Oh great, the screen is tinged red AGAIN
AZMD has its faults, but like most games, a bit of co-op should paper over the cracks. Unfortunately, for AZMD for every issue the co-op hides, another problem rises in its place. Firstly, the game is local co-op only. This is great for when 4 people are around your house, but seeing as the similar Zombie Apocalypse provides both online and offline 4 player co-op, I think this is now the minimum in the genre.
Even if you do get people to play AZMD it does not take long to realise there are many better co-op experience you could be sharing. 4 players on screen at once can be chaotic in most games, but a screen containing 30 zombies, 4 players and 3D buildings is a nightmare. It was far too easy to lose your character in the melee. The lack of split screen means that players have to stay in the same area as one another, we often ended up running in opposite directions trying to escape, only to bump into an invisible wall.
One co-op element that is welcome is the ability to revive your friends when they are dead. You must stand next to their grave stone and take a battering as you hold down A to revive. On their resurrection a smart bomb is released, killing all the nearby zombies; this became one of our main tactics in the game - we used each other’s deaths to an advantage. Unfortunately, the screen starts to grow red when one player is near death. This becomes a real drag, as the chaotic gameplay conspires so that at least one of you is always near death – basically the game is tinged red during most combat situations.
Another confusing element when playing co-op is finding the objectives. You can switch on radar that sits on top of the action pointing to various places. This is disconcerting when playing on your own, but as a foursome it is yet more screen clutter to annoy.
All Zombie Must Die is a game that fails to entertain consistently and is too chaotic for the co-op to really be appreciated. Doublesix should be praised for trying to add depth with a story and RPG elements, but they should also be criticised for the offline only co-op, strange graphical choices and cluttered display. In the well-populated world of twin stick shooters, AZMD fails to stand out.
Editor's Note: The Co-Optimus Co-Op Review of All Zombies Must Die was based on the Xbox 360 version of the game.
Verdict
Co-Op Score
Overall
The Co-Op Experience: Four players take on the zombie hordes together in a mixture of RPG and twin stick shooting action in local only co-op. Make sure you are chummy with your pals, because this is one game that soon becomes chaotic.
Co-Optimus game reviews focus on the cooperative experience of a game, our final score graphic represents this experience along with an average score for the game overall. For an explanation of our scores please check our Review Score Explanation Guide.