Seen our Red Dead Redemption Undead Nightmare single player DLC preview? Then you’ll no doubt be looking forward to its 26th October release date. You didn’t think Rockstar was going to leave out multiplayer did you? As well as a single player campaign, the DLC features an Undead Overrun mode where the aim is to survive against waves of zombies. We got to play it ahead of release. Read on for our first impressions.
Last week we paid Rockstar a visit to get hands-on with the Red Dead Redemption Undead Nightmare incoming downloadable content pack. Undead Nightmare will be releases on 26th October for Xbox 360 and PS3, costing 800 Microsoft Points and £7.99 respectively.
Undead Nightmare packs in a single player campaign featuring a variety of zombie-related missions and tasks, some of which Rockstar is still keeping secret. Want to learn more about the single player Undead Nightmare campaign? Then hit up our Red Dead Redemption Undead Nightmare single player DLC preview. But now, it’s time to talk Undead Nightmare’s zombie-laden multiplayer mode.
The Undead Nightmare multiplayer mode is a new 2-4 player co-operative offering called Undead Overrun. The deal is that as survivors, you must work together to mow down waves of undead amidst several graveyard settings. Think dilapidated, deserted cemeteries with rusty gates, unkept, tangled shrubbery and mossy stones - the sort that silly teenagers think chillaxing in in horror movies is a good idea. The aim is to survive in them for as many continuous zombie waves as possible.
Before dipping into each game players select their weapon loadout from four preset categories in the player lobby: Ravager, LongShot, Overkill and Mauler according to their favoured playing style. Each pack their own shotgun (sawed-off, double-barrelled, pump-action and semi-automatic), a pistol and/or rifle. Those plumping for Ravager and Overkill will find helpful stick or two of dynamite in place of a third firearm. An explosive helping hand comes in more than handy during later waves.
Diving into the action, as each wave is cleared you’ll find the waves becoming increasingly harder to diminish as the zombie count increases in number, and difficulty. During initial waves you’ll find most zombies go down after a couple of bullets, if you hadn’t already got them in the head. Dead Eye comes especially handy here, slowing down the action to adjust your aim and fire is a real lifesaver when things get frantic, particularly when attempting to save your fellow zombie-hating teammates.
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Luckily you can revive your teammates and vice versa by pressing the action button. But you’ll only have about less than a minute to do so, so be quick. Players can also kill each other, but thankfully we didn’t experience such oafish clumsiness when saddling up with the Rockstar team.
To further extend your chances, coffins can be opened granting new weapons and ammo to the entire team. You’ll see these on the map indicated by yellow and green flashes. You’ll need them. The new weapons, such as the Book Bait are particularly useful in a zombie infestation. Chucking it into a horde of zombies lures them to wherever it lands, before exploding to send zombies sky high. The new Blunderbuss weapon we mentioned in our single player Undead Nightmare preview is just as handy in close quarter situations. Just one lethal shot from it, made from a cocktail of zombie body parts is enough to puree zombies.
It’s a constant challenge to stay alive, even when paired with three other players as the zombies seem to multiply and gain an almost unexpected turn of pace by the time you reach wave 10. You’ll also find yourself having to contend with different classes of zombie as you progress: slow zombies, fast zombies, strong zombies, zombies that spit acidic puke at you. Throw ‘em all together and it’s one heck of a zombie-fest.
The game ends when all players have died (how else?), or the time limit to destroy them has expired. We’re not sure how many waves there actually are. Whatever the limit is, not even the Rockstar folks we played with have reached it, nor did they tell us if there is one. But take it it from us, not many will get there. But as with Horde mode in Gears of War 2, and Halo’s Firefight, simply surviving is the goal.
Undead Overrun is hardly the most original premise for a multiplayer mode but that doesn’t mean it’s not highly enjoyable. It is. It works because it just does. Its zombies, c’,mon.
However it’s not all about the Undead Overrun zombie slaying mode. Another mode, which Rockstar kept under wraps until just now is Land Grab. Despite not being zombie-themed, Land Grab is another new mode within multiplayer Free Roam. Players fight over a patch of land in one of seven different towns: Armadillo, Blackwater, Chuparosa, Escalera, Las Hermanas, Mac Farlane’s Ranch and Thieves Landing. To start a game find a post that says Land Grab, activate it and you’ll be given control of a radius of territory.
If another player scampers into said territory and activate the post, they’ll lay claim to it. Naturally you must defend it with your life. Leave and you’ll surrender it. Of course while commanding a territory you’ll get awarded points, kill a member of the land owners posse and you’ll get even more bonus XP. Once the game ends the points pot is divided between each player, with the largest bounty going to players that held the land for the longest. All players can participate, but only those with the undead Nightmare pack can initiate matches.
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With Undead Overrun, Land Grab and the Undead Nightmare single player campaign, Rockstar looks like keeping to it’s word that the latest and last Red Dead Redemption DLC is more than a tacked on zombie add-on.
Rockstar clearly doesn’t need to make any excuses as to why it went with zombies, because everybody clearly loves a bit of undead action. And as we’ve already mentioned in the Undead Nightmare single player preview, Rockstar has given its fans what they wanted anyway. So who’s complaining? Not us. Paired with the Undead Nightmare single player mode it looks like Rockstar has delivered a package to die for.
Out October 26th | £7.99 (PS3) or 800 Microsoft Points (Xbox 360) | Rockstar
