Zombie Defense

As diverse as the modern gaming ecosystem appears to the casual onlooker, it can actually be reduced to as few as two basic categories: games with zombies, and games without zombies.

What started out with a mouldy guest spot here and a rotting cameo there has exploded over the past few years into a full-blown zombie coup. The walking dead have dethroned nazis and aliens to become this generation's go-to bad guy.

Which brings us to Zombie Defense, a barebones bullet-fest that, due to severe balancing issues, struggles to distinguish itself from the decaying crowd.

You take control of a goon with a gun who's doing his utmost to fend off slowly advancing hordes of undead antagonists.

The zombies advance from left to right along three channels. To prevent them from mauling your defences you have to switch vertically between these three channels, stopping deadites in their tracks with your trusty hand cannon.

From the moment you start playing, it's clear that Zombie Defense has issues. For starters, the music and sound effects have to be shut off to prevent the game stuttering every time a weapon is discharged.

The zombies themselves, which range from basic shambling grunts to armed cops and rabid dogs look the part, but they appear completely at odds with the poorly conceived backgrounds.

To make matters worse, it's painfully difficult to progress past the first week of the 30-day siege, thanks to an egregious difficulty spike around day seven.

You can purchase extra defences, and weapons to swap between (the button for which is listed nowhere in the help screen) but they're few and expensive. And whenever you die it's back to day - and square - one.

All of which is slightly sad, as the earlier levels offer some basic no-frills fun. With a bit of balancing, better weapons, and a little more visual attention, Zombie Defense could have been a passable blaster.

As it is, this is another uninspired pop-culture cash-in that's dead on arrival.