Bloody Zombies arrives in slick, fist-throwing action in the hopes of pummeling the walking dead, and in brutal fashion at that. Prepare yourself because Bloody Zombies brings a classic arcade feel with intense and challenging combat action.
Taking the player to London in the middle of a zombie outbreak, you’ll control one of four playable characters in a lineup of misfit brawlers. Each character has their own unique appearance and combo techniques, while each player’s profile contains the collected skills and abilities adaptable to each character. Designed as a true co-op experience, Bloody Zombies provides much less of a frustrating experience when all four slots are occupied with zombie brawling survivors.
I entered Bloody Zombies with the expectations of a traditional 2D beat em’ up adventure – with the new technology craze that is VR. If any genre of video game will adapt to virtual reality technology, a 2D side-scrolling brawler would be behind quite a few other choices… But that’s exactly where Bloody Zombies stands out among the rest. What lies ahead in this challenging co-op brawler are tough waves of diverse enemies and tons of unique skills, weapons and level designs; all of which add to the addictive, bloody experience.
The combat featured throughout the game focuses on technical combos and special moves requiring button inputs commonly found in many of the best fighting games today. With four different combinations of button inputs, each skill comes in one of four colour-coded combinations related to each combo set. Each player is then able to equip one skill each from a selection of the four coloured skills, which are either dropped by enemies, found by smashing random objects in the levels or purchased from the store, discovered in different locations of the game.
There’s a tutorial level to help better acquaint you with the simple but brutal combat mechanics found in Bloody Zombies. Though it serves its purpose on instructing you with the basics, it may take the player a while to realize the importance of unique fighting styles that aren’t as common in other popular brawlers. Juggling enemies with fast uppercuts and flying kicks, completing quick combo moves while stringing together special abilities and making good use of the jump and roll dodge abilities are all vital in surviving well-past the first boss.
If playing with a VR player – they’re able to scan the level ahead for traps, secret chests, and most importantly the wide field of vision for the overwhelming groups of enemies that wait ahead, as well as a broader view of the playing area. The 2D plane is sometimes tricky to observe where exactly your character is standing, making it easy to consistently miss landing punches and kicks on your target. Though frustrating at first, it won’t take long to build up a better understanding of the level’s dynamics, as well as having VR players to help guide the team through the level more thoroughly.
As mentioned before, Bloody Zombies is a true co-op experience. Braving the dreaded streets of London alone won’t last long for the average player, as more powerful undead enemies and bosses appear as you proceed further into the game. Gathering a team will no doubt add health to the waves that await you, but a group of solid zombie slayers will undoubtedly bring a much more bearable experience to the combative mayhem. Fending off multiple ogre-like zombies, obese exploding walkers, spike-chucking monsters and a wide range of other deadly enemies proves overwhelming when attempting a solo run.
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