We first reported on Ghetto Zombies: Graffiti Squad, a new pixel art arcade title from developer Fogo Games and publisher Nutius Games, earlier this month. The game is out now on Steam, priced at $8.49 with a discount available for those buying before the end of January. Ghetto Zombies: Graffiti Squad will also be releasing on Xbox, although a release date has not been confirmed. We’ve played through the first couple of hours of the Steam version to bring you our first impression of this Zombies Ate My Neighbors-inspired title.
The premise of Ghetto Zombies: Graffiti Squad is to navigate checkpoints that ultimately lead to a challenging boss battle. The checkpoints are locked until you spray paint all the graffiti areas in the particular zone. It reminded us of Jet Set Radio, except you don’t need to learn the combos to create the art; you hold a button down. Once all the graffiti is done, and you’ve explored the zone enough, you use the key to unlock the next area.
The game is fun throughout, and in each zone, some crates are opened using stars that act as the game’s currency. There is a collect-a-thon aspect in trying to get all the different weapon types, and it’s great to go through all the different types. There are super-powerful guns, such as sniper rifles, but these reload slowly and don’t carry many bullets. Then there are Uzi-type guns that hold hundreds of bullets and reload quickly, but it takes lots of bullets to take down even a simple zombie.
Another decent feature of Ghetto Zombies: Graffiti Squad is the character level-up system. Every so often, you’ll find a teleporter that gives you some respite by returning to base and spending your level-up points on improving one of four abilities. Visiting the base also replenishes your health and refills all the clips of your currently equipped guns. You can also switch characters onthe fly whilst in the middle of a level. This does come with its own danger, though, as you may switch to a character that hasn’t levelled up at all and be in a tough area, such as a boss fight.
The controls in Ghetto Zombies: Grffiti Squad are what you would expect from a twin-stick shooter. You aim with the right stick whilst moving your character with the left. You can also do a dash move that gives you a split second of invulnerability, and you reload your weapon by letting go of all triggers and standing as still as possible. The other feature is a lock on that is used by holding the left trigger. This slows your character down but homes in on the nearest enemy in the direction you’re facing.
Overall, Ghetto Zombies: Graffiti Squad is a cool game with an excellent retro presentation. It has the look of a 16-bit pixel art title with the music and gameplay of an early 32-bit game. The music isn’t all that varied, and the same boss appears at the end of every level, although he does get new attack patterns and moves each time. How much longevity this one has will depend on whether you want to upgrade all the characters and find every weapon, but this is still a good value even if you just want to blast through the main game. This is a fine, challenging retro title that is recommended.
