Last year Nation Red was released on Steam, an indie developed title, players were tasked with surviving swarms of zombies in traditional top down shooter gameplay. I had tried the demo out, and while impressed with it graphically, I felt the one key item missing was co-op play. Now almost a year later the game has a brand new update adding in numerous co-op modes for two players both locally and online.
Nation Red offers a story mode where players work through 18 levels tasked with surviving the zombie onslaught. The zombies though don't just run at you in an attempt to eat your brains, some of these come packing heat - able to shoot back. It's quite impressive the number of characters on screen at once and there's a constant feeling of being over run. As you kill the enemy you'll earn experience and level up your character, unlocking abilities like regenerating health and accuracy perks.
Along with these upgrades you'll find numerous weapons. Pistols, machine guns, flame throwers, a jack hamme are just a few. In fact, the latest update actually includes some community created weapons like the minigun.
I had no trouble jumping into a co-op game using the built in match making. My partner and I teamed up for the game's barricade mode. In this mode players are given a base to defend surrounded by concrete walls. The zombies are able eventually able to break through, so you need to do all you can to survive and protect them - because once the walls comes down there's no where to hide. In reality we found that despite a lack of concrete cover we still had no problem wiping the floor with zombie matter. By the time we got to wave 10, over 1100 zombie kills later, we basically let ourselves die.
Which is really the only problem I found with Nation Red - it's only fun in short bursts. Despite a story, survival and barricade mode - there's not a whole lot difference between them.
Right now the game is on sale for $5, though it's normally $10. Is it worth your money? At $5, I'd say so. It's a fun distraction and co-op keeps it somewhat interesting. There's a few other top down zombie shooters out there and coming out that are probably a better value, but it never hurts to add another one to your arsenal.