E3 2012: ZombiU brings frantic fun to the Wii U

Hardcore games are finally making their way to the Wii U this E3. ZombiU is just one of the more awesome games we saw demoed during the Nintendo keynote.

The basic premise of the ZombiU game for the Wii U is survival, and survive you must, with the aid of the Wii U GamePad. The trailer for the game actually opens with a ‘zombie survival kit’ briefcase containing your zombie-surviving-peripheral.

With it, you’ll be shooting zombies, smoking them out via radar or infrared scans, rooting through your inventory, hacking security cams, smacking zombies on the head and even breaking door locks.

It is insanely cool to have a one-size-fits-all weapon of mass destruction the size of a tablet computer doing everything in the game, but we don’t think it’s the best sized handheld for a game with this much action. The Wii U GamePad fits nicely in place when it comes to breaking electronic door locks and beating undead things over the head. But shooting zombies may be awkward, due to the controller’s wider footprint, for some gamers who are used to the more nimble X360 and PS3 controllers.

We’ve also read that there’s a multiplayer mode available, where one player takes up the mantle of a Zombie Master, while the other is your standard human on the run. Zombie Masters are able to spawn up to ten zombies, of which there are four types, at any one time. Multiplayer is currently limited to one-vs-one capture the flag, but we’re sure more modes and capabilities will be rolled out for launch.

In spite of the Wii U’s clunkiness in this action shooter, ZombiU is definitely one of the more promising games showcased at E3 ’12. And as a fan of zombies in general, I can’t wait for this!