by Matt Bird

Created on: April 21, 2008   Last Updated: April 27, 2008

Zombie fans have reason to rejoice: another game has entered the legions of the damned.

The aptly named Zombie Shooter, released by Sigma Team, offers no false pretenses as to its objective. You spend the entire game shooting zombies. Featuring realistic sprites and displayed from a bird's eye view, Zombie Shooter allows you to choose between two characters and then plops you down into an urban center filled with the flesh-eating undead.

Despite the inclusion of character-based stats and a variety of weapons, game play is simple. Using either a combination of keyboard and mouse or keyboard alone you navigate through darkened buildings filled with zombies, rats, dogs and mutants. Maps in Zombie Shooter are marked with giant green arrows, and aside from the occasional obscure pathway progression is straightforward.

An aiming reticule follows every movement of the mouse. Your gun fires with a click. The mouse is also used to move, and though the keyboard can be substituted for movement in a pinch I found the mouse easier. Weapon changes require only a flick of the scroll wheel. Easy controls are a necessity in games requiring fast reflexes, and I'm happy to say that Zombie Shooter delivers.

The game is undeniably attractive. Environments are expertly rendered and seldom confusing. Character animations are slick and fluid, though both player and enemies tend to get caught on neutral objects. Watching a stream of rats bump ceaselessly against a stack of crates destroys the otherwise solid mood.

And mood is key for a zombie game. The player needs to feel at least apprehension when playing. Despite Team Sigma's obvious love of gore blood is apt to spatter in copious amounts on everything, which is a nice touch they took this into account and did their best to emulate suspense-filled horror movies, darkened rooms and all.

This care is especially apparent in the music. In moments where tension is mounting the soundtrack is non-existent. Atmospheric sound effects, like footsteps or dogs barking make for an excellent horror vibe. And when you're facing masses of zombies, sound effects change to dark rock tunes appropriate for bloody murder. Unfortunately, songs tend to cut short and move onto the next track without transition. This can jolt you out of the moment and ruin the mood, if only for a few seconds.

There's plenty to do in Zombie Shooter. Aside from the usual three-difficulty Campaign mode (which, regrettably, is riddled with typos) there's also Survive mode, which pits you against increasingly powerful swarms of zombies in a grassy field, and Gun Stand mode, which puts you behind a massive machine gun encircled by a concrete barrier. In either case you're only required to survive for as long as possible, which makes for fun in small increments.

This is a good game hiding under a few glaring problems. There are too many little glitches for Zombie Shooter to truly shine as it should, and I wouldn't buy the current version of the game. That said I recommend action lovers at least download the trial version, and I'll be happy to give it a second chance if Sigma Team cleans up the problems. 3/5

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