The more I play with my Oculus Rift the more amazed I become with the sheer number of genre games that are actually made better by virtual reality. Take for example, Into the Dead, a title that is available on numerous digital formats including mobile, PC and even Facebook. The game is basically a zombified hybrid of endless runner and wave-based survival (think Call of Duty zombies without having to board up windows) games that I would have probably played for an hour and forgotten about on any other format other than Oculus Rift.
There is something surprisingly addictive about this game. Like most endless runners there is that “one more time” mentality where you are constantly trying to beat your current best score. Combined with an endless checklist of milestone objectives that reward you with credits, there is already a good reason to click the TRY AGAIN button instead of EXIT.
The running game is fairly straightforward and has you running through an endless field of zombies to see just how far you can make it before having your intestines ripped out by hungry undead. The sheer number of zombies is insane but you can always manage to find just enough space moving either left or right to squeeze by and when you can’t hopefully you have a weapon or loyal canine support to help clear the way. As you dash through fields, corn rows, and forests you can run through green and red flares. Green flares provide random weapons and ammo from your currently available arsenal, while red flares summon a surprisingly effective dog that will run out ahead of you and take down zombies in your path. So by mixing up weapons, dogs, and your ability to move left and right you simply see how far you can go and earn credits by doing so.
Credits can be spent in two places. When you have enough money you can go to the armory and unlock new and more powerful weapons like dual pistols, a machine gun, or even a crossbow. GO DARYL!! Any unlocked weapon will be added to the random pick-ups during your run. You can also spend credits prior to each mission on various assists; things like getting a 1500m head start, or beginning the level with a weapon or a dog. These are useful when first starting out, but you have to be careful as it is easy to spend more money on assists than you can actually make during the level.
Into the Dead also has a last-stand type of game where you are alone at a farmhouse defending against waves and waves of zombies until you eventually die. Prior to each mission you get to pick three weapons from your available arsenal. You then get placed in various positions around the farmhouse and must defend in a 180-degree visual arc by basically looking at your target and squeezing the trigger. Most zombies are slow but a few will rush at you and there is always that sneaky one that tries to come in from the side. Thankfully red arrows point to danger off the screen. When you complete a level you are rewarded with a percentage of ammo, so the whole game becomes about ammo management, effective weapon cycling, and not getting rushed during a lengthy shotgun reload.
I was really surprised at how such a simple game on the surface could actually become so deep. I’ve spent hours experimenting with various weapon loadouts trying to find which combination works best. And just like the running game, you can also pick from a menu of pregame assists like adding explosive barrels into the mix or even adding a fourth weapon to your arsenal.
Controls were simple and the Xbox gamepad worked fine for moving, shooting and reloading. My only minor complaint was that your horizontal center of view seemed to shift around at random forcing me to occasionally use the LT in order to re-center on where I was currently looking. I can only assume the developers were aware of this issue since the center button was assigned to such a prominent trigger. Another issue with Into the Dead is that its original design was based on in-app purchases where you paid real money for in-game coins to buy weapons and unlocks. There is no such option on the Oculus, so you are going to be grinding a lot to build your bankroll.
By design, Into the Dead is a fairly short and repetitive experience. Even when you do well you’ll likely only survive 10-15 minutes at first. As long as you aren’t coming into this looking for a Resident Evil type of zombie game but something more like House of the Dead you’ll have a great time. Oculus Rift really adds some much needed immersion to the game, and I will admit to several scream-worthy jump scares; especially when you are running through those claustrophobic cornfields.
