Fredaikis AB’s title Infestation: The New Z is one of the latest F2P titles to hit Steam. It is an official rework of the original Infestation: Survivor Stories and is apparently being developed by a new independent developer.
The original game was full of problems and this rework of it is no different. It really is a game that should be wiped from your memory and here is why:
The Hidden History of Infestation
If you search through Steam for games under the name of Infestation, you will find two games: Infestation: The New Z and the now shut down Infestation: Survivor Stories. If you look deeper into the development history of the game, it was once known as War Z.
Throughout the game’s development, it changed names–a little trick that desperate developers have learned to use. When the name of the game is changed, it acts as a brand new release, resulting in the game getting a spot on the Steam storefront page a second time. The biggest point in a games release is for sales and attention.
There is speculation with the community that the games Romero’s Aftermath and Shattered Skies, are also games by the same developer as Infestation using a different name. This has also led to many claiming the new Infestation title to also be the same developer again under a different name.
The ability for developers to release numerous games under varying names has been a problem on Steam for some time. Probably the most famous case of this was with Jim Sterling and Digital Homicide (DH). DH was developing games under many various names, attempting to hide away from Sterling’s watchful eye of their titles.
It didn’t take long before the community on Steam dug deep enough to find that DH was releasing titles under several different names and for them to inform Sterling of it. This resulted in Sterling writing an article on the matter and it wasn’t long before DH filed a lawsuit against him.
Many members of the community are speculating that the original developer of Infestation is using the same tactic and is also the creator of The New Z, Romero’s Aftermath and Shattered Skies. This is due to all the games having practically the same problems, design, and the same minimal response from the developer. If this is the case, the developer of The New Z is certainly not to be trusted.
How Bad Can The Game Really Be?
Where do you even begin when it comes to naming the many problems of Infestation: The New Z?
Let’s start with technical issues. First are the servers. There are times that the servers are not even live, resulting in many players being unable to play at all. When they do work, you can expect to be plagued with connection issues. Players often get disconnected from the servers and suffer lag to the point it is more dangerous that the other players!
Also, you never know if the game will actually run or not. You would be lucky if you were to get a full session of gameplay without it crashing on you several times.
As for the gameplay, well, that is pretty much ruined by many of the players themselves. Often you will have spawn points being camped by well-equipped players who simply kill you upon entering the game. Once you are killed, it can take up to three minutes just to get back into the game.
There is also the problem with hackers who have instant access to high-end gear and all sorts of other perks. There is supposedly an anti-hack system in place but, it doesn’t seem to be doing its job. Lastly, there are countless glitches and bugs when you finally do get things running and without being killed.
There really is no enjoyment to be had with Infestation: The New Z. That is assuming you can get the damn thing even started. It really is just that bad!
F2P Games Don’t Have To Be Crap
Just because a game is using the F2P business model doesn’t give it any excuse to be this awful. No matter if a game costs money or if it is F2P, a game should be designed to be enjoyable for its audience. When developing a game and releasing it to the masses, you are not just representing yourself but a whole community of developers.
It is due to F2P games just like Infestation: The New Z that the mention of F2P causes many gamers to cringe at the thoughts. Let’s be honest, there are more bad ones than genuine good ones out there. It often feels that developer think they can get away with games being bad if it doesn’t cost money. But all they are doing is making things worse for themselves and other developers who aim to use the same business model. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to wipe my memory and my PC of this awful title.
How do you feel about Infestation: The New Z? Is it just as bad everyone says or did you find it enjoyable? Leave a comment down below about what you think!
Published: Dec 15, 2016 05:39 am