Game Reviews

Zombiewood

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Zombiewood
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At times, it almost seems as though Gameloft's latest game is trying to say something.

Set in a Hollywood that's been overrun by festering zombies, the game tasks you with gunning down the walking dead in-between running fetch-quest errands for every vacuous survivor you encounter.

Perhaps some sensitive soul at Gameloft HQ is trying to make a statement here - satirising the stagnation of the USA's entertainment epicentre and a population that couldn't even cast aside its superficiality in the face of a zombie apocalypse.

Or perhaps not

However you choose to interpret Zombiewood's undead uprising, it's certainly a wide-ranging contagion. You step into the action as Seth, and spend the game surrounded by brain-hungry Hollywood phoneys.

Fortunately, Seth's a level-headed chap with a real knack for shooting things. All you have to do is control Seth's movement and he'll automatically gun down zombies as you go, allowing you to quickly carve a path through all but the densest undead hordes.

This system allows for uncluttered controls, but deprives Zombiewood of some excitement.

With the process largely automated, zombie-slaying slightly humdrum, and all that's left for you to do is steer your walking turret while hoovering up the currency and XP dropped by your vanquished foes.

Play fetch

Each of the game's levels takes place in one of five sandbox stages, and has you searching for survivors among crowds of undead. In gameplay terms, this amounts to following an arrow towards one of Zombiewood's vacuous quest-givers, shooting everything you encounter along the way.

Weirdly, those quest-givers are all female, and the game makes a running joke of how feckless, superficial, and interchangeable they all are.

Misjudged misogyny aside, there's an admirable grasp at variety in Zombiewood's missions, but the game's over-reliance on fetch-quests and frustrating escort missions is noticeable no matter how they're packaged.

The draping of light RPG elements over the game's shooting is also something of a missed opportunity, since levelling up and upgrading your arsenal makes such a minor difference to Seth's abilities that you'll never really feel empowered by your hard-earned purchases.

Zombiewood is fun, but it's not quite thrilling enough for an unreserved recommendation. If you enjoy shooters you'll enjoy this. If you don't, it won't change your mind.

Zombiewood

A perfectly fun arcade blaster, Zombiewood is too lacking in excitement and variety to wholeheartedly recommend
Score
James Nouch
James Nouch
PocketGamer.biz's news editor 2012-2013