Forget the zombies, humans are the real post-apocalypse nightmare

Reporter

Sunday 1 July 2012

THE prospect of a zombie apocalypse, so beloved of filmmakers and games designers, is a truly terrifying one.

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GAME OF THE WEEK: DayZ (requires Arma II: Operation Arrowhead) Reviewed by Jody Harrison

Imagine the world ending in a bloodbath of global proportions, the streets choked with hordes of flesh-eating monsters who used to be your friends, neighbours and co-workers.

But at the same time, it's also a beguilingly exhilarating scenario. For the survivors, all responsibilities have melted away in the face of the ultimate disaster, and existence becomes an open vista of possibilities. Plus you could loot any shop you want without fear of ending up in court six months down the line, and shoot people you don't like without fear of reprisal.

But do you really think you'd be one of the survivors? Well, you're wrong. Dead wrong. And DayZ – the wildly popular mod for niche military simulator Arma II – will show you why. Coming out of nowhere, like a fresh zombie staggering through the pre-dawn mist, DayZ has single-handedly propelled sales of Arma II, a three-year-old game with limited appeal, to the top of the best-seller charts. It is, in the words of its creator Dean "Rocket" Hall, an "anti-game". There are no levels to achieve, no points to rack up, no missions to complete and definitely no achievements to unlock.You're simply dropped down on a beach, on the south coast of a 225sqkm map, with a bandage and a torch, and the challenge is to survive. The first step is to find a weapon, then camping gear and medical supplies, by scavenging towns and farms you find as you wander around.DayZ uses Arma II's notoriously hardcore game engine, meaning you have to eat and drink regularly, watch your temperature so you don't get sick and rest after running to get your breath back. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. Bones break when you're under attack, blood flows from your wounds and one shot from a bullet is enough to kill you. Permanently.And there are many ways to die, as the zombies are not your biggest worry. DayZ is a multi-player game and each player can shoot to kill and loot their opponents' gear, which may have taken weeks to collect. This is the genius of DayZ, and it's something that's been explored in very few games. It may even be the reason why it's so popular, as it is offering gamers a completely new experience.At the moment - DayZ is still in a rolling development phase, with tweaks coming weekly – the player dynamic online is tense enough to induce the shakes. Players have, by and large, adopted a shoot-on-sight policy. But every so often, friendships can break out and alliances get formed. This leads to higher-tier experiences, with some groups going on to repair vehicles or claim buildings for their own.This is, says Hall, the core idea of the project. "I think it just seems crazy to me that as a medium, video games haven't really explored a lot of the areas that movies and literature constantly explore," he said recently. "You look at the zombie genre - You know, zombies aren't the terror. There's complex political stuff that happens when the world collapses. Games? You just shoot zombies."Not any more.

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Forget the zombies, humans are the real post-apocalypse nightmare

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