Draft:ZMR

ZMR
Developer(s)	Yingpei Games
Publisher(s)	En Masse Entertainment
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Release	September 19, 2014
Genre(s)	Squad-based TPS Game
Mode(s)	Multiplayer

ZMR is a squad-based, online multiplayer third-person shooter with both co-operative and competitive game modes published in North America by En Masse Entertainment, publishers of the TERA) MMORPG. ZMR is a westernized version of the Mercenary Ops game published in China in the Fall of 2012 by Yingpei Games (formerly Epic Games China). ZMR, also known as Zombies Monsters Robots, was officially released in North America through on September 19, 2014 via the En Masse ZMR online portal and through Steam (software).

Gameplay

ZMR is a third-person shooter game where groups of up to eight players can fight together against enemies in campaign and wave-based survival modes, or split into teams of two to eight players and fight against one another in competitive modes. Both competitive and co-operative modes provide a wide variety of maps for players to explore and master.

In co-op mode, players group together to battle through hordes of monsters, complete maps, and earn rewards. ZMR has a wide variety of monsters, including zombies, mutants, ancient Egyptians, ninjas, mercenaries, dinosaurs, giant bugs, sea monsters, and even mechs. In competitive play, teams of players face off on various maps to battle one another in a variety of player-versus-player (PvP) modes.

While fighting, players can dodge, take cover, shoot from cover, and even fire blindly around corners. On maps with undead enemies, players can rebuild windows and doors that the undead hordes have broken through to earn points and block off enemies for a short time.

Players can acquire and equip weapons, armor, equipment, and even grenades and turrets before entering maps. Defeated enemies also drop weapons, grenades, and ammo, allowing players to restock and/or upgrade on the fly during combat. Players can choose from hundreds of weapons in ZMR in various categories, including side arms, shotguns, SMGs, assault rifles, and sniper rifles. Specialty weapons, like flamethrowers, crossbows, and grenades are also available.

Players can modify their weapons by adding scopes and laser sights, swapping out stocks and barrels, increasing the size of their clips, and even adding flashlights and silencers. Players can also acquire tech items that alter their stats, decrease their reload times, provide more health, or deal more damage. Some sections of the game allow players to don mechanized warsuits, which can also be upgraded with bigger weapons and modified by various pieces of equipment.

The co-operative (or PvE) section of ZMR has seven game modes — Assault, Assault Ops, Extinction Ops, Kill Every Thing, Massive Assault, Paranormal Ops, Threshold Defense, and Boss Rush — which have anywhere from one to eleven maps and up to four difficulty levels. The competitive (or PvP) section of the game offers eight PvP game modes — Team Deathmatch, Elimination, King of the Hill, Demolition, Capture the Flag, Patient Zero, and Mercs vs. Monsters — with anywhere from two to thirty maps, and up to 16 players. ZMR also offers Team Mech Match PvP on four different maps.

Development

En Masse signed a deal with Yingpei Games (Formerly Epic Games China) in 2013 to publish a North American version of the popular Yingpei third-person shooter title, Mercenary Ops, which at the time had over 30 million registered player account. En Masse changed the name to ZMR or Zombies Monsters Robots and localized all the Chinese content (V.O. dialog, names for weapons and equipment, mission descriptions, etc.) for a western audience.

In July of 2014, En Masse made an open beta version of ZMR available through the company's online game portal. The official launch of the game came several months later, on September 19, 2014, and the game became available both through the online ZMR portal as well as through Steam. Since the game's official release, En Masse has published eight content updates, which have added new campaigns and missions, new maps and enemies, and new weapons and equipment.

Updates

Officially, En Masse has released eleven content updates to ZMR, including three during open beta and the launch update in September of 2014. The Mercs vs. Monsters release in July 2014 added the mercs vs. monsters mode. The second open beta update, Mummy See Mummy Doom, added six new Egyptian and Chinese-themed maps. The final open beta update was published less than a month before the official launch, Named Threshold Defense, this release added a new tower defense mode to the game. The official launch of the game on September 19, 2014 marked the release of the fourth update, T-Rekt, which added a new campaign featuring a Tyrannasaurus Rex with a rocket launcher mounted to its back.

Since the official launch of ZMR, En Masse has released seven more content updates for ZMR, each containing additional localized content rom the original Yingpei game. Infect All Humans, released in October 2014, added the Patient Zero PvP mode. The November 2014 Steel Corps update added mechs and nine new maps to the game. Six Feet Below Zero, the December 2104 update, added six winter maps. Into the Void, which En Masse released in February 2015, added three outer-space-themed maps with a linked story. The Game of Drones update, released in April 2015, added drones to the game. Deadtime Stories, the tenth ZMR update, was published in June 2015 and added story mode campaigns and four new maps. Back to the Void, the most recent ZMR update, was released in September 2015, adding two new story mode campaigns.

External links

• Official US ZMR website