October 11, 2006 - We have our share of classic and not-so-classic zombie films, in which for some odd reason the dead are not really dead and they want others to die. It’s a genre that if used well, can create some fantastic movie going experiences. While Romero invented and perfected the genre, even he himself has failed on a few levels in terms of zombie films. Even worse are zombie games. There are very few decent zombie games out there; it’s a type of game that just doesn’t happen often with fun results. Even the popular Resident Evil games aren’t that that great with the exception of the fourth installment, which even then drifts away from the zombie elements of gaming. But, the Sega Genesis and the Super Nintendo were blessed years ago with one of the most original, innovative, and addicting games of the 16-bit era, and once more stands as the best “horror” game of all-time. That’s right folks; we are talking about Zombies Ate My Neighbors!
Neighbors are being attacked by a sudden surge of zombies! Are you a skilled enough hero to save your friends, family, and neighbors from impending doom? More or less that is the premise of Zombies Ate My Neighbors, it’s very simple, like the typical horror film. Its never really explained why and how the zombies came to be, but that’s for you to guess, and its up to you to escape from their clutches. But then it extends to more than just zombies, you instead get settings of almost every single type of horror film ever crafted at the time.
You can choose a boy or a girl to engage in action. Armed with a squirt gun with limited ammo, you must run around and rescue people, pick up special weapons, find some hidden items, and also find an escape route, all while zombies rise from the ground (at random moments) and attack you. What’s worse is that its not just zombies that are after you; you have to take on slime, evil dolls, evil insects, and even men wielding chainsaws! You afraid yet? Be very afraid, because Resident Evil 4 has nothing on this in terms of impossibility.
Shining with a creative art style, and using a 2-D view that resembles that of Link to the Past, Zombies Ate My Neighbors is a very visually appealing game. It’s very comical in tone, and the game rarely slows down or hiccups. While it wouldn’t win any Academy Awards, it most certainly would take you back to the Merrie Melodies/ Tex Avery days in which detail didn’t matter, its all about exaggerating the characters and the scenarios instead. The text in the game resembles that of the vintage 50s-60s horror films, not just that of zombie movies. The animations run very smoothly, and the zombies themselves just don’t stop popping up from the ground. While its comical tone keeps you from being scared all the time, this game will still give you a few moments in which you’ll jump and panic.
Saving an entire neighborhood and the world from invading creatures of all types requires some decent button-work. This game is extremely difficult, and we’ll get back to that later, but the playcontrol is done in a way in which its very easy to learn the game. You can shoot and change weapons with the push of just one button. Playing Zombies Ate My Neighbors will leave you frustrated, but it has nothing to do with the controls, since they are very simple. You are not limited to just a squirt gun though, you can use bazookas, soda grenades, and even ancient artifacts (which happens later in the game). There is limited ammo, which only adds to the strategic portion of the game, and also just adds to the fun frustration.
The folks of LucasArts and Konami also decided to add catchy music to every single stage, and like the art style and graphics, differs greatly depending on where you were. Even the menu screen had some cool music, and who dedicates good music to the title? There is also a wide variety of sound effects, so the game never actually becomes repetitive-sounding; more or less you get tons and tons of horror films packed into one delicious package. Unlike terror films, this one doesn’t offer moments of silence, they pack the game with a huge soundtrack.
55 levels is enough to keep anyone entertained, but add a heavy dose of challenging gameplay that keeps even the most expert gamers screaming in horror and anger and this game is automatically a keeper. The SNES days had its share of difficult games, but Zombies Ate My Neighbors can be so tough its even scary. It gets hard, fast. The first level is absolutely nothing like the rest of the game. Upon your quest towards the credits, you will run into some levels that seem impossible, guaranteed. With the first walkthrough of this game, the high score is the last thing on your mind, as you try to survive the puzzles, traps, and barrage of monsters. Few games become just as bad with another person involved, but Zombies was able to accomplish that! Just because there are two players doesn’t mean the screen splits, it means you both have to work together and figure out where to go, otherwise one person will be away from the screen and will therefore get killed easily.
Zombies Ate My Neighbors is a horror fan’s dream come true. Spoofing everything terror from Romero to Child’s Play, this is an absolutely perfect game to play with a couple of friends in the dark when there is nothing else to do or when there is no boyfriend/girlfriend in your life. With more than 50 stages, this is longer than the average 16-bit quest, and even longer than the typical games of today. While the excruciating difficulty can be a turn-off to some gamers (especially the ones nowadays) and an easy mode would have been nice, this game stands as one of the best third-person shooters of all-time. Also packed into this are plenty of cheats, different ways of winning the game and even the credits is interesting. LucasArts can pull off some very creative and fantastic games, and this is one of them. This came out for both the SNES and the Genesis, and no version is superior over the other, they are both fun games worth your money.
Bottom Line: Zombies Ate My Neighbors is terror gaming at its best. Forget Resident Evil 4, you don’t see Capcom referencing a handful of horror films of the past while offering gameplay that allows you to fight zombies, mummies, big babies, aliens, and even slime. Before the infamous Chainsaw Man in RE4, he makes an appearance in the SNES/Genesis classic. Where is the remake? The Nintendo DS needs to create a remake, and the Nintendo Wii has to allow this game to be downloaded in their Virtual Console. We need something, because the PSX generation of gamers was not able to experience this brilliant game.
With a colorful and cartoonish style of graphics, excellent playcontrol, a good soundtrack, good sound work, difficulty that will leave you without hair, and also more stages than the average shooter, heck the average game for that matter, Zombies Ate My Neighbors is yet another reason why the 16-bit generation released the best arsenal of video games, when the competition was at its best, and the SNES, Genesis, and third-parties cranked out classic after classic after classic. The next Halloween comes around, forget Resident Evil, play this game with some buddies, and let the good times roll!
Neighbors are being attacked by a sudden surge of zombies! Are you a skilled enough hero to save your friends, family, and neighbors from impending doom? More or less that is the premise of Zombies Ate My Neighbors, it’s very simple, like the typical horror film. Its never really explained why and how the zombies came to be, but that’s for you to guess, and its up to you to escape from their clutches. But then it extends to more than just zombies, you instead get settings of almost every single type of horror film ever crafted at the time.
You can choose a boy or a girl to engage in action. Armed with a squirt gun with limited ammo, you must run around and rescue people, pick up special weapons, find some hidden items, and also find an escape route, all while zombies rise from the ground (at random moments) and attack you. What’s worse is that its not just zombies that are after you; you have to take on slime, evil dolls, evil insects, and even men wielding chainsaws! You afraid yet? Be very afraid, because Resident Evil 4 has nothing on this in terms of impossibility.
Shining with a creative art style, and using a 2-D view that resembles that of Link to the Past, Zombies Ate My Neighbors is a very visually appealing game. It’s very comical in tone, and the game rarely slows down or hiccups. While it wouldn’t win any Academy Awards, it most certainly would take you back to the Merrie Melodies/ Tex Avery days in which detail didn’t matter, its all about exaggerating the characters and the scenarios instead. The text in the game resembles that of the vintage 50s-60s horror films, not just that of zombie movies. The animations run very smoothly, and the zombies themselves just don’t stop popping up from the ground. While its comical tone keeps you from being scared all the time, this game will still give you a few moments in which you’ll jump and panic.
Saving an entire neighborhood and the world from invading creatures of all types requires some decent button-work. This game is extremely difficult, and we’ll get back to that later, but the playcontrol is done in a way in which its very easy to learn the game. You can shoot and change weapons with the push of just one button. Playing Zombies Ate My Neighbors will leave you frustrated, but it has nothing to do with the controls, since they are very simple. You are not limited to just a squirt gun though, you can use bazookas, soda grenades, and even ancient artifacts (which happens later in the game). There is limited ammo, which only adds to the strategic portion of the game, and also just adds to the fun frustration.
The folks of LucasArts and Konami also decided to add catchy music to every single stage, and like the art style and graphics, differs greatly depending on where you were. Even the menu screen had some cool music, and who dedicates good music to the title? There is also a wide variety of sound effects, so the game never actually becomes repetitive-sounding; more or less you get tons and tons of horror films packed into one delicious package. Unlike terror films, this one doesn’t offer moments of silence, they pack the game with a huge soundtrack.
55 levels is enough to keep anyone entertained, but add a heavy dose of challenging gameplay that keeps even the most expert gamers screaming in horror and anger and this game is automatically a keeper. The SNES days had its share of difficult games, but Zombies Ate My Neighbors can be so tough its even scary. It gets hard, fast. The first level is absolutely nothing like the rest of the game. Upon your quest towards the credits, you will run into some levels that seem impossible, guaranteed. With the first walkthrough of this game, the high score is the last thing on your mind, as you try to survive the puzzles, traps, and barrage of monsters. Few games become just as bad with another person involved, but Zombies was able to accomplish that! Just because there are two players doesn’t mean the screen splits, it means you both have to work together and figure out where to go, otherwise one person will be away from the screen and will therefore get killed easily.
Zombies Ate My Neighbors is a horror fan’s dream come true. Spoofing everything terror from Romero to Child’s Play, this is an absolutely perfect game to play with a couple of friends in the dark when there is nothing else to do or when there is no boyfriend/girlfriend in your life. With more than 50 stages, this is longer than the average 16-bit quest, and even longer than the typical games of today. While the excruciating difficulty can be a turn-off to some gamers (especially the ones nowadays) and an easy mode would have been nice, this game stands as one of the best third-person shooters of all-time. Also packed into this are plenty of cheats, different ways of winning the game and even the credits is interesting. LucasArts can pull off some very creative and fantastic games, and this is one of them. This came out for both the SNES and the Genesis, and no version is superior over the other, they are both fun games worth your money.
Bottom Line: Zombies Ate My Neighbors is terror gaming at its best. Forget Resident Evil 4, you don’t see Capcom referencing a handful of horror films of the past while offering gameplay that allows you to fight zombies, mummies, big babies, aliens, and even slime. Before the infamous Chainsaw Man in RE4, he makes an appearance in the SNES/Genesis classic. Where is the remake? The Nintendo DS needs to create a remake, and the Nintendo Wii has to allow this game to be downloaded in their Virtual Console. We need something, because the PSX generation of gamers was not able to experience this brilliant game.
With a colorful and cartoonish style of graphics, excellent playcontrol, a good soundtrack, good sound work, difficulty that will leave you without hair, and also more stages than the average shooter, heck the average game for that matter, Zombies Ate My Neighbors is yet another reason why the 16-bit generation released the best arsenal of video games, when the competition was at its best, and the SNES, Genesis, and third-parties cranked out classic after classic after classic. The next Halloween comes around, forget Resident Evil, play this game with some buddies, and let the good times roll!
Score: 9/10
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Extra Notes:
I personally am hating the Virtual Console and its inability to truly cash on its potential. This could be Nintendo once again punishing the old-school gamers for not supporting the underrated Nintendo Gamecube. Whatever the reason, its underperformed for the longest time. Luckily, Zombies Ate My Neighbors has finally arrived in all its glory. This is still a fantatic game, 3 years after I wrote the review. You are going to see me buying this for my family in the incoming days.
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