The first thing that came to my mind when I first launched the new State of Decay was: “This game is beautiful!” No, the graphics aren’t as good as a full blown sixty dollar triple-A game, but compared to the original State of Decay, it was beautiful. And almost everything else that was wrong with the original game was fixed, save for one major flaw. Keep reading our review to find out what that is, and if it is worth it to buy State of Decay again. And if you are interested, you can read our review of the original game here.
What I Liked
- As I said in the beginning, the graphics are amazing compared to the original game. The game runs in 1080p, so this should be expected. But still, when you first launch State of Decay on your Xbox One, you will be amazed.
- The lighting has also been improved, and this really shows at certain moments in the game.
- Most of the glitches from the original game were fixed. I would still run into a few every once in a while, but for the most part it runs fine.
- The controls are still the same as the original game, so if you remember those controls you’ll feel right at home.
- It includes both DLCs, Breakdown and Lifeline, so if you never got a chance to play those you won’t have to buy them.
- There are new achievements added to the game. Also, in total they come to a whopping 1500 Gamerscore. You can’t really go wrong with that.
- There are now under barrel attachments for your guns, so you can switch your fire type without switching weapons.
- At its core, it is still the same great game that the original was.
What I Didn’t Like
- As I mentioned above, there is only one major flaw. Although many of the glitches have been sorted out, the frame rate still has constant drops. These mainly happen while you are in a vehicle, and are almost worse than the original game. Hopefully these will be fixed in a future update, but for now this is the one problem that is holding the game back from being a 10/10.
- There wasn’t that much new content. While the updated graphics are more than enough to justify playing it again, it would of been nice to have some more new things to experiment with instead of playing the same game again.
Verdict
State of Decay: Year-One Survival Edition is really one of the best games I have played on my Xbox One so far. If it weren’t for the frame rate drops, this game would easily be a 10/10. However, when reviewing games I do have to be honest, and can’t base my review on updates that will be added in the future. But putting that aside, there were barely any other issues, and State of Decay: Year-One Survival Edition is definitely worth it for new and returning players.
Rating: 9/10
Developer: Undead Labs
Publisher: Microsoft Studios
Original Release Date: April 28, 2015
Platforms: Xbox One (Reviewed), PC
ESRB Rating: M – Mature
*A copy of this game was provided for review.
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