Ah, Zombi. Undoubtedly Ubisoft's attempt at cashing in on the zombie craze.
I was reluctant to pick up this game at first due to the mixed reviews, and the fact that I'm still angry at Ubisoft over Assassin's Creed: Unity. In fact I haven't bought a Ubisoft game since that catastrophe, which I paid full price for. I'm also pretty sick of zombie and zombie accessories. But my friend was feeling pretty bad today, and I knew that playing this would cheer her right up since she'd ask me to do so a while ago.
First off, this game runs through both uPlay and Steam. I really don't understand the point of this, other than Ubisoft maintaining their uPlay Reward system; which is crap, if you ask me. About an hour into the game, I encountered my first game crashing bug... I simply attempted to remove a barricade from a door. Luckily my save point was only about 10-15 minutes from the point where I crashed, but others may not be so lucky.
By the third hour in, I'd made it halfway through the very linear storyline. There are a good variety of zombie models, although you will encounter many zombies that look the same. There are also "special" zombies (L4D) like the Spitter. I've managed to grab three different guns at this point, although I'm stuck with the same melee weapon that you start with. So far I've been through the streets, a supermarket, sewers and part of Buckingham Palace. I have to say that the setting of Zombi is unique, I don't recall having gone through London in any zombie game before.
The level designs are fairly boring with little to do. Most of the time when you go to loot any container, or body, in the open world they're empty. So it makes exploring a little pointless and dreary. I should also mention at this point that anytime you die, you come back as another survivor. So there is a minimal rogue-like essence here. However, I just lost my first survivor and I did not even die. Out of nowhere, while I was attacking, the zombie jumped through my attack animation and infected me; while I was at full health. You lose all your stuff when you "die", so good luck getting it back.
Overall, up to this point I have had a fair bit of fun and I've had many moments where I've screamed; which is rare for me in horror games anymore. I'm not necessarily scared during the gameplay, but the jumpscares are actually fun. Normally I hate jumpscares with a passion, but these aren't so bad.
Sadly, Ubisoft are (typically) unresponsive in the forums about crash and bug fixes. The graphics are completely under par for the current generation and have an annoying haze to them. I can't recommend the game for the price, but I can recommend it on sale. Just be forewarned about the issues that will most likely never get fixed, let alone noticed.