ZombiU on the Wii U was a special game, even if it was not a particularly good one- it is one of the rare games that actually utilized the Wii U’s much maligned Gamepad controller effectively, using it to amp up the tension and atmosphere in the horror game. So when the PS4, Xbox One, and PC port was announced yesterday, one of the questions that very naturally arose was- how would that tension, which relied so intrinsically on the Wii U Gamepad, be replicated?
“We knew from the beginning that maintaining the tension and feel of the original was one of the main challenges, as the way ZombiU was presented on Wii U cannot be reproduced,” says Hélène Henry, Zombi’s producer. While the minimap (which formerly required players to glance down at the Wii U gamepad) has been moved onto the main screen, “We maintain a minimal HUD as much as possible,” Henry says. “It disappears when not required, giving the game a very lonely feeling. If you have surround sound, the awesome sound mix from the original still stands and greatly helps immersion. As much as possible, we’ve tried to keep those key elements.”
“Also, there has been a slight increase in the field of view,” Henry adds, “and players can increase and decrease it a little if they want to, but not so much that it takes away that claustrophobic feeling. Some work was also undertaken on the control mapping and response to improve the look and feel of the first-person movement.”
“We kept the central idea that you’re always vulnerable,” Henry says. “Rummaging in the backpack still doesn’t pause the game. We’ve added a dedicated button to access the backpack, which lets players see their full inventory and assign shortcut keys.” While accessing the inventory, you won’t be able to see anything happening on the main screen. With the game not pausing, that should hopefully adequately replicate the Wii U experience.
Other changes also abound- while the cricket bat was the only melee weapon in the Wii U version, the PS4, Xbox One, and PC ports will have two additional ones. Plus, the local multiplayer mode of ZombiU will not be returning in these versions. This is because they “believe this is where the ZombiU experience really lay.”
Zombi launches on PS4, Xbox One, and PC on August 18. It can be had on Wii U right now.
