Zombies Aliens & Guns – Review

In what could be the most apt game name of the generation Zombies Aliens and Guns is a twin stick shooter about Zombies, Aliens and you guessed it, plenty of guns.
The Twin-Stick shooter genre might have fizzled out a little since it’s Xbox 360 glory days, but being a fam I’m always happy to step back and relive my earlier years, so we jumped at the chance to review the new game from Ratalaika games and the development team 9Ratones..

Coming in at under 400mb, with some pixelated graphics it might not set your world on fire at first glance, but I strapped on the ammo belt and jumped in to be met with a few more options than I was expecting.
From the main menu, there’s an extra modes section which includes 7 survival levels and a boss rush mode, which unlock with progression, but the bulk of the enjoyment is in the main game.
There’s no real narrative, but the premise of the game is as you might expect, traverse each level, come across hordes of zombies and aliens and shoot them with guns.

The first thing you notice when dropping in to the 2.5d world is the slight rotation on the screen as you move, it instantly struck me as a little odd, as many twin-stick shooters keep a more static camera, but there’s a very slight rotation as you move, then you start firing weapons and as well as a small but noticeable screen-shake, you get a sturdy vibration through your controller.
Combined the title instantly gave a funny sense of immersion, I’ve played AAA First person-shooters with guns that feel less powerful, so it’s a nice (but unexpected) feeling from a few simple game mechanics utilised well.

You’ll generally be running from A to B, collecting cases off the ground or rescuing survivors, on your travels, there’ll be a range of zombies and aliens who are usually on a trigger system and will target you when you get too close.

Progressing through the game, there’s a few differences such as shooting canisters on the back of a moving train, or defending a moving truck or boat, but most of the time, as long as you shoot anything that gets too close, you’ll live to tell the tale.

The core gameplay does start to get a little repetitive to the end, but there’s a few mechanics that stop it being completely run and gun, between the grey (rifle) red (Shotgun) and gold (a more auto rifle with bullet spread) you can collect up to 3 ammo crates the same to power-up your weapon.

You also have a dash on the left-trigger, and while health and ammo replenish at a steady rate, you’ll still get caught out if you run into too many enemies at once.

Like many Ratalaika titles achievements come fairly easily with all 1000 gamerscore through progression for completely pre-determined boss and survival levels, in total the game will take about 2 and a half hours to complete, which isn’t bad for a small indie game, but unlike a lot of easy-achievement titles, there’s actually a pretty decent shooter to enjoy.

Graphically, as you’ll see from the screenshots it’s a little basic, but it runs perfectly smooth, even when you do have dozens and dozens of enemies swarming at you, and the weapons firing full speed, enemies are always easy to spot, though “anything that moves” is mostly a great way to target them, especially considering any solider I rescued was soon turned into a puddle of blood.
Audio isn’t the strongest part, and due to the repetitive gunfire I played most of the game with the volume real low, but many will be fine tolerating a little repetitive audio for a few hours.

The overall presentation could have definitely been better, with the story only really described by the names of the levels as you progress, but if you’re just after a quick twin-stick shooter fix, with an easy 100 Gamerscore, you’re not going to be looking for a virtual novel to read through.

Overall, I’ve been pretty impressed with Zombies, Aliens and Guns. With Ratalaika backed games, I’ve come to expect short, sweet and easy g’s, but there’s definitely a few fun-filled hours to enjoy in the process.

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