Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you. This is a review of a 16-year old game. Why? Because I felt like it. Fresh from watching Zombieland, I threw this game in the trusty Super Nintendo and played for hours. Bet you didn’t know that shooting a zombie with holy water will make them explode! This game has the unique combination of being developed by Lucasarts and published by Konami. Though this game has not appeared on the Wii ‘Virtua Console’ just yet, you should be able to find a copy of Zombies Ate My Neighbors! (from here on out, ZAMN!) on ebay.
Zombies have appeared in town! Good thing Zeke and Julie have seen plenty of horror movies to know how to deal with this menace! But wait – why are the dolls animating and hurling axes? Who are these big guys with chainsaws and hockey masks? Are those tourists turning into werewolves?! Is that a UFO blasting people with lightning?! And who is this enigmatic Doctor Tongue?
Zeke & Julie
If you’re a fan of cheesy horror movies, there’s bound to be a lot of fun for you in this game. Blobs that can be frozen with fire extinguishers, potions that turn you into an invincible ‘Doctor Jekyll’ sort of creature, cheerleaders and useless soldiers alike being attacked by martians…and then the occasional boss monster, such as a mutant 40-foot tall baby or gigantic man-eating sand worms. And if you’re canny, you’ll find a direct reference to one of Lucasarts’ other fine games from yesteryear, Maniac Mansion 2: Day of the Tentacle!
1. Graphics [Great] Alright, this is not an evaluation of how fantastically modern and amazing the graphics are. As this is a retro-review, this rating reflects how well these graphics hold up to the test of time. ZAMN! uses 2D sprites, all very colorful and distinctive. The characters all look very quirky, and you never lose track of where you are in the action. Some of the animation is lame (like the spaz-fast walk of the giant baby), and some of the environment is difficult to interact with – sometimes you need to push ‘Up’ against a cabinet far longer than necessary to get it open, and when you run into ground-based obstacles, you might accidentally step on one because your character doesn’t appear to be on it.
Gotta protect the cheerleaders from the zombies!
2. Game Play [Outstanding]Blasting zombies is fun, and the designers knew this going in. Therefore, you gain tons of ammo and as many zombies as you could possibly want to kill. Lots of utility items and weapons are strewn throughout the levels, making encounters with more esoteric monsters in later levels easier to deal with. For example, I believe in level 2 or 4 you can pick up some dishes and silverware. You won’t need the silverware until level 7, where you might run into werewolves (get it, silverware? Or is that silver-were?), and the dishes really shouldn’t be employed until you are attacked at the mine by sand-worms.
This game is old school in many ways, one of which is the continue mechanic. There really is none. You gain passwords every four or so levels, but those are really just different starting points for the game, warping you to a later level with just a squirt gun and a med kit. The game is at it’s easiest if you play from the very beginning, allowing you to build up an arsenal of weapons and items, but it’ll be a very long session (48-55 levels, depending on if you find the bonus missions). The later in the game you start, the harder it’ll be to complete.
One of my favorite levels in the game, Pyramid of Fear.
Also, way back in the dusty old days of 1993, gamers didn’t rely on trophies or achievements to measure their success by – they used something far simpler, the almighty High Score. The better you play, the better your score, and the better your score, the more extra lives you earn. In this game, your objective is to collect neighbors before monsters kill them. When these people die, the number of neighbors to save in later levels is reduced (and it’s game over if they are all killed). For every 40,000 points you earn, you gain back one neighbor to save. If you still have all 10 neighbors, you instead gain an extra life. And if you have six lives stockpiled, you instead gain a big point bonus.
This game is pretty darn challenging if you’re trying to complete it. It’ll take some time figuring out the ins and outs of the game, as well as a little memorization for the secrets, and playing straight through may take hours. But if you got the time and patience, ZAMN! is rewarding. And if you’re just wanting to kill stuff, throwing the game in and playing around is always good, too.
3. Grab-Factor [Good] Alright, there is no story in this game whatsoever. There really is no explanation for why our teen heroes go from an Egyptian pyramid to a high school football field to a European castle. Yet, this random nature of throwing the characters into different scenarios keeps things somewhat fresh. The grab-factor here is fast monster-blasting with a tongue-in-cheek appearance, and in this regard the game does a servicable job. Initially, the game throws many neat new concepts your way, each level being pretty different from the last (at least in theme). After about level 20, though, it does get a bit repetitive, with the same monsters popping up every other level, just in different combinations. A little more variety would’ve helped this game immensely.
One soldier, about to be stomped on by 'Titanic Toddler.' One mis-appropriated rocket launcher, about to blast the kid in the face.
4. Soundtrack [Good] This is not CD-quality music. In fact, some of the notes can sound tinny and annoying. But the background themes continue to play in my head, long after turning the system off. Riffing off of old horror movie soundtracks, the music from ZAMN! can be catchy and somewhat hypnotic.
The sound effects are a mixed bag. The satisfying explosion from killing a zombie makes you want to kill more. Other effects are very rough and just don’t have the same amount of polish.
5. Replay Value [Great] Between the frantic running around, learning how to defeat monsters, and finding all the secrets scattered in nooks and crannies, there’s a lot of run & gun fun to be had. No story means that you just turn on the game and shoot stuff. Two player mode is excellent, letting you explore and blast monsters together.
Overall Game Rating: 3.5/5 [Great]
Action By: Konami System: SNES
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