Zombie Shooter

The Short


Pros
- There ARE zombies, and you get to shoot them
- Improves on Alien Shooter's mechanics by adding gun upgrades, which is appreciated
- Enemies disintegrate in messy bits as you blast at them, which is a nice, nasty touch
- Graphics still look like Fallout
- Has an actual difficulty slider (Easy/Medium/Hard) which Alien Shooter really needed
- Weirdly addicting, though I can't exactly figure out why

Cons
- Almost exactly the same as Alien Shooter
- Seriously, everything is the same except you are shooting zombies
- Still runs at a crappy resolution, still is mindless, and still is just corridor after corridor
- Only about 3-4 hours long
- Has weird pathing issues in its isomeric view that can result in you getting stuck on the scenery, to the point where you have to quit and start a mission over

Call me messed up, but I think shooting zombies is funner than shooting aliens

The Long

So let's get one thing straight: this game is almost a cookie-cutter pallet swap of Alien Shooter. Don't believe me? Well, let's run some stuff down:

- Same title screen music

- Same two characters with same sprites

- Many of the guns are the same

- Many background assets are directly lifted from Alien Shooter

- Entire UI, menu, and leveling system is the same

- IT'S THE SAME, OK?

So this SHOULD be a really simple review, right? It's the same, "One out of Five" and all that? Well...actually no. Because despite myself, I think...I think I like Zombie Shooter.

THE HORROR.

It isn't a video game if you don't start by killing rats. 

So, if you skipped the Alien Shooter review, here's the concept in brief: duel-stick shooter, light RPG mechanics, boatloads of enemies and levels, super repetitive. Did I miss anything? Oh yeah, old graphics, same gray corridors for every level. So all that is exactly the same here in Zombie Shooter (though you do get a glimpse of the outside, and I think the graphics have seen a boost, but more on that later) but to my surprise it actually hits that "addicting" draw it was going for before. Not sure why, but let's break down why it's better than Alien Shooter, at least.

So first off the upgrade system has improved, if only slightly. Rather than having the only progression be leveling up and buying better guns, you can now upgrade your current guns. Which I appreciate, as it gives my money somewhere to go. Upgrading them significantly increases range, power, and lots more. It feels good to spend all your money fully upgrading a minigun and just breezing through a level blasting the undead.

Another improvement is there is a difficulty slider. Which may sound lame, but the original game kind of needed it. This is still a hard game - even "Easy" can get tricky - but at least now you can decide how badly you get stomped.

Wait, is that...actually a zombie? 

There's also a better sense of progression in this one vs Alien Shooter. In Alien Shooter, you cleared a room and just left. A prompt said "Press Space to Leave" and that was it. In this one, you have actual objectives and places to go to continue (though most are either "find a button to turn on the lights" or "get dynamite and blow a hole in this pre-determined wall") so it feels like you are going somewhere. It's a step in the right direction. 

But how I think this game works is that it succeeds at drawing you into its stupid, arcade, Smash TV style of just blasting tons and tons of zombies. Yeah, there's no depth here, and I still can often use the "stand in doorway shooting rockets into the room until everything stops moving" trick, but the game feels much more refined than Alien Shooter. Maybe it's having more upgrade options or the fact that I'm fighting zombies or something, I dunno. But I genuinely enjoyed my time spent with Zombie Shooter. It wasn't anything profound, but I'll probably play it again (and I didn't delete it from my HDD after quitting, like I did with Alien Shooter). 

The biggest problem I encountered, however, were the controls. I neglected to mention it in my Alien Shooter review, but playing with WSAD movement on an isomeric view isn't great, and it's exacerbated by the fact you can walk on stuff you aren't supposed to be able to, and then get stuck. Often it took some jiggling to get free, but once I was legitimately trapped and had to reload a level. That's garbage. 

How were there so many people in this underground facility?

Graphically, the game is similar but has a slightly better look than Alien Shooter. The environments are more colorful and dense and the blood n' guts looks much better. My favorite (if a bit gross) "feature" is the fact that after you shoot zombies for a bit pieces come off 'em, but they keep coming until you finish them off. Nice touch. You can also see your bullets/buckshot this time, which is appreciated in aiming.

Sound is also a bit better, though nothing spectacular. It recycles a bit from Alien Shooter but then adds some more of its own, so I'm fine with it.

How many of these guys are there?

I feel weird saying this, but I liked Zombie Shooter. Yeah, it's mindless, kind of shallow, and really repetitive, but it fits that "arcade shooter" itch that I have. While I'd have liked more upgrade options, having just four stats and gun upgrades has enough to keep me going without being overly complex. This is just some mindless fun, and the fact it's like 3-4 hours long makes it a good game to play in bursts and then pick up later. 

Yes, I'm actually recommending this game, though honestly I'd wait for it to pop up in an indie bundle (they tend to do that a lot; Indie Gala likes to re-sell it's old bundles with the current ones, if you are interested check them out). At $5 it might be a bit much (try a demo), but this formula works, so for cheap thrills you could do a lot worse.

Three out of Five Stars. 

Which means this game is as good as Final Fantasy VII, if you think all reviews scores mean the same thing.