by Jeff Parsons

Created on: April 24, 2008   Last Updated: October 11, 2010

News alert! Zombies are everywhere! They see you! Don't just stand there! Run! Flee in terror! Wait, there's something you can do! The nearby research lab must be the source of all this mayhem - you can find a way to make things right again! First, you need a weapon, then, you need an attitude...

The Zombie Shooter plotline has the best story elements of every zombie-fest ever devised. You've got: 1) mindless zombies, 2) other trouble, like rats, dogs and super mutants, 3) a plan, hopefully, and 4) the firepower to do some serious damage. Ah, life is good. At least, for as long as you live.

You have three game play options: the Campaign, Survive, or Gun Stand modes. Respectively, these modes give you upgradable interconnected missions, an indefensible stretch of highway, or, a last stand defense. The nuke option is enormously gratifying, thank you very much, Zombie Shooter. There are three levels of difficulty: easy, normal and hard. Normal was a challenge for this veteran gamer.

The response is smooth using simple WASD movement keys and mouse firing controls. Weapons control and object manipulation are well crafted. Ten weapon types, character skill improvements and arms upgrades will help you, but, sometimes, that's not enough. Ammunition isn't unlimited (except in Gun Stand mode). You can find ammo in crates. You sometimes need to think ahead about the best weapon of choice. A grenade launcher does the job for large groups that are far away. A mini-gun works best when you're surrounded on many sides. A shotgun works wonders in a narrow confined area. Sometimes you need to open a door with dynamite. That attracts many zombies! Running away sometimes helps, but carelessly running about will just attract more swarms of zombies to you. Sneaking around does allow you to occasionally play a cat and mouse game where you can bait and snipe with only a few zombies at a time.

The miniaturized graphics are typical of the late 1990s higher-functioning games. The detail is very realistic and intricate! Examples of nice visual effects are a flashlight's beam, ammo shells flying, zombies exploding, and the pulsing, bloodshot eye that appears when you're almost done for (you do get several respawns). I have one minor gripe: sometimes a room's wall will obscure your aerial view, so, maybe the designers should make the wall go semi-transparent during those times. Then again, maybe not seeing through a wall would be more realistic...

The sound effects put you right there in

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