#2 - Atom Zombie Smasher - Blendo Games - $15 - Windows/Mac/Linux
Trailer
Atom Zombie Smasher is a game about you, set in the 1960's, using the full array of options available as the commander of an orbital station coordinating the response to an outbreak of Zed. If that sounds ridiculous to you, then you got the basic gist of the style. It's a style that is consistently applied to the game and gives it an appealing charm. To really grasp what I'm talking about, check
the trailer I linked to earlier.
The game is set on a map in which the player and the computer-controlled Zed alternate turns to earn score. The first party to reach a predefined amount of points wins. The player scores points by controlling territory, evacuating civilians, scientists and by killing Zed. The Zed score points by infecting civilians and by controlling territory. Each player turn, the player selects a territory to evacuate or assault to start actual gameplay.
The gameplay is shown from a topdown point of view, and allows the player to pre-plan the evacuation. The player evaluates the position of the yellow dots (civilians) and positions the helicopter extraction point, the tools available to him and starts the run. Tools available sounds bland, but we're talking anything from infantry to Zed bait and from artillery to orbital strikes here. During the run, the Zed appear as purple points dots, and when they touch a yellow one, it turns purple. The player can control and modify what they're doing to adapt to the situation. Using the tools perfectly, like getting the timing of dynamite and the placement of mines just right, takes trial, tweaking and retries. Since a typical evacuation or run takes a minute or two at most - and since every casualty means a point for the Zed, there is a strong tendency to retry a scenario several times.
What further increases the pressure on the player are the amazing amount of modifiers built in. Each turn has its own modifier, like increased or decreased Zed Speed, or helicopter speed, or tools and units leaving or joining your forces. But the serious modifiers are introduced by scoring an amount of points. The player, for example, will unlock scientist civilians at one point, which, when saved, can unlock powerful weaponry. The Zed, on the other hand, will damage the gas pipelines at some point, causing certain buildings to explode when damaged.
In general, the Zed will start becoming more and more powerful as they capture more territories, and there's little you can do but hold on and desperately push back the increasingly overwhelming numbers. This struggle feels like a classic zombie scenario, but the fun part is that you're actually playing it. The game is difficult without compromises and at some point, looking at the infested world map can end up feeling woefully unfair to the player.
A strong point of the game is its amazing attention to style, something to be expected from the creators of Flotilla and Gravity Bone, the latter of which I'll certainly discuss at some point in the future. In Atom Zombie Smasher, a unit joining your forces looks like a contract and the OK button is the signature field. Clicking the button will cause a signature to appear, and you'll have signed on the new forces. Messages come in with a satisfying morse sounds accompanying them. Your orbital station is actually a zeppelin.
In the end, however, the variation and surprising depth of the game is what makes the game tick. The game doesn't have ever-lasting appeal nor does it aspire to, but it is a reminder of what a consistent and charming style can do and what modifiers -being such tiny changes in the game design- can do for replayability and variation.
Business guy and developer at [url]www.vlambeer.com[/url] - bringing back arcade since 1956.
