Preview: ZombiU’s multiplayer puts a player in charge of zombie minions

Surprisingly enough, the competitive multiplayer aspect of ZombiU was just as, if not more, fun than the single player portion. It essentially boiled down to me with the Gamepad versus Lance on the Wii U Pro controller. Lance played the traditional survivor role while I played as a zombie overlord of sorts. On the Gamepad, I had a general overview of the entire map, and the ability to place down various zombies that each had distinct uses. It was then both of our roles to try to capture four flags, him in first-person mode and me through my zombie minions.

There were a few rules I had to abide by when playing as the zombie overlord. Firstly, I wasn't able to place down a zombie too close to the other player. This would be completely unfair and would result in a few unfair instances such as placing a zombie directly behind the player for sneak attacks. Rather, this enforces the need to think out a strategy, rather than placing down zombies spontaneously. Secondly, each zombie requires a certain amount of what I call 'zombie points' to place down. These regenerate over time, but makes it so you can't place down five flag capture zombies right after another.

The different zombies you can place down are the aforementioned flag hunters, which run to the nearest flag and capture it for you, the hunters which can run fast and guard zombies which stand between the different flag areas and act defensively and can take a few more hits.

On the flipside, playing as a human is still extremely fun. You'll obviously have speed on your side, as well as the fact that you can wield multiple firearms. Honestly though, your best defense, is honestly more defense. When not aiming down your sights, you're able to push any oncoming zombies. This will come in handy even more so than actually using firearms, since it makes zombies stumble over, giving you time to run for it.

When I asked about whether this mode will be available online, or whether more people can take part in it, I was told that those details haven't been unveiled yet. This is somewhat strange considering the game is set to release just a little under a month. While it's undoubtedly fun with just two people, I can see this mode getting stale over time, if it turns out that's the cap.

November 18^th can't come soon enough, and if anything, ZombiU made me even more interested in Nintendo's newest console, than I previously was before.