Splatter a zombie and get a free decanter set...
Each mission is played out in a third person view, with the joystick controlling movement and the face buttons used for weapon attacks. There’s no weapon switching as you choose your ballistic weapon before each mission and the viral gun is always on your left arm. Using the right shoulder button lets you lock-on to targets and puts you into strafe mode. With no target you’ll just shimmy sideways, locked-on will see you circle strafe. The left shoulder button calls down the satellite map so you don’t get lost or, with the right shoulder button held down, let’s you switch targets while locked-on… very handy.
Now, key to the gameplay is how many zombies you dispatch in one go with your viral gun. Kill one and that’s one bit of your own blood used up for one kill. It’s far more efficient to wear down several zombies at once, get them into a rough group so they’re near each other, and then blast one with your viral gun. Why? Well, when he explodes, that zombie will splash the others with your anti-viral blood, causing a chain reaction of exploding zombie carcasses… And the more you get in one hit, the better the rewards are in the form of points, extra blood for the viral gun and health boosts.
The single player levels, (there’s 35 of them in total), play and feel very much like an updated SmashTV. All you have to do is go in and blast away all the zombies. There are rewards to be had for completing the level within the time limits and it’s worth trying as it’s the only way to get cash for weapon upgrades and believe me, you will need those in the later levels. The actual gameplay itself is fun enough and, for a quick blast, the short missions are perfect for those playing while they commute.
But it’s not all good news. Ultimately, the single player campaign becomes a tad repetitive as there’s not much to be had in the way of variation in the gameplay. Sure, the environments change a bit, (though it’s all still urban New York), but all the missions are based around first shooting zombies with one gun and then exploding them with the other. This is fun in short bursts but becomes a bit tedious for any lengthy playing session. Definitely a ‘dipping game’ from the single player viewpoint.
