Ever wanted to roast some zombies with three of your closest friends? Konami knows you do, and that’s why they’re publishing Zombie Apocalypse, a game which pits you against a never-ending horde of the undead using automatic machine guns, flamethrowers, chainsaws, and a variety of other interesting weapons. Well, not really never-ending; there are 55 days of invasion you’re working to survive through teamwork spanning 7 different environments. Meanwhile, seeing as it’s a downloadable arcade-style game, you’ll also be going for the high score. Plus, ZOMBIES… ‘Nuff said.
So anyway, the game’s a heck of a lot of fun. It’s played from an overhead isometric perspective, and you shoot using the now-common dual-analog setup where the right stick fires your weapon in any direction you hold it. It feels an awful lot like Smash TV, and that’s a good thing.
There’s a small assortment of different zombie types, some which are tougher than others; the weaker ones can be shaken off with the controller. If you work together properly with your team, you can put up quite a score multiplier—a couple of ways of doing this are by killing five or more zombies in a row or via the use of the so-called “chainsaw execution”, which is a move that takes a few seconds to perform, but which bumps your multiplier up three times, which rocks.
Environmentally, you get the typical exploding barrels and all that jazz, plus some interesting props (quite literally—a jet engine comes to mind) and terrain differences between the seven different environments. The blood splattering is gratuitous and looks ridiculous, as any game featuring endless undead attackers should.
Overall, the game’s just a lot of fun. I can’t wait to buy it and spend a night with a few friends and a bit of alcohol trying to complete it.
