Gameplay
It’s quite surprising that SOE didn’t take the very worst part of DayZ, its fiddly controls and woeful combat, and go in a completely different direction with H1Z1. That the developer actually decided to simply carry over DayZ‘s mechanics and slap them on their own game is rather telling, with it screaming of laziness on their part.
When it comes to dealing with zombies, wildlife and your fellow players in H1Z1, the hit detection is every bit as shoddy as it was in DayZ, with melee attacks hitting all too irregularly, searching for loot far too cumbersome and inventory management lacking any kind of reasonable polish.
While tweaks will undoubtedly (and necessarily) be added here and there, these are H1Z1‘s fundamentals and as such I’m not expecting a dramatic makeover of its gameplay in the future. It’s borrowing a formula from DayZ that wasn’t very good in the first place, and it’s disappointing that they’ve dropped the ball on a facet of the game they could have turned into a huge selling point.
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Another issue both games suffer with is an array of bugs and glitches, with zombies rubber-banding in DayZ and the AI generally being infuriating, while my personal highlight of H1Z1 was spawning atop an angry bear. Of course, both games are still in alpha so these bugs can be overlooked, though in the case of DayZ it’s a game that is now so far behind its predicted release schedule that its flaws are standing to infuriate those who purchased it. Bohemia Interactive plan to release its beta in Q4 2015, but many who have purchased it in Early Access remain skeptical of this.
Aside from having not yet annoyed its userbase with a worryingly lengthy development schedule, another feather H1Z1 has in its cap is its crafting system. The crafting in H1Z1 is simplified, though arguably better than that of DayZ‘s. Whereas DayZ requires players to click and drag different pieces of loot on top of each other in order to form new and improved gear, H1Z1 features a Discovery menu that allows players to make a variety of different combinations simply by experimenting.
For instance, dragging a piece of cloth and a wooden stick in the Discovery menu creatures a makeshift bow, while the wooden stick alone creates an arrow. Better gear requires more and rarer loot, with a variety of equipment available at your disposal.
Another big improvement in H1Z1 is the ability to create a variety of different shelters in the game, which will remain in the server you build them in. Creating components for these shelters requires you to craft them, and there are many different variations you can make. Some collect dew which can be transformed into clean drinking water, others feature security access codes that allow you to store your most important items in them away from other players, and I even ventured into one elevated shelter that had a couple of vehicles parked beneath it, with it clearly being a central hub for a larger group of players.
I cannot endorse a paid game that employs a pay-to-win business model.
However, there is one huge flaw when it comes to H1Z1, and that is its air drops. Considering you currently have to pay to play the game in its early access form (SOE had previously stated that it would be entirely free to play with no purchasable weapons or ammunition), there are now micro-transactions which see players being awarded with air drops carrying a smattering of the game’s best equipment. Though SOE tried to combat this by having the air drops land a distance away from the player, this has now seen people sticking to groups in order to ensure they make their way to their air drops safely, along with killing those hunting for their own air drops, taking their loot and essentially stealing their paid-for content.
This puts those who don’t want to put more money into a game they’ve already paid for at a disadvantage, with it being likely that should H1Z1 continue to adopt this strategy, the game will eventually become littered with people ordering air drops, or stealing them from other players, turning themselves into indomitable war machines in the process.
H1Z1 could have snagged this one from DayZ thanks to its shelter-building system, but I simply cannot endorse the practices of a game that employs a pay-to-win business model, which is what H1Z1 currently does.
Winner: DayZ
Visuals and Performance
DayZ can often be visually striking, with it containing a large selection of scenic views and Chernarus in particular being home to great architecture and suitably weathered structures. Its weather effects are similarly impressive, with its day/night cycle being permeated by lashes of thick rain, occasional blistering sunlight and clear skies, along with lightning strikes that can actually hit players.
On the other hand, H1Z1 looks terrible. Again, this is a game that’s in its early stages of development, but DayZ never looked as poor as H1Z1 did from the its time as a mod through to its transition to a standalone game. It simply isn’t a good-looking game, with its player models looking incredibly plain, its textures blurry and its weather effects not up to a standard that places it even within the same ballpark as its contemporary. It’s a categorically ugly game, one which may have its looks touched up a bit come its final release, but that will likely remain less attractive than DayZ for the duration of its lifetime.
H1Z1 rips off DayZ’s visuals and does a far worse job at it.
With that being said, it somewhat makes up for its failings in its visuals department with its performance. DayZ isn’t optimized very well, with frame rates dropping even on high-end rigs and players having to run the game with certain graphics settings minimized/turned off completely. H1Z1 runs smoothly, and though it’s not easy on the eye it does boast a perfectly smooth frame rate.
However, there’s not much getting past just how bland and uninspired its environment is. Its rural North America is conceptually identical to DayZ‘s woodlands, with it basically looking like an older version of the same game. SOE could have gone in a number of different directions to vary the game’s visuals from that of Bohemia’s release, though they instead chose to go down exactly the same path – what about an entire city landscape with landmarks such as a Dawn of the Dead-esque mall? You can have that one for free, Sony.
While I’ve always said that a steady frame rate is preferable to good graphics, that H1Z1 so shamelessly rips off DayZ‘s visuals, and does a far worse job at it, puts it on the losing end of this one.
Winner: DayZ
Conclusion
Though DayZ outperformed H1Z1 across all bases here, it’s still inevitably difficult to say which game has the brighter future ahead of it. DayZ has had more time on the market so it has received a fair few tweaks here and there, while H1Z1 is a new Early Access release that isn’t yet in its teething stages.
I forgave a number of problems with both games that I can feasibly see being fixed come their respective releases, though some issues seem destined to be carried over by both of them when they eventually break out of Early Access. DayZ‘s optimization should eventually be fixed, for instance, as will H1Z1‘s glitches, while it should be expected that H1Z1 will always be the worst looking game, and both titles feature poor gameplay mechanics that will likely not be improved too much due to them being fundamental parts of each game.
H1Z1 is enjoying a great deal of success on Twitch right now, as DayZ has been for a while, however, there’s not enough to differentiate the former from the latter to make it deemed anything more than a clone upon its eventual final release. There were a number of changes to the DayZ formula Sony Online Entertainment could have made to leave Bohemia Interactive’s game in the dust, but for whatever reason they chose not to. The combat is shoddy in both games, while searching for loot is still a laborious chore of pressing a button and then waiting.
While I personally prefer the smaller environment of H1Z1 as it forces more player interaction, this is something that SOE is eventually changing, and with that being the only excellent differentiation between the two games that would put H1Z1 ahead of the pack for many players, it’s difficult to imagine it being anything other than a simpler, diluted version of an existing game.
If DayZ lives up to its developers’ claims, then it will prove to be a hugely engrossing title that, when it eventually makes its first steps onto the PS4, could prove to be a hugely popular PSN game. While I’ve had a great deal of fun with H1Z1, if it lives up to its developers claims then it will basically be DayZ but not as good.
Overall Winner: DayZ
