Brrraaaiiinnnnsssssss.................

State of Decay was released on the 5th of June in 2013 and is a open-world zombie survival horror game on the xbox 360 and soon the PC. SoD was developed by Undead Labs (ahhh see what they did there) and published by Microsoft Studios.

Presentation:

State of Decay focuses on survival: stealth, evasion, distractions, base building, survivor community, securing resources, and moving through the world than actual zombie combat. The game is in an open world, where the player's choices are an important factor. Players are able to choose a location to build a base in. Structures such as watch towers, gardens, sleeping quarters, kitchens, workshops, medical bays, and barricades can be constructed to defend against the infected population, help survivors recover faster and build explosives and other tools. State of Decay, in my opinion, is the closest representation to an actual zombie outbreak, if one is gonna happen in the future. 

Graphics:

I must say that graphics are not the best but they are at a good standards. Zombies, playable characters and NPCS all look pretty good but I can tell that the main focus was the huge open world that the outbreak has taken place in. Trumbull County is the name and zombie outbreaks are it's game (terrible...I know), just walking, sneaking, running or driving around the county and you will see that the area that you have to scavenge from just to stay alive, is well and truly designed and made, the game world is 16 kilometers square.. Just exploring what the area as to offer and what it looks like and take a fair amount of game time. 

Gameplay:

Food, water, shelter, ammo, and construction materials are necessary for survival. To obtain these supplies, the player will need to go on raids to abandoned supermarkets and many other shops, or the player can grow food themselves. The player can also find other groups of survivors that are willing to trade their resources with the player, in exchange for ammunition They can also be sent out to loot, find a new base location or to come pick up supplies found by the player. Once a high enough relationship is developed with these new characters will be playable. Saving NPCs will add them to the community of survivors. Each NPC can be assigned tasks like doing runs to collect items, or scouting. If a NPC or playable character leave the home site if they are not rescued they may die or become lost. The game features 99 different guns and 30-40 melee weapons to be found around the world. Gunshots will attract zombies, to combat this weapons can be equipped with suppressors. During the game player characters can enter buildings. While loot will often be found, so will zombies. Fenced buildings can be turned into a base. Only one base can be occupied at a time, they can be overrun, and relocated. A large number of customization options exist for the base, including, but not limited to, gardens, kitchens, tents for sleeping, storage areas, radio station for communication, workshop for upgrading and repairing weapons, training centers, generators for power, guard towers, and walls for defense. 

Verdict:

I would put more and more down in this review but that's another day, in the mean time, pick the game up give it a go and kick some butt, find supplies, build your base, and overall survive. 

- Dave