I have this nagging fear about Wii U. It’s not that the system won’t get software, or Nintendo’s iconic franchises. It’s that the system won’t get the type of software necessary to fully realize the potential of its grand experiment. I see a game like Pikmin 3, a real-time strategy game that doesn’t actually use the touch-enabled GamePad for unit management. I see New Super Mario Bros. U or Rayman Legends, two titles that will likely be great, but use the Pad in its most basic sense – for platform generation and basic environment manipulation.

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All of this is great, but none of it really changes the way I see gaming through the lens of Wii U. None of it evokes an overwhelming reaction from me, not even Nintendo Land’s asymmetric gameplay. To be clear, these games are all quite enjoyable. I’m just not seeing anything that screams that Wii U’s gamble is worth it. Except when I play ZombiU I’m still not sure if ZombiU is a must-play game or something that could justify a system purchase. I’ll need far more time with the game to make that call. But in limited bursts, this experience continues to grow on me. Wholly different from most zombie games out there, this one puts an emphasis on sheer survival, with characters scrambling to scrape by in a world that is out to eat you – literally.My latest turn with this first-person shooter introduced a few elements that weren’t included when the game was shown at E3. Of particular note is the black light scanner, which encourages you to pull up the GamePad and use its screen to look around your room. While your television gives you a third-person view of your character looking around, your Pad’s monitor gives you a purple-hued perspective of the world, allowing you to see objects tucked in corners and crevices. You’re also able to see messages and directions written on the walls, signals that aren’t ordinarily visible, which will allow you to discover secrets and valuable caches of ammunition and supplies.The game begs you to explore, to find things you shouldn’t be able to find. You’re a survivor and need to find every small advantage you can, one bullet at a time. ZombiU punishes you by offering a small glimpse of hope, giving you the barest amount of weaponry possible, luring you into feeling safe before suddenly snatching it away.This isn’t a game where you try to go toe-to-toe with zombies. There is no overwhelming arsenal to be had, no safe haven that can repeatedly heal you. Death is permanent. While ZombiU features an upgrade system for your abilities and weaponry, if you die, your personal benefits are lost. If you’re lucky, you can maybe recover some of your guns off the reanimated corpse of your former character, but you won’t get everything. And there’s a chance that your blood, sweat and tears will be for nothing, forcing you to confront the fact that your hopes of surviving in this apocalyptic world are terribly, most unfortunately slim.The zombies don’t make things any easier. A basic conflict with one of these shambling horrors is tough enough. You can try to be patient, and you can try to get headshots, but often it doesn’t matter. Chances are you’ll have to pull out your cricket bat and risk physical confrontation. You probably won’t emerge unscathed, but you have no other choice. It’s kill or be eaten in ZombiU.Even scarier, ZombiU features multiple types of enemies. Just as you start to get comfortable with a typical undead monster, they start to spit at you, meaning not even keeping your distance will afford you a reprieve. They might also be wearing tactical riot gear, meaning they have helmets and body armor. In a game where five bullets is considered an abundance of protection, the fact that a head shot will barely slow down an enemy is a merciless shift in advantage.ZombiU will tear at you. Its ability to strip away the standards of zombie games, making you always question whether you have enough ammo, and punishing you severely for arrogant, swift actions, is entirely addictive. You eagerly jump back into the fray, knowing full well your chances of survival are slim. Whether or not you will die is never a question.ZombiU’s use of the GamePad for equipment management, for environmental exploration, even apparently for leaving your own messages to other survivors, completes the experience. Having to work with the touch screen in real-time to equip your character, or to look for that critical gun tucked under a chair, only adds to the tension in a way that simply scrolling through menus could never quite do. It builds in a sensory experience, while offering a cleaner user interface that isn’t quite possible elsewhere. Combine that with a fantastic game design and Wii U could very well find itself with a killer launch app – and not from Nintendo this time.

Rich is an Executive Editor of IGN.com, and the leader the IGN Nintendo team. He also watches over most things Resident Evil, Assassin's Creed, WWE and more. You can follow him on Twitter or IGN , if you dare.