 |
Zombies Ate My Neighbors Sega Genesis Review Zombies Ate My Neighbors. This LucasArts-developed co-op run-and-gun is a cult classic that first arrived on the SNES and Genesis back in 1993. At the time, it wasn't particularly well received -- but its audience has grown considerably over the years, to the point where this game has been one of the most requested additions to the VC selection since even before the Wii launch. We were asking for it over three years ago ourselves. And now, it's finally here. Zombies Ate My Neighbors is a love letter to B-grade horror films. It's filled with all sorts of goofy monsters and second-fiddle villains, and the whole thing's played more for laughs than scares -- you'll come up against shambling zombies, of course, but also alien pod people, knife-throwing munchkins, madmen with chainsaws and colossal, 20-foot-tall babies. It's quite a collection. And all the while your job is to outrun each and every one of these enemies and be the first to reach the titular neighbors, a set of helpless non-player characters strewn throughout each level that you rescue from a terrible, brain-eating death by simply running up and touching them. Each level in Zombies Ate My Neighbors, then, plays out a bit like an action game and a bit like a scavenger hunt -- you're blasting baddies to bits all over the place, but you're also scouring the map from top to bottom and side to side at the same time, looking in every little corner for those hidden, helpless neighbors. Old Mr. Voorhees always gets a little over-zealous with his gardening next door. Zombies Ate My Neighbors is well regarded for several reasons, so I can do a quick run-down of the high points. First, it includes support for two-player cooperative play. Having you and a buddy both on screen at the same time, working together to take on the endless amount of undead, is a lot of fun -- the run-and-gun genre in particular always seems to work better when friends can play together. Second, the arsenal of items available here is unparalleled in variety. Your main weapon is a squirt gun filled with holy water, which is already wacky enough. But then you get exploding soda cans, rotten tomatoes, popsicles, plates and cutlery, a weed-whacker and a bazooka to use in creaming the creepy corpses -- and there's more where that came from. Medical kits restore your health, keys open locked doors, and there are even inflatable clowns that you can deploy as decoys, to get enemies chasing after you to stop and attack the bouncing Bozo instead. And, last, the presentation here is just spot-on. The B-movie vibe is re-created wonderfully, the look and animation is done very well and the soundtrack is filled with impact right from the start. So, overall, an incredibly solid experience -- and one that certainly deserves its cult classic status. Now, let's pause here for just a second. The text you're reading right now wasn't a part of the original published review for Zombies Ate My Neighbors -- I'm adding this after the fact, because an error was brought to my attention after the first version went live. I originally shifted gears, at this point, to talk about some of the game's negative aspects. But, it's been pointed out to me, my criticisms weren't fully informed. I first complained about the game's diminishing neighbor count. Because, in the game, you start off with 10 neighbors to save in Level 1 -- but if you don't manage to save them all then your total count will decrease. So you could start Level 2 with only 9 people to save. Then 8, then 7, then all the way down -- you could find yourself halfway through the game, but with only one single neighbor left to locate in each level. I thought this was a bit unfair, because it made the game nearly impossible to finish past that point -- you'd almost certainly be forced to start over from the beginning. It was brought to my attention, though, that you can actually win back lost neighbors. If you earn a high enough score in any given level, the game will reward you with a bonus neighbor -- replacing one of those you might have previously lost. In this way, you can work that total neighbor count all the way back up to the maximum of 10. A pretty reasonable counter for what I thought was a low point of the design. Second, I complained that the very nature of hunting down the hidden neighbors could be frustrating -- that there was no way to know where the neighbors are to be saved without just walking around the entire level and stumbling across them. Well, I was wrong about that too. The game has a radar built in (it just needs to be toggled on, since it's turned off by default) and it can help you get a fix on the locations of the remaining, yet-to-be-rescued civilians. The radar isn't a perfect solution, since it doesn't display the entire level at once -- so there's still a bit of roaming around required. But it is a solution, rendering my original complaint pretty moot.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
This game overall is one of the not so hidden gems in the genesis library. There was a period (however long, I don't know) in my life where I played this game for hours, every single day. My friends would come over to my house and bring extra sega genesis consoles & controllers, their own little tvs, and that particular game. I love the layout of it, the 55 different levels give you a different challenge every step of the way. The replay value is incalculable. You beat this game once, you still want to play it again and again. The controls are perfect, the weapons are entertaining, there's really no flaw to this game. The storyline may be a little illogical, and there might be a glitch scattered throughout the coding, but who cares?! When it comes down to it, video games were meant to entertain us, which this one certainly does; and does very well. I recommend this game to anyone and everyone of all ages and skill levels. I prefer the sega genesis format as opposed to the snes, but that's just my personal opinion. There's nothing bad about the snes version, but when I was younger I had a genesis, not an snes. Either way you go, you simply cannot lose.Read full review
This game is so much fun! An absolute classic! You walk around saving the townsfolk by shooting zombies, I mean how is that NOT exciting? There's even a level that's an homage to, "Dawn of the Dead", b/c it's a mall level. If you like zombies and you like the old games and still play the older systems [as it is available for SNES also I believe], or Sega, or even if you don't have one of them, you should so you can play this, among other fantastic old school games, lol. I got a really good deal on mine and it was in great condition so I got lucky. Still sealed copies go for a pretty penny though, so if you're a collector, I could see that being of interest, too. But honestly it's one of my favorite Sega games and I never had my own copy as a kid, and a friend introduced it to me when I got older, so I needed to play it again and get my own copy. A great choice I made. :DRead full review
When I was younger I loved this game, but that was over 10 years ago. Now the game is still fun, but because it is older it doesn't have the best graphics and such (still its an oldie and that's why I wanted it). My only true dislike is that I cant figure out how to save the game it says something about a password but I have not been able to save, or receive the password (but I may not be far enough into the game yet). Over all the game is fun and if your bored and have nothing better to do why not kill zombies? :-)
Zombies may be a 20 year old game, but it is a classic, one that will be played long after other games go by the way of the Dodo bird. I bought this game when it first came out and played it for years, but due to an unfortunate accident, it was pretty much messed up. So I searched Ebay, found others and bid on them and kept bidding until I won one. So this game will be enjoyed just as much as my original.
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Best Selling in Video Games
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Save on Video Games
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- You may also like
