In this week's Pokket Says, we weigh in on DayZ, the zombie survival that's taken the FPS genre by storm over the past couple of months.

I've been having an absolute blast in DayZ. For those that don't know, DayZ is a mod for Arma II, a tactical shooter for PC. I have been playing this game for about a week and a half and have found that it holds this addictive element to it that many other games I've played in the past lack. Maybe it is the promise of losing everything if you die, maybe it is the environment, maybe it is the uncertainty of friends versus foes in the game that gives you a rush when coming into contact with other players, maybe it is the fact it takes place during the zombie apocalypse, or maybe it is a combination of all these, plus more.

Read more of Hillary Nicole's Pokket Says: Counting the DayZ.

WoW killer!))

I've been playign this with some friend for a week now and it is so much fun.  I'll play with them and sometimes solo.  But now that I have some rare loot, it gets harder to want to log in for fear of losing it all.  Who wants to lose night vision and the L85?  Not me.

Sort of a double edged sword.  When you are your stash, you may be apprehensive about playing for fear of losing your gear.  On the other hand, a well hidden tent or a future base to keep your stash and permadeath completely loses it's sting.  The only difference between a new character and one that has been played for weeks... is gear you can pick up in a few seconds.

Good read Pokket,

I find this game fascinating... The only problem I have is the real time day/night play times in game. Since I play mostly at night in real time it's hard to find a server that has daylight. Night in this game is almost pure black and while somewhat realistic it's very hard to enjoy a game that you can't see in. Even  though being in pitch dark adds to the pure terror of the game.

Originally posted by Caskio

I've been playign this with some friend for a week now and it is so much fun.  I'll play with them and sometimes solo.  But now that I have some rare loot, it gets ahrder to want to log in for fear of losing it all.  Who wants to lose night vision and the L85?  Not me.

There is always the challenge of obtaining once lost items... it could take the edge off

Originally posted by Truelevel

Originally posted by Caskio

I've been playign this with some friend for a week now and it is so much fun.  I'll play with them and sometimes solo.  But now that I have some rare loot, it gets harder to want to log in for fear of losing it all.  Who wants to lose night vision and the L85?  Not me.

There is always the challenge of obtaining once lost items... it could take the edge off

Chances are it would be lost due to a player killing me.  And finding that player and taking my stuff back would be nearly impossible since they could always jump to a different server.

Nice game; great mod..utter crap optimization

There needs to be more open world built game engines to support more mods like DayZ. A FPS using the UnrealEngine would be much better but it wouldn't have the same large world enviroment that players want. There must be a future market in a MMOFPS engine like Hero Engine is for MMORPGs.

I think the appeal of DayZ is similar to that of Minecraft. No one knows why it's so addictive to play. Neither game has no clear objective or "point". You start out with nothing, you have to go to bigger dangers to get the bigger loot and it's a game that never ends. There does come a point where you think "I have everything that I can possibly want, I'm done" much like Minecraft. But then there's the situation where you could die and lose everything.

I think that's why a game like DayZ causes so much excitement in the gaming culture. A game that is so open ended that the player decides exactly when they've done all that they need to do, not the game deciding that you've done everything that you can do.

DayZ is amazing. Been playing for 3 months or so now. It's a freaking rush.

Originally posted by Mizzmo

DayZ is amazing. Been playing for 3 months or so now. It's a freaking rush.

yeah man, i'm with ya. it's such a simple idea too. start with almost nothing, collect survival gear, eat food, drink water, watch injuries, don't get chomped on, avoid hostel people, survive the perma death.

the ideas Rocket and team have for the game sound pretty solid too. i love that they don't add crap in that is just out of the scope of reality. if it doesn't make sense, it doesn't go in game.

lol, tis is only zombie game where i actually are scared to see zombies.

Just love tis game:D

It's simply amazing.

Originally posted by Pretender00

Good read Pokket,

I find this game fascinating... The only problem I have is the real time day/night play times in game. Since I play mostly at night in real time it's hard to find a server that has daylight. Night in this game is almost pure black and while somewhat realistic it's very hard to enjoy a game that you can't see in. Even  though being in pitch dark adds to the pure terror of the game.

I usually go by server population when trying to find a day time server as the fuller the server the better chance that it wont be night.

I absolutely love the game and cant wait to see what the finished game mode will be like in Arma 3.

I was playing with a friend last week and he managed to break a bone while we were searching the town of Pusta, we had no morphine on us but rather than him do the honourable thing and kill himself I told him to hole up in a house and I would search the world for some morphine for him while he was offline.

Rather than risk the hospitals in the cities just south of our location I decided I would head north to Berezino and try the hospital there. It became one of the most tense and exciting adrenaline filled things i have ever done in a game as it did actually feel like my friends life was in my hands and i couldnt fail him. 

I went from town to town heading north collecting food, drink and equipment that i needed and eventually got to Berezino, I got to the hospital and found the medical supplies i needed before looking for the safest way back out of the city. I then began the long journey back south to Pusta where i had left my friend.

I managed to get all the way from Pusta to Berezino and back with barely a scratch, but as i was trying to get to the house where i had left my friend I managed to aggro a zombie who promptly broke one of my bones luckily I had plenty of morphine now.

The next time my friend logged in he healed his bone and we both walked off into the sunset looking for more loot.

My son talked me into playing this game.  Sorry to say, the game is filled with childish morons whose only object is to ruin your gameplay.   It is bad enough you have to constantly be on the watch for zombies moving at warp speed let alone other players out to ruin your day.  You basically can't trust anyone.  

A decent game if you have a cadre of friends you play with.  Stupid to attempt to play solo.

Originally posted by Ozmodan

My son talked me into playing this game.  Sorry to say, the game is filled with childish morons whose only object is to ruin your gameplay.   It is bad enough you have to constantly be on the watch for zombies moving at warp speed let alone other players out to ruin your day.  You basically can't trust anyone.  

A decent game if you have a cadre of friends you play with.  Stupid to attempt to play solo.

I play solo and have done well enough so far but you have to keep your wits about you all the time, I am sure it is easier in a group but all my real life friends have terrible computers.

"this isn't necessarily a review, but moreso just things I liked about the game, things that kept me addicted to it, and what I'd like to see in the future."

This made me lol.  Nice review Pockett! :P

Just wait for the Warz Z to come out. This game is still in the very early alpha stages and very broken.