Kind of related but not really on topic.
It had a novel gameplay concept. Honestly very underused, you'd think there be a lot more car combat games but there aren't. What really impressed me about it was just how much they managed to stretch "desert apocalypse" visually, so many very different feeling areas of the map. It puts most other open worlds to shame.
Exploring can be helpful when it comes to grabbing certain hidden weapons (like the katana and submachine gun in Paradise Plaza) or stocking up on heals, but yeah. Early on, when you're a low level and Frank is slow, with a small inventory, running from one end of the mall to the other can cost you a lot of time. Otis telling you to trek across the map for a survivor is rough at the start. Using things like skateboards or the unlockable shortcut from Wonderland to Paradise helps a lot. There are some points in the story where the action stops and just lets you run around and do whatever, which is great, but most usually have at least one survivor to save or psychopath you can fight.
The convicts are my problem right now. They're very difficult to deal with. You need a gun. I'm sure there's hidden weapons everywhere, but so far the only way I really to know to get a gun is that the movie theater area seems to have a ridiculous number of police and they sometimes drop them. I use the skateboard to cross the park quickly, but the last time I died before quitting for the night I was escorting the mother from Al Fresco, my skateboard had been used up or something, and the convicts spawned right at the front gate so there was literally nothing I could do about them. Thankfully I had saved in the office.
Yeah, those fuckers are pretty much the bane of every new player. The devs really fuck you over by having the timing aligned where you're mostly likely escorting Leah (and maybe Burt and Aaron, too) right as night falls and they show up. Pretty catchy theme, though.
