Z

Zombie Apocalypse (PSN, XBLA)
• Publisher: Konami
• Developer: Konami
• Release Date: Summer 2009
• Screenshots
• What We Saw:

The cooperative survival of Left 4 Dead meets the top-down, shoot-em-up madness of Geometry Wars in a grindhouse package of wholesale slaughter. Three others and I grabbed our assault rifles and took to the scene of a decimated airport to hold off the incessant waves of undead. While Zombie Apocalypse has other stages, of which I saw a junkyard, the goal is to survive as many days (waves) as possible while juicing up the scoreboard with multipliers, saving the occasional uninfected, and killing stiffs through environmental hazards, like a running jet-engine… disgusting. And for you Bruce Campbell fans (who isn’t?!), all characters get their very own chainsaws.

• What We Think:

Brian: Someone really knows my weaknesses – zombies and shmups. That’s it, no more questions needed, I am sold! I suppose I should ramble on about something though. I really like the different zombie-types. You have your Romero’s, your Boyle’s, comet-zombies, and… seriously, if this isn’t getting you pumped, you have some movie-watching to do. I do hope that Konami has some more environments and game-modes in hiding, but even as-is, I am 99.9% sure that this will be a must-buy.

Mitch: Zombie Apocalypse is a game after my own heart. I adore Smash TV, and I’m part of the reason that anything with zombies in it sells. Combining a ludicrous amount of exploding undead in an urban setting, ZA’s cooperative survival is exactly what you’d expect. You’ll run around a contained arena seeking out weapon pickups that give you new killin’ gear while luring dozens of zombies into environmental hazards or an easy-to-chain group for a big combo multiplier. Having a huge hoard chasing you around an itty bitty area is pretty intense, but it practically demands partners to get the most from it. Zombie Apocalypse is only OK when you’re alone. Like a real zombocalypse, the more survivors you’ve got on your side the better.