Generation Zero

*review for version 1.3 Set in the glorious years of the 80s, Generation Zero is a first-person shooter about a teen douchebag whose fishing trip is interrupted by a missile strike and got stranded on a large Swedish landmass. Soon enough, he finds the nearby town uninhabited, seemingly all killed off by some nefarious force. Turns out, massive hordes of robots invaded the island. The game features multiplayer capabilities, but I went all in solo. I got to explore half of the map and didn’t bother. Pros: ● The entire map is undeniably pretty, literally boasting some of the prettiest and massive and terrifically realized Scandinavian environments in gaming ● The open environments are varied and at least for me, quite pleasurable to walk around in ● Gunplay is quite satisfying, with animation and sound design mixing together to make for some of the punchiest guns (especially that ******* shotgun) around, combined with Avalanche’s trademark heavenly destruction effects ● Robot enemies are pretty damn cool, rocking kick-*** designs and, especially the big *************, menacing screeches and attacks to put the hurt on you ● Environments are pretty destructible, but only for inconsequential tiny assets like windows and that fuse outside of houses, which is a shame ● Pretty decent variety of weapons for kicking robot monster *** ● Exploring the world can feel quite dreadful as you hear robots miles away somehow get alerted to your presence, and they all shoot you and you ******* die ● The background ambient tracks seem quite receptive of enemy presence, with tense music rising as you see a robot in the distance Cons: ● This game is one repetitive, pointless bullshit, with a campaign design seemingly inspired by Fallout 76 – going to locations, getting a ******* note, getting told to go another ******* location miles away, and repeat, all ending in the most anticlimactic way to make you realize ● That bike controls like **** and is only reliable on the ******* road, forcing you to walk for hours across often empty spaces to get to the next quest point ● Interior locations are literally copy-*******-pasted, like every ******* house looks exactly the ******* same ● Absolutely zero interesting **** in the map, not even fancy loot, cool secrets, some creepy environmental storytelling like a handwritten note in blood – but just repetitive ******* locations ● Don’t bother with the plot, which is basically forgettable characters leading you places and **** through boring notes and voice mails, the latter poorly ******* acted even (though looking it up, the backstory is actually pretty interesting) ● For all of Avalanche’s addiction to destruction with Just Cause, they didn’t bother making the houses and buildings at least a tiny bit destructible which would’ve been cool ● That inventory screen sure is quite cumbersome