Survival mode

This article is about the game mode. For the subgenre, see Survival horror.

Survival mode is a video game mode in which the player must continue playing for as long as possible in an uninterrupted session while the game presents them with increasingly difficult waves of challenges.[1] A variant of the mode requires that the player last for a certain finite amount of time, after which victory is achieved and the mode ends.[2] The mode is particularly common among tower defense games, where the player must improve the defenses of a specific location in order to repel enemy forces for as long as possible.[3] Survival mode has been compared to the gameplay of classic arcade games, where players face off against increasingly stronger waves of enemies.[4] This mode was intended to give the game a definite and sometimes sudden ending, so that other players could then play the arcade game as well.

Popular games that have a survival mode include zombie games such as those in the Left 4 Dead series,[5] games in the Call of Duty series following Call of Duty: World at War,[6] tower defense game Plants vs. Zombies,[7] and Gears of War 2.[1] Also, sandbox games such as Minecraft take advantage of this gamemode by having players survive the night time from different varieties of monsters such as skeletons, zombies and Creepers.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Glasser, Aj (2008-10-15). "Gears of War 2 – Horde Mode Is The Way To Go". Kotaku. Retrieved 2011-11-18.
  2. Rodgers, Scott (2010). Level Up!: The Guide to Great Video Game Design. John Wiley and Sons. p. 383.
  3. Walker, John (2009-05-05). "The Plants Vs. Zombies Review". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved 2011-11-18.
  4. Osborne, Joe (2011-10-11). "Empires & Allies Survival Mode: Everything you need to know". Games.com. Retrieved 2011-11-18.
  5. Kuchera, Ben (2009-04-22). "First impressions of Left 4 Dead's survival mode". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2011-11-18.
  6. McElroy, Griffin (2008-10-25). "Call of Duty: World at War co-op mode pits players against Nazi zombies". Joystiq. Retrieved 2011-11-18.>Keyes, Rob. "Survival Multiplayer Adding The Nether". Game Rant. Retrieved 2011-11-18.
  7. Hatfield, Daemon (2011-01-18). "Plants vs. Zombies DS Review". IGN. Retrieved 2011-11-18.

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