During our recent trip to E3, we got the chance to check out Overkill’s The Walking Dead. Sit back, relax and let me tell you about Overkill’s new game.
Overkill’s The Walking Dead Preview
Overkill’s The Walking Dead is a first-person shooter that plays very similar to Left 4 Dead or Payday. The levels are session based, and each one has an objective for you to complete. We got to try one of these levels out for about 20 minutes, where we had to find a water purifier to bring back to our camp. Of course, it wouldn’t be fun if it was as simple as walking into a grocery store and finding one. Zombies and survivors alike are trying to stop you from getting to your objective.
You can go in guns blazing if you want, but ammo is limited – severely limited. When you loot something for ammo, you typically get less than five bullets. To make up for this, you can bring a variety of melee weapons. I used a machete, but there were bats, hammers and even a bo staff in the demo we played. On top of that, each character has a special move and stats, so you can find someone who suits your play style. There was a medic, a brawler, a sniper, and a stealth-based character to choose from. Just because they have specific strengths though, doesn’t mean you can’t play them how you see fit. There is an armory where you can change their weapons and gear before a mission.
Another interesting thing they added was the ability to bring tools. Our team had three lockpicks and one set of wire cutters. In the zombie apocalypse, a lot of people lock their stuff up, so having lock picks is a good idea. There were other tools you could bring as well, and they seemed to let you loot certain spots on the map. We didn’t bring those so I couldn’t test them, unfortunately. With the limited ammo and other supplies, having these tools can be the difference between escaping and dying. The wire cutters gave us access to new paths and the lock picks opened lock boxes. With how rare supplies are, these can be very helpful. Now I’ll tell you how the demo went for us since it was a good time.
At the start, we all moved quietly with our melee weapons taking out walkers as we came across them. We looted a few houses, got some ammo and meds, and began moving to the objective. It was around this time we found a bear trap by stepping into it. Traps are in the game, and there are more than bear traps to deal with. As we progressed, we watched our steps and ran into some enemy humans. Up to this point, we had a clean run – no sound, no nothing. One misclick later and a flashbang goes off, and all hell breaks loose. The enemy humans are shooting the zombies are attacking them and us, and everyone is making way to much noise. With limited ammo and a horde of zombies and gun-wielding humans, we fought hard but ultimately died before reaching the end.
Of all the E3 demos we played this year, this one left the biggest impression on us. It was a good laugh and after all was said and done, and we were rewarded with flashbang pins for the effort. Check back on November 6 for our full impression of Overkill’s The Walking Dead.
