Zombie Night Terror

Author: Jose A. Rodríguez

Date: 2020-07-30 19:55:53

Zombies, those creatures so feared and appreciated. We cannot avoid accepting that the "walkers" have gone through their own merits of being feared beings to become a social phenomenon that is almost fond of. Proof of this are the number of titles set in the world started by George A. Romero in his saga of the living dead. In Zombie Night Terror for PC, the epidemic is lived in a different way. And we are not talking about an Ill Niño metal theme, but about a true infection that we are going to cause, instead of surviving. If you feel like young Birkin doctors, get ready to enjoy the strategy in the new NoClip.

We already know that zombies have explored almost every genre there has been and there will be. Graphic adventures, terror (the least frequent, pity of old Resident Evil) and among others, this recent wave of crafting titles powered by the success of Minecraft. Indie games are sometimes a jug of cold water, and this time it will be no less. If you are willing to live an experience full of pixels and you like strategy, prepare yourself for something refreshing and different. Something that those who played the Lemmings will know very well.

The premise of Zombie Night Terror varies greatly from what has been seen to date. We do not control (in full) the characters that populate the screen, but we give instructions. And, before analyzing anything else, the gameplay of this title is the star aspect. We must begin by understanding that this story full of winks to George A. Romero and his continuous analysis of death from the filmic point of view, seasoned by elements of the "state of exception" is nothing but a tribute to films from the so-called Z Series like The Return of the Living Dead or Re-Animator. Werner Herzog will be proud ...

We are going to be the hand that decides the future of the poor inhabitants of this world full of bichrome, an alternation of black and white broken only by some green elements - which we will explain later - and that seems to merge with the look of The Night of the Romero's original Living Dead. The purpose: to use our mouse as a stick of command over beings, be they zombies or alive that we convert to make them part of our personal horde; a fierce herd that pounces on the others in the scenarios (for which we move with the keys A, W, S and D) and in which we must make sure to convert (or surround) the most aggressive. And is that zombies are not exactly invisible.

There are different character profiles in this strategy game. To begin with, there are the poor defenseless citizens whose only ability is to scream and run throughout the rooms of these two-dimensional settings. There are also the most seasoned, who do not differ from the others except that when they see an infected they will begin to throw blows or shots that will leave them in a pool of blood on the ground. And this does not interest us. Finally, the infected, of various types and with various functions. Our protagonists, and who we hope you will begin to appreciate immediately.

The different infected are differentiated by their level of aggressiveness and their abilities, although these, which range from becoming incendiary to attacking, breaking things or collecting radioactive material, are something totally optional within our infection project. We explain ourselves: there is no model to follow or an order in the elements of the game. We decide which is the action to follow through patterns: we can mark doors to be broken and stairs to be passed or go up / down. Some decisions that will be totally decisive when completing the different missions.

Zombie Night Terror offers us up to 30 different challenges , although all related to each other: in different "acts" each of them with 10 levels connected by scenes, we will receive commissions, all focused on infecting a certain number of characters thanks to a good use of injectable capsules with the zombie virus or cause death thanks to those already infected. The freedom that the title brings when making decisions provides a different gaming experience each time we choose one decision or another, making each player's game unique. Is it better to infect the armed character or perhaps surround him and lock him up so that he has no way out? The buttons on the stage are decisive for these decisions, especially when it comes to preventing the undead from leaping into the void and killing themselves, leaving us without troops for our purpose. Be very careful which routes to keep active and in which direction: it is all a matter of choosing which default action to take.

The resources are sometimes distributed around the stage, giving us the possibility of collecting infectious virus tanks that will be possible to use in new syringes to create more infected, which in turn will lead those around them. In addition, each level contains some challenges that give us more points, as if it were an Angry Birds . Once the objective is achieved, it is time to move on to the following.

And in our case, the next thing will be to talk about the visual aspect of a title very focused on gameplay, which uses the pixelated style as an aesthetic resource and accompanies it with the most charming bichrome possible. The movements of the characters, despite being made up of few squares each, are expressive at best. In NoClip, they've strived to make each Zombie Night Terror character capable of vomiting, moving unequivocally belonging to a living dead, and even being expressive. Thus, we have to stand before a fully functional section, well treated but absolutely simple, which does not detract from its clear intention to provoke sympathy for the followers of the zombie genre in its first exponents.

The audio of the game is, to say the least , surprising . Despite being a game with a retro focus, the screams and the sound setting are perfectly reflected, making us feel in contact with the electronic instruments generated by the 80's synthesizer , a tribute that crosses The Night of the Living Dead with Thriller de Michael Jackson (not surprisingly, it all starts at the door of a cinema). The voices do not come to relate anything, but stick to expressing tones and an intention that seems focused on being received equally in all territories. Communication is made thanks to the subtitles that, sadly, are not in Spanish. A pity, given the small tributes to the Z Series.

If you are willing to place yourself in the other environment and not as an aggressive zombie but as the hand that gives orders to the horde, you are welcome in this indie title. Zombie Night Terror is not ostentatious , nor does it cheat. It is fun, different and very effective. If you like the premise, go for it.