Having been tied up with work, TGS and a few other things, I haven't downloaded a new game in a couple of weeks. But, this from Laughing Jackal made me sit up and take notice:
One of the guys here at Laughing Jackal noticed that not only is OMG-Z the highest rated PlayStation Mini of all time it is also in the top 5 highest rated PSP games on Metacritic. We're all pretty chuffed to say the least. That a game created by 4 people is up there with all those huge, excellent games is really cool.
So, without pause for thought I rushed off the PSN and picked it up, and its easy to see why it is being so well rated. Basically you're the last police officer in a zombie infested town, down to his last three bullets and have to wipe out enough of the zombies to open up the next level.
The art if shooting the right zombie at the right place or time is the key to success. Some zombies explode, others melt into acid puddles, others (zombie soldiers and cops) fire off some rounds, all of which can trigger off a set of chain reactions of further zombie death.
Our hero is always parked out of harms way, on a roof, a car or helicopter, so you can take your time and judge the best shot. Or, you can just blast of three rounds at the best targets (each has an un-life bar, stronger zombies take more than one valuable shot) and see what happens. Each level can take just a couple of seconds, or you can plan for that master stroke that will earn you most credit.
Credits can be used between levels to increase the effectiveness of the zombie death moves. They can explode over a wider radius, fire more shots and so on. Getting to grips with the game is on a par with FieldRunners, Angry Birds and other time-suck titles.
The mono graphics splattered with gore are suitably 8-bit (very ZX Spectrum actually) and while there's minimal other interaction beyond the Out-Run style fanning level selection, the joy at getting a good ripple effect of gore is right up there with the feeling of success and achievement in those games just mentioned.
There's a list of stats rather than achievements, which would have been nice, and some cartoon intros to set the scene, but really its just about getting out there and lining up those shots, with some flaming trash cans to add to the fun. Really, give this a go and encourage those developers to do something really, really cunning next time
Available on PSN for £2.49 [
Laughing Jackal]
8/10 Purist gaming that couldn't be any more so if it'd dripped through the Evian source.
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