E3 10: Dead Nation hands-on

June 20, 2010

Dead Nation, a PSN-exclusive title, has you fighting waves of zombies. An interesting concept, no? Just so original.

All sarcasm aside, it’s pretty fun.

The game’s presentation is a lot like the classic top-down shooter, Smash TV. You’re fighting waves of enemies with guns, and you can pick up items to help you do it. There’s more depth here, though; you can cycle through weapons, use alternate fire, throw grenades and more.

The level on display at E3 was outdoors, navigating a run-down area with dumpsters, broken-down cars and old buildings. The area exemplified the different ways to play. There were areas to hide, if you’re the kind of person that likes finding cover. There were times when sprinting away and shooting at the oncoming horde would work well, but there were also instances where the way to go was to use melee attacks and keep an eye out for health packs.

We want to see more of the level progression and multiplayer experience when the game hits the PlayStation Network, but what we saw looked promising.