Zombies Overloaded is a new top-down twin-stick shooter from developer Vinterm Games. It’s out now on Steam, priced at $4.99, but does have a 40% off sale for early birds. The game is also out on Xbox, Switch, and PlayStation. Zombie Overloaded pays homage to the classic arcade games of yesteryear, such as Smash TV. It doesn’t take itself seriously and is simply offering a pure arcade experience without all the thrills. There are two game modes on offer: the standard arcade mode and a pacifist mode that requires you to avoid being attacked.
The main arcade mode is where the real action is at in Zombies Overloaded. Undead creatures continually appear in waves that get increasingly more difficult to take down, and you’ll need all your retro gaming skills to stay alive. As you blast away at the zombies, the usual pickups appear from more powerful weapons to health packs. There is also the odd coin that drops, which can be used in the shop after each run finishes. Of course, no arcade game would be complete without boss battles, and these appear after every few waves.
We didn’t play much of the pacifist mode in Zombies Overloaded as it felt more like a mini-game to bolster the longevity of the main mode. It was interesting, though, trying to avoid the zombies and develop strategies to not die. But without the fun of blowing things up or setting things on fire, the experience is more of a novelty extra than something you’ll play for a long while. The other aspect of the game is the shop, where coins can be used to permanently upgrade the main character.
The upgrades do make a bit of a difference as you continue to play and notice how you get that little bit further on each run. It shouldn’t take too long to max out the stats, and once your hero is at top level, runs in Zombies Overloaded can last for a significant amount of time. There are also some cosmetic items to purchase, but these don’t do much considering you only see your character from the top down, so these are things only completists will want to play enough to purchase.
The graphics and sound in Zombies Overloaded do a great job of creating that arcade feel, but considering there are only a couple of arenas to unlock, some of the action can start to feel a little samey in places. But that is the nature of these kinds of pure gameplay titles, and it is about continually improving your score and just having fun. While the controls are functional and mostly responsive, we did notice a few issues with collision detection. Sometimes it seemed we avoided the enemy attack, but still died.
Overall, Zombies Overloaded provides a pure arcade experience that will allow you to jump in a start blasting. How long that experience lasts really does come down to how much the gameplay loop of aiming for high scores hooks you. Also, to unlock everything the game has to offer will take a few hours due to the scarcity of the coin drops. If you like pure arcade games, buying this now with the 40% discount makes Zombies Overloaded good value for money.
