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The subtle combinations of technicolor death mixed with upbeat dance music…
Haha… I used to play box shooters. I remember when I thought they were amazing. Then I quickly stopped. Because they aren’t. They’re a repeated formula with so little deviation that you’re more likely to lose because you fell asleep while playing, missing the one important projectile that was headed your way, than because you made an actual mistake. I want to like Zombie Party. It’s actually a really good box shooter. I just can’t.
Zombie Party has a lot of flare. Everything is bright and pops off the screen. “Zombie” Party may be a bit of a misnomer as well, since you’ll travel to several locations, including Hell, the moon and a dead disco party, with monsters themed according to the locale. Guns are wild and ridiculous with 5 mod slots to add to the chaos. Powerups are plentiful and usable items are scattered everywhere. The environment explodes, things catch fire, and death rains down from on high at every second. You might ask, “How can this be bad?” Well it’s because of this.
↓Mouse 1… a. s. d. w. a. s. d. w… d. w. d… a. s. d. w…
This is the game. This is the failure of every box shooter. No matter how flashy things are or how exciting things seem or how many guns, powerups, equippables and unlockables there are, that’s all the game is. Holding down mouse one and moving around with the asdw keys. It’s sad too, because it seems like a lot of effort and shine was put into this game. There’s a ton of unlockable characters with different stats and starting equipment, a slew of unlockable guns and equipment pieces, local co-op, online co-op, a ton of different game modes and online rankings but still…
↓Mouse 1… a. s. d. w.
Maybe I’m just too old with too little time on my hands. Maybe if I was more like some of my carefree friends, I could get wasted, plug this in and shout till the AM with three other buddies. Perhaps I require too much sophistication, but there I am. I do require sophistication, meaning, complexity, uniqueness and creativity in my games anymore for them to be worth my time. I cannot be entertained and feel as if my time has been spent in a valuable manner otherwise. It feels wrong to judge this at Tier 3, but I do. It is a pity, as it’s probably the best box shooter I’ve played.
