A ghoulishly memorable SNES classic
One of these was 'Zombies' aka 'Zombies ate my neighbours'.
From the boxart and the opening credits, Zombies has one of the most memorable and individual presentations and art styles of any game I can think of. The comic book design is humoures and sosphisticated, every character and has been created to add to the overall B-movie scary movie theme, whether its the pop-gun shooting 3D spec wearing lead character or the undead, werewolves, chainsaw maniacs, giant sandworms, vampires, killer dolls, mutant blobs, Irradiated ants (they beat Fallout3 to it by a longshot) and space aliens that populate the game.
The opening title slithers on to the screen, accompanied by a whirling hypnotic background and haunting eerie theme music. If all your lives are depleted a bloody goo drips its way down the screen to signify its Game Over. Each level has a suitably B-movie title that crashes on to the screen at the start. All these elements combine to make a thoroughly memorable expirience.
Zombies is an isometric top-down affair that involves numerous tasks motivated by acheiving top scores. The basic idea is to explore the level, fighting of the horror movie enemies that continuously respawn, whilst attempting to find keys to escape the level. This simple yet compelling gameplay never got tiresome, as the vast array of enemies and weaponary with which to dispatch them, and the style of humour and high score goals, gave Zombies an almost endless replay factor.
There are loads of levels packed in. They are as varied as suburban neighbourhood yards, shopping malls, deserts and Egyptian pyramids
and all have been designed brilliantly and with attention to detail. They come complete with a password sytem that allows you to continue from wherever you had got to.
The two player in Zombies is a co-operative affair that invloves two players working together to escape the level. Its the same as the one-player
game but there is a great deal of fun to be had working together to fend of the waves of enemies. One of the most memorable gaming moments for me
was to be working side by side with a freind whilst trying to take down a giant angry mutated baby!
The sound in Zombies is supebly done. Memorable music that compliments the Monster movie theme, the howls and Arghs of the enemies really brings
the game to life, and the weapon sound effects are varied.
As a complete package, Zombies is one of the most imaginative and fun games I can remember. If you have the chance, I would highly recommended
playing this SNES and Gaming classic. Its very difficult to complete but well worth the time.
If there is one game I would dearly love to be remade, it would be Zombies ate my Neighbours!