ZombieGeddon
Developer: Digital Candy
Genre: Action & Adventure
Available On: XBLIG
Co-Op Mode: Local (2 players)
Price: 80 MS Points ($1)
Demo w/ Co-Op Available: Yes
I know, I know; the last thing the world needs is another zombie shooter game. Between the apocalyptic zombie attacks, however, when we tire of the last one and are waiting for the next one to arrive, there’s a little bit of an itch to get back to zombie killing. For those looking for such an opportunity, and for those looking to kill non-“zed” related enemies (more on that later), Digital Candy presents ZombieGeddon.
The game starts off with a little intro movie that sounds narrated by one of those female computer voices you have on a Mac that basically sets up enough of a premise to say “it’s time to kill zombies!” Once that’s over, and you and your buddy start up a session, gameplay follows a pretty standard twin-stick shooter format. The on-screen characters are rotated to face the oncoming hordes using the right thumb stick, fire hot lead using the right trigger, and moved about using the left thumb stick. There is no friendly fire so no need to be concerned with confusing your partner with a shambling mass just looking for some tasty brains. As a nice feature, each player already comes equipped with a small arsenal of weapons, including a machine gun, shotgun, rocket launcher, and timed explosive. Ammo for each of these weapons is distributed here and there throughout the levels, and seems to be dependent on how much ammo of a particular weapon-type you’ve used. Additionally, an airstrike may be called in to wipe out any particularly large group of foes that may be proving troublesome.
Where ZombieGeddon really gets some points, though, is in the enemies you face. Despite the title, the game isn’t focused entirely on zombies and, as a matter of fact, the opening movie doesn’t include a single image of a zombie. Added to the usual crew of slow shamblers and quick runners are mermen that are evocative of the titular character from the "Creature from the Black Lagoon" as well as skeletons that… wait for it… fire rockets! No explanation is given as to why skeletons fire rockets while the mermen just walk about and take some extra bullets to bring down, but in the midst of the latest zombie uprising, do you really have time to ask why a skeleton is firing rockets at you?
Featured here: mermen. I don't know how a zombie outbreak leads to these things, but I don't think it matters
Once the craziness of that wears off, though, the game doesn’t really change things up too much as you progress. In fact, the game’s biggest sticking point is that the overall level structure remains the same: start at the “bottom” end of a level and work your way to the top, killing everything along the way. The latter half of that breakdown is the key point, too, as you must wipe out every single enemy in order to advance to the next level. This might not seem like much, but when you hop into your first vehicle and make a mad dash to the finish line only to discover that you now have to go all the back and kill those monsters you passed by, it becomes extremely tedious.
While zombie shooters are becoming a dime a dozen nowadays, ZombieGeddon does add a nice little distraction for those co-op enthusiasts biding their time until the next great release.
Wrap-Up
ZombieGeddon is Geared Towards: Gamers that just haven’t gotten enough zombie slaying yet; also, people who enjoy dodging rockets fired from skeletons
The Co-Op Experience: Each player controls his or her own zombie-slaying protagonist with an arsenal of weapons at his or her disposal; playing with a friend definitely adds to the game’s overall fun
The Shadows in the Underworld
Developer: Polaris Game Studios
Genre: Shooter
Available On: XBLIG
Co-Op Mode: Local (2 players)
Price: 240 ($3)
Demo w/ Co-Op Available: Yes
H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulu mythology has certainly served as the inspiration for its fair share of games over the years, yet I’ve always found it rather surprising how infrequently it’s been used as a direct source for games. The survival horror and shooter genres’ fixation on zombies, or zombie-like foes, has lead to what can best be felt as a saturation of the market and undoubtedly leads one to wonder, “surely, there must be more.” Thus, when I was perusing through the available co-op indie titles for this week’s discussion and came across The Shadows in the Underworld, I was pleasantly surprised to find a game that melded together two great tastes that, amazingly, taste great together: a PixelJunk Shooter-type gameplay and Lovecraftian horror.
The game begins with your piloting a submarine exploring an underground cavern in the Antarctic for new oil supplies. To aid in your search, the sub comes equipped with a special light, which not only illuminates the briny deep, but also allows you to see special objects that react to the electromagnetism and other science-y stuff. Clearly the expedition was expecting some trouble as the sub also has an inexhaustible supply of torpedoes that are limited only by a heat meter (which renders your sub useless when it reaches its peak). The sub’s light is also used to aim these torpedoes. In addition to the torpedoes, the sub has a chainsaw that extends from its bottom/front, and the ability to boost (which also counts against the heat meter).
As you begin to explore the underwater depths of this mysterious cavern, you’ll be faced with foes sporting tentacles, skulls, and other bizarre designs, all of which have a slight biomechanical design. Quite frequently, defeating these Chthonic foes is a requirement in order to progress to the next part of the level (which is all randomly generated so don’t expect to just “learn the lay of the land”). You also have a constantly running timer, i.e., air supply, to ensure you don’t spend too long dilly-dallying. Fortunately, destruction of these unknown foes yields artifacts that refill your air supply, help repair some of the damage that’s been inflicted upon your craft, or even permanently boost different aspects of the sub, such as its armor or torpedo damage. These boosts are shared between two players for a co-op session so there’s no mad dash to see who gets the boost. Progress through the levels is also saved so you don’t have to sit down and play through them all with your 3 lives in just one go.
Dark and scary with red glowy things... Just as Lovecraft depicted
The other benefit to the saved progress is that The Shadows in the Underworld is hard. Even on the easy/medium difficulty levels, you’ll find yourself constantly getting surrounded by enemy ships quite suddenly with only a brief couple of seconds in which to react in order to avoid your untimely death. (You do have a health bar, but getting pounded by 7 enemies at once pretty much means instant death). That boost comes in handy, as the most common strategy in situations like these is to blast a couple torpedoes straight ahead while boosting and hoping you make it out of the closing noose. The game sports an enemy-director AI to help randomize these encounters, which I believe, but it does tend present the encounters in a similar way each time, which can be tedious. Having a friend along to help definitely has its benefits, provided you’re both on the same page with how to get out alive.
The Shadows in the Underworld is a pretty nice package that’s neatly presented overall; the story is pretty interesting, the enemy designs are pretty well polished, and even the music is good. The game’s one sticking point is that the encounters tend towards a repetitive nature and can be a challenge even for two players. Still, the game is enjoyable as a whole and a great addition to the game library of any couch co-op enthusiast.
Wrap-Up
The Shadows in the Underworld is For: Gamers that enjoy Cthulu mythology, RPG-lite elements, and difficult games
The Co-Op Experience: Each player controls his or her own sub that can be upgraded further through artifacts and icons dropped by enemies/discovered during the game; upgrades are shared and progression can be saved