We really wanted to like Wobbly Tooth's Ice Station Z. An open world, multiplayer zombie survival game that takes place in a cold setting, Ice Station Z looked different than other 3DS eShop titles and we'd hoped for a challenging, solid survival experience. Unfortunately, it doesn't live up to its potential at all, instead offering a janky, simplistic and frustrating slog through bland random environments.
In Ice Station Z players have to survive a wintry world inhabited by zombies. There's no tutorial or direction, which initially makes survival seem exciting and thrilling, but players will soon be wishing they had some kind of direction or goal.
Various items are littered throughout the random expanse, such as guns, bullets, knives, food, and new clothes. The player's health and hunger must be monitored at all times, meanwhile, and sleeping and warming up inside buildings is essential. Sleeping and other activities are done via small, poorly explained timing-based minigames. The touch screen is used for the map, status and inventory screens, which are more confusing to navigate than necessary. To Wobbly Tooth's credit, the interface is designed like a smartphone, which at least tries to create an immersive experience.
Environments, though randomized, are repetitive and quickly lose their appeal. The most interesting areas we found were underground tunnels that didn't seem to lead anywhere. Just when we thought we were about to find something interesting, we walked on terrain that was clearly not programmed as such and died. Game-breaking bugs like this are unfortunately scattered throughout, with hit detection being a real problem. We were also surprised when we realized we could run through trees. Combat is also clunky, with hits feeling random and unfair. As for the touted online multiplayer, we couldn't find a single other user online in our many attempts; that's not a game flaw as such, but is a major feature that can't be easily enjoyed.
The low quality visuals and sparse sound only add to the game's poor presentation. Looking at the player avatar reveals an extremely primitive polygonal model, and that's representative of the broader picture in this one.
Conclusion
There's not much to say about Ice Station Z, other than that it feels like a prototype or a proof of concept more than a final game. If there's hidden depth to be found, we certainly didn't come across it, and if things pick up later in the game very few are going to stick around for the experience. Ice Station Z, unfortunately, is not worth your time or money.
Comments 54
That second screenshot has got to be the least detailed environment I've ever seen in a video game. Wow. I can't even tell if he's inside the house or on the outside of a house at night.
The beginning of the review is exactly what I'd been thinking: I wanted to like this game. A shame, really, because the concept is solid. Perhaps the developers can learn from this, or focus on genres better suited to them.
Is a Dragon Ball Fusions review coming? I imagine that series would have a bit more popularity than some mediocre eShop exclusive.
in happier news. the results of the sega survey are out. bayonetta scored in neither 'brand you are most invested in', nor 'most hoped revival', but she did make it all the way to fourth for favorite character. i'd bet that most of those votes came from wii u players once again punching above their weight.
So sad. This game concept definately had potential. The quality is laughable.
What I dont get is less zombies when you go online. I guess that makes it pvp instead of co-op. Co-op zombie hunts would be fun. I do like this game better than the detective game that came out recently which got a rating of 7 and lasted 45 minutes
I'm curious why of all styles they go for a '''''realistic''''' environment and atmosphere. Low polygonal graphics can actually work really well in some cases, but certainly not for realism.
"As for the touted online multiplayer, we couldn't find a single other user online in our many attempts"
This strikes me as beyond odd. Often times I can't get online because it is FULL of players. In fact, checking right now, I see dozens online!
Looks nice...... for an Atari Jaguar game.
Ice Station Zzzzzzzzzz.
Appropriately named it seems as the gameplay puts you to sleep.
I remember when NL was all excited about this game in an upcoming game article.
The game looked bad even from the screenshots there and I was like 'Damn me if this game gets something more than a 5.'
It's a shame since its concept looks really promising.
So between this and that dragon game, it looks like this is the week for reviewing turkeys...
Sorry, had to do it.
I watched some Youtube videos and the game didn't interest me, but those who bought it have enjoyed it, or so they say on the forums.
@HeroponRiki Screenshot appearance on NL is randomized. So for example your "second screenshot" doesn't even appear for me at all.
@DarthNocturnal Yeah, I've sunk about 100 hours into that game already, love it! I was kind of hoping for some sliver of the same experience from this when I bought it but alas, it's terrible
How the hell did this end up on a Nintendo console, do they not quality check?
I bought this game and i agree with the review. its so boring and the fact u can run through trees is very poor indeed. i dont mind the graphics but everything else is done poorly and the online mode is dull i never saw a zombie at any point and very rarely any other player.
Oh, I really wanted this to be funny.
What about the chat?
@thepeterwright no one quality checks for any console, all they do is check it runs and that it doesn't infest the console with viruses or something.
The graphics in this game are something else. I am not impressed.
@Mogster, wow that's very surprising
I bought it and thought with my initial play that it seemed dull and uninteresting, however when you get into one of the many in fact almost always full multiplayer servers it really changes the game. The almost non existent presence of food and water mean that this game with other players does become a kill or be killed PvP experience. Finding groups that you can trust online is hard but also part of the fun. You are lucky if you manage to form a small team out there and secure a base against teams of Negan type players who lay bear traps around vital supplies and position snipers around just to give you a bit of hope and then smash it out of you. This game through its lack of goals and quests seems purely driven by its online community where you end up making your own personal goals instead. As glitchy as it is and taking its low price into account I would recommend this to anybody and give it a 7 out of 10.
I wish I'd had the same online experience as you, but I just found the online experience dull. I'd be walking for ages and not find anyone. the one time I did find someone they just kept following me, nothing else happened....yawn! great idea, great price, unfortunetly badly done.
What are you talking about? I could very easily find other players online. The problem is is that once all the five public lobbies were full, you couldn't join an online game. So the problem I found was not enough lobbies to accommodate the amount of players.
Like a bad Zombie movie, there's something alluring about bad Zombie games.
If the price is right, I will buy this!
@Ultimategamer132 That's exactly it. Any chance you can play some of the online portion @leemeyer26? As you said it's a "major feature" and since there are indeed people online, it seems only fair to try it.
Or at the very least, delete your sentence about 'not being able to find anyone online'. The game has plenty of ways it comes up short, but an inactive online community is demonstrably not one of them.
It ranges from 20-40 players every time I login - there's 21 as I'm typing this.
I'm glad you guys are able to find people online. When I played the game it wasn't populated at all. It wouldn't change the score of the game, unfortunately.
For those who may not have played the game and may be looking for a second opinion: It's got its bugs but they usually don't completely destroy your experience. The map is the same every time, you just spawn on different places on it. This is a good thing because it makes resources, as well as other players online, easier to find if you know where to look.Also there's voice chat if you really want to link up with other people.
The game does need some patching and its definitely not amazing, but I had a lot of fun playing it. It's got a bit of an addictive quality where you always wanna find new resources, even after you've died and lost everything.
I'd give it a 5.5
Although, keep in mind this is a small $4 game. I think its worth it.
While I completely agree that this game is flawed, I feel I have to come to its rescue here a little bit.
The game is actually a whole lot of fun if you're playing with someone. Me and my brother both sit next to each other and set off, hiding from players until we have enough weapons to go attempt to kill players at the ice station.
There are HUGE issues that need to be fixed though. If you die with a snowboard in your hand, you become invincible. Almost everyone online knows this, and every room is full of players using this glitch.
I find it hard to believe the reviewer couldn't find an online game because it's very popular. That leads to another problem - the fact there's only ever 5 rooms available online.
A good point to note is that it has voice chat which works pretty well. I've never played another 3DS game that allows this and I was surprised at how well it worked.
I've spoken to the developer (the game was made by one guy, if you couldn't tell) and he says that a bug-fix update is coming, and he'd also like to do a content update further down the line but he doesn't yet know if that's going to happen.
Yes, it's a naff game, but there's fun to be had. I definitely feel I've gotten my £2.99 out of it. There's a good foundation here - I just hope Wobbly Tooth works on those updates.
There's a better review on the forum section, and it's been up there for a while.
@Moon ahhh! Your one of the many Negans online are you. Lol. Usually that would kill my online experience, but with this game it kind of adds to the zombie apocalypse. I wait for the ...was killed by a player on the message screen and then I load up on guns and keep looking over my shoulder.
This review is pure horrible. NL needs to get rid of lee meyer and instead, hire Raptor78 because his review is spot on.
I've never had any problems finding populated online games. Yes, it is a basic game in terms of presentation. Yes there are many bugs. But there is something to be enjoyed here. I felt I got value for money. The sparse soundscape added to the atmosphere for me. Scratching around trying to find resources is challenging and suited to a survival horror type game.
I encourage folks to read the review in the forums, if anyone's interested in this game.
https://www.nintendolife.com/forums/eshop/ice_station_z
While there is no issue connecting online with others for me, this game is some sort of an alpha-build abandoned a long time ago and the developers decided to get back whats possible productioncost-wise .. its not a complete game, the bugs wont be ever (as they dont continue working on it) fixed and it has some weird crashing glitches which most likely will push this game into oblivion soon ... so yea, its a 2.99 "online zombie multiplayer" but thats why there has to be catch, if it would be a full game with all bugs fixed they would charge way more for it.
@leemeyer26 Appreciate the quick reply.
I'll end by encouraging to please consider checking at least once more. Even if only to see for yourself the type of consistent activity the online community has at present.
Whether your score changes or not (the game is quite buggy) you can at least have an informed decision on it, rather than one based, in part, on assumption.
People are really enjoying this game but are staying it need updates too improve the game more, it's like it's in a beta stage rather than a released title.
The developer has submitted a bug-fix update with Nintendo.
I don't have any problem getting online with other players but I just found the whole experience boring . I came into a game with a flat phone battery which meant the map didn't work which seemed really unfair. Plus I've only ever seen one other player in the online games . I just spent time walking and walking . To be fair it's easily worth £2.99 with the features it has but like others have said if it was improved more it would be a better game and probably worth charging more . I may give it another spin, I'd say the 3 stars is perhaps a bit harsh . I'd probably give it a 5.
@DarthNocturnal I don't think that's available for Nintendo 3DS?
@Moon I agree with you. The game is a lot more fun than the review leads us to believe. I would Rate the game at least a 5 because of its flaws. Also try to get to 30 days offline. The amount of Zombies seems to double and the game gets very insane. Not to mention it opens up some nice surprise easter eggs
@Oscarzxn haha! Yep it does look like a Jaguar game
@Windy For 2.99, I'd give the game a 6. Depending on what you're after... I've payed a lot more for games I've spent a lot less time on/enjoyed less. I imagine playing on single player to be a complete bore, though.
I've heard about these easter eggs... I'll have to try get to day 30 myself. I've only ever played it online... so wish me luck
@Moon I think you get the Easter eggs online or offline. I think it's hard to get thirty days online because somebody will pop you in the head lol. I've had fun playing both online and offline and it is worth 2.99 for the features it does have
@Windy @Moon Definitely a game worth the money. I haven't been playing it frequently because of... well, the awesome pokemon Sun, but I'll definitely return to it after completing Sun story mode which will happen sun since my vacations are near. I also have Little Battlers Experience after that one.
I'm no professional reviewer but to be honest this review isn't deep at all in my opinion. It sounds like a review made after playing for an hour or 2 and that the reviewer had already made up his mind about the game before playing it despite the claim in the first paragraph, or that at least he lost interest on the game way too soon.
@roy130390 Don't get me wrong, I know the game is really naff, really cheap and there's not much to it. That doesn't mean it's a bad game, because there's certainly fun to be had. You get to roam around an island, stock up on guns, ammo and supplies... then go and kill innocent people online and steal their gear. It's pretty unique as far as things on the eShop are concerned, and it can also be hilarious. Not to mention the voice chat, text chat, etc. It's got some good things going in its favour.
@Moon Yeah, I kind of reviewed it on a thread I created about the game. It does have many flaws, but as you have said, it has things going in his favour and combining it you get a pretty fun multiplayer experience, specially for the price. It's not like buying just because it's cheap, it's more like buying a cheap game that despite having room for a lot of improvement, it combines the few resources it has to deliver a fun experience, which is the main objective of a game in my opinion.
@JTMnM It's really good and thankfully doesn't rely on rock paper scissors battle mechanics.
"Ice Station Z looked different than other 3DS eShop titles and we'd hoped for a challenging, solid survival experience"
If you're a PC gaming veteran, you'd know to avoid games with titles like that. Steam gets several games like this added every week.
This is yet another review from this site that is IMO not accurate or very fair. Thiis is a 3ds indie game that cost only few $, that part is very important to keep in mind. First thing to address is graphics. Does this game have BAD graphics? No, it has SIMPLE graphics, but why is that, couldnt a dev in this day and age do better? The answer is NO. CONTEXT is so important here, this game map is HUGE and it loads once at the start and the whole thing is there to explore after that with zero load interuptions, a map size like this is UNHEARD OF on a 3ds game. The draw distance (how far you can see objects and enemies) is very very good, there is no "pop in" or "turok 64 fog". People and reviewers are so fixated on things that don't even matter that they fail to see the impressive feats that alot of these indie games are full of.
Ther r plenty of legitimate problems with this game. So what are they? Let's start with enemies. The zombies are far too fast and don't even drop items when killed, but if you are stocked up with supplies the combat can be quite enjoyable. You can see the zombiea from very very far away and their eyes even glow at night. Early in the game it's not very difficult to sneak by them or even crawl by them if needed. Ther r plenty of zombies roaming around, but they never seem to "swarm" or gather in groups which is unfortunate cause it wldve upped the tension alot.
There are too many systems. Food and drink, temperature, health, all of which require diff things, they actually end up taking away from the experience significantly instead of adding anything and come across as tedious. I liked the idea of the "phone" as flashlight and gps map but it drains FAR TOO QUICKLY and even drains when not in use at all.
Overall this game is too ambitious for its own good, but there is alot to have fun with here and for just a few dollars it's well worth it even for just a single player experience. It is genuinely sad and shocking to me that gamers are starting to lose sight of what makes games good and fun to play. Hint: it's not the graphics or production values.
Bottom line: this game is not great...but it's nowhere near the pathetic low score shown by this review. (See "fatal fracture" as an example of an actual BAD indie game". ICE station Z is easily a 5/10 or even a bit more if you have cpl friends to play the multiplayer mode with.
Id forgotten I'd already commented. Oh well I'm back again but no need to repeat the far too lengthy post I already made. Just want to add that a new version of this on switch would be quite a good idea. This game got ALOT of things right but clearly ran into hardware limitations.
***** you all and die youre gay this game is so good i hate you all
@everyone delete your life IRL
The game was better after the first update.
I would wait till' the sequel gets released on the switch.
It'll be made using UE4, and will have better looking graphics.
More powerful servers (too hold more people),
More locations, And a larger player-base than the 3ds game.
@Jhomesjones hah, id forgotten I said this. Since then it actually did get a sequel on switch and it's pretty damn good. But there's a lot of competition on switch. On 3ds this was an oddity as there just wasn't anything else like it.
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