Containment: The Zombie Puzzler

Just when you thought that developers could do nothing fresh and new with the undead, along comes Containment: The Zombie Puzzler to confound your expectations.

Part Left 4 Dead, part fiendish puzzle title, it manages to take a concept we're all painfully familiar with and give it a unique and refreshing spin.

Given that zombies are part of the game's storyline, it's unsurprising that the setting is your typical post-apocalyptic situation - humankind is on the run thanks to dead rising from their graves.

Thankfully, those left alive aren't entirely defenceless - they can eradicate the slavering hordes by surrounding them. The catch is that each zombie has to be hemmed-in by humans of the same type - the game features cops, scientists, and even punk rockers.

Eat me

Large groups of zombies can be surrounded in one go, too - but you'll obviously need more humans of the same type. To make things even more demanding, the zombies fight back - from time to time they will lash out at the nearest human, often disrupting your plans as you have to find a replacement to complete the containment process.

The controls are simple, with human placement as simple as tapping a character and then swapping it with another human.

However, the detailed nature of the visuals can sometimes make this process irksome - instead of dealing with blocks or orbs (as you might expect to find in other puzzlers) you're selecting characters which move and animate.

This sometimes makes it difficult to pick the exact individual you desire, which can lead to wasted seconds as you have to re-do the move.

This shortcoming aside, Containment: The Zombie Puzzler is a surprisingly robust experience. New zombie types keep the action fresh and one-use special items help to turn the tide when the going gets tough for your plucky survivors.

It's an appealing take on the puzzle genre which reanimates the slightly tired concept of zombies at the same time - well worth a look if you're interested in games which exercise your brains as well as your reactions.