Bloody Zombies Review

The Basics

Bloody Zombies is a zombie-centric, co-op leaning brawler from Paw Print Games, in the vein of Streets of Rage, Battletoads, and Double Dragon. You choose one of four Brits, all spouting British sounding words and phrases like "Govn'r" and "Bloody hell!", as you beat, bash and smash your way through level after level of zombie combat. There is an ability system for special moves, brittle weapons to pick up and smash to bits, traps and environmental hazards and a wide variety of zombie-types to punch and kick to mush. 

The Story & Flow

The story is extremely simple; four survivors of the zombie apocalypse are trying to fight their way through the wastelands of London in a desperate bid to end the zombie infestation. So... almost every zombie film or game since the beginning of time. Then again, the plot of Double Dragon was, "Someone punched my girl-friend and carried her away like a sack of potatoes", so who am I to complain?

There are eleven levels to brawl your way through, and they usually have "sub-levels" to them, so a level that begins near a dilapidated super highway might end in a junkyard.This little bit of variety helps out a lot, since a lot of the levels in Bloody Zombies are rather drab and boring. I understand that this is the zombie apocalypse, but there are a lot of backgrounds like busted up warehouses, bridges and city streets that get a bit repetitive. They do spice it up a bit by adding some environmental hazard type segments, where you'll need to run away from huge, spiked rollers, platforms that can fall and smash you (and drop off more zombies) and other damaging level hazards.  

The four different characters are different only in voice and appearance, which is a bummer. These days, you rarely see a beat-em-up where every character controls the same. It's especially odd when you consider the physical differences in the characters, from a slender, short female who weighs about 70 pounding soaking wet, compared to a hulking biker with a full length of chain wrapped around his meaty forearm. Everyone has a dodge, roll, jump-kick, spin attack that drains some of your life, a dashing attack and your special abilities. Speaking of how players control, there are some problems here, although none of the game-breaking variety. My number one complaint with the movement is that the game controls and responds very slowly. Like, cold syrup slow. As you progress through the game and start facing faster bosses and quicker opponents, moving becomes a bit of a chore, and I was always wishing that there was some type of skill tree where I could invest a few points into movement, or a different character I could choose who was a bit speedier. 

The other issue I had was some very precise hit boxes and some occasional buggery when it came to how I was being struck. Without the VR, it's sometimes hard to judge exactly where you are in relation to your opponent, especially on the vertical side of things. Standing "on top" of an enemy, especially when I was slightly behind a zombie, can be frustrating, especially when you are swarmed with enemies and an enemy facing and punching in the opposite direction somehow still hits you. Speaking of getting swarmed, this game is a good amount of fun playing with friends, but solo it can get more frustrating than fun, as the difficulty is quite high and the zombies are not at all in short supply. 

As you progress, you pick up cash in the form of coins from zombie drops, barrels, boxes and crates. You can utilize the dough to buy new abilities and skills from stores,with 4 different categories of skills, some which are passive, others you execute with button presses. This adds a welcome layer of depth to the combat, but obtaining the ones you really want can be tough, since the drops and stores only offer random abilities. 

Graphics & Sound

The graphics are of the hand-drawn, cel-shaded variety that look great in-game. The bosses really shine, with a lot of attention to detail going into making them stand out well from one another. Little details really pay off here, like a hulking boss zombie decked out in riot gear who has the bones of his knuckles poking through the flesh of his hand, creating a set of "bone-brass-knuckles", which looks really cool. Other bosses have extra heads growing out of them, arms made of spikes that look like they would fit in perfectly in Dead Space, and a lot of random variations that prove someone really went to town thinking of all the different, deadly varieties zombies can come in.

The sound is great as well, with each character possessing a pleasant, unique accent, as well as all the squishy, meaty sound effects that you would expect to hear in a zombie apocalypse. The character's catch-phrases get a bit tired after a while, but overall, the sound is great.