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I love zombies. I'm dead serious. Like, I would actually dance a celebratory jig if a zombie apocalypse happened.
My fascination with zombies started way back when I was around three years old. Michael Jackson's Thriller video nearly terrified me into a coma at the time. It scared me so bad that I had recurring zombie nightmares well into grade school. As I got older I overcame my fear by watching Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead with some friends, and I've been obsessed with zombie pop-culture ever since.
Needless to say, if you put a zombie in a video game, I'll probably play it. Zombies Ate my Neighbors took up all of my free time when I was a kid, House of the Dead is one of my all time favorite games, and Left 4 Dead and Call of Duty: World at War's zombie maps have given me endless hours of entertainment. I'm always on the lookout for new zombie games, and have even recently decided to pick up Dead Rising for the Xbox 360.
Going through my collection of dust covered DS games that have been neglected worse than the Jon and Kate Plus 8 kids, I came across two games that I should have no excuse for not having played through to the end. The first one is called Touch the Dead.
[img width=441 height=400]http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c265/goteamventure85/ttd.jpg[/img]
Weird name, right? This game is an on-rails shooter that plays a lot like House of the Dead, which as mentioned before, is one of my all time favorite games. It obviously doesn't support a light gun, and instead takes advantage of the touch screen. You shoot by using the stylus to tap your zombie attackers, and reload by dragging a clip across the screen to your gun.
It's actually a lot more challenging than it sounds, and gets chaotic when you are being attacked by multiple enemies of different types. Some just shamble up to you and take a swing, while others are can be more aggressive. There are huge zombies that deal a bit more damage, and even some that will toss there heads at you. You are forced to decide which ones to attack first, as tapping and reloading takes more time than you would think, and you have to be quick to dispatch of them in the right order lest you have your face eaten.
[img width=256 height=385]http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c265/goteamventure85/ttdscreen.jpg[/img]
The story is kind of meh, but the atmosphere did keep me intrigued. The main character, Rob Steiner, not to be confused with Rob Schneider of Deuce Bigalow fame, is sitting in a prison cell when his cell door suddenly opens up. Like any sane criminal would, he decides to cheese it on out of there. He is greeted by a bunch of empty cells and a few prison guards that have a hankering for brains. The game does a good job of maintaining a creepy feel, as the place feels totally deserted, and just when you start to get comfortable a maggot ridden corpse jumps at the screen.
The graphics are reminiscent of the blocky stuff that we used to see on the Sega Saturn, but they don't make the game unplayable by any means. If you are a graphics whore then it would probably be pretty bothersome, but otherwise it doesn't take away from an overall fun game.
[img width=256 height=385]http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c265/goteamventure85/ttdscreen2.jpg[/img]
In the end, I had a blast with this game. It gets very challenging as it goes on and I honestly had a hard time putting it down, even after dying a few times. The game is a bit short overall, but its perfect for a portable console like the DS. There are enough secrets and hidden power-ups to keep someone interested for a while. This one is definitely worth checking out, especially if you are a House of the Dead fan.
The next game that I played may have an even weirder title. Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ. Let that one sink in.
[img width=500 height=500]http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c265/goteamventure85/zombiebbq.jpg[/img]
Little Red Riding Hood's Zombie BBQ is a vertical shooter that uses touch screen controls to shoot and dodge incoming enemies. You control either Little Red Riding Hood, who totes a machine gun, much like B.B. Hood from Darkstalkers, or her friend Momotaro, a Japanese folk hero who shoots ninja stars out of a gun... Yeah, it is as awesome as it sounds.
Enemies attack from the top of the screen and you mow them down with bullets by holding the stylus in the direction you want to shoot. You reload by lifting the stylus from the screen and pressing it back down. There is also a grenade launcher that has limited use and can be fired by quickly double tapping the screen. Your character can move horizontally across the bottom of the screen between seven positions. Your enemies will attack from the top of the screen and you can either use the d-pad to move left or right to an adjacent square, or you can tap any square to quickly move to it in order to dodge attacks. You can also duck under some attacks by tapping your character.
[img width=256 height=384]http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c265/goteamventure85/zbbqbasic.jpg[/img]
Enemies vary between slow shuffling zombies, head tossing ghouls, huge rotting monsters that explode into a shower of corrosive goo, and evil toy soldiers that fire continuous lasers. There are explosive barrels and crates full of power-ups to help you fight the zombie hordes. Power-ups include flamethrowers, shotguns, which have short range but pack a huge punch, and lasers that rip through enemies to hit any that may be behind them.
The boss battles are by far the best part of the game, and include battles against Red Riding Hood's possessed grandma, a gigantic zombified Gretel, of Hansel and Gretel fame, and a giant evil Pinocchio who throws his head at you. These battles involve a lot of strategy, and you have to get the bosses' complex patterns down right in order to avoid being demolished.
[img width=256 height=384]http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c265/goteamventure85/gretel.jpg[/img]
The graphics are really fun and remind me of the old Neo-Geo and Capcom shooters, but with some enemies rendered in 3D, and with 3D rendered backgrounds. The enemies are big and colorful, and help to increase the overall fun factor of the game.
I personally had a lot of fun with this game. If you like retro styled vertical shooters such as the old G.I. Joe arcade game, or if you are just a fan of zombies in general, you need to give this game a shot. It is a fun little game that doesn't fail to entertain.
Happy hunting!
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Little Red Riding Hoods Zombie BBQ was a great game. I played through that one a couple times actually.
I have not gotten to Touch the Dead yet. Which is pretty disappointing since i wanted to pick it up when it came out and had forgotten about it pretty much until looking at this blog.
Keep the zombie goodness coming I loooovvveee Zombie games too
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Great article, that second game looks like a lot of fun.
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I wanna get Pinball Of The Dead for GBA. Just saying.
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@Izret101: I'm going to pick up Dead Rising soon, and I recently played House of the Dead 4 at the movie theater, so maybe I'll do a short review of that game soon.
@Sirgin: Thanks for the compliment! Glad you liked the article. Yeah, Zombie BBQ is downright addicting. The game takes place in such a bizarre, fun world that you can't help but love it.
@noiseredux: I haven't played that one yet, but it looks interesting. I'm a sucker for pinball games, they keep me entertained for hours on end.
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If you love zombie games you have to try Plant's vs. Zombies. It's a popcap game and can be had for a cool 20.00. It's one of the most addictive games I've ever played.
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I gotta find that Red Riding Hood game. That's awesome!
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@Ghost Soldier: I love Plants vs. Zombies! I got the demo from Steam, and within about 15 minutes of playing that I was convinced that I had to buy the game. Along with Defense Grid, it's one of the most addicting tower defense games I've ever played!
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The best zombie experiences I ever had were playing CS:S zombie mod. The gameplay was everyone spawns as your basic CT or Terrorist and after a point in time one of them would turn into a zombie. The zombie had 300% run speed and was only armed with a knife. Stabbing another player would turn him into a zombie, often the gun pushback was cranked up, and grenades were modded on most servers to catch a zombie on fire, doing damage over time and slowing them while you scrambled for safety.
Many of the maps were terrible, often impossible for one side or the other to win, but the sheer level of comradery followed by immediate fear once they got stabbed, provided the most enjoyable and realistic zombie experience I've ever seen.
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