Game Reviews

he title actually works against Zombie Driver in this case, because it's a pretty good game. Not a great one, but a better-than-expected diversion that at least deserves a second look. It's a top-down shooter crossed with the citywide rampages of early GTA, set during yet another zombie apocalypse. Do we need more zombie games? Not really, yet Zombie Driver doubles down on the basic enjoyments you'd expect and justifies its existence through an endearing eagerness to please.

Starting out in a taxi, you begin running missions for the military as the undead fill the streets. Your objectives are never very complicated - drive here and kill everything is the motif that repeats across the 31 stages. Thankfully, it's a fun motif and a robustly presented one.

Originally released for PC in 2009 and now enhanced with more missions and gameplay improvements, Zombie Driver's visuals have the fine detail and granular physics you'd expect from that platform. There can be dozens of zombies on-screen at any time, explosions are plentiful and spectacular, and simply ploughing through a swarm of gutmunchers at high speed, reducing them to sticky red paste and meaty chunks, is a tangible joy.

Clearing an area generally means sweeping around and around a designated circumference until no zombies remain. Occasionally there'll be a nest - a shipping container pulsing with organic horror - that must be destroyed first to prevent zombies from continually spawning. Even with that done, getting the head count down to zero can be a picky job - it's common for zombies to wander in from outside the area while you're positioning yourself on the quest marker, necessitating last-minute mopping up.

Eventually you find the game's pulse and can start to clear areas with greater efficiency, even as your efforts are hampered by different zombie types. Hulking brutes will hammer your armour if you let them get close. Others will lob chunks of masonry, chipping away at your protection. Worst are the crudely named Fat Zombies - basically Boomers on loan from Left 4 Dead. These detonate when you get close, taking huge chunks off your life bar. All are easily dispatched, but en masse they can be deceptively dangerous. Just as zombies should be.

Under pressure, the controls don't let you down. Movement is crisp and there's a dependable consistency to the physics. Handbrake turns and other driving tricks are easily mastered, so you never feel like the game is working against you. Splattering through a few zombies has impact, but get bogged down in a crowd and you'll need to use nitros to power on through in a spray of gore.

There are more vehicles to unlock: some earned through secondary objectives such as clearing a police station to get a cop car, others awarded for performance in the other game modes outside of the story. All can be upgraded with heavier armour and greater speed, while weapons include machine guns, rockets, flamethrowers and a powerful rail gun, as well as more cathartic mission-exclusive options such as tanks and bulldozers.

It's a solid and enjoyable framework, but Polish developer Exor Studios seems unsure what to do with it, even three years after the original release. The story missions are amusing enough, but it's revealing that the most fun comes on the journey back to base, when all objectives have been fulfilled and you're free to simply roam around, clocking up score multipliers while threading through back alleys and crashing through fences in search of power-ups and carnage. The game never really takes advantage of its sandbox, and that's especially true of the bonus game modes.