DayZ Xbox One Review

An exciting entry to the Xbox marketplace that could lead to good change in the Xbox landscape.

• Developer: Bohemia Interactive
• Publisher: Bohemia Interactive
• Genre: survival mmo
• Platforms: Xbox One
• Reviewed on: Xbox One X
• Game Supplied by: Bohemia Interactive

DayZ is a name that many will remember fondly from when it began its life as an ARMA mod.

Today, we are talking about the standalone version on Xbox, something that thousands of gamers have been waiting for. DayZ on Xbox is a sign of hope for all those that wish their favourite survival games will come to console one day, hopefully other games will someday make the transition.

The first thing that pops to everyone’s mind when talking about games such as DayZ coming to Xbox is, will it work?

It’s no secret that there have always been complications adapting a game built for the keyboard and mouse of beastly powerful PC’s to the humble controller.

How did DayZ fare? I have to admit, it’s not bad.

While DayZ still has a lot of confusing elements and controls I feel confident in saying its adapted well to the Xbox controller. The inventory system can still feel a little slow but I have managed to master 99.9% of the controls in DayZ without ever looking at the tutorial.

Yes i know, why would i look at the tutorial? Simple, I wanted to experience DayZ as most will. I know that most gamers like to just jump in to a game, and for a game like this I wanted to see how easy that would be to do. It takes a little while but most of the controls just make sense.

I later did watch the tutorial and I must admit it helps a lot – I would recommend just quickly going through it to get acquainted with the gameplay mechanics, because the world of DayZ is ruthless.

Before I move on I want to explain why I say the inventory is slow, and this has to do with both controls and mechanics. The inventory is split into 3 sections;

On the left you have vicinity and any dead zeds or players with their respective inventories, center you have your character and your hand slot, then on the left you have your inventory.

To switch between all of these you use the bumper, then you will be able to interact with that column. In the columns the inventory will be split up into the objects carrying them, so for example your backpack, trousers, jacket and hand will all have different inventories between them.f you find a backpack better than yours it’s not as simple as just equipping it, first you must drop your bag and its contents, then equip the new one and after that transfer the contents of your old one to the new one. This applies to any item, it’s a convoluted process and it is slow compared to the snapping action of most games but it makes sense, just like in real life.

On to the game itself, DayZ is not like any other survival game i have played, most others want you to grind a little, build a big base and explore, and make it fairly easy to do so. Dayz does not; think of DayZ as less of a survival game and more of a zombie apocalypse simulator. Imagine you get popped into the midst of a zombie apocalypse with just the bare minimum to survive the night and basically see how long you last, that is DayZ. Nothing comes easy, food and general helpful items are scarce. When you first join Dayz you will be thinking “has this place been looted already?” and yeah, that’s the point. Survival is hard and it’s meant to be a challenge, if you thought you were going to have a base and a car by the end of your first night you won’t.

It takes time and a lot of work to get the simplest of bases built, cars even more so.

To get a car first you must find one that is in good enough condition to get running again, then you need to find all the parts necessary to get it running.

That could be a couple of tyres, a radiator, fuel, headlights and spark plugs.

After that get some water in that radiator and you should be able to drive, but it could be still missing doors, its bonnet and various other parts. It’s hard, but if you can succeed you have a huge amount of storage and the fastest mode of transport.

On to bases, this isn’t quite like Rust, or Ark or any other survival game. Again it takes time, walls for example require a fairly substantial amount of resources and a lengthy process to build.

First you need to make a wall kit out of sticks and string (it’s ok at least this can be reused) then you need the resources to build the frame, then the lower wall, then the upper – that’s all just for one wall, so now imagine a whole base.

Plus trust me, the world is not packed with nails so if you find them, keep them, you will need them later.

Now you have a scope of how much time and dedication DayZ takes, but what I haven’t mentioned yet is you also have to monitor your health, food, water and temperature, you can even bleed and need bandaging up (Helpful tip: sharp stone or any knife + any piece of clothing = bandages).

At the end of it all you might think it’s just too much, but it’s a massively rewarding experience, you truly care about your stuff, you don’t want to lose it, you put real effort in and that’s what makes the experience, because when you die there’s nothing left but to restart.

Graphically, DayZ is sound, it’s not overy amazing but it’s not the worst I have seen. It’s gritty, dark and it creates an atmosphere of emptiness, emphasising the struggle you are going to have in order to survive.

Sound wise DayZ is very basic, all the details are there but it’s quiet; the world is a barren wasteland, the only sounds you hear are your own and the grunts of the undead waiting to bring about your untimely demise, and the occasional gunshot.

Other than that, once in a while you may hear the words of a fellow survivor, but be warned the chat is based on proximity and from what I have experienced, if they are not on your friends list they are not to be trusted.

In all of my time with DayZ I never felt as attached to a character as i did with Rico (this was the name I gave to my longest living survivor). We managed a week.

We had a fully loaded shotgun, a pistol with mag and ammo, a sledge hammer and enough supplies that I was not worried if we went a couple of days without any loot, we also had a pristine mountain backpack and a motorcycle helmet so we were well protected.

I was so attached to my character and loot I was scared to login in case it all went downhill, so one day I was exploring a city, a couple of zombies wanted a scuffle.

After caving their heads in I quickly retreated to a shed to have a drink and a pear, and just as I closed the door I saw another player.

He opened the door swinging his axe, I held down the chat button and started shouting “Friendly! Friendly!” To my surprise, he stopped and said ” ow, friendly, those zombies were chasing me”.

I replied “thanks dude” and noticed he had a pistol out, I had actually found a fair few clips for different weapons, so after I healed up I went after him and we ended up meeting again in a convenience store where, quite confident I may have made a new friend, asked what pistol he was swinging. He remained silent, staring at me.

I then asked “bro you playing solo?” He then plowed 4 shots into my head quicker than i could react.

All that time I had a fully loaded shotty that could have turned the tables, but I had to learn at some point that in DayZ, no one is your friend, not even when you are just trying to help them.

Summary

All in all, I nothing short of love DayZ. I do wish there was a better base building system and some sort of party/clan/community system, but even so I can’t help but crave more adventure in the world of DayZ, because every time you spawn is a new adventure, with endless possibilities ahead.