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WiiU

Killer Freaks Becomes Zombi U

by Pedro Hernandez - June 4, 2012, 5:07 pm EDT
Total comments: 19

The exclusive M-rated game was showcased at the Ubisoft press conference.

Ubisoft has announced Zombi U, a zombie apocalypse-based survival shooter exclusive to the Wii U. The game is the final form of the project once known as Killer Freaks from Outer Space.

At their press conference today, Ubisoft showed off a cinematic trailer of the game. The trailer consisted of shots of people in zombie-infested Great Britain involved in a number of gory situations involving the infected—combined with scenes of cells being infected by the virus—while "God Save the Queen" played in the background.

No actual gameplay footage was shown, though, according to a press release from Ubisoft, the game will use the Wii U GamePad controller, as demos of Killer Freaks did. The press release also detailed several of the first-person shooter's mechanics, including the ability to take control of another survivor upon death, the use of the GamePad's touch screen as an inventory (or "Bug Out Bag"), and a multiplayer mode that places one player in the role of "Zombie Master," giving them a top-down tactical view via the GamePad screen and the ability to spawn zombies against another player, who fights useing the Wii U Pro Controller.

What may have been video of the game was briefly shown in the Nintendo Direct conference yesterday.

Talkback

juancaarJune 04, 2012

Just hope that the multiplayer also includes ONLINE multiplayer...

CericJune 04, 2012

My interest in this game has dropped from curious to you have to pay me to take this game.  I mean I just really needed another Zombie game.  This is why it so hard to find any game worth owning anymore.

NeoStar9XJune 04, 2012

From the PR it seems the game has pemadeath. Each time you die your character becomes a Zombi and you respawn as a new survivor. Once in the game you seem to be able to hunt down your previous character to get back you items and try to survivor again. So potentially it sounds like you could have a lot of weapons, ammo, etc and lose it all and then possibly have to go up against your previous character who might have all that and I wonder if they'll be using it to kill you. Trying to kill that character and get back your equipment could be pretty challenging as long as the gameplay holds up.

leahsdadJune 04, 2012

Quote from: Ceric

My interest in this game has dropped from curious to you have to pay me to take this game.  I mean I just really needed another Zombie game.  This is why it so hard to find any game worth owning anymore.

Same here.  This is basically going to be single player Left4Dead, right?  I got sick of that game in an hour. 

ShyGuyJune 04, 2012

Way to generic-ize my most anticipated Wii U game, Ubilosers.

ThanerosJune 04, 2012

The zombie apocalypse is real, only in digital form.  Seriously!

YmeegodJune 04, 2012

?  Damn, it wasn't just an name change but they whole damn plot is gone.  Might as well say Killer Freaks got canned and this one is taking it's place because the two are nothing alike.  One had Aliens invading and the other is freaking zombie outbreak :(.

Me, I was digging the whole aliens vibe since there's already a bunch of zombie games like L4D or Dead Island in the last couple of years.

I'm zombie out (to damn many, reminds me of the 90's love for nazi's, now it's zombies).

CericJune 04, 2012

Quote from: Ymeegod

?  Damn, it wasn't just an name change but they whole damn plot is gone.  Might as well say Killer Freaks got canned and this one is taking it's place because the two are nothing alike.  One had Aliens invading and the other is freaking zombie outbreak :(.

Me, I was digging the whole aliens vibe since there's already a bunch of zombie games like L4D or Dead Island in the last couple of years.

I'm zombie out (to damn many, reminds me of the 90's love for nazi's, now it's zombies).

At least the Nazi's had different Experiments.

Killer Freaks had a sense of humor about it. This game seems super serious grimdark.

NWR_pap64Pedro Hernandez, Contributing WriterJune 04, 2012

I have to agree with you guys. The whole Zombie Apocalypse in gaming is beginning to wear out its welcome. We got some great games out of it, but it is definitely time to move on, go back to good old fashioned alien invasion, or create something different.


I mean, as I watched the cinematic for this, I couldn't help but think that it was influenced by Dead Island, especially this trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwtr_-4vz6g


It's like they saw it and really wanted to create their own version.

*looks around, raises hand cautiously*

I'm still hyped for this...

I mean, I'm sick of Zombies... Zombies MOVIES. But zombies games? I've skipped almost all of them, I'm not a big RE fan, my bro plays Left 4 Dead 1/2 and I just watch him... When it comes to videogames, I haven't hit my zombie quota yet.

Also, I miss FPS games set in WW2. Sure they were having a hard time coming up with new stories to tell... but it felt so comfortable that every game had a Kar98 waiting to find a home in my hands...

YmeegodJune 04, 2012

Maybe Ubisoft is planning on releasing Killer Freaks later on, right now we are assuming this ZombiU replaced it but maybe they just have two FPS coming to the WII U? 

Please god let that be the case. 

ShyGuyJune 04, 2012

they said in the Ubi press conference that this was the evolution of Killer Freaks.

IgnoramusJune 05, 2012

Not too excited for this game to be honest. Seems like a tech demo that will be lost and forgotten 6 months after Wii U's release.

famicomplicatedJames Charlton, Associate Editor (Japan)June 05, 2012

I thought it was too much of a coincidence to have a British-based shooter in the ND conference and not be in some way related to Killer Freaks. If you don't know what I'm talking about the protagonist and setting for KF were British/London.
If you look at the pics on my blog (near the bottom) they clearly show British policemen.


It's a shame that Ubisoft decided to change a fun, quirky and original title into a game that sounds like an iPhone app...

OblivionJune 05, 2012

To make this all the more hilarious, "hardcore" gamers seem to like this game so far.

broodwarsJune 05, 2012

Quote from: Oblivion

To make this all the more hilarious, "hardcore" gamers seem to like this game so far.

What's there to like?  All Ubisoft showed was a cookie-cutter teaser trailer showing a zombie attack, with no gameplay whatsoever.

Personally, I'm sick to death of Zombie games, with the lone exception of Telltale's excellent Walking Dead game.  "Killer Freaks From Outer Space" is a name so unique and wacky it draws attention.  I might have been interested in playing that game.  However, "Zombi U" is just stupid, and just reeks of an attempt to cash-in on what Ubisoft thinks is the value(?) of the Wii U name.  It's yet another Zombie game, and I think I'll pass, thanks.  Ubisoft is welcome to my potential Wii U money if they want to make something that's actually unique for Wii U.

LudicrousDa3veJune 05, 2012

I hope it turns out well, but Killer Freaks was my most anticipated game this year alongside Pikmin 3. :\ Ripped the charm and personality right out of the damn thing, didn't they?

YmeegodJune 05, 2012

Sigh, it's confirmed that the development team is Montpellier, the same ones that were working on Beyond Good & Evil 2, then Killer Freaks, and now ZombiU. 

Was hoping another team was just reusing the engine/graphics but it doesn't look to be the case.

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