Zombie Nights - Dunkelschwamm
Zombie Nights is a very ambitious project. It's a large open area with some buildings scattered around, a janky day and night system, supply drops supplied via parachute, an inventory system, and a never ending zombie swarm. The objective is to last three consecutive days.
Author: The-Middleman
Date of final release: 2014
Maps in package: 1
Map review of Zombie Nights
(originally posted on SCMapDB)
by dunkelschwamm | January 29, 2022 | 3746 characters
Zombie Nights is a Zombie Survival map chock full of unique gimmicks and production value. Unfortunately, in the end it feels like it's possibly less than the sum of its parts.
The goal of Zombie Nights is to survive 3 nights (36 minutes) without dying as zombies infinitely swarm the map, resources are only obtained through scarce drops, and a hunger and thirst system prevent players from becoming too stationery. Additionally, since the first player to survive 3 nights in row wins the map, there is a PVP implementation meant to convince players to kill one another for the glory. The player can respawn infinitely, only suffering from a restart on their survived nights count, which is a system I think works really well.
The map is divided into an overworld and an underworld. The overworld is the primary part of the map, complete with a day-night cycle which shifts jarringly between times of day with a changing skybox and overall lighting scheme. The map is composed of some fairly well down hillsides and bridges, and features a smattering of buildings with various functions. There's also a canal, a wall, and a few mountains. Up here, zombies infinitely spawn in and eventually overwhelm. Additionally, as time went on, various Half-Life aliens would just show up and immediately join the zombies in hunting the player. It is up here that the item drops which provide tools necessary for solving puzzles, as well as weapons and ammo, show up. This part of the map often looks pretty bad because of the dynamic lighting being really flat and the skybox would turn black when looked at from certain angles.
The underworld was a strange lab/bunker complex that sprawled in many directions in the dark, including a generator room, a locker room, some offices, a big vault. These areas are full of zombies and pitdrones and other beastly things. There's not a whole lot of great reason to come down here other than to flee or hide from other players and the respawning zombies up top. There's also some other rooms down below that can be accessed from up top, including a sewer drain.
There's a whole system for getting water which involves jumping into water which calls up an error that you're getting sick from jumping in water even though it often doesn't have repercussions. You can randomly get an infection and begin rapidly losing health. You can find supplies to aid you on your quest, but often it's barely enough to do anything at all. There's a hunger and thirst system which harms you if you don't have food or water on you. It's all pretty in-depth, but I think the system is pretty imbalanced toward shortage. Combat is rarely an option due to ammo supplies, and I don't think I ever saw a useable health item.
Anyway, once you survive 3 nights you win the map and the map ends.
If you want a zombie survival map for your server, I could see this one working out alright. It isn't my bag, being a zombie survival map and all, but it's fine. It definitely has a lot going on, and if you have a server full of hooligans I can see this fueling a lot of chaotic fun.
Pros:
- Pretty cool, giant map
- Fun zombie models
- Interesting gimmicks and ideas
- Sprawling secret underbelly map
Cons:
- Overworld looks bad because of day-night system and flawed skybox glitch
- Barely any drops
- Aliens that drop in are too much for how ill-prepared players will be
- Entering into the underworld portion of the map will be too much for ill-prepared players as well
- Easy enough to just sit around and wait out
Score: 5 / 10
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