An absolutely underrated gem! Whatever teething problems this game might have had on release have definitely been ironed out now and I cannot recommend this enough to anyone who likes zombies, arcade top-down shooters and a little bit of strategy thrown into the mix.
The game definitely doesn't hold your hand but it gives enough guidance to get you started, and eventually the nuances of the game you will work out as you go. The game starts on the global map, with 10 meteors embedded in the earth's surface. You must destroy all of them to win the game. As you blow up each one, it releases spores or "pods" which rain down in the general area and start spreading the zombie virus amongst the cities and populations nearby. This is where the strategy comes in. You must avoid blowing up too many meteors (read that as, more than 1) at any time as otherwise you can be overwhelmed and not able to fend off the outbreaks. You must then apply 3 different types of base and associated helicopters (each of which have improved variants as you progress) to fight the spores. The first type, is to aerially bombard infected areas to stem the tide. A second type, is used to clear up infected regions to prevent rapid reinfection. And the third, to drop in troops to blow up the pods and wipe the zombie virus from the face of the planet. This troop drop is the top-down action section, essentially the other half of the game which I will cover later. And you have to do all this against a ticking timer! Blowing up meteors give you additional time so the trick is to wipe out all pod areas spawned by one meteor explosion before the timer is up and then destroy another meteor. It's an addictive and tense ballet that ratchets up in intensity as you progress.
Wiping out the pods via a troop drop moves the game to the top-down action shooter section. Here you move your squad of a few soldiers around, controlling 1 through the wasd keys and shooting using the mouse. Your other squadmates will follow you around and generally have enough sense to fire at the most pressing target. You can swap to each character as you please but I generally never really did need this as all soldiers handle fairly alike. Grenades can also be lobbed to wipe out groups of enemies. It's simple, straightforward fun that doesn't give too much room for advanced tactics but is indeed satisfying. While on the top-down actio map you can pick maneuver your troops to pick up research points to research new weapons and additional cash for adding bases, turrets, weapons, etc., and of course there are ammo pickups to bolster your rapidly dwindling ammo reserves as you splatter the adequately varied environments with several coats of zombie blood and brains.
Pathing it has to be mentioned is generally quite good, especially considering how winding and cluttered some environments can be.. And even if your guys do get trapped, once they disappear off screen (camera is always focussed on your currently selected character), they will magically spring back and materialise by your side again. Not overly realistic, but a wise game designer choice considering there is no save function in map. I only had one instance where pathing was an issue, and that was when a non-controlled npc was running into the shelter to complete the escort mission and got stuck on a wall so I had to restart it.But the action sections are generally so short this is never really an issue.
Research points collected in-map or as a reward for successful missions are used to improve existing weapons and unlock new ones. Though I found that during my one run through the unlocked top-tier weapons were too expensive to equip my troops with so I settled on a mid-tier weapon for the majority of my guys. In addition to sorting your guys' loadouts, you can also upgrade each one with the experience they gain from combat, upping their aim, damage, speed, etc. A very token RPG element, but it is noticeable when you've got a seasoned veteran and rookie side by side and the experienced one is dropping enemies left and right the green one is spraying everywhere.
Another addition to the pod-clearing missions are the contract missions which appear randomly and allow you to drop-in troops to perform a variety of exciting set-pieces such as helping a group of beleaguered soldiers hold their ground, helping a group of stranded solders punch out back to friendly lines, escort scientists to safety, escort engineers to repair gun emplacements, etc. All of this unlocks new helicopters, turrets, etc. There is a lot of escorting granted but this is handled very well by the game. By and large the escortees don't run off by themselves and stick quite close to your squad, as is the sensible thing to do!
Graphically the game is fine. Nothing exceptional but it is more than acceptable, and it runs very well too with no crashing.
Music is so-so. Nothing out of place but absolutely nothing that really grabs or invigorates you.
Sound is fine. Some guns (not the pistols!) have a suitably satisfying sound, but zombies all sound the same essentially.
As you can tell, gameplay is what this game is all about, without worrying about superfluous extras. It's that constant sense of progression and challenge, the frantic juggling of troop positions and helicopter strikes, and that overarching feeling of not knowing whether you're going to win or lose until the very end is really something. While not the greatest zombie game ever, people have noted that there is little sense of story, characters or context beyond the tagline "zombies are here, kill them and save humanity", it must be said that this is indeed a very good game, miles ahead of some of the other zombie-infused crap that has infested steam's catalogue.
It took my just about 10-12 hours all told game time to beat it, and this is definitely value for money in my eyes. Well worth it at full price!
