The original game is very dated, so remaking with a modern touch is welcome. However, it’s a low-budget approach, and with the intention of trying to maintain the B-movie idea of the series. So it leaves it with a bit of a weird look where it's modernised, but doesn’t look very impressive to both old, or potential new fans to the series. The lighting model can make some areas difficult to see without adjusting the gamma. There's not much dialog and it seems a bit clunky. It’s like they tried to improve it slightly, again whilst trying to be faithful to the original which was purposely bad.
The original game was a light-gun arcade game. On the PC, it is point and click which is fun enough, but maybe relies on some nostalgia to these games. You can left click to shoot and right click to reload, or use the R key on the keyboard to reload. The reloading is instant so you are constantly alternating between clicking and reloading.
Movement is on rails and then stops until you clear the area of enemies. Sometimes your character still looks around which ruins your aim in some areas.
Some zombies are weak In the head, others in their belly. You can gain some extra points for the optional zombies in the distance. The bosses also have weak points. The First 2 bosses repeat in the final section but maybe have less health points because they feel brief.
Some enemies need to approach you and melee attack, whereas some are projectile. The projectiles can include throwing barrels, knives, or ball and chain. These can be shot to be blocked. There’ s many areas that are unfair with zombies popping out directly in front and attacking instantly. Even when you know they are coming on repeated playthroughs, then it's hard to avoid.
You can be hit a few times before losing a continue. You get several continues but then more with points deduction.
There’s objects in the scene that sometimes can be smashed, like breakable barrels with bonus points
One of the objectives is to rescue scientists. You are rewarded for a health pack if you save them, but penalised if you kill them by accident (or maybe intentionally!).
There are some branching paths. Some depend on your rescuing the scientist, shooting a certain enemy, or sometimes you have to hit a switch in the environment.
The campaign takes around 30 mins but you are encouraged to replay to beat your scores.
If you select Horde mode, then the number of zombies drastically increases. This is probably more suitable for multiplayer or need a different gun like a machine gun. The guns seem to be unlocked after completing the game with all scientists saved, then you have to play again and find the chest in each level.
The game seems to have disappointed many fans of the original. Then I can’t imagine it impressed new players without being played with a gun peripheral. I personally enjoyed playing the game but you are really only going to get 5 hours out of it really. Still, I would like to see other games get this treatment like Time Crisis.