No, that’s not a tangential insult aimed at the bearded brigade or the rucksack-toting tattooed wonder children, but a computer game.
It’s set in Sweden in the 1980s, and has you trying to unravel the mystery of why the country’s huge arsenal of autonomous defence robots has gone postal. Me neither, I had no idea that Sweden was a) riddled with huge underground defence bunkers – probably true in hindsight, what with the history with the pesky neighbours and all – and b) awash with massive autonomous killer robots almost 40 years ago. But there you go.
So the premise is simple; when you get back from your hols on a remote island, everyone has either buggered off or been slaughtered by the civil defence ironwork, which is now roaming the (vast) countryside shooting at things that breathe and move. You can play solo, as I have been for a few weeks now, or in co-op with others, which is likely where the biggest fun is to be had.
So my question is this – do any other Massivistas indulge in this hoot of a game on their PC?
It was reported last month that due to increased tensions with Russia, Sweden is reacivating underground warship harbours.
That’s warships…as in the frkkin huge grey things that float in millions of tons of water.
The size of these caverns and the engineering involved beggars belief.
And until recently they were almost secret
I just hope there aren’t any vast caverns chock full of the autonomous killing machines in Generation Zero, many of which are disturbingly fast and quickly lethal.
Returning to OP.
That’s coincidental because I very nearly bought Generation Zero for X Box One yesterday at my local CEX but went for Rage 2 instead because I fancied some intense cartoon violence. Is it much cop then?
It’s a Marmite game I think. And whether you play solo or multi-player probably has a big influence on whether you take to it or not.
I like to play solo FPS (or TPS) games – Medal of Honor, Call of Duty (obv), the various Far Cry editions, Tomb Raider, Max Payne and so on. For me, the plot has to be engaging, and the playing experience must be as close as possible to being the hero protagonist (Snowcrash alert) in a John Woo action movie. I want to take a fair amount of time working my way through the unfolding storyline, and I want to be able to pick it up and put it down whenever I feel like wasting an hour blowing stuff up. I’m quite happy to stealth my way around an open world, as long as the payback is explosively spectacular.
I’ve been playing Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice for 18 months now, but only for an hour or so at a time whenever I’ve felt like dropping into a Pictish underworld for a dark spell of exploration. That’s my kind of game.
So if you fit the same gameplayer MO as me, I think you’ll find it – after a very slow first few hours – ultimately quite satisfyingly addictive.
Having said all of the above, I’ve also spent large amounts of time blasting away in Multiplayer COD WAW, which is instant ultraviolence and grintastic joy. I think the multiplayer option for Gen Zero might also be a hoot, though rather more strategic in execution than the gung-ho respawn frenzy of a COD WAW session.
BTW I enjoyed RAGE but was profoundly disappointed by the dumbed down (how is that even possible?) mess that is RAGE 2.
Thanks for the tip-off. I will take a punt. I’m really a casual gamer and only ever a single player too. I like the open-world games the best eg: the Far Cry series. The occasional platformer eg Rayman. Generally, I like a challenge but don’t like games that are too complicated to play or just too darn hard. Having said that, I adore the impossibly tough Cuphead, just for the music and art alone. Recommended.
Sounds like a prequel to Horizon Zero Dawn (niche gaming nerd in-joke there). I might give this a spin on the PS4 now I have finally finished the Dark Souls trilogy, which has taken all my gaming time this year.
Have you ever looked at any of Simon Stalenhag’s illustrations? They look to mine a similar vein of retro futurist Scandinavian SF
http://simonstalenhag.se
That stuff is VERY like the Half Life 2 graphics. That’s another story – when are we going to see the next episode of the Gordon Freeman saga? The Half Life series are right up there with the best gaming brands – I forgot to mention that in my response to @Zanti-Misfit above.
I’m incapable of playing games. Twang Jr does a lot, on the PC and xBox plus his phone, but my brain turns to mush and my eyes glaze over, and believe me I have tried in the interests of communal activity. I just can’t. There is not a micron of my being which can be arsed. I did play Angry Birds a bit years ago but I was very average and just lacked the interest to get any good at it. Folks/strokes etc.
Me too, pretty much. Though Vulpes has made it sound very intriguing and worth investigating.
My problem is I’m useless at the very basics. Pals of mine were very taken with a thing called ‘Metal Gear Solid’ and would discuss finer points of tactics and game play. I bought a copy. I couldn’t get out of the first locked room at stage one. Truly. I’d either get shot or wouldn’t be able to press X and O in the right order to open the bloody door, or whatever it was you needed to do.
I’d be no good in a dystopian crisis, I feel.
“my brain turns to mush and my eyes glaze over … there is not a micron of my being which can be arsed.” Not all that dissimilar to Lodey’s reaction to Jethro Tull, it might be said.
Au contraire, Gal, he is very passionate about the Tull. If he didn’t care he’d not even notice. He feels obliged to be rude about them at every opportunity, rather like a smitten teenage boy insisting he doesn’t love that girl across the road. He doth protest too much. The opposite of love is actually indifference.
Me too @twang
I so thought I’d be ace at FIFA 72/15/16/17/18 but no. I’m quite co-ordinated in life but when it comes to modern life, nope.
Communal activity , like you I tried.
I player a shooting soldier game with TJ and I was so fucking useless in the end he walked his guy up to me and told me to shoot him. I took careful aim, the camo filled my telescopic sight, caressed the trigger and shot my own leg off.
The Forza one is ok, racing Ford Capris or MX5s etc except that I spin off on every corner. I can’t even drive slowly and stay on the track. The controllers are incomprehensible with all those buttons and triggers etc. How on earth does anyone learn it? I mean, I know they do. Just give me a Fender Strat any time.
Game controllers: devised by Daleks for the confusion of humans. I use a QWERTY keyboard and play on a monster PC. I’m not having any of this X-Box PS4 bollocks at Foxy Towers. With a PC you can remap the keyboard to fit how you want it – none of this square and triangle button malarkey.
Sounds very sensible.
I have become a little bit attached to MarioKart 8. I used to be terrible and now I’m really good at it. It’s a relaxing way to spend about 45 minutes. If I pretend I am representing Britain my performance improves – yes, I am aware how sad that sounds.