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The Way Too Indie Review for I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1
by Charlie Reneke
I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1
80 Microsoft Points ($1.00 US)
8/16/2009 by Ska Studios
Entering the Xbox Live Indie marketplace, you'll quickly find that the three most popular trends are (1) twin-stick shooters, (2) anything with "zombie" in the title and (3) stuff that uses your avatar. Z0MB1ES has two of the three nailed down and only needed avatar support to complete the clichéd trifecta. There's really no point in me reviewing this game, because as of this moment Z0MB1ES is the top selling game *ever* on the Indie market place and has routinely held somewhere between the #1 and #5 spot since it debuted. It's also the highest rated game on the market place, currently the only game holding a ****3/4 rating. It's been out for over a year and critics have been gushing over it. Hell, Hot Topic is going to be carrying a Z0MB1ES shirt. It's the universally acknowledged killer app for the whole Indie platform. But I paid my $1.00 and now I have a thing or two to say about it.
Z0MB1ES is a top-down twin stick shooter. Move with the left stick, fire with the right stick. It's pretty hard to
that up, but plenty of people have on the Indie marketplace. Creator James Silva did not. Movement is spot on, aiming is accurate, and the stuff you shoot tends to die when bullets hit it. That's really all anyone can ask for. And unlike a lot of the Twin Shooters on the marketplace, Z0MB1ES isn't trying to ape Geometry Wars. Z0MB1ES feels a lot more like a modern take on Smash TV that eliminates the needless room exploration or collecting cash for points. Hell, most of the weapons are swiped from Smash TV. Character, power-up, and bullet models are strictly old school, but the background is constantly switching to various themes, such as a disco strobe where the title is displayed in flashing letters, a chess board, or outer space. The changeover is disorienting but the backdrops never get in the way of fairness, unlike a lot of games that try to be as flashy as possible.
I figure I should mention the popular theme song of the game. It wasn't my cup of tea but music is never my thing to begin with. Having said that, the tune is so popular that it was added to the lineup of Rock Band. One of the biggest complaints about Z0MB1ES from its fan base is that the game ends as soon as the song ends, at roughly fourteen minutes into the playtime. I actually think the feature is neat. Sure, it irked me the first time it happened when I had a stockpile of four lives left and had just cleared 800,000 points, but just making it long enough to hit the end felt like a huge accomplishment to me. I was never that good at games like this. And hell, anyone who has seen The King of Kong but lacks the epic skills of those quality of players can now know what it's like to hit their very own kill screen. All that's needed is for that sexless Dorkopotamus Brian Kuh to walk around your living room saying "attention, possible I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1 kill screen coming up in the next five minutes" to complete the effect.
As a single player game, Z0MB1ES is already one of the best games on the entire Xbox marketplace, Indie or otherwise. Then I remembered that I hadn't tried out the four player co-op mode yet. Shockingly, it turns out I was the last person in my circle of friends to have tried Z0MB1ES and rounding up three other players proved to be no challenge at all. None of them had ever tried a full multiplayer round of it. Instead of describing the experience, I'll just say that the intent was to play one round, hit the kill screen, and then move on to one of those fancy pants "real games" that cost $60. Over three hours of Z0MB1ES later everyone filed out, as satisfied as they had ever been during a multiplayer session for any game. It was truly one of the most fun times I've ever had with a group of friends and a video game.
The only real flaw in Z0MB1ES is that there's no online support. You can't upload your best scores to any leader boards, nor can you do the four player co-op mode on Live. I suspect a special edition of this title with all the dillies of a normal Live Arcade release, such as achievements and online multiplayer, would be a smash hit even if the price was bumped up to $5. If James Silva is game and Microsoft is willing, they practically have a license to print money here. But hell, I'm not even sure I would want to stack my pathetic scores up against people who are millions of times better at these types of games than I am. And why play online with strangers when you can share a couch and some brews with your friends in the comfort of your own home?
Rating: ***** I don't know if I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1 is truly the best game on the Indie Marketplace, but it is the best game I've played on it so far. It's not just great for a game that costs one dollar. It's great for a game, period. I was never even a fan of games that boil down to shooting wave after wave of the same types of characters, but Z0MB1ES!!!1 is so charming and well built that I think it might officially be the best twin stick shooter since Robotron. Believe the hype, because Z0MB1ES!!!1 is for real.
Thanks to Chris for editing.
by Charlie Reneke
I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1
80 Microsoft Points ($1.00 US)
8/16/2009 by Ska Studios
Entering the Xbox Live Indie marketplace, you'll quickly find that the three most popular trends are (1) twin-stick shooters, (2) anything with "zombie" in the title and (3) stuff that uses your avatar. Z0MB1ES has two of the three nailed down and only needed avatar support to complete the clichéd trifecta. There's really no point in me reviewing this game, because as of this moment Z0MB1ES is the top selling game *ever* on the Indie market place and has routinely held somewhere between the #1 and #5 spot since it debuted. It's also the highest rated game on the market place, currently the only game holding a ****3/4 rating. It's been out for over a year and critics have been gushing over it. Hell, Hot Topic is going to be carrying a Z0MB1ES shirt. It's the universally acknowledged killer app for the whole Indie platform. But I paid my $1.00 and now I have a thing or two to say about it.
Z0MB1ES is a top-down twin stick shooter. Move with the left stick, fire with the right stick. It's pretty hard to
that up, but plenty of people have on the Indie marketplace. Creator James Silva did not. Movement is spot on, aiming is accurate, and the stuff you shoot tends to die when bullets hit it. That's really all anyone can ask for. And unlike a lot of the Twin Shooters on the marketplace, Z0MB1ES isn't trying to ape Geometry Wars. Z0MB1ES feels a lot more like a modern take on Smash TV that eliminates the needless room exploration or collecting cash for points. Hell, most of the weapons are swiped from Smash TV. Character, power-up, and bullet models are strictly old school, but the background is constantly switching to various themes, such as a disco strobe where the title is displayed in flashing letters, a chess board, or outer space. The changeover is disorienting but the backdrops never get in the way of fairness, unlike a lot of games that try to be as flashy as possible.I figure I should mention the popular theme song of the game. It wasn't my cup of tea but music is never my thing to begin with. Having said that, the tune is so popular that it was added to the lineup of Rock Band. One of the biggest complaints about Z0MB1ES from its fan base is that the game ends as soon as the song ends, at roughly fourteen minutes into the playtime. I actually think the feature is neat. Sure, it irked me the first time it happened when I had a stockpile of four lives left and had just cleared 800,000 points, but just making it long enough to hit the end felt like a huge accomplishment to me. I was never that good at games like this. And hell, anyone who has seen The King of Kong but lacks the epic skills of those quality of players can now know what it's like to hit their very own kill screen. All that's needed is for that sexless Dorkopotamus Brian Kuh to walk around your living room saying "attention, possible I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1 kill screen coming up in the next five minutes" to complete the effect.
As a single player game, Z0MB1ES is already one of the best games on the entire Xbox marketplace, Indie or otherwise. Then I remembered that I hadn't tried out the four player co-op mode yet. Shockingly, it turns out I was the last person in my circle of friends to have tried Z0MB1ES and rounding up three other players proved to be no challenge at all. None of them had ever tried a full multiplayer round of it. Instead of describing the experience, I'll just say that the intent was to play one round, hit the kill screen, and then move on to one of those fancy pants "real games" that cost $60. Over three hours of Z0MB1ES later everyone filed out, as satisfied as they had ever been during a multiplayer session for any game. It was truly one of the most fun times I've ever had with a group of friends and a video game.
The only real flaw in Z0MB1ES is that there's no online support. You can't upload your best scores to any leader boards, nor can you do the four player co-op mode on Live. I suspect a special edition of this title with all the dillies of a normal Live Arcade release, such as achievements and online multiplayer, would be a smash hit even if the price was bumped up to $5. If James Silva is game and Microsoft is willing, they practically have a license to print money here. But hell, I'm not even sure I would want to stack my pathetic scores up against people who are millions of times better at these types of games than I am. And why play online with strangers when you can share a couch and some brews with your friends in the comfort of your own home?
Rating: ***** I don't know if I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1 is truly the best game on the Indie Marketplace, but it is the best game I've played on it so far. It's not just great for a game that costs one dollar. It's great for a game, period. I was never even a fan of games that boil down to shooting wave after wave of the same types of characters, but Z0MB1ES!!!1 is so charming and well built that I think it might officially be the best twin stick shooter since Robotron. Believe the hype, because Z0MB1ES!!!1 is for real.
Thanks to Chris for editing.