For a lot of folks, Zombie Apocalypse might never ever happen but that doesn’t mean people all around the globe is not fascinated by them. In fact, many movies, series and video games have adapted this genre. To name a few, popular titles include but not limited to The Walking Dead, World War Z and video games like Resident Evil and Left for Dead. So is this game another of those drama-filled, survival role-playing games? This game will definitely surprise you.
Platform Reviewed: PS4
Platforms Available: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
Developer: Rocketcat Games, Madgarden
Publisher: UKIYO Publishing
Release Date: May 8, 2018
MSRP: $14.99
This review is based on a review code provided by UKIYO Publishing.
The player starts the game in a safe house in Florida where it has been overrun by zombies and you need to go out and survive. This is now the tutorial of the game and will teach you the basic ropes but not everything there is to the game. Once you get out, news has it that in Ontario, Canada this is your last safe haven. The player will have to start a new game with a friend riding their car to the destination. This is now where the fun starts and possibly drives you at your wit’s end.
Death Road to Canada is an indie game published and developed by RocketCat Games that was originally released on PC. It has also been ported to iOS and Android and is now released to switch and Xbox One. This game is a randomly generated road trip action RPG where every time you start a new story, all events, characters, weapons and zombie scenarios are different. It features pixelated characters and ridiculous looking zombies and can invite another player to add to the fun. Along the journey, you may meet characters who would want to join you or visit camps to recruit them off with food. So now you have a few friends along – does that make the journey manageable? Not really. You see, the more characters you bring in the more food that they have to consume so the more you need to explore houses or buildings in order to store food. Now food is the in-game currency. The player needs to trade this with weapons, armors, and ammunition which is essential to survive in this unforgiving world. But it would actually be fun to have a few members and name them your family member, friends or even famous Celebrities.
Characters also have their own perks that will be highly advantageous in the survival of your group. Perks like Megabuff is useful in throwing furniture at zombies which could prove vital in saving ammunition for that horde or Gunginer enables that character to have better damage with rifles or handguns or characters with an Athlete perks makes them good at overrunning zombie hordes to safety. Now these are all good, right? But these perks actually affects their stats that affects how they behave during combat or during random events. Some events need to have a certain skill for it to be successful as you may just send a character to loot a lonely house and emerge alive but assign a character with low loyalty to fight off bandits might be futile to your group as you may get sold out and its game over.
Death is final in this game. If a team member dies, their items dropped for you to pick up and move on for your arduous journey to Canada. This is one of the things that makes this game really unique on its own. It’s like a Russian Roulette since every playthrough is a different story, empowering players to make the story their own and I truly believe this was executed well with Death Road to Canada and the player will need to undergo a handful of playthroughs before one can even experience all of them.
Although the randomness is something you can admire, it may prove frustrating to some. Aside from the basic game guides, you will have to learn everything on your own especially after you die and you will have to do it all over again. At some points, difficulty could spike erratically making it seem unfair since it felt like you really tried hard to prepare for the worst and probably may be a turn off too. It may seem easy just so smash these pixelated funny looking zombies but it actually isn’t. Sometimes they tend to be overwhelming and I hated the first random siege event since there wasn’t any description at all that you just needed to survive for a few seconds and all along I thought you have to annihilate zombies in that area to complete that mission. So I finished with fewer team members and very low on ammo and food. What annoys me too is that their health bar is represented by a heart symbol and it’s not quantified. I see zombies getting too close to my characters but I don’t really know the extent of the damage until they get surrounded by zombies then they get eaten while I run off praying and hoping to survive the catastrophe.
Still, this game is one of the best road trips game out there, music for this game is well thought of, contagious, upbeat and nostalgic. Reaching Canada and finishing this game will really give you that genuine accomplishment that I haven’t had and I think most players in a while. Another beauty I like to point out is that you will be given a chance to recruit a dog that will fight zombies alongside your team. This pet dog can even be the leader of your team and can even drive off the car! Nevertheless, that dog might survive another day or two unless you have another character you can pass the torch to. There is really a lot of details of this game that you will have to use in order to survive. Players will need wits, street smart and a lot of luck to finish this game and oh! Loads and loads of patience.
