Zombie Apocalypse (PSN / XBLA)

Zombie Apocalypse

Nihilistic Software

Konami, 2009

I'm running a little behind this Halloween season finding games to play, but for some reason this twin stick shooter from 2009 (available on both XBLA and PSN) came to my mind. According to the Achievements I've unlocked in the game, I don't believe I've played this since 2009!

At the beginning of the game you get to select one of four playable characters. As far as I can tell, all four play and control the same. Your basic weapon is an assault rifle that has unlimited ammo and your secondary weapon is a chainsaw. The chainsaw has two forms of attack...standard "hack 'n slash" and execution. The latter attack grants you more scoring multipliers, but leaves you open for attack.

The left analog stick controls your character while your right analog stick fires your weapon. You can wield your chainsaw using either the left or right triggers. The left puts the chainsaw in execution mode, holding it above your head until you drive it right down onto an enemy. Holding in the right trigger you can run around with your chainsaw running at full speed.

Periodically other weapons will drop that have limited ammunition. Shotgun, twin pistols, molotovs and mini chain guns have all dropped during my gameplay.

Survivors will also appear from time to time and if you can defend them while a helicopter flies in above and drops a rescue ladder, you'll be rewarded with a large chuck of points as well as a bait. The bait is none other than a stuffed teddy bear. Throw it and you'll hear the beat say "I'm full of love...and C4"...then explodes. These come in handy when you've overwhelmed or if you need to divert the attention of a horde while you are trying to rescue someone.

I should also mention that while you don't have a life bar, it's not instant death if you are touched. You can spin the left analog stick if a zombie(s) grapples you and if you're quick enough you can escape their grasp.

There are 7 different areas and a total of 55 levels. You'll fight in a graveyard, an airport, a small town, carnival, vehicle junkyard and an industrial plant. Each level has a hazard of some type that if you can get zombies close enough to and shoot them into that direction results in more points and a bloody death.

As you advance through the game the difficulty ramps up. You are faced with hordes of special zombies mixed in with the regular zombie fodder. They may be big construction workers that you can escape their grapple, or an old granny zombie that flings knives at you. Get hit with a knife and it's instant death.

The game plays and feels like Robotron 2084...with zombies. It's a fun game in short spurts and I'm sure it's even more fun playing co-op or online. My Xbox Live subscription isn't active, but I can almost guarantee that this game may be getting some play this evening for Halloween.

Despite the different playable characters, different weapons and zombie types in the game I find that there just isn't enough in this game to keep my attention. Once you get 15 levels into the game it's just more of the same. The daylight may have been replaced with night where you have limited sight, but it's still the same game. If you like twin stick shooters, zombies or bloody games then this may have something to offer you, otherwise the game just falls into obsecurity in a crowd of better horror themed games. The game did get a sequel, Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone, but it doesn't appear to be an active download in the Xbox store.

Demon's Crystals (Playstation 4 / PSN)

Demon's Crystals

Badland Games
Badland Games, 2017

I'm not a huge fan of digital download games, but while setting up my PSN account on my somewhat newly acquired PS4, I browsed the store before I powered down the console to see what games were available. I ran across Demon's Crystals in the sale category. It was only $2.49 and when I realized it was a twin stick shooter, I decided to give it a try. Having the 1 TB model PS4 I'm not as concerned about downloading games as I am on my Xbox One that has a smaller (already full) hard drive.

The game plays like your average twin stick shooter. Think Smash TV or Robotron 2084...just controlling a demon girl with a graveyard or castle level design. You get the chose from 1 of 4 different characters...

I initially chose to play as Adora, hence her level is much higher than the others. At the time I didn't realize your character would level up as you play the game. I find this to be a nice addition as it'll add to the replayability of the game. I noticed there was a trophy/achievement for getting all 4 girls to at least level 30.

Each "world" consists of 10 levels, with each level having 3 rounds. The first level takes place in a graveyard. The goals for each round vary, from destroying a set amount of enemies to collecting a set amount of diamonds to both requirements.

The left analog stick controls your character, while the right analog stick fires your weapon. If you've played any twin stick shooters, then this control scheme should be familiar to you. During the game, additional weapon icons will appear. I picked up spread guns, homing bullet guns, rocket launchers and a freeze ray. Other items will also randomly appear such as screen clearing attacks like lighting or hellfire as well as hour glasses that give you additional time to meet your objective(s).

The environment on each level is somewhat destructable. I'm not sure the purpose of this, other than each destroyed building, etc. nets you a small amout of experience points. Once you destroy say a tombstone, the rubble is still there and you must navigate your character around this otherwise you will run into it and your motion will halt.

The 10th level was a boss fight. The first boss (and only boss I've fought thus far) was pretty cool. Not overally hard once I figured out his attack pattern.

As you kill your enemies, you are awarded a certain amount of experience. I found as I leveled up my character I was plowing through the enemies in the 1st world. However the difficulty took a big step forward with world 2, a castle.

Demon's Crystals doesn't really bring anything new to the table. However at only $2.49 (normally $4.99) during the month of October (at least on the Playstation Network), the theme fit the month of October. My 6 year old daughter enjoyed playing the game too, though the controls did throw her for a loop a bit.

The game offers co-operative play online, as well as a survival mode where you compete to see who can stay alive the longest and rack up the highest score. I haven't tried those modes yet, but I do plan on checking them out. In the mean time, I'm going to keep coming back to this game - trying to level up the other characters. This is one of those games that is perfect to play when you don't have a lot of time to sit in front of the TV. If you're a fan of twin stick shooters, you may want to give this one a look.