8 Bit Zombie Survival 3D

Zombies are the perfect cannon fodder in movies and video games, especially since there are no NGOs fighting for their rights yet. Thus, producers can use thousands or even millions of them to create any kind of plot they wish, and it’s just as easy to kill them all without upsetting anyone. On the other hand, there’s much more to a good story than how many things die in it.

8 Bit Zombie Survival 3D is a retro FPS that looks a lot like Wolfenstein or Doom, yet it plays like Left 4 Dead or similar modern zombie games. In fact, that was the developer’s goal to begin with, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that’s indeed the case. Naturally, the gimmick might not work for everyone, mainly because younger gamers probably won’t appreciate the lack of modern graphics.

To begin with, survival is the key word, because there’s nothing else you need to worry about throughout the game. Your only task is to find weapons and kill everything that runs toward you, although that might prove to be a tad tougher than expected. In essence, the gameplay mechanics are not as accurate as they need to be in order to let you have a decent amount of fun.

As such, melee weapons are a nightmare to use without getting yourself hit in the process, because you have to get very close in order to reach the zombies. This is frustrating in the beginning, and it might cause a few players to give up. To make matters worse, there’s no auto-save function to register your progress, which means that every death is about as permanent as it gets.

As for the graphics, the 8bit style is quite beautiful, but there’s a problem with the perpetual darkness, because it makes it difficult to see sometimes. Thus, you can be under attack and not realize it until the screen turns red, which is yet another source of frustration. Thankfully, those who would enjoy such a game are probably already conditioned from decades of putting up with mechanics like that.

In the end, 8 Bit Zombie Survival 3D is not much of a game if you judge it by today’s standards, but that’s not its purpose anyway. Hence, if you want to remember the good-old days and enjoy a challenge at the same time, this is the right answer.