Zombie Driver – Review (PC)

I usually find myself playing games that have zombies as the main antagonists. Yes, zombies are naturally antagonists, but they weren’t always the bad cannibals we fight here and there in games. They were once human you know. So when I saw Zombie Driver on Steam, I decided that I should play it and see what this game would mean to the zombie lovers out there. Developed by Exor Studios, this single player zombie game puts you in the driver’s seat where you roam a huge city that has been overrun by the human-flesh eating people.

You are one of a few living people remaining in the city and you have been contracted by General J. Blofeld to rescue survivors and help quarantine the city before it’s too late. I thought the idea of driving around a huge city seemed kind of bland, but you get to either shoot, burn or run over zombies. Most times, you get to mix it up. Who wouldn’t like that idea? I mean the dead should be respected, but come on these guys are the undead, they’re walking around and trying to eat you. I think that gives you more than the right to destroy them by driving over and smashing them or the use of a flamethrower mounted on your car o’death.

As I began playing the first few levels, I felt a bit disoriented due to the shifting in camera angles and controls where the mouse doesn’t play much of a role other than clicking to shoot. It sort of felt like the motion sickness I experienced when I saw the Blair Witch Project, but I was able to get used to it and adapted to the movement of the camera after the next few levels. I wondered if it was an on going problem so I checked the game’s website. I saw that the developers were working on some problems, including the camera movement to eliminate the motion sickness so I hope that will solve some issues soon. The first levels of the game are pretty basic and each level has a primary and secondary mission to complete. During gameplay and with each primary mission that you complete, you earn money and are later given a chance to upgrade your ride in the shop. The secondary missions give you rewards where you’re entitled to more nitro, money or unlock special vehicles. I was able to unlock the limo and use it on the next level because I emptied the bridge of zombies, but I lost out on using the police car because I forgot about to clear out the police station.

I liked the overall idea of the game but I felt that the game was missing a few things. I would have liked to see all-out escape mode. I’m not talking about the ‘Oh noz, Zombies!’ type where you have to figure out how to survive but the ‘Eek! This zombie is trying to eat my face and hit my car! It’s throwing things! Drive!’ mode where there are no options but to run and to keep running without exploding. It might have led to another city to escape to, possibly a sequel? I guess it’s due to the fact that the General needed you to stay in the city. Oh well, there goes that idea. I would have also liked a level select option where I could retry any failed secondary missions, since those extra rewards help out in fixing your car and adding better weapons.

Possibly many people wouldn’t care for this, but I didn’t like that I would lose my previous game if I decided to start a new game for another person. I share my computer with my significant other so it didn’t seem fair to play it while he was moping in the background watching me kill zombies. After the 3^rd mission, I felt that the gameplay got repetitive and grew a little tired of being made to rescue survivors that were out in the city. I knew it was in my contract but I needed some change and attempted to do some of the secondary missions where sometimes I would fail the main mission. Now for the point of view, the helicopter camera angle worked okay for the time being but hindered your vision when you were turning quickly. It didn’t let you focus on just one area and this contributed to the motion sickness when you were spinning around with the handbrake.

I know I had some gripes about this game but I liked it. It offered an interesting idea for some zombie smashing with a car or bus, sometimes a limo. If you are zombie-inclined, you would definitely appreciate this game for the overabundance of dead heads and it can be seen as a potential training tool in case of a zombie invasion. I am glad that I bought this game and I see it as a great stress reliever after a long day of school or work. Zombie Driver is available on Steam for a great price. Violent, yes. Bloody and gory, most definitely.

Tags: Crystal R. PC zombie driver zombies