Sunday, July 5, 2009

Curse Village: A Fresh Take On A Rotting Genre

Zombie side shooters are strange beasts. Often a shoddily drawn game can have the best collision detection, while a professional flash game can bog down with an elaborately illustrated but cumbersomely animated character.

Curse Village looks like it was done by some pretty talented 15-year-olds. From the opening graphics to the somber piano music to the rousing intro sequences and subsequent action, the game looks well thought out and pretty solid. It also handles smoothly.

Excitement: A. With plenty of splatter, action sounds, and some pretty fast zombies, Curse Village rocks the house.

Originality: C This isn't to say Curse Village doesn't cover familiar ground well. It's just another version of "pick a zone", "buy and repair", and "give 'em hell". The Luger is the only unusual weapon out of 25 -- you'll see the rest in most shooters -- but Curse Village retreads old ground comfortably. Barricades, traps, and survivor allies help take the boredom out.

Graphics: A-. They have a cool home-brewed look to them and that brings me back to days where I used to draw action scenes in my notebook while I was in Social Studies. Rich and grim.

Controls: A. It seems a little odd at first to be controlling a disembodied gun, but hey, whatever. At least they tied the premise in with what looks like a little psychokinesis and some mysterious hitman. And you're also able to rove the entire play screen with ease, without being worried about getting hit. After a while you'll forget that tiny gun you're shooting is moving all by itself. Best of all you can damage zombies that are stacked on top of each other, which you sometimes can't do in other zombie games.

Sound: A+. Sinister synthesized zombie film music that would fit perfectly in any 1990s horror flick, and crisp gun and knife effects that don't sound like they were played and re-recorded on a microphone at home.

Replay value: A. Though it's partly because there's no save feature, I'll be going back to Curse Village for a couple more rounds, in the hope of seeing what's at the end of level 30.

Overall value: A- Get as involved as you want or walk away after a few rounds; this game is really fun.

Play Curse Village at http://www.kongregate.com/games/belugerin/curse-village.

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