Only You Can Prevent
Zombie Fires
High score: for many years this was the main focus and ultimate goal of every video game being released. Players would spend countless hours and quarters perfecting their skills at a particular machine in order to have their initials listed directly beside the numerical representation of their best efforts.
As home consoles became more powerful and arcades sadly became a thing of the past, video games based entirely on skill and repetition began to be in short supply. Luckily, it seems as though these kinds of experiences haven’t completely disappeared but have instead shifted into the downloadable space. Burn, Zombie, Burn! (BZB) on the PSN is the latest example of this type of skill-based entertainment.
The premise of BZB is similar to that of an old arcade game, perform better to achieve a higher score. However, instead of your initials and score being the entire reward for your skilled play, getting a good score is the only way to progress in the game. During every level in Arcade Mode, players will need to score enough points to achieve at least a bronze ranking to unlock the next arena in which to play. Managing to accumulate the points necessary for a silver or gold rating during a level will even unlock interesting but nonessential goodies such as character bios and the ability to slightly change the game’s look. The only problem with this sort of set up is that this game is quite difficult to begin with and has a few issues that can cause unnecessary frustration, but more on that in a bit.
BZB’s gameplay is slightly more complex than one might expect from a game of this sort. In this top-down shooter, you’re tasked with racking up points by killing wave after wave of spawning zombies. You’ll have several means of destruction to call upon including a variety of weapons, triggerable events, and of course good old fashioned fire. Each wave of zombies that appear bring with them all sorts of zombie killing tools such as Uzis, shotguns, baseball bats, and chainsaws. There are also some more unconventional weapons such as a lawnmower, which is held with its blades facing forward, and a brain gun that sucks the brain out of a nearby zombie and spits it out to temporarily distract his pals.
If enough zombies are killed using the same weapon, one of three lights will become illuminated at the top of the screen. Once all three of these lights have been turned on, players are given the option of using a big red button. This button will trigger a different event depending on which arena you are in but all are pretty detrimental to the surrounding zombie population. Some good examples of these are the spinning lasers found in the secret lab and the mid-arena bombing run that can be called in the military base level.
Of course, only using these methods will make it virtually impossible, if not literally impossible, to earn enough points for even a bronze ranking. Instead, players will need to heavily rely on the essential risk/reward mechanic of setting zombies on fire. Every zombie set aflame will add another notch to your score multiplier, making it theoretically possible to rack up points much quicker. However, flaming zombies are also angry and aggressive zombies who will chase directly after you and do more damage when they attack. Balancing how badly you want points with how cramped your environment is, how many and which types of zombies are milling around, and what weapons are at your disposal can certainly be difficult at times, especially considering how quickly things can take a turn for the worse.
With each successive wave, you’ll be faced with a larger number as well as a wider assortment of zombies. In the beginning, you’re put up against pretty standard, slow-moving zombies. A few waves in and you will see all sorts of undead such as dancers who twirl and wear tutus, rushers who have football helmets and quickly charge across the screen, and worst of all, the exploder. These zombies have flashing yellow lights on their heads and explode whenever you get too close or they get caught on fire, with the resulting explosion not adding points to your score.
While all of this may sound great (the mechanics are definitely intriguing in theory), the execution just isn’t entirely there. BZB is set up like a dual-stick shooter but only makes use of the left analog stick. Therefore, players are either forced to aim in the direction they are walking or must attempt to use the game’s poor lock-on feature. Holding L1 is supposed to lock-on to the closest zombie, making it possible to shoot at the zombies that are following you without the need to fully turn around. Unfortunately, while using this ability your character will frequently begin spinning erratically; often targeting just about every zombie but the one you want to take out.
Problems also occur as a direct result of the game’s main mechanic of forcing you to set zombies on fire to score enough points to progress. As your character must use his torch to set the undead ablaze, you will need to get way too close to your foes to accomplish this. Even though non-flaming zombies are supposed to fear the fire and try to avoid being ignited, you’ll occasionally find yourself being savagely picked apart in a horde of zombies while trying to set them on fire. This can get rather frustrating considering that you need to get in close and set zombie fires to have any hope of progressing but can never tell when the zombies will just outright attack you rather than try to avoid combustion.
It really is a pity that these issues detract from what is otherwise a really interesting and respectable shooter. The visual style of the game is appealing, with a slightly cartoony approach and some excellent fire effects. You can play BZB split-screen with a friend, and there are plenty of levels including six different playable arenas in Free Play, Timed, and Defend Daisy (protecting your girlfriend’s car from approaching zombie hordes) modes. There are even ten challenges to be found that focus the player on completing a specific goal such as protecting a teddy bear from zombies for a certain amount of time. It is still possible to enjoy BZB as is, but it would have been much more fun had the lock-on worked well and there was a better way to set zombies on fire that didn’t involve walking through the center of a horde with a burning stick. For ten dollars, though, this is still a lengthy and challenging experience that should definitely help remind older gamers of their quarter-pumping days.
RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 3.6 Graphics
While a little cartoony, characters and environments still look respectable, especially when on fire. 2.3 Control
A poorly implemented lock-on feature doesn’t make up for the noticeable absence of dual-stick controls. e3.5 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The sound won’t impress, but it fits the game well and is of good quality. 3.0 Play Value
With three modes and six levels each, ten challenges, a local multiplayer option, and tons of unlockables, there is plenty to do in this ten dollar package if you can get past the frustrations and don’t mind a challenge. 3.0 Overall Rating – Fair
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.
Game Features: