ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE Posted by Gordon Neill on Oct 17, 2009 13:49 (148 days ago) |
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Zombies we all love them, and for some reason they seem to be the corner stone of any good movie or video game these days. I guess the fascination started back in the hay day of George A Romero when he created the dawn of the dead series and this was continued by movies like Evil Dead starring the infamous ASH and his Boomstick. However nowadays we all accept the scenario that zombies will come from some kind of biological mishap in an underground lab Resident Evil style. With games such as Resident Evil really setting the bar for survival horror games in the east and west we now await the next brainstorm from companies like Capcom telling us how the world will end next.
However it’s Konami who are calling the shots now with their latest horror escapade Zombie Apocalypse. Now as a lot of us know Konami is no stranger to this survival game although the company is better known for eerie atmospheric games like Silent Hill, which has already spawned a movie in Hollywood. This time around thought they have opted for an arcade thumb stick shooter remake and I have to say even thought it is a dramatic departure from their usual clientele I am impressed.
 Zombie Apocalypse follows 4 characters and a non existent story line, but be warned this is no Left 4 Dead beater but borrows a lot of elements from it. There are trademark weapons such as the chainsaw, the shotgun and if your really lucky your very own mini gun. These weapons vary the game play and keep it fresh as each new weapon brings with it a new game play style to master. In total there are 55 levels or days to survive each with their own signature zombies and level layouts.
Speaking about the levels although the maps are varied they are not always good to look at and usually include a lot of blocky looking buildings and scenery along with poor lighting, although to be fair this game is built for Xbox Live Arcade rather than as a full download.
The characters however are well animated and colourful, and it is impressive to see how many zombies Konami can fit on screen at one time. Once you finally survive all the way to the end you are rewarded with new game play challenges like chainsaw only levels and turbo mode. These features combined with multiplayer make for many, many replays and will the keep the game fresh for a long time.
So what of the multiplayer, well like it’s big brother left 4 dead this is where the game shines and really stands out from other arcade shooters as you can take on the world with up to 4 players it's really good fun playing online and this part of the game actually makes it worth the money alone.
While Zombie Apocalypse isn’t perfect it is fun and at the end of the gaming day isn’t that what we really want? Sure you may not spend several hours killing the undead but for a quick blast you can’t find any zombie game better.
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