ZombiU review round-up: mixed response for Wii U's survival launch title

All the review scores in one place...

As one of the Wii U's most anticipated "adult" exclusives, ZombiU has a lot to live up to, and its reception so far has been surprisingly divided.


The notoriously tough zombie survival romp received almost unanimous praise in the lead up to its release, with many reports from E3 2012 suggesting it would be a system seller for Nintendo.

But since reviews started hitting the web at the weekend, critical reception has been divided. We gave it a healthy 8.4, noting its "classic survival horror gameplay", but not everyone took so kindly to it.

  • IGN: 6.3/10 - "ZombieU has so many great ideas from looting with the Wii U GamePad to permadeath to its spooky setting, but none of them grow into a great game."
  • Eurogamer: 9/10 - ZombieU isn't the obligatory FPS launch title, but an original twist on the genre that has no console equivalent. It's not quite a revolution, lacking the scope and variety of mecahnics to compete with high watermarks like Half-Life 2. But that should take nothing away from Ubisoft's achievement, and the success or otherwise of ZombiU could be defining for Wii U.
  • Gamespot: 4.5/10 - ZombiU could have been an enjoyable action game, but instead it is a poor entry in the survival horror genre.
  • Polygon: 8/10 - ZombiU won't be for everyone. It's difficult. It's dark. It deftly juggles genre conventions to do the unexpected. And it's exactly the kind of title that gamers have come to expect from new console launches, the kind of game that makes new console launches exciting.
  • GamesRadar: 4.5/5 - ZombiU's complete and utter dedication to creating a tense, realistic zombie survival game can be problematic, and its often at odds with itself. Despite this, the game successfully proves that horror games can be enhanced by the Wii U's GamePad, and does a great job at showing how the new controller can create an incredibly immersive experience.
  • Game Informer: 5/10 - [ZombiU] shows off nearly every feature of Nintendo's new hardware, but the sum of these parts is a horrifying Frankenstein's Monster. Good zombie games are a dime a dozen these days, and I can't recommend ZombiU above them despite being the only undead shooter on the Wii U.
  • Destructoid: 8/10 - ZombiU is awkward, ugly, crawling in its pace, and often nonsensical with its narrative ... and I remember when horror games weren't ashamed of any of that, even actively exploiting it to create alienating, frightening atmospheres that stick in a players' memories and made them too spooked to want to take another step forward. ZombiU did that to me.