Old School: Zombies Ate My Neighbors

 

In Old School for the next few weeks I’m going to take a look back at games that are still fun to play today. In today’s competing video game culture there are so many prolific and graphically amazing games to play right now i.e.; Killzone 2, Call of Duties, and Fallout 3. But some video games were perhaps the best games I had played in my entire life. And I’ve been a gamer all my life. These games all focused more on story and broke a lot of ground without the gimmicks. The games I will be playing will be reviewed not only in there past merits, but did they stand the test of time? Can they still stack up to the games of the next generation? I’ll decide but let me know what you think. And if you can find these rare Super Nintendo gems, buy them. Go on EBay and bid for them. It’s time to get nostalgic.

 

Zombies Ate My Neighbors

 

What a true classic (1993) is one takes me back that’s why I started with it. What a 2-D trip in its purest form of pick up and play. Which you could pick up for SNES or Sega Genesis. And you could find a friend and survive the zombie apocalypse together. They called it a horror game but that is quite a stretch. Was it the first survival horror, perhaps? The real Resident Evil, without peeing your pants when the mutant Doberman crashes through the glass. Well you start of as Zeke, a tiny spiky blonde sprite with 3-D glasses on. What a total badass with his black shirt and pistol-water gun. You can also play as the female protagonist Julie. The main premise is that the zombies can be destroyed with water, but then how can they eat people who are 80% something that can destroy them? Well I was thinking about THAT when I was 14 years old. I was diving into to levels titled Mars Needs Cheerleaders, Evening of the Undead, Horror on Isle 5, and attack of the 100 foot Baby. Every level had at least 10 neighbors you have to rescue ranging from babies, cheerleader, children on trampalines, dogs, and a math teacher waving a paper you flunked in you face. All these people will be eaten by baddies that swarm the stage. Baddies ranging from the titled Zombies to Vampires, Mummies, Werewolves, Giant Ants/ Babies, Sandworms (Dune), maniac killer dolls, and chainsaw wielding psychopaths. Each with there own weaknesses with zombies getting killed easily with the water pistol, vampires hate the crosses, toss silver spoons and forks at werewolves and sometimes you just run from the  guys with chainsaws. The game offers a plethora of weapons as mentioned above there is also tomatoes, a bazooka which clears walls, a fire extinguisher, and ? Potions that can change the player into a huge purple zombie eater. If you can take anything from this review its that this game still packs a wallop of replay ability with over 43 different levels all coded with passwords. The game that starts my old school replays will get the benefit of being a top-tiered game. Picture you and a friend blowing up inflatable balloons to halt the onslaught of hockey mask-wearing chainsaw wielding bad guys swinging to carve you up as you run for your life in a hedge maze. Or a evil doll factory caught on fire as maniac dolls laugh maniacal cackles from every corner slinging little hand axes every direction as you fight back by hurling popsicles at the flaming doll demons!? It just doesn’t getter any better then this in a zombie apocalypse thriller that was one of the first survival horror romps back in 93. I know Resident Evil 5 will be available soon, but what was the first game to use chainsaw wielding bad-guys. This game is highly comes highly recommended on the replay scale.

 

8.5/10 GREAT GAME

 

**Tips from a Pro**

1)      Save the child on the trampoline, adult wading on a float and people locked in houses last. Most of the time save the neighbors in more dangerous circumstances. After saving all your neighbors you receive a bonus and sometimes you even get an extra life.

2)      Each enemy has a weakness but they each correspond to there folklore. Vampires hate crosses, Werewolves hate silverware, and the blobs hate being frozen. With the Chainsaw hedge maze it is best just to run from the guys, freeze them, and plant inflatable dolls.

3)       Save by writing passwords down all the time. Each level has at least 10 neighbors that can survive at a time, but you only need to save one for each level to move on.