Generation Zero

[coopasonic]

Looking at Generation Zero for $9. Seems to have decent reviews.

I thought so too, then I quit after two hours. I think it would be better in co-op, but it just wasn't doing it for me. The world is pretty empty and some of the enemies are a serious pain even early on and I generally enjoy Souls-likes, so hard isn't generally a problem.

So I didn't say anything nice about this game when that conversation happened, but it was included in this month's Humble Choice and I gave the key to my son since we were looking for something to play co-op. We've only played a couple of hours, but we are having fun with it in co-op. It's not really a typical survival game as you don't build anything, but the atmosphere is very similar. There are no living people around, just machines out for blood. You scrounge for weapons, ammo and supplies while trying to figure out what happened to everyone.

The shooting isn't great, the stealth isn't great, the story is... in a different language, something Nordic I think, but with English subtitles available. I haven't really paid attention to the story, mostly because I can't be bothered to read it all when I just want to find the next thing to shoot. There are a few tiers of weapons (well, two that I have seen, but there may yet be a third) and some very basic skill.... uhhh... poles? They are linear so not really trees. Loot seems to be somewhat random as my son and I are getting different items from the same boxes in the same session. Ammo for some weapons is scarce. I have around t60 sniper rounds, but 900 SMG rounds.

Anyway, if you have someone else to play with, I think it's worth a shot, particularly is you are buying the bundle anyway.

[Grifman]

Yes, I'm reviving a more than 3 year old thread

So I was watching some videos about this game that came across my feed, and it looked pretty fun, so I picked up the game and all but one DLC for $40 in a sale a few months ago. After finishing Starfield, I was looking at my backlog and decided to give this ago. And this is great fun! Basically, you are in post apocalyptic Sweden (or at least part of it, I'm not sure how much of the country is impacted) that has been invaded by killer robots. The game was rated mediocre when it came out, as it was pretty bare bones, but over several years, the developers have added a lot of stuff:

1) They've enhanced the story by adding a handful of NPC survivors (the original had no other humans) and by adding a number of devastated settlements/outposts
2) They have added "rivals" - basically if you are successful in a region, that region can spawn a powerful boss who continues to level up as you gain success.
3) They have added base assaults, base building, and base defense. The robots will build bases over time,and you can take them out and build your own bases.
4) They've added augmentations (think perks) that you can add to your weapons
5) Just recently they've added a robot "runner" (dog) companion who will carry stuff and fight with you. You can customize it with weapons/armor.

The game reminds me a lot of Terminator Resistance - you are fighting robots in a PA world, with light RPG, weapon modding and crafting elements. I love the robots - there are a number of different types and they all act and sound differently. That aspect is great, as you learn to identify the robots by sound, as you usually hear them before you see them. They really remind me a lot of wild animals as they roam, and " howl" and make all sorts of cries and calls. And if you get their attention, they are very persistent and will often seek to hunt you down unless you can quickly break contact.

Anyway, I'm really enjoying the game, you may want to check it out. It's a AA game but for me, it gets the job done, and it's been a blast.

[Blackhawk]

Myself, my son, Brian, and Brian's wife played this for a couple of months a while back. Our impressions were generally much less favorable. Below is my Steam review. If you're having fun, I'd recommend not reading it.

Spoiler:

Avoid this game. It looks great, but it just doesn't work.

First, the game does a terrible[/url] job of communicating:

The missions keep sending us into areas that are way beyond us (and people talk about five crown weapons - we haven't seen a single one.) Other than unlocking safehouses, there doesn't seem to be any goal or objective. There are bases we can destroy, control points we can claim, and there are bosses we can fight, but... why? How does it benefit us to claim control points? When we kill bosses, what are we trying to achieve?

We're constantly getting into situations with endless waves of infinitely respawning enemies and have no clue where they're coming from or what we're supposed to be doing about it, leading to hour-long bullet sponge fights in which nobody has any fun.

It isn't clear about what ammo types do what (hey, it's AP - what counts as armor? What possible use is there for soft point bullets against machines?)

There are dozens and dozens of items with no indication whatsoever as to their purpose.

Kill a FNIX base and you get rewards. What do you get? a bunch of icons that appear at the top of your screen with zero indication as to what they actually are, and no way that we can find to go back and review them.

There is DLC that adds craftable special items. Hey, let's craft this turret I just paid cash for. It requires resources that I never, ever see (electrolytes), that can apparently only be obtained by recycling large numbers of other rare items we never see in enough quantities to actually recycle. The same resources that are required for multiple things, and when I finally do get enough to craft those turrets... they last about 30 seconds.

It doesn't communicate anything about weak spots beyond 'blue sparks' which are generally so spread out (and mixed with other people's shots) that after almost 30 hours, we still don't know where to target. And there is zero feedback on enemies that are, essentially, bullet sponges that take five minutes and hundreds of rounds to put down.

Second, nothing works. Seriously - I've never had so few things work in a game.

Build a base. Ok. Start an invasion. Great. Every wall disappears in one shot each. Glad I built those.

Make a companion runner. Great. Except he dies almost instantly, teleports directly in front of us when we're on our motorcycles (often destroying them), and bugs out half of the time.

It's a co-op game. Great! Except that the players are disconnecting or crashing eight or ten times per three-hour session.

And everything is constantly out of sync. Today I sat there watching my friends being mowed down by turrets on a destroyed FNIX base, turrets that they couldn't damage (because they weren't supposed to be there), and that I couldn't see (because they were supposed to be gone. They regularly stand there while I'm fighting enemies that they can't see.

And then there is the 'field radio' fast travel option (to travel somewhere - including to your friends - you have to craft a radio that only has a few uses.) Playing with friends. Tough fight. We go down a lot. Ok, drop a field radio. Then another one. Then another one. Oh, we ran out (because they require effing electrolytes to craft.) Out of radios? Guess what? You can't play with your friends anymore. Instead, you get to ride your super-slow motorcycle back while to them, only to die again and ride it back again. 30 seconds of gameplay every three or four minutes. Great design there. It's a co-op game - let us actually play with our friends. There is no reason not to let players fast travel to other players on their team.

This has so much potential, and could be a great game, but stop putting out barely usable DLC and make the bleeping game work.

[Grifman]

Myself, my son, Brian, and Brian's wife played this for a couple of months a while back. Our impressions were generally much less favorable. Below is my Steam review. If you're having fun, I'd recommend not reading it.

Spoiler:

Avoid this game. It looks great, but it just doesn't work.

First, the game does a terrible[/url] job of communicating:

The missions keep sending us into areas that are way beyond us (and people talk about five crown weapons - we haven't seen a single one.) Other than unlocking safehouses, there doesn't seem to be any goal or objective. There are bases we can destroy, control points we can claim, and there are bosses we can fight, but... why? How does it benefit us to claim control points? When we kill bosses, what are we trying to achieve?

We're constantly getting into situations with endless waves of infinitely respawning enemies and have no clue where they're coming from or what we're supposed to be doing about it, leading to hour-long bullet sponge fights in which nobody has any fun.

It isn't clear about what ammo types do what (hey, it's AP - what counts as armor? What possible use is there for soft point bullets against machines?)

There are dozens and dozens of items with no indication whatsoever as to their purpose.

Kill a FNIX base and you get rewards. What do you get? a bunch of icons that appear at the top of your screen with zero indication as to what they actually are, and no way that we can find to go back and review them.

There is DLC that adds craftable special items. Hey, let's craft this turret I just paid cash for. It requires resources that I never, ever see (electrolytes), that can apparently only be obtained by recycling large numbers of other rare items we never see in enough quantities to actually recycle. The same resources that are required for multiple things, and when I finally do get enough to craft those turrets... they last about 30 seconds.

It doesn't communicate anything about weak spots beyond 'blue sparks' which are generally so spread out (and mixed with other people's shots) that after almost 30 hours, we still don't know where to target. And there is zero feedback on enemies that are, essentially, bullet sponges that take five minutes and hundreds of rounds to put down.

Second, nothing works. Seriously - I've never had so few things work in a game.

Build a base. Ok. Start an invasion. Great. Every wall disappears in one shot each. Glad I built those.

Make a companion runner. Great. Except he dies almost instantly, teleports directly in front of us when we're on our motorcycles (often destroying them), and bugs out half of the time.

It's a co-op game. Great! Except that the players are disconnecting or crashing eight or ten times per three-hour session.

And everything is constantly out of sync. Today I sat there watching my friends being mowed down by turrets on a destroyed FNIX base, turrets that they couldn't damage (because they weren't supposed to be there), and that I couldn't see (because they were supposed to be gone. They regularly stand there while I'm fighting enemies that they can't see.

And then there is the 'field radio' fast travel option (to travel somewhere - including to your friends - you have to craft a radio that only has a few uses.) Playing with friends. Tough fight. We go down a lot. Ok, drop a field radio. Then another one. Then another one. Oh, we ran out (because they require effing electrolytes to craft.) Out of radios? Guess what? You can't play with your friends anymore. Instead, you get to ride your super-slow motorcycle back while to them, only to die again and ride it back again. 30 seconds of gameplay every three or four minutes. Great design there. It's a co-op game - let us actually play with our friends. There is no reason not to let players fast travel to other players on their team.

This has so much potential, and could be a great game, but stop putting out barely usable DLC and make the bleeping game work.

Nah, it doesn't bother me. I'm having fun, and what someone else says or experienced doesn't change what I am experiencing. That said, I've never been sent to an area that I could not handle, I've not seen endless waves of respawning enemies, and I pretty much understand what most items are used for - the game seems to tell you, so I'm not certain why this is an issue. And as for weak spots, a 10 second Google search will tell you what they are, though I guessed what they were based upon logic (head, arms, legs) and Google confirmed that (along with fuel tanks). I also shot the legs off one big boy and he laid there crippled and I shot the arm off another and he couldn't use all his weapons, so experience was good teacher. Sure, the game should make it easier for you to figure it out, but if after 30 hours of frustration and you haven't looked at Google for an answer? Same for FNIX base rewards - why are you not looking stuff up online if you are getting frustrated? I'd also say if you are spending hundreds of rounds to take out an enemy, you are using the wrong tools - that's what grenade/rocket launchers/RPG's and .50 cal BMG's are for. As for weapon level, I'm level 13 and am starting to see 3 crown equipment, but I'm pretty certain the 4 and 5 crown are further north where I'm assuming it is more dangerous. But I'm playing SP and a lot of your issues are with MP (which seem really bad, I feel for you) and don't affect me.

[Blackhawk]

Of course I googled, and read guides. I've been playing games a long time, and I'm an obsessive researcher. Hell, I'm regularly finding answers for other people when it comes to game mechanics/content.

It's been four or five months since we played, so I don't remember enough about the inventory to remember what icons I was referring to, but I do remember that it wasn't anything you could just look up. The FNIX rewards were just symbols flashing by. You can't google that. There was so little feedback on the weak spots that nobody was ever sure if they were hitting them or not when the guns were fairly inaccurate and the 'sparks' from the impacts were coming from four guns at once - you couldn't tell if you were seeing your shots or someone else's.

I did find out that the reason that we had the infinite spawns was caused by enemy bases that didn't spawn properly, leaving them either partially or wholly invisible/underground/etc so that you couldn't see or kill the spawners (this was apparently a big problem around the airport, where we encountered it.)

Seriously, I'm not the type to encounter a confusing (whatever) in a game and not attempt to find the solution. Everything I stated was a real problem. It's possible that the game has had a lot of issues fixed since we played it. I hope so - I really, really liked the content. It was just the poor communication and bugs that absolutely killed it for us.

[Grifman]

I just found my new favorite toy - remote controlled tick bombs. Two of these can take out a "rival" robot. The only catch is that your character is frozen in place while operating the tick. That almost cost me was running my tick along when I spotted going in the other direction a hunter going towards me. Had to repurpose my tick, and luckily the hunter stopped to search for me, and my tick caught up and took him out. Exciting moment, that one.

[Grifman]

Man, I am starting to feel like a flea to be swatted away whenever the robots want to. For some reason, there are now two separate opposing robot forces fighting it out with very large hulking monsters. Sometimes there a groups of them duking it out. All I can do is watch, maybe pick off the weaker winner of the fight. I'm pretty much reduced to scurrying from house to forest to house, sometimes creeping out to scavenge gear from the dead hulks (they drop really good stuff sometimes) that remain after a battle. And now there are flying things that are almost impossible to kill - they take too many shots but they strafe you, and you pretty much die. The story is getting pretty good too - how did the robots get here - many survivors in their diaries/logs think they are either aliens or Russian invaders. And are there other survivors - there are hints but all I have come across are dead. Still enjoying it, though crashes are becoming more frequent unfortunately, something the game has continued to suffer from according to the forums.

[Blackhawk]

FWIW, despite my issues with bugs, stability, and mechanics, I really enjoyed the setting and story. I liked spending time exploring their world!

[Grifman]

FWIW, despite my issues with bugs, stability, and mechanics, I really enjoyed the setting and story. I liked spending time exploring their world!

It reminds me a lot of Terminator Resistance but in a rural instead of urban environment. I've found many scenes of battle - burnt out settlements/farms, destroyed military outposts, even a couple of times I've found trench lines where the Swedish army tried to make a stand. All are surrounded by dead troops and robots, showing the army put up a good fight, but was overwhelmed. The environmental story telling is pretty good. I even found a farm where civilians had had a Wild West shootout with the robots - all of the dead were armed with two six shooters! Very funny.

[Giles Habibula]

I played this game a couple of years ago, and my memories are pretty positive, although I've got to qualify that by saying I only ever played single player.

I don't remember any crashing or stability problems, or really any problem that stood out.

The environment though really stood out as beautiful. I loved the sense of place and the feeling of exploration. I was never overwhelmed by enemies, but again, this was a couple years ago so I'm hesitant to make any sweeping declarations other than that I really enjoyed the hours I spent in that world. Enough so that even though I had already paid for the game on Steam, I also ordered the big long-box Collector's Edition from somewhere. I don't even know what's in the box since I never opened it, but it's rather heavy.

Anyway, yeah, very positive SP memories, and I'm certain I'll be installing it again at some point. I only ever deleted it because I needed HD space on my old rig, but I've got room now again.