Those Resident Evil fans curious as to what a 2 player RE title would be like, need not be curious any longer. Sega has taken equal parts Resident Evil and Streets of Rage and concocted a vile creature that, while good, is not quite in the same league as either of those aforementioned games.
Gamers familiar with the side scrolling beat em ups of old will find many familiar elements in Zombie Revenge. Despite a few alterations, the general genre-wide control scheme hasn't really changed much after all these years. One major change is that all the selectable characters carry handguns (a la House of the Dead) with unlimited ammo, at least at first. A "shoot" button replaces the usual "kick" button, though when used in combination with the "punch" button, kicks are unleased. In order to make much progress in the game, it is imperative that the handgun is utilized properly. When facing an enemy, a rotating color coded crosshair snaps to that target. The longer the crosshair is locked onto that enemy, the more powerful the resulting shot will be. Your character also has the ability to unleash a more powerful super shot buy charging up the shoot button, then pointing to the desired location and letting go. The resulting blast usually blows most humanoid zombies to pretty little green gibs. There is a little more to it than just point and shoot.
As far as hand to hand combat is concerned, Zombie Revenge isn't quite as deep as a purebred beat em up. Each character has a punch combo, a punch/kick combo, and powered up versions of both depending on the level of "poison" exposure. It is possible to perform a grab technique along with a crushing follow-up combo, though the way to initiate it is somewhat strange. As soon as a thrown punch lands, the punch button must be held until the grab prompt appears. From there, it is just a matter of a few quick button presses. Of course, any game even remotely resembling a beat em up needs a variety of crazy weapons and items to pick up and utilize. Everything from a huge drill, to various styles of automatic weapons and flamethrowers, to a big aluminum gas can, can used as a weapon against those pesky legions of the undead. There are a few other techniques, such as charged up combos and knockdown/get up attacks, but most are fairly simple to figure out.
Visually and aurally, Zombie Revenge is definitely well above average. The creepy polygonal stages are well designed, and feature more fancy special effects than you can imagine. The levels look and feel distinct even though they all take place in stereotypical horror-themed environments. One minute you are tracking someone down in a factory full of rusty steaming pipes, and the next you are on top of a high speed train, trying to pull the emergency brake before it reaches the end of the line. Your investigation eventually takes you to the actual mansion as found in the original House of the Dead. Nice touch! The characters could use a few more polygons here and there, but it only becomes noticeable during real time cinema scenes. The zombies and creatures all look great, and some of the boss monsters are extremely impressive.
If you have played either game in the House of the Dead series, than you know what to expect in terms of voice, sound effects and music. The soundtrack is of the creepy orchestrated variety, and the voice samples are almost in the same B-movie league as Resident Evil. It all works well within the context of Zombie Revenge.
Zombie Revenge is purely an arcade game at heart. In other words, it is made to eat quarters. Unlike Dynamite Cop, ZR is both difficult and fairly long. The US version allows you to begin with a maximum of 15 credits in Arcade Mode, and even that is not nearly enough. As with many old school arcade games of this type (Final Fight for example), the only way to play through the game on limited credits, is practice, practice, practice. This alone is guaranteed to piss off more than a few gamers. Sega has added a nice amount of extras beyond the sometimes frustrating Arcade mode. Original Mode allows you to choose from a variety of sub modes, such the gun-less Bare Knuckle mode; VS Boss mode gives you the ability to take on any boss that you have previously faced for practice and ranking purposes; Fighting Mode is a dumbed down one on one fighting contest, either for 1 or 2 players.
Also included are two wacky VMU mini games, one being "Zombie Fishing", and the other "Zombie Doubt". Zombie Fishing is, uh, well, fishing for zombies. Think a mini version of Sega Bass Fishing. Zombie Doubt is a simple Memory game. Based on how well you perform in these mini games, along with the collection of items from Original Mode, you raise a Zombie hero/heroine to do battle in Fighting Mode, while also unlocking secrets in Original mode (and credits).
Zombie Revenge, while not adding much to the beat em up genre, is a fairly solid, well designed game. Gamers that grew up on frustratingly tough arcade games such as this, will most likely feel at home with the intense level of difficulty. Those easily frustrated may find themselves somewhat overwhelmed, even when teamed up with a 2nd player.
-- Jim Cordeira
