Zombies. Ever since they graced the pop culture stage in George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, zombies have become a staple of the horror genre itself. With vampires becoming family friendly these days thanks to those awful Twilight films and novels, I’m glad to know that at least one type of scary ghoul out there remains scary. Gaming in general seems to love zombies, what with many horror games like the Resident Evil and Left 4 Dead series’ dedicated to zombie outbreak scenarios. Enter Sigma Team’s Zombie Shooter 2. After we held a haiku contest to give away a few Steam keys for the game, I figured it would be best to see if the game held up, having never played the first Zombie Shooter. I don’t tend to play PC games too much, given that I don’t have the financial stability to afford a top of the line gaming computer, so it was nice to see that the game had been built for even low-end PCs to be able to play. But the question remains. Is Zombie Shooter 2 fun? Simply put? Yes…yes it is. That said, it can also be annoying and frustrating at times too.

Gameplay:

First off, this is not a first or even a third-person shooter, but rather a top-down, free-roaming action-RPG similar to Diablo, except, rather than hack and slash away at your enemies, you can mow them down with a hail of gunfire. The game’s engine allows for up to 100 zombies to be on screen at once, so you can expect hordes of zombies to surround you, especially as the game progresses. The shooting is rather simple. Moving follows the standard control scheme of normal PC games, with the mouse used to aim and fire upon enemies. There are several characters to choose from, each with their own back story, initial weapons load out, and stat distribution. However, despite the fact that each character has their own story, there is no actual story to be had in the game. The only thing that you know at the beginning of the game is that one of your loved ones is somewhere in the city and that there is a zombie outbreak. Through fighting and killing your way through waves of zombies, you earn experience points, leveling your character up. As you level up, you earn skill points, which you can use to strengthen your skills, adding to your overall health, your accuracy, among other things. At the start of the game, you are given the choice of choosing one of several different skills that will aid you over the course of the game.

The actual combat in the game could use a bit refinement, however. Even after leveling up my targeting skills, aiming still proved to be rather inconsistent, sometimes requiring me to aim behind enemies in order to actually hit them. Also, while the main campaign itself isn’t terribly long, some of the missions can take a good 30 minutes to complete, which would be fine, if not for the fact that there are no in mission save points. There is a lives system, which these days feels a little…outdated (except for the survival mode). When you die, you respawn at the most recent checkpoint. These checkpoints are not marked so the only to know where the last checkpoint was is to die. That’s not a big problem, but losing all your lives means you have to restart the mission from the very beginning, which is a major bummer for some of the longer missions. Still, it’s not too bad of an issue. There are many weapons and items to choose from, which you other find in game or buy at designated shops. There are three weapon types: small, like pistols and SMGs, medium, consisting of shotguns and assault rifles, and large, which are your rocket launchers, sniper rifles, and many other types of big guns. In addition, you can also buy armor to protect yourself, along with upgrades to help improve your skills.

Aside from a 15 mission campaign mode, the game also includes 3 different survival modes. The regular survival mode gives you a fixed amount of lives and limited ammo, requiring you to fight as long as you can until you’re eventually overtaken by zombies. You only have 42 units of health and are dropped into a small patch of land, only regaining health by picking up dropped health packs and gaining a level. Also, the inventory screen is disabled. The second survival mode is called Stand Firm, which is played on the same map as regular survival mode. In this mode, you are given infinite pistol ammo and regenerating health. However, you only have one life and once you die, it is game over. Finally, Gun Stand has you controlling an automated turret, fighting wave after wave of zombies. After each wave, you are given the option to choose from one of four different upgrades, such as health recovery and an extra mini turret, computer controlled soldiers, missiles and an upgraded turret. While entertaining, there is no real variety in the modes, becoming repetitive rather quickly.

Graphics/Visuals:

The game is not meant to rival the top of the line graphics of today, and is meant to be playable on lower end machines. While not visually impressive, the art style provides a stark contrast between the drab, gray color of a zombie infested world and the bright red blood of dead zombies. It’s a minor thing, yes, but it’s the only thing that really provides some much needed color to the game’s world. This is especially noticeable after fighting a big group of zombies or, if you’re playing Gun Stand, mowing them down with a turret, which causes the streets to run red with big pools of blood. Aside from that, the game does take you to different locations on your way to the town, but there’s nothing that really stands out and you’ll find yourself not really paying attention to the backgrounds.

Sounds:

Given that story wasn’t a major part of the game, there isn’t a lot of dialogue in it. But, the dialogue that is there is, in a word, horrible. Obviously, the people involved just didn’t care, and it shows. Luckily, there isn’t that much to hear, which makes it bearable. As for the game’s soundtrack, most of the music consists of generic rock tracks and odd techno mixes, adding nothing really special. I have to admit, the main them that plays in the menu did catch my attention, but aside from that, the music was just there, not really standing out.

Overall:

Zombie Shooter 2 definitely isn’t meant as Sigma Team’s magnum opus, but it gets the job done in terms good, zombie killing fun. There really isn’t much replay value in the game, but for the price, you can’t complain. With the economy the way it is, Zombie Shooter 2 is a good, cheap way to tide you over until you can afford Left 4 Dead 2.

Steam Key for Review Purposes Courtesy of Sigma Team.