was depressing and "soul-crushing". Arthur Gies of Polygon wrote that the system helped create an "overwhelming sense of fear and risk", and made him play the game in a more careful, tactical manner. Stanton wrote that the system often leads to "fraught backpack hunts", since players must retrieve their items from the previous player character; if they die, the items would be lost forever. According to Stanton, the system makes the game's items more meaningful and backtracking more fun. Greg Miller of IGN found the game paradoxically cool and nonsensical. Marty Sliva of 1Up.com thought the game was decent but could be improved stating: "I really hope to see Ubisoft work on a followup that fixes some of the rough patches and delivers the survival experience which the mechanics seem to be promising. Until then, we're left with a launch title full of unique ideas, but lacking the necessary cohesion to be truly great." Sterling called the plot "typical", writing that it was a basic backstory to complement the game's survival theme. Miller agreed, saying that ZombiU did not require a strong narrative. Stanton found the game's narrative not particularly engaging, but the environmental storytelling was "skillfully done". Turi found its concept interesting, but was disappointed with the lack of a central character and the game's excessive backtracking. Cooper called the story "light", but too complicated by the end; he was dissatisfied with the lack of interesting characters. Gies appreciated the game world's development, praising Ubisoft for creating a believable setting; however, he and Schilling were disappointed by the story's supernatural elements. Sterling wrote that there was too little enemy variety, which made the game's combat repetitive. He also criticized its map design, saying that in his 11-hour experience with the game, he could not find his way to objectives for at least two hours. Turi called the game's map confusing, agreeing with Sterling that players would easily get lost. He criticized the game's melee weapon as unsatisfying to use, comparing it unfavorably to Dead Island and Left 4 Dead 2. According to Turi, the melee-combat shortcomings were highlighted by the game's shortage of ammunition. Maxwell McGee of GameSpot and Miller shared similar concerns, calling the melee combat repetitive. According to McGee, the game's simplistic mission design and puzzle offer little variety. Stanton wrote that although the game's combat was simple, it developed into "something special" since players needed to