Zombotron

No matter how thorough you try to be, we all have our video game blind spots. For me, it's massively-multiplayer online role-playing games, dating simulators and browser games. Perhaps that's why I had never heard of Zombotron, a run 'n gun shooter that started its life almost a decade ago as a Flash game. Now it's making its way to Steam, giving Ant Karlov's side-scrolling action game a new lease on life. That's the good news. Unfortunately, this revival also comes with a whole bunch of outdated tropes and some frustrating gameplay issues.

You take control of Blaze Rush, a mercenary who is in search of an easy payday by scavenging a far-off crash site on planet Zombotron. But nothing comes easy, as our hero discovers when he's thrust into a fight for his life against a world filled with zombies. Now it's up to him to shoot his way through Zombotron, help out the locals and find a way off this rock before he becomes dinner.

This is the kind of run 'n gun shoot 'em up that allows you to aim in any direction using either an analog stick or the mouse. This need for precision ends up being a big deal, because a lot of the game comes down to conserving ammo by shooting the zombies in the head. In a nod to survival horror, we don't have a lot of bullets to work with, so every shot counts. This is a stark departure from how you normally play this type of action game, and you'll spend a lot of the game poking around the environment hoping to find a few extra rounds of ammo.

The levels are mostly linear and straight-forward, though a few of them have us puzzle solving in order to find rare items and open up locked doors. Most levels have their own secret areas and treasure chests, and you'll also run into stores where you can trade in the money you collect for more ammo and weapons. For a game where every bullet matters, Zombotron has a surprising amount of guns. You'll end up picking up a few different handguns, assault rifles, shotguns and rocket launchers. But don't think you can carry it all, because you only have so many inventory slots to work with.

As a concept, I'm really into Zombotron. Although it can be frustrating to run out of ammo in the middle of battle, I like that you can't just spray bullets in every direction. This isn't Contra, and the survival elements made me take a more cautious approach. The problem is that I found myself fighting the loose and floaty gameplay more than the zombies. I don't know if it's because this is a port of an eight-year-old Flash game or something else, but there's just something about the action that feels wrong.

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Part of the problem is because of the physics, which allow you to use the environment to kill enemies in creative ways. I'm talking about shooting out bridges, dropping boxes on the bad guys and even crushing them with an elevator. But these interactive elements also make it easier for you to get stuck in the environment. This happened repeatedly, and often at the worst possible times. And even when you're not getting stuck, the boxes, bridges and barriers all work to bump you into enemies and down into spike pits. There's no precision to the gameplay.

The floaty controls are bad enough when you're exploring the stages, but they can really get in the way when you're trying to fight the insanely difficult bosses. There's a battle about halfway through the game that left me wondering if I had accidentally missed a crucial upgrade or weapon, because I would lose a good 95% of my health with every single hit. This is the point where Zombotron went from simply being challenging to being incredibly unfair. Couple that with the frustrating gameplay and you have action scenes that are no fun to play.

I hate to say it, but they aren't that much fun to look at, either. Don't get me wrong, I think the graphics look good. Blaze and the supporting cast are all detailed and have a lot of personality, and the hand-drawn look really works on me. The problem is that everything starts to look the same after a while. Almost every level uses the same color palette, which is a lot of muddy browns and greens. It also doesn't help that far too much of this game is spent in dark and cramped corridors fighting the same looking enemies one after another.

Zombotron is one of those games that starts out strong and loses its way as the story plays out. I liked everything from the graphics to the gameplay to the level designs early on, but all of these elements break down the longer the game goes on. This is a disappointing action game that feels dated in all the wrong ways.