Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone Review
Developer: Backbone Entertainment
Publisher: Konami
Rating Guide: How I Review Games
Review:
Are you ready for another impossible apocalypse? Yes, the world just doesn’t seem to be able to shake those pesky undead freaks. Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone is the sequel to one of my favorite Xbox Live Arcade titles. What’s with the infection rate these days in the game universe? Someone needs to invest in a can of “zombie repellent”.
There are four more characters you get to play as in Never Die Alone. There’s a Father Bill, the priest … Jeremy, the pro gamer … Def Money, the British rapper and Alma, the weapon creating female. As the game begins you’re introduced to the heroes and given a story on how they all come together. It’s pretty funny. I enjoyed all of the characters even the pro gamer despite how annoying he was (which I’m sure was the angle). His comments were just way too typical of the gamer stereotype with all the “noobs” and “pwns” he would shout out. I’m sure Backbone intended for him to be annoying and he succeeds all too well.
Even with Jeremy’s annoying little commentary, it doesn’t get much better than having 4 friends team up to wipe out another zombie apocalypse. Sometimes playing with friends can hide a game’s faults in some regards. I loved using Alma’s single shot rifle that killed multiple zombies. The shotgun that Father Bill used wasn’t as effective because you had to get too close. Each of them obviously has their own default weapon so be sure to pick properly. If you get bored with Alma don’t worry because you can easily switch to another character while in the game. I urge you to try them all on for size to get the best fit.
You now have a special move at your disposal that allows you to unleash a powerful attack for a few seconds. Alma will break down in the middle of the apocalypse to create a turret gun to spray bullets at all inbound zombies. All of the others have their own special move. There is a new upgrade system in place that brings a class based system to the game. The characters get to upgrade their own unique abilities which I thought was a good addition to the game. Some people prefer shotguns to SMG’s and they’ll be able to pick that particular weapon set and dish out pain.
Have I mentioned the hordes of zombies? There are many, many more than what the first game threw at you. It felt like I was surrounded by a billion zombies. The zombie “bosses” in the game weren’t a forgiving bunch either. The AI difficulty was definitely ramped up on Never Die Alone because let me tell you … you will die alone … repeatedly. Don’t skip out on the co-op beauty of this game because teamwork is essential to your survival more so than in the first.
Although I enjoyed Never Die Alone, it wasn’t as fun of an experience as I had with the first one. Most of the contextual kills were toned down and lacked any real punch. One of the best parts about the first was some of the cool environment kills. They’re still there in the sequel but not as cool.
The levels at times become a bit too dark to figure out where your character is even with the circle hub underneath. I liked sweeping waves of zombies near the garbage dump but it just wasn’t a spectacle. A lot of the technical issues with the original Zombie Apocalypse were fixed but the fun factor wasn’t as high. It probably won’t matter much because with friends you’re just plowing through stages.
Fans of the first game will enjoy the sequel. It’s priced at the sweet spot of 800 Microsoft Points so you can grab it and not feel like you’ve been raped at the points store.
