You Have to Shoot Them in the Head
It was our ticket to survival as we went hands-on with Zombie Apocalypse.
Published: April 13, 2009
Zombies are big right now. Movies, video games, t-shirts, toys, cartoons, internet catchphrases... The combination of successful Hollywood revivals and the always-eager gaming populace proving that, yes, the undead still sell have proven the brain-starved shuffling masses aren't going anywhere anytime soon. The same goes for twin-stick shooters -- that is, a shooter that uses both analog sticks -- a control mechanic that's been the basis for some of the best games on the PlayStation Network.
In fact, just a few weeks ago, Burn, Zombie, Burn! hit the PSN, and at first blush it would seem the games are eerily similar. BZB, however, was a single-stick shooter and was decidedly cartoony in its presentation. Zombie Apocalypse on the other hand, is far more realistic, gorier and sports a presentation that's more Dawn of the Dead remake than Scooby Doo.
We got a chance to gun down the undead hordes with a couple other journos at Konami's Gamer's Night last week and walked away more than a little impressed. For starters, you've always got a chainsaw at the ready, and as any true zombie slayer knows, there's no better recipe for putting down the living dead's uprising like a gas-powered friend running at full RPMs. By either holding L1 to prep an overhead strike that buries the business end of the chainsaw in a baddie or holding R1 to slice and dice.
The rest of the weapons were classic zombie fighting fare: shotguns, assault rifles, flame throwers and so on. There was one notable exception, though: zombie bait. These could be thrown out to attract the brain-cravers or to lure them into some of the levels' interactive bits like a still-spinning jet engine from a downed plane or a trash compactor in a junk yard. We were surprised to see that it wasn't all battles in the dark either; as we survived from one day to the next, the sun came up and the lighting for the next level was markedly different.
More importantly, though, the game looked quite nice; the engine Nihilistic has built offers plenty of detail in both the different levels themselves and the shambling chainsaw fodder springing to (un)life from them. Gunning the chainsaw and just sweeping it through an enemy would cut them down at the same angle as the swipe (which was guided by the right analog stick), letting us lop of limbs, legs and even torsos at the waist. Cool.
Our time with Zombie Apocalypse was painfully short, but we're hoping we'll have the chance to take a more in-depth look at the game's 55 day survival run, 7 environments and 11 weapons in the very near future. As soon as we do, we'll make sure you know about it.
In fact, just a few weeks ago, Burn, Zombie, Burn! hit the PSN, and at first blush it would seem the games are eerily similar. BZB, however, was a single-stick shooter and was decidedly cartoony in its presentation. Zombie Apocalypse on the other hand, is far more realistic, gorier and sports a presentation that's more Dawn of the Dead remake than Scooby Doo.
We got a chance to gun down the undead hordes with a couple other journos at Konami's Gamer's Night last week and walked away more than a little impressed. For starters, you've always got a chainsaw at the ready, and as any true zombie slayer knows, there's no better recipe for putting down the living dead's uprising like a gas-powered friend running at full RPMs. By either holding L1 to prep an overhead strike that buries the business end of the chainsaw in a baddie or holding R1 to slice and dice.
The rest of the weapons were classic zombie fighting fare: shotguns, assault rifles, flame throwers and so on. There was one notable exception, though: zombie bait. These could be thrown out to attract the brain-cravers or to lure them into some of the levels' interactive bits like a still-spinning jet engine from a downed plane or a trash compactor in a junk yard. We were surprised to see that it wasn't all battles in the dark either; as we survived from one day to the next, the sun came up and the lighting for the next level was markedly different.
More importantly, though, the game looked quite nice; the engine Nihilistic has built offers plenty of detail in both the different levels themselves and the shambling chainsaw fodder springing to (un)life from them. Gunning the chainsaw and just sweeping it through an enemy would cut them down at the same angle as the swipe (which was guided by the right analog stick), letting us lop of limbs, legs and even torsos at the waist. Cool.
Our time with Zombie Apocalypse was painfully short, but we're hoping we'll have the chance to take a more in-depth look at the game's 55 day survival run, 7 environments and 11 weapons in the very near future. As soon as we do, we'll make sure you know about it.
