''Zombie Apocalypse'' is a downloadable

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

shoot 'em up Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs ) are a sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of chara ...

video game developed by

Nihilistic Software nStigate Games (formerly Nihilistic Software) was an American video game developer based in Novato, California. History Nihilistic was founded in March 1998 by Ray Gresko, Robert Huebner, and Steve Tietze. Gresko and Huebner had formerly worked ...

and published by

Konami , is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company, video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machin ...

. In 2011, a sequel was released, '' Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone''.

Gameplay

''Zombie Apocalypse'' is a multidirectional shoot 'em up. The player controls one of four characters through 55 levels set in seven different areas. The player must rescue survivors, and kill waves of

zombie A zombie (Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in whic ...

s using a range of weapons and the environment. Use of environmental kills rewards the player with more points for their score. Every five kills awards the player with another score multiplier, which resets to one upon death. Each of the game's modes can be played in single or multiplayer.Horrorcade: ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE
/ref> There are 12 trophies/achievements available. Playing through the game unlocks new modes.

Development

Nihilistic sought to make a pure arcade shooter, akin to ''

Robotron 2084 ''Robotron: 2084'' (also referred to as ''Robotron'') is a multidirectional shooter developed by Eugene Jarvis and Larry DeMar of Vid Kidz and released in arcades by WMS Industries, Williams Electronics in 1982. The game is set in the year 2084 i ...

'' and ''

Smash TV ''Smash TV'' is a 1990 arcade video game created by Eugene Jarvis and Mark Turmell for Williams Electronics Games. It is a dual-stick shooter (one for moving and the other for firing) in the same vein as 1982's '' Robotron: 2084'' (co-created b ...

''. Inspiration for the environments and characters was taken from zombie films, including ''

Night of the Living Dead ''Night of the Living Dead'' is a 1968 American independent horror film directed, photographed, and edited by George A. Romero, with a screenplay by John Russo and Romero, and starring Duane Jones and Judith O'Dea. The story follows seven peop ...

'' and ''

Return of the Living Dead ''The Return of the Living Dead'' is a 1985 American comedy horror film written and directed by Dan O'Bannon in his directorial debut, and starring Clu Gulager, James Karen, Thom Matthews and Don Calfa. The film tells the story of how a warehou ...

''.

Reception

The game received "mixed or average reviews" on both platforms according to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. ''

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

'' said, " 'Zombie Apocalypse''..is inconsequential." ''

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

'' called it "''Robotron: 2084'' with zombies...what it lacks in innovation it more than makes up for with good, mindless fun." ''

Destructoid ''Destructoid'' is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017, and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022. History ' ...

'' praised the variety of zombies in the PlayStation 3 version review, but added "by the time you hit your 25th night, you've pretty much seen them all." However, ''

1Up.com ''1Up.com'' was an American entertainment website that focused on video games. Launched in 2003, ''1Up.com'' provided its own original features, news stories, game reviews, and video interviews, and also featured comprehensive PC-focused conten ...

'' criticized the repetition, as well as the difficulty level and enemy variety, saying, "Worse than simply being tedious, though, is how jaw-grindingly frustrating Zombie Apocalypse becomes. As the game wears on, absurd variants...replace the run-of-the-mill brain-eaters."

References

External links

Official website

Developer Nihilistic Software
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zombie Apocalypse (Video Game) 2009 video games Cooperative video games Konami games Multidirectional shooters PlayStation Network games Video games developed in the United States Video games featuring black protagonists Video games featuring female protagonists Xbox 360 Live Arcade games Video games about zombies Multiplayer and single-player video games