ZIC - Zombies in City

As a fan of horror movies, I'll be the first to admit that there are a lot of bad examples of the genre. Thanks to decades of low-budget mistakes and straight-to-video atrocities, it sometimes feels like 90% of the horror films out there are unwatchable trash. Sadly, it can also feel that way when it comes to zombie games. I suspect that's the reason why I went into ZIC - Zombies in City with rock-bottom expectations. Between the played-out theme and questionable title, I figured this would be yet another brain-dead shooter with nothing new to offer. What I found was a surprisingly fun and polished game with a well-paced story and a whole bunch of action-packed levels. This is one of the 10%.

You know the spiel -- the city is overrun by zombies and a bunch of survivors are forced to band together in a last-ditch attempt to escape being devoured by the walking dead. Our team is made up of a nurse with a pistol, an escaped convict with melee weapons, a shotgun-wielding priest and an old guy who owns a gun store. Together they fight through two dozen bite-sized stages hoping to board an airplane and get as far away from the city as humanly possible.

One fun twist on the formula is how we're able to jump between characters at the press of a button. While you're shooting down zombies, the other three survivors are fighting right there alongside you. If you run out of ammo or need to get out of a sticky situation, all you have to do is press the button to swap into the priest, nurse, convict or gun enthusiast. I like that it feels like there's an entire team at my side, and I didn't even mind that you'll occasionally need to revive them with your unlimited health packs.

The nice thing is that all four of these characters can pick up the same guns and ammo laying around. The game is good about throwing a lot of different weapons your way, including multiple types of handguns, assault rifles and shotguns, along with grenade launchers, melee weapons and a chain gun. Of course, you'll need a lot of these powerful guns because there are a lot of zombies that can best be described as a bullet sponge.

Zombies in City is a very simple throwback first-person shooter where the emphasis is squarely on action. Thankfully, the game is good about pacing, so our squad of heroes are constantly walking into new environments and locations. I like that the complete second half of the game takes place far away from the city and gives us a new batch of zombies to fight. The problem is that the story is incomplete. You'll fight for two dozen stages and then run right into this "to be continued" message. That's not cool.

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You can also criticize the game for not being especially original or deep. This is a first-person zombie game about getting from point A to point B, so don't go in expecting a leveling up system, tons of different paths and character-specific super moves. What you see is what you get, for better or worse. This is a repetitive game with questionable writing and cinemas that don't look especially good. Thankfully, the satisfying old school action and breakneck pacing helped me overlook a lot of the imperfections.

I also like the look of the game. I know there are a lot of gamers who cringe at the sight of voxel graphics, but I think they work well here. The levels are nicely detailed and offer an attractive, clean look that I enjoyed. I was also impressed by the variety of colorful levels and the different kinds of zombies. There's nothing here we haven't seen before, but it's handled well and ends up being a lot of fun. And sometimes that's all I'm looking for from a five-dollar game.

Look, I'm not going to tell you that ZIC - Zombies in City is a must-own game that will make you look at the walking dead in a different way. This is a simple, derivative first-person shooter that somehow manages to exceed expectations at every turn. The budget-priced title offers a lot of fun levels, multiple characters and even extra modes. It's not going to blow you away with its depth and originality, but Zombies in City is a fun ride at an attractive price.