Ahh, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, a cult hit game for SNES (Here forth in the review called Zombies). LucasArts made a lot of funny horror-spoof games like Maniac Mansion, games that didn't take anything serious and were like computer games where you moved a mouse around. This is their version of a top-down shooter, but it still maintains humor of their other games, and this is a campy horror game. It can be played two players at the same time. You choose between 3D glasses wearing Zeke, and Julie, who looks less 'i lick light sockets' like Zeke does. Your mission is to save your neighborhood - the teachers, the tourists, the guy drinking a cold one in the inner tube, the cheerleaders from zombies! And giant ants! And killer shrubbery! And Frankenstein's monster, vampires, werewolves - wait, does this list end? Actually I could go on and on about the foes. But lets keep moving, zombies are just behind us.

You must shoot the monsters while collecting your neighbors before they are killed. And do this for 40 stages. With each neighbors death, you have less to save the next round. If you have no neighbors left, its a game over! If you get enough points, you can be rewarded with a survivor, but this is a pretty tough game. If you rescue the last one (or the last one is killed) a magic door opens up right in front of you to leave the stage immediately, if you wish. Pass it up, and it will wait for you. The game starts out pretty easy, but soon enough, you might find yourself out of survivors or losing your last life, then the blood soaked screen will complete our B monster movie marathon, and give us game over.

Fortunately, there are passwords. A bit of a mixed blessing though. You also find TONS of improvised weapons. Cola cans that act as grenades, fire extinguishes that freeze, silverware that actually kills werewolves! Finding the combination of what works to what monster is part of the game.  Some items are preset and some are randomly found by opening drawers and random objects - so it has a slight feel of an RPG (The motto of RPGs 'open and take everything'). But sometimes while searching, you might meet a purple blob monster that will instantly take a hit point from you. The good news is you fight certain monsters per stage, its not often they are ALL trying to get a piece of you at the same time.

Can you survive every B movie horror monster and prevail? Will enough neighbors be left for a BBQ party in your 'hood?


Graphics: 9
The characters are a little jagged, but well animated - especially the heroes and the neighbors. The zombies fall apart when shot. A towering, 50 ton baby enemy shakes the screen a bit when it tries to walk (do not worry, the baby does not die when you fight it, it shrinks back to normal).  The mermen have bubbles when they go underwater. You can even stand still and watch the grass grow - the poisonous green weed grass that kills you. Yeah, probably best you don't do that.  You also see lots of different settings. While it starts out in a city, it quickly moves to Egyptian tombs, creepy castles, even a football field!  The backgrounds are all well done and very lively, but not much on any animation. I also liked the mystery potion effects you can have.


Sound: 7
Sound effects get an 8, Soundtrack gets a 5. But I affect the difference because the vocal tracks can be so annoying. The evil dolls make this MWA HA HA every time they appear. And they pop out 3-4 at a time. Some recorded volume seems way higher than others (Werewolf howl, the dolls, the boss), and I found it a good recorded sound, but played so loud and often its grating.
That said, the sound effects are great overall, and most enemies and weapons have them. The neighbors scream when they die, turning into angelic ghosts for a second. Bubble guns pop, the giant monsters roar, the chainsaw maniac has a realistic chainsaw sound.. its overall above par, and really good if the sharper contrasting enemy sounds don't get on your nerves.

The background music is just kind of there, and this one of the uncommon games where sound effects are way more memorable. Music fits its theme, but it wasn't particularly catchy to me. I could definitely spot out several of the tracks though if I heard them; the high organ music for the castles and pyramids, the lumbering polka of the giant baby stages (complete with a childlike "uh oh" thrown in), they are NOT bad tracks.  They do the job of conveying a whimsical menace. But to me, thats all they do. Your mileage may vary.


Addictiveness: 7
The very nature of this Zombies is a shoot em up, almost arcade style play, so it fast and easy to get into. Very fun. Great idea to have the bare-bones objective for most missions - rescue people - get out.  And two player is awesome, although you might fight over who gets the better items.  The game does paint itself into a few corners with some decisions they made, and unfair situations led me to get frustrated at it a few times. Despite the wacky premise and tons to do, this game has some rough spots, and when they show, its not pretty.  I could find myself putting the controller down a few times and finding something else to do. Zombies is a great idea, and a fun game, but its crippled a bit by its difficulty and some bad design choices.

Story: 4
There's actually not much story to it, and no reason given why all these monsters are here. But, its a shoot em up, so the story is not so important, but I'm disappointed still with the fabulously wasted kooky plot left unwritten. Anyway, Spooky things show up, and you rescue the neighbors, squirt guns dripping. You might rescue all cheerleaders, but the next level will be none of them. Each stage has its own victims pre-selected. And each is worth a different point total for some reason - which is odd considering you have to try and save all of them anyway. Its not stated, but the game does have a final boss, although what role he really plays is uncertain. A crazy scientist calling himself Dr. Tongue is apparently behind it all (You go to one of his castles early on in the game), but he will not fight you until almost near the end. I didn't even realize he was an actual person until I met him somewhere in the upper 30's of level.

Depth: 8
Zombies is already no slouch, bringing you tons of different monsters, with different attacks and vulnerabilities - and tons of practical (Bazooka! Running shoes!), to crazy weapons (Tomatoes? Ice cream pops?)  to fill those weak points. From hidden weapons (Pandora's Box must be opened!), to secret levels, Zombies brings a lot to the table. 40 levels lasts a long time folks, let me tell you. These levels start out simple, but you start running into hedge mazes, big pyramids with winding paths, you'll have a sigh of relief by the glow of the exit door.

Difficulty: 8
As fun as this game is, I did get sick of it at points. You gather neighbors before they are all killed, but some feel just out of your control. There is one level with a backyard BBQ guy, any time I reach that level, impossibly he cannot be saved. Literally the half second he comes in view, he's already a ghost. Some of these people seemed designed almost impossibly to rescue - yet you must try, to get the exit door to appear. The game in general does a good job, I am just nitpicking. Its not like you are dying every second. But this is the main reason I'd have to bring down the final score.

The fact there are passwords is a double edged sword- this game borders on 9 level difficulty if you pick a password later in the game, as no weapons are saved upon continuing. You try fighting sand worms with a squirt gun! This wouldn't be so bad if you had passwords for each level, but you only get them after 3 stages. Why did the developer not make all those stages you can start on be places to stock up of health and weapons? Its almost always better to play through it at or near the beginning.

I really like foes take more damage from specific weapons, it plays into the stereotypical 'silver bullets' and 'crosses' that are part of monster legend. And, it takes advantage of the giant inventory. However, some foes, regular enemies even, are nearly impassable (first impossible, now impassable !) and really slow you down. One of those annoying foes is Jason the chainsaw hockey mask guy. He can't be killed to my knowledge, and is often one of the most frustrating foes in this game (though not the only one)

Here's a typical situation: You need a bazooka to open a path through some wall-like hedges, but you don't have one.  And here comes two chainsaw guys, fortunately, they can cut holes in the hedge for you, but the areas are single file. You don't have much life left, and only the bazooka stops him it seems, so you'll likely get killed trying to get through the narrow door he makes. With the bazooka, you could stop him, but if you had it, you could have just made your own escape.  It a catch 22 and lame programming.  (for those that have played the game, the inflatable clown toy would still get you killed as he's swinging his chainsaw around, you might as well shoot him).

The aggressive nature of the monsters is rampant in almost every level,  surrounding you and getting you off track. The evil laughing dolls and giant ants come out so often on their levels, its best to just try and run by them. When you do have to fight, the clunky interface to select your weapons already has you at a disadvantage. Pressing the shoulder buttons to scroll through the dozens of tools and weapons while in a firefight is ridiculous. I guess it was felt adding a menu would break the immersion, but this game is hectic enough as it is!

Final Verdict : 7.8
This is a fun game, and a good way to pass time with some silly, shooting action. But its by far one of LucasArts clumsiest games, from the terrible dial-a-item interface, to the overabundant enemies. If this kooky, campy game would calm down some and remember its not so funny when you're losing unfairly, Zombies would be a lot more enjoyable. If you can play it two player, its pretty fun, but when they start stealing the health packs, you might unfriend them, or feed them to the zombies!