Review: DayZ turns frustrating military game into top-notch survival horror

I lasted just over three hours on my first day in the fictional Russian state of Chernarus. I'm told this is quite good, but just leaving the beach alive was victory enough for me. I pulled free of the bloodied arms grabbing at me, but it was dumb luck that found me sprinting frantically up a steep, dark wooded hill until I lost the gray-faced pursuers in the thickets and weeds. Exhausted, I lay down to hide but discovered I was wounded and bleeding. By the time I learned to use my single bandage, I was bleeding out.

A steep learning curve, but I had absorbed my first lesson: Stay out of sight. My second lesson occurred later that day, when I realized the sound of my rifle was a dinner bell. I died in the street with my legs broken, drowned in a mob of screaming madness. DayZ teaches by brutal example. Exposition is nonexistent, but once you learn something, you tend not to forget it.

Military simulator ARMA II's moddable, sandbox nature spawned unexpected offspring early this year when Dean Hall released his unassuming, open-world, zombie apocalypse mod for the game. 1.3 million users later, he's begun development of a standalone product destined to outsell ARMA II itself. DayZ is an honest gaming phenomenon.

You play from ARMA's familiar third-person cover-shooter perspective, a view you'll come to prefer over first-person for the situational awareness it provides in this game, especially under cover. The generally unpleasant, janky feeling of ARMA's engine is preserved, but works in DayZ's favor as imprecise aiming, motion delays, and other sloppy details only reinforce the survival horror mood the mod works overtime to present.

Get used to crawling in the weeds. You'll do it a lot if you want to stay alive in DayZ.

The goal is simple: Stay alive. You'll need to find water, food, shelter, and eventually weapons. Likely in that order. You can salvage preserved food, but hunting is also viable option. Blood transfusions restore lost health and cure ailments, but there's a catch–they require the assistance of another player to perform. In DayZ, fellow humans are potentially far more deadly adversaries than their undead counterparts. They lie, they cheat, they steal and they will kill you for a can of beans. Or, they just might save your life. Until you lower the gun and ask, you'll have no idea of knowing for sure.

Installation is a different kind of horror show. Both ARMA II and the standalone Operation Warhead are required for DayZ, and you need to complete a seven-step process that outlines the various installations, updates, launcher shells, and more before you can be eaten alive. Many things can go wrong along the way, and often do, judging by the pleas in forums dedicated to the game.

The code itself is famously unstable, described somewhat modestly as in an "alpha" state, but the biggest problems are gamers hacking the servers with bizarre, session-ending exploits. I experienced these frequently enough for it to be a legitimate concern, although the development team regularly takes measures to crack down on this behavior. Performance-wise, DayZ is no better than ARMA II, so plan to pack a firecracker of a system if you want smooth framerates and some visual pop. Laptops and milquetoast desktops won't stand a chance. Consider the system requirements a bit optimistic.

Staying alive is a simple goal, but not an easy one. Game over.

In this era of Pride, Prejudice and Zombies, it's shocking that it took so long for a game of this nature to be made, especially given the success of other games with similar themes but radically different mechanics, like Valve's Left 4 Dead series. We have zombies on prime time, zombies fighting plants, zombie sex stories, zombies everywhere. Why it took one guy doing it for free to make this happen is a question for the gaming industry to ponder as they watch the number of players continue to grow.

For those on the fence deciding whether to try the mod or wait for the standalone version, I advise getting involved now. There's nothing more uncertain than unwritten software, and by the time Dean's team gets into gear, the moment may be over. DayZ is here, now, and it's free. There's no reason to wait. The hungry residents of Chernarus are dying to see you.

Note: The "Try it for free" button on the Product Information page takes you to the vendor's site, where you can download the latest version of the software.

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Review: Military sim Arma II: Combined Operations is realistic, often frustrating

Military cover shooters have become a genre onto themselves in recent years, thanks to the success of franchises like Call of Duty and Battlefield. Gameplay in these titles focuses on tactical teamwork and army culture, turning away from the more fantastical elements of modern action gaming in both story and implementation. Insurgents sit in for aliens and narratives spring from newspapers instead of novels, all in the service of "realism." Realism means different things to different people, however, and hardcore players have long wished for a game that combines a multiplayer military tactical approach with the level of detail seen in proper simulations. Czech developers Bohemia Interactive have been dabbling in this field for almost a decade following the debut success of Operation Flashpoint, and ARMA II: Combined Operations ($33, free demo) is their most recent marketplace deployment.

ARMA II: Combined Operations has a realistic look that makes the imprecise controls all the more frustrating.

Combined Operations bundles several releases under a single title, including ARMA II and the standalone Operation Arrowhead expansion. That translates to a lot of mission for your money, but keep in mind some of the content shipped in 2009 when ARMA II was initially released. The gameplay found here is of a specific flavor and the difficulty level an order of magnitude more challenging than a traditional FPS. Not all of that challenge is due to the gameplay, either. There's a general imprecision to the controls and sluggishness to movement that pervades Bohemia's 3D engine and makes game interactions feel like your computer suddenly skipped two upgrade cycles. Other game mechanics are equally poorly implemented. Climbing ladders, utilizing inventory, and operating vehicles are all examples of obscurely designed mechanics that feel more like add-ons than actual core code.

To counter this, Bohemia offers a sandbox experience par excellence, with mission design tools and an easily moddable structure that invites users to take chances and play around with the results. This more than anything has been the key to ARMA's success. For example, you might ask why this elderly niche shooter leads the sales charts at Steam so frequently, but the answer is simple: This is the package that's required to run DayZ . Forward thinking and trust in their community paid off to the tune of 1.3 million new sales and development of what's sure to be a hit sequel, largely without Bohemia lifting a finger to do anything other than count all the money. I wonder if encrypted game files still seem attractive to their competitors.

Most of ARMA II's real action takes place in multiplayer mode, where cooperative teams can employ small unit tactics and other military strategies against one another. The levels are vast–hundreds of kilometers in size–and the game's architecture supports dozens of players, vehicles, and aircraft simultaneously so aerial support, heavy weapons coverage and more are all part of the tour. Weather changes, terrain, and day/night cycles are all crucial tactically, while enemy AI is good enough to be uncanny at times. The promise of all this is tempered by the reality of the engine's shortcomings, but it's an impressive feat nevertheless.

Night missions utilize vision enhancement gear and other stealth goodies.

Performance doesn't scale well with system requirements. Most desktop gaming systems beyond minimum spec will be able to provide good framerates with some high end effects enabled, but running on ultra requires top end hardware and won't return particularly stunning visuals. The laptop experience is iffy. Easy maps on low settings pass for playable on mid-range mobile gaming systems, but elaborate maps and more demanding settings turn assaults into powerpoint presentations. Chances are your laptop won't cut it.

With ARMA III on the horizon, Combined Operations is difficult to recommend. Hardcore players may be drawn to the high levels of detail and realism, but they are sure to find disappointment in some of the awkward systems that lay underneath the uniform. For these users, I'd recommend waiting for a sale at Steam or GOG before taking the plunge. Players curious about DayZ shouldn't wait however. ARMA's flaws aren't nearly as disruptive in that environment, and the excitement around the mod makes playing sooner rather than later worthwhile.

Note: The "Try it for free" button on the Product Information page takes you to the vendor's site, where you can download the latest version of the software from the vendor of your choice.

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Oovoo Four-Way Video Chat Hands-on: Frustrating But Fun

1. The Oovoo Widget Adds Convenience.

It doesn’t affect 4-way video calls, but Oovoo’s Android app includes a homescreen widget that displays avatar images for friends who are currently signed in, and lets users launch a call with a tap. The interface also includes a button to launch Oovoo’s text chat service as well; tap it and you’re taken to the apps buddy list. iOS doesn’t support widgets, so this is available only for Android users.

2. Building a Good Connection Takes Time.

It took us a few tries, but after about 10 minutes we finally managed to connect and maintain our first 4-way call. That doesn’t include the number of times our apps sizzled out in the heat of connecting to our friends. We used a Sprint Galaxy SII, Droid RAZR Maxx, and a Samsung Galaxy S III for testing and the app crashed or froze all three phones at least once during testing.

3. Just Use 4G.

We set up a four-way call between three smartphones and a Wi-Fi connected laptop. Initially, we tried to use Wi-Fi for the smartphones as well, but our devices’ 4G networks worked better. We used a Sprint Galaxy SII (4G WiMax), Droid RAZR Maxx (Verizon 4G LTE), and a Samsung Galaxy S III (Verizon’s 4G LTE network) to connect. We also tried to use an iPhone 4S over AT&T’s 3G network, but the network seemed to struggle with streaming video so we switched to the Droid RAZR Maxx.

4. Quality-Wise, Aim Low.

We’ve seen Oovoo’s video call quality described as high-quality, but that might be overstating things. During our four-way calls we noticed some pretty jagged, pixelated images. Once we obtained a stable call, picture quality was decent; we could make out pedestrians on the sidewalk behind our talking heads or the office decor behind our cubicle-co-worker, but the visual detail was fuzzy and the color quality a little dark depending on the lighting. Still, the picture quality was good enough for reading our friends’ facial expressions.

5. Speak Slowly and Add Lots of Pauses.

We noticed an audio lag of about 1 to 1.5 seconds on all our calls. That’s not too different from making a Skype call across two computers, but it still lead us to talk over some of our friends during tests. A solution to that little pickle was to speak slowly and add mores pauses to the end of comments. Doing that gave other callers leeway to chime in. Folks calling from outdoors sometimes complained that they couldn’t hear other callers, but we attribute that to the loud midtown NYC environment we tested in. Packing a pair of headphones with a built-in mic helped with that problem.

6. Take Advantage of Special Tools

One caller used the hot-switch button that shifts from the front-facing to the back camera and caught live video of a pigeon wandering strangely close to her. We also appreciate that Oovoo includes a snapshot button for taking still shots in the middle of calls.

Final Thoughts

Once our phones stopped freezing or crashing and we got a four-way call off the ground, we had a lot of fun using Oovoo’s new feature. It was great chatting with three co-workers at once, and we even established enough rhythm despite the pesky audio delays to crack jokes and otherwise goof around, just like we were hanging out at a friend’s house or a bar. Using Oovoo will likely include some app restarts and phone freezes, but once it works, you’ll have a good time. 

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Simple Flip Boom Cartoon Can Be Frustrating

If you're new to 2D stop-motion animation, you know it's a challenge to find a program that isn't going to overwhelm you with features. Flip Boom Cartoon ($40, buy-only) keeps it very basic, so whether you're a novice or advanced artist, if you like the simplicity of turning pencil-like sketches into animation, you'll like this program.

Flip Boom includes a large clip art librar that can make your animation even more eye-grabbing.Flip Boom Cartoon contains the usual tools you'll need to create stop-motion animation: paint brush, fill, size and rotation adjustment, and cut/copy/paste. These all work exactly like you expect them to and are simple enough to pick up without watching a tutorial, which is good because there really aren't any available, nor is there searchable help. You have to just read the manual.

The Paint Bucket tool in Flip Boom Cartoon allows you to fill a fully enclosed area or color a line. It's a little annoying if your sketching style is fluid enough that you don't close all your areas. It's also virtually impossible to achieve any shading or highlights, so if you color your art, it's going to look flat.

Flip Boom Cartoon includes a large library of clip art images that you can animate with limitations: change position, size, rotation, and color. Unfortunately, you can't import your own images to use as backgrounds or as part of your animation, but you can add objects created in Flip Boom into your own library.

You can also add library sounds to your Flip Boom Cartoon animation, or record your own, but it's tricky to sync the sounds to the animation, and there are no detail tools to do this.

To trace your art in Flip Boom Cartoon, which is the method Animation-ish ($60) teaches so well, you can set Flip Boom Cartoon to show your previous or next page to see the position of your art. However, if you choose a background from the library, you can't see your art through it, and since there are no layers this is a little frustrating. You also cannot animate your background and foreground independently, or set keyframes as you can with Animation-ish or Pencil (free, also a basic animation program). These things are all part of Toon Boom's more advanced Toon Boom Studio, a full animation suite that costs $330.

Flip Boom Cartoon's drawing area expands to fit your monitor, which can increase your drawing space considerably over Animation-ish's maximum 4 by 3 inches. But that's the only animation feature I like better in Flip Boom Cartoon.

After reviewing Animation-ish, a collaborative animation program from Toon Boom and FableVision Learning, I had pretty high expectations for Toon Boom's Flip Boom Cartoon. However, I was pretty disappointed. If you have it in your budget, consider the $60 Animation-ish instead: It's a much better stop-motion animation tool for beginners. For those who are willing to learning time for dollars, the free Pencil is a good choice: It's a basic 2D animation tool that's far superior to Flip Boom Cartoon, albeit much harder to get started and still evolving.

Flip Boom Cartoon lacks the learning aspect of Animation-ish, or the detailed controls of Pencil. Either of those is a better choice.

--Clare Brandt

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