Zombies Ate My Neighbors/Zombies (SNES, 1993) - WIP
Graphics-8 Sound-6.5 Control-7.5 Challenge-9 Story-5.5?
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-9.5 Fun-6/7.5* Originality-6.5
Overall Score-6.5?
*w/ npc refill and extra life codes, 2-player
+
2-player co-op
Pretty fast paced and intense
Weapon and item inventories
Enemies have weaknesses and immunities to different weapons
Pop-up radar showing where NPCs are (press l/r to toggle; in a sidebar on MD)
Password save (one per level, short)
Hidden paths and items
Pretty good art direction
Decent animation and expressive sprites
Somewhat creepy atmosphere (lots of cartoony horror movie references)
Cool power ups and weapons (soda bombs, bazooka, "lawnmower", transformation potion, speed shoes, holy cross smart bomb attack)
Good enemy variation
Somewhat comical (slapstick, level title puns)
8-way targeting and movement
Better color and overall instrument choices than on MD
Some large and detailed sprites
Epilogue level
+/-
Can't replay beaten levels
Maze-like levels that force you to collect keys (or use the bazooka on doors if you can save your ammo for them) and rescue neighbors/NPCs to progress to the next one
Reveals most of its interesting items early on
Hard to get extra lives?
Very long (48 levels or ~3h in 1-player)
-
Trial & error (cheap NPC deaths (you can be on the other side of a wall and unable to do anything while one gets killed), learning which weapons to save ammo for and at which point (hedgemazes, mushroom field levels, etc) - ammo is generally too rare later on)
No continues and only two lives per player
Some control/interface issues (no split screen (see Toeajam & Earl etc.), somewhat unresponsive hit detection when interacting with doors to cabinets/item containers, no strafing or dodge moves, can't cycle both ways through the inventory)
Unforgiving hit detection (picking up items, hitting some enemies)
Passwords don't save your items/weapons or ammo (instead resets to the default arsenal)
Difficulty curve is kind of all over the place (hedgemaze lvl, giant baby boss, mushroom field, etc.)
Exit doors can appear in places where one can't move around them (to collect more stuff before exiting)
Backtracking for missed neighbors/NPCs (can't see all of them at once using the radar since you need to be fairly close - ~2 screens away)
Some annoying music/instrument choices (soundtrack sometimes works better outside of the already hectic game) and sfx
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-9.5 Fun-6/7.5* Originality-6.5
Overall Score-6.5?
*w/ npc refill and extra life codes, 2-player
+
2-player co-op
Pretty fast paced and intense
Weapon and item inventories
Enemies have weaknesses and immunities to different weapons
Pop-up radar showing where NPCs are (press l/r to toggle; in a sidebar on MD)
Password save (one per level, short)
Hidden paths and items
Pretty good art direction
Decent animation and expressive sprites
Somewhat creepy atmosphere (lots of cartoony horror movie references)
Cool power ups and weapons (soda bombs, bazooka, "lawnmower", transformation potion, speed shoes, holy cross smart bomb attack)
Good enemy variation
Somewhat comical (slapstick, level title puns)
8-way targeting and movement
Better color and overall instrument choices than on MD
Some large and detailed sprites
Epilogue level
+/-
Can't replay beaten levels
Maze-like levels that force you to collect keys (or use the bazooka on doors if you can save your ammo for them) and rescue neighbors/NPCs to progress to the next one
Reveals most of its interesting items early on
Hard to get extra lives?
Very long (48 levels or ~3h in 1-player)
-
Trial & error (cheap NPC deaths (you can be on the other side of a wall and unable to do anything while one gets killed), learning which weapons to save ammo for and at which point (hedgemazes, mushroom field levels, etc) - ammo is generally too rare later on)
No continues and only two lives per player
Some control/interface issues (no split screen (see Toeajam & Earl etc.), somewhat unresponsive hit detection when interacting with doors to cabinets/item containers, no strafing or dodge moves, can't cycle both ways through the inventory)
Unforgiving hit detection (picking up items, hitting some enemies)
Passwords don't save your items/weapons or ammo (instead resets to the default arsenal)
Difficulty curve is kind of all over the place (hedgemaze lvl, giant baby boss, mushroom field, etc.)
Exit doors can appear in places where one can't move around them (to collect more stuff before exiting)
Backtracking for missed neighbors/NPCs (can't see all of them at once using the radar since you need to be fairly close - ~2 screens away)
Some annoying music/instrument choices (soundtrack sometimes works better outside of the already hectic game) and sfx