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Night of a Million Billion Zombies

http://www.nombz.com/de mo.html

3 out 5

Hmm. Well. Quite.

I downloaded, I installed, I played.

And I again found myself looking at the biggest problem in the games industry today, Style over Content.

The comedy is to the forefront, with some really amusing comments on the load screens, but once you get past the glorious and well produced graphics, with an amazing retro feel similar to classic games like Grim Fandango, and immerse yourself into the fantastic soundtrack, which should get an award for it alone, you come up with a really basic game.

You wander around the streets, GTA style, shooting zombies that come at you from all sides. And thats pretty much it. No missions, no real objectives, nothing that will make you want to come back long term to replay. As you progress through the levels you gain new characters with new weapons, but the chance here to make it a strategic game has been lost, and you don't feel that the different characters make alot of difference to the killing spree.

OK, so the thought of going on a zombie spree sounds fun, and for a short time it really is. But it soon becomes apparent that there isn't much under the hood. it may look like an Italian sports car, but in the end it really is just a town car in a flash shell.

The only 'production' let down is the gun fire, which doesn't really look like much other than firing peas along a line, but it does what it's supposed to, giving you the chance to aim and take down the undead.

The controls are simple, and should be picked up quickly by anyone, though hopefully in the full release the options of reconfiguring will be available, and you can quickly jump into the game and start blasting away. And after a few deaths you will start taking your time a little because even in the very early stages you will quickly be overrun in places if you don't watch all around. And when 6 or 7 zombies appear around you and start munching on your flesh, your haven't really got any other choice than to die. My advice, take them out long range as soon as you see them.

The characters have potential in the selection screen, but you don't feel any link to them after that, no background story, no depth. The same goes for the story's plot. You have to kill zombies, and thats that. Wheres the hook to go on to learn more? Even Street Fighter 2 gave you individual endings to make you want to play with other characters

The games website also suffers from the same flaws, it looks well produced, but doesn't really tell you anything you need to know. The Forum section is empty, not even a post from the games producers (which some would say is unforgivable), and the 'buy' section doesn't say anything other than to be informed when news is available.

Overall, in a game thats stands firmly in the genre of 'Destroy all Humans', it is a fun romp to while away a bit of free time killing things. It's well produced, with great graphics and soundtrack, but unless you are working on becoming one of the million zillion zombies at a keyboard, you will be left wondering where the rest of the game is. I score it 3 out of 5, mainly for the great style put into the game, but with a little more game-play this could easily have been a 5. Download the demo now for a fun blast, but I can't see anyone bothering to pay for the full game.

Learn more about this author, Paul Teasdale.
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