Developer(s) Nihilistic Software Designer(s) Tim Miller
Jon Slavin | Publisher(s) Konami | |
Director(s) Robert Huebner
Yujin Kiem
Jon Knoles
Leo Martinez
Brandon Moro
Martha Richter Smith Producer(s) Stella Balmoria
Steve Hutchins Programmer(s) Yves Borckmans
Mark Cooke
Benjamin Goldstein
Vic Keenan | ||
Zombie Apocalypse is a downloadable shoot 'em up video game developed by Nihilistic Software and published by Konami. It was released in North America for the Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade on September 23, 2009 and for the PlayStation 3 via the PlayStation Network on September 24, 2009.
Contents
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 zombies 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.
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 and Smash TV. Inspiration for the environments and characters was taken from zombie films, including Night of the Living Dead and Return of the Living Dead.
Reception
On Metacritic, it has received an aggregate score of 61% on PlayStation 3 and 66% on Xbox 360. IGN said "[Zombie Apocalypse]...is inconsequential." GameSpot called it "Robotron: 2084 with zombies...what it lacks in innovation it more than makes up for with good, mindless fun." Destructoid praised the variety of zombies, but added "by the time you hit your 25th night, you've pretty much seen them all." GamesRadar commented "At its core, Zombie Apocalypse is an entertaining, if overpriced, top-down shooter...By the time you hit the halfway mark, you’ll be sick of spinning in circles." 1UP also criticised the repetition, as well as the difficulty level and enemy variety "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."