I know, zombies are a bit played out. You've done your Left 4 Dead, you've done your Resident Evil and your CoD: World at War zombie mode, you've done your Dead Rising and your Nation Red and your Zombie Apocalypse. You're a little tired of it, I get it. But could you just do one more? Just for me? There you go, that's a good chap. Oh, and move a little to your left, so you're more in the shot, okay? Perfect. Don't mind that pallid looking guy, he just wants to be your friend.
Tom! It looks too easy down there, we need more zombies! ...What? Oh, nothin', I'm just talking to Tom. Don't you worry. You're gonna be just fine.
Zombie Movie, made by Miguel Paquette Gaulin and Maxime Binette of EdM Games (listed as "NextDoorGames" on GameJolt) is for the most part a very straightforward top-down zombie shooter. You've played this before - you'll be swarmed from all sides, you'll run frantically, searching for cover, you'll run low on ammo, you'll make a desperate last stand, you'll finally be overwhelmed. The difference this time is that you'll look fantastic on film while you do it.
You have a partner in Zombie Movie, you see - floating above you, circling in his helicopter, making sure that every moment is captured for posterity. But you'll notice I call him a "partner", not a "friend", because he doesn't care about you. Sure, he'll drop health packs and ammo from time to time, and he'll even shoot some of the zombies from the safety of his whirlybird, but all he cares about is the quality of his footage. Get too far from his camera range (denoted by the chopper's shadow), and it'll cost you. Make it look too easy, and he'll actually summon tougher zombies to come after you. Die, and -- well, actually, you're expected to die. But make it look good, okay?
Things really could be going better here.
This is a high score chase, with points being awarded for not just killing the most zombies, but for doing so stylishly - which is to say, getting kill streaks and doing it as close to the shadow of the helicopter as possible. You'll want to stay close to the chopper anyhow, since that's where all your supplies are coming from, but it quickly gets harder than you might think. In the end - most likely, your end - your film will be ranked with a slew of statistics and a handful of critical reviews. Do try to make the critics happy. Theoretically, if you survive for six and a half minutes, they'll even pull you out of there, but let me tell you going in: the odds aren't good.
The aesthetics are spartan but effective, spawning you into either a desert wasteland or a sleepy, suburban town before throwing the hordes your way. Some environmental interactivity is present as well; cars behave the way you expect them to in a movie when shot, for example, so you might want to take advantage of that. The longer you live, the better guns you get to help you deal with the tougher enemies you'll face. You're going to need them.
In this one, you actually do want to shoot the cars.
Zombie Movie has a neat hook, neat enough to largely take it past the "been there, done that" feeling most zombie games instill in me these days. There's something appealingly dystopian about the idea that when the zombie apocalypse finally comes, as humanity tries desperately to survive there'll be some jackass there with a camera trying to make a profit off it (as opposed to trying to expose it, Frank West-style), and while such concepts have certainly made their way into zombie fiction and film, it was cool to see it in a game. I had no problem with the simple graphics - they do the job - and the progression of the gameplay feels good.
If the game has a serious flaw, I think it's the controls - this begs to be a WASD+mouse controlled title, but instead it controls like every flash game ever, even though it isn't one - arrow keys to move, Z to shoot. You can only shoot in the direction you're facing, and the nature of using the arrow keys makes keeping a diagonal aim a real pain. Things get a little better with a gamepad and mapped keys, but not much. Also, a tip: as often as possible, shoot horizontally, because the zombie hitboxes are taller than they are wide.
Still, even with the shortcomings of the control scheme, I think Zombie Movie is worth downloading and spending some time with. I never made it longer than about 3 and a half minutes of the 6 and a half before they hypothetically save you; maybe you'll do better. I doubt the game will stay on your hard drive forever, but it's a fun diversion and a neat take on the zombie genre that I'd like to see expanded on in the future.
Zombie Movie is...
- a clever idea developed just enough to justify another zombie game.
- difficult even without taking the controls into account.
- occasionally really frustrating because of those controls.
- nevertheless, straightforwardly fun and addictive in short bursts.
The game is Windows only, and can be played online through the GameJolt plugin, or downloaded at a size just under 10MB - both things may be done here.
"Free And Worth Every Penny" is a column I collaborate on with Mike Bellmore at Colony of Gamers. This piece also appears there.