ZombiU

ZombiU ranks among Wii U's boldest launch titles, and also among those that most convincingly explain why the GamePad mattered at all. Ubisoft Montpellier set this first-person game in a London overrun by an infection, where the player pushes through the Underground, sewers, Buckingham Palace, and dark flats, scavenging for every tin can and every bullet individually. Combat is slow and unpleasant, a cricket bat is more reliable than a firearm, and a single careless step is enough for the crowd to tear you apart.

What still sets the game apart today is how it uses the second screen. Rummaging through your backpack, hacking locks, scanning your surroundings, or opening a chest all happen on the controller's display in real time — meanwhile the TV doesn't pause, so glancing down at your inventory is a genuine risk, and the player instinctively jerks their head back up. On top of that comes permanent death: when you fall, you take control of another random survivor, and you have to hunt down your old hero as a zombie to reclaim your gear. The base run by the mysterious Prepper serves as the only safe place to catch your breath and save your progress, so every excursion outside is planned like a small military operation.

Visually, ZombiU is dark, grimy, and claustrophobic, with an excellent soundscape full of shuffling, growling, and heavy silence — atmosphere is clearly its greatest asset. This London isn't a tourist postcard but a crumbling maze of boarded-up shopfronts, scrawled-on walls, and corridors where a flashlight barely reaches a few meters. The game also offered a peculiar mode in which one player with the controller placed undead against another player on the TV. Contemporary reviews were split: part of the critics praised the tension and the courage to swim against the tide of action shooters, while others complained about the clunky combat and technical compromises. Over the years the game gained a reputation as an underrated gem and even received a port to other platforms — though without the second screen, it lost its best idea there. That's exactly why the original Wii U release remains the only one truly worth playing.