos, and I think otherwise. But just like Deathspank,a demo could convert me, who knows.

(platinum or gold or silver........we don't pay for trophies, we pay for the fun gameplay! )
 
Started playing SP today on Normal. Thought it was fun. :) So far I'm liking how you can upgrade your weapons and armour, not very frustrating. Quite enjoying the look of the game so far, although at times the general darkness makes it a tad harsh on my eyes.
 
Like I wrote in my previous post I finished my speed run on the easiest difficulty. This is how the game works best for me and is the most fun. You get more points in higher difficulties but on easy you can get through faster (bonus) and avoid getting hit or die and keep your multiplier high.Very much like Stardust. I managed to keep the multiplier above 1000 pretty much throughout since the 3rd chapter or so.
Final result was place 421 worldwide and nr 10 in Germany...but I think I can do better.
 
I love this game. Love the way the weapons feel, love the shadow effects, stuff like the ground fog and just how intense it can get. My one major complaint is that the game doesn't let you save at checkpoints. You can either finish a level or you can start at the very beginning the next time. That's not really an issue on easy. Not even on normal (though it does get tough towards the end) On Grim the game gets brutal though, and very early on too. There is a particularly nasty bit at the end of level 7. I probably tried it for 3 hours straight. Didn't succeed. Then I had to stop in order to get some sleep as it was almost 4 AM. Basically I pissed away 4 hours of my life. This isn't 1991 for fuck's sake. We have hard drives for a reason.

Otherwise this is one phenomenal game. I didn't even hate the story (sure, it was simple, but enough to tie the levels together)
 
I like the game but it really is a bit too dark and the graphics a bit too small, so it is a bit of a strain to my old eyes. It's a bit too tiring to play, even though I have a 92" front projector screen. The projector does not have the best blacks, so almost all dark games aren't as well suited to it as they would be for a better display.
At least, they should have made the player controlled character stand out a bit more from the backgrounds, also putting the camera that bit closer wouldn't hurt, preferably they should give a couple of camera options: near - middle - far.
 
The darkness thankfully isn't much of an issue on my Plasma panel, but it certainly does get pitch black outside the cone of your torch (the dude has a more effective one by the way) at times (without a doubt by design) The annoying thing is that it gets worse as you take more and more damage. If you are but a hair's breadth away from dying the whole screen gets tinted in dark crimson shade. You can't see shit anymore and you might as well just give up and try again.
 
The darkness thankfully isn't much of an issue on my Plasma panel, but it certainly does get pitch black outside the cone of your torch (the dude has a more effective one by the way) at times (without a doubt by design) The annoying thing is that it gets worse as you take more and more damage. If you are but a hair's breadth away from dying the whole screen gets tinted in dark crimson shade. You can't see shit anymore and you might as well just give up and try again.
That's a common fault with many games. Crap design IMO. I suppose the idea is to generate tension as you have to panic because you can't see squat to make sensible choices in action. In this case, just leg it to recover.

The darkness also makes it hard to see some zombies, especially when the are on top of a pile of their dead clones. All too often I get hit and my multiplier takes a dive from some cloaked zombies who blends in with the squelching remains underfoot.

Still, it's a zombie game and that's much of the point of zombie fiction, being dark.

Are there any levels that take place during the day? :p I'm on level 5.
Nope. Zombies don't come out in the day. Which makes you think why the protagonist didn't wait before leaving their area! I have in-game brightness set 2 points from the top, but I may put it all the way up. Some places are pitch-black and you're reliant on sweeping you torch around, which makes sense as a gameplay element.

Also on harder difficulty, choice of weapons does make a difference as I expected. One big issue is the problem in changing weapons with just the lists to scroll through. As the face buttons aren't used, Housemarque should have user mappable weapons to quick switch on a single button press.
 
Nope. Zombies don't come out in the day. Which makes you think why the protagonist didn't wait before leaving their area!
hehe

I have in-game brightness set 2 points from the top, but I may put it all the way up. Some places are pitch-black and you're reliant on sweeping you torch around, which makes sense as a gameplay element.
Yeah I have it higher than default as well. It's just really hard to see at times, and the size of your character doesn't help either. While I appreciate the larger field of view, I wish the camera were adjustable.

Also on harder difficulty, choice of weapons does make a difference as I expected. One big issue is the problem in changing weapons with just the lists to scroll through. As the face buttons aren't used, Housemarque should have user mappable weapons to quick switch on a single button press.

Oh definitely. I've fully upgraded the rifle and shotgun, and there are times when the shotgun is a definite necessity. And regarding weapon switching, I'm having problems too, wishing I didn't buy another weapon. It's a bit cumbersome flipping through the weapons during combat, which happens much too often when I'm trying to decide between conserving ammunition or blasting everything away.
 
Yeah I have it higher than default as well. It's just really hard to see at times, and the size of your character doesn't help either. While I appreciate the larger field of view, I wish the camera were adjustable.
Playing two player, I have lost myself a couple of times. The torch beams are the only real identifier and they can get lost when it all kicks off.

Oh definitely. I've fully upgraded the rifle and shotgun, and there are times when the shotgun is a definite necessity. And regarding weapon switching, I'm having problems too, wishing I didn't buy another weapon. It's a bit cumbersome flipping through the weapons during combat, which happens much too often when I'm trying to decide between conserving ammunition or blasting everything away.
Ain't that the truth! If a big dude is coming and I want to switch to the shotgun, sometimes it gets missed, or I'm so busy looking at the weapon list I don't see myself run into another zombie. And I also look at the weapons and don't want them because they pad out the list. Having played through twice (solo on easy, coop on normal) I know my preferred weapons and won't buy others; no SMG for me.

You always ahve the option of just shooting off a weapon until you run out of ammo, and then it drops from the list. It's not ideal though. Typically you want main weaopn and then specific task weapons, like flamer for crowd control, and
rockets
for bosses or other particular moments. These would be much more handy if just a button press away.
 
The US and Finland have got to cycle 2. Does that mean anything?
Edit: I also don't get the scoring system. It's not kills to player ratio as other countries wouldn't be fairing so well. It's not total kills or the UK woud be second. It probably isn't point averages given the UK has 3 of the top 10 world leaderboard point scorers. It's perplexing, but at this point seems irrelevant. I can't see anything in the worldwide meta game to encourage repeat plays.
 
Back
Top