Zombie Town: Review

This game was reviewed on Playstation 5.

Reviewed by: Amanda Martin

One man with a whole bunch of guns, against a whole bunch of zombies.

There is no story element to this title, as it is simply a collection of mini games, and as a result it throws you straight into the mode select screen. The game has quite a simple premise; kill zombies, collect coins and buy upgrades. You can upgrade your character to give them more health and more speed. You can buy completely new characters to play as, however the upgrades you buy for previous characters don't seem to carry over. I played the entire game with the very first character, which I had fully upgraded. You can also buy new weapons, and then upgrade these as well. I had completed the game with the full range of weaponry, and with only one upgrade on the pistol. You also have access to a knife in case you find yourself short of ammo, and even a grenade for when you really need some crowd control.

There are five different game modes you can choose from. Most of these involve a short side scrolling level, where you are tasked with killing zombies and collecting coins. One mode select is almost like a tower defence where you have to prevent the zombies from crossing the barrier. There doesn't appear to be any penalties for failing these missions though, and you seem to keep all your coins as well. This means, if you needed to, you could grind the more difficult levels to obtain the coins necessary to buy those all important upgrades.

Whilst there are different game modes, these can all be very repetitive. You move around the same level to shoot zombies and collect coins. You spend the coins on upgrades and new weapons, and then do the whole process all over again. There also isn't much of a difficulty gradient. The missions start off as easy, before turning to medium and hard levels. The levels switch between these last two difficulties, although I can't say I noticed much of a difference. As I mentioned previously, I managed to complete the game using just the one character which I had fully upgraded.

I do like the cartoon style of the game, as I feel like it makes it a bit more approachable for all ages. When you hear about a zombie game, the first image that springs to mind is usually along the lines of the Resident Evil series. But then you consider the likes of Plants vs Zombies, and see that the zombie genre can cover a whole range of design choices and game play features. A more cartoony style can help to attract more people who might otherwise shy away from anything zombie related.

Another way this game shows accessibility is by utilising a simple and easy-to-use button system. Fire your gun with one button, attack with your knife with another. The game itself is quite a chill experience, with no stringent objectives or time constraints. There are no punishments for failing missions, and you can take them on in any order at any time.

There is one particular design choice that helps to amplify this experience, and that is the addition of a town map on the mode select screen. There are handwritten notes over this map, showing areas of danger or where they have already checked for supplies or survivors. Little things like this can really help to build the world within the game, especially when the game itself doesn't have a story line. Small details like this can really help the player become more invested in the experience.

The game could have utilised different character models for the boss fights to make them more engaging. It was the exact same boss, with the exact same move set every time. The only noticeable difference being its health bar and its damage output. You knew what to expect every time you chose this particular game mode. Maybe having a couple more models could have broken the monotony of facing the same enemy every time.

Trophy hunters will definitely appreciate this game for its easily obtainable platinum. Simply playing the game and purchasing characters and weapons will pop this platinum. I find something therapeutic about a game that can be completed simply by playing it as if you wanted to collect everything and achieve all goals, rather than grinding away at seemingly useless tasks to achieve very little.

An entertaining way to spend a couple of hours, but has very little replayability.

Reviewed by: Amanda Martin