Killing zombies never gets old. Zombies never get old either, since they are dead already. Zombies in videogames can become old though, as more games feature them now than ever before. Talk about beating a dead horse! Or a dead zombie. Thinking about it now, “killing a zombie” is technically impossible as they are already dead. But I digress.

Burn Zombie Burn may seem like a cheap zombie cash in, and to some degree that’s exactly what it is. It is cheap and it cashes in on the zombie craze. But it does so with quite a bit of flair. It’s an isometric top-down action shooter with a simple mission: survive as long as you can, and have fun doing it. I can say with some certainty: mission accomplished!

You play a character named Bruce (no doubt in honour of Bruce Campbell who plays Ash in the living dead movies…or maybe even some weird coincidence…) who starts a level with only a pistol. Soon zombies start crawling out of graves all around and Bruce needs to survive. Shooting zombies scores you points and unlocks a wide variety of weapons. The point being survival does not really mean that much, as everything has to die at some point, and even Bruce will find that at some point the zombies become too much and he is overwhelmed. Tally up the score and you have some bragging rights amongst friends.

The six available levels must all have been built on some seriously mass graves as the zombies are just never ending. From army bases and farms to the drive-in, they all represent classic scenes from zombie movies, and even though they tend to be quite small, the colourful cartoon look lends itself well to some fun zombie slaying.

No reason is given for the zombies’ sudden appearance, but none is required. You have quite a few different zombie types available for your disposal. Some armoured ones, some big ones and some exploding ones. They all look different and their exaggerated ambling stumbling animations are classic! Just look out for the flame farting ones!

Some zombies will drop you food for health and ammo, while flaming zombies will drop you power-ups and upgrades. Your alternate fire is a torch, which chases zombies away. But set them alight and they will run quicker and be more aggressive. They also set other zombies alight as they start swarming after you. These are the ones that drop the good stuff.

Some great weapons are at your disposal for zombie disposal: from your basic bats and pistols, through to Gatling guns and flamethrowers all the way through to the lawnmower. But none are as crazy as the dancing ray gun. Shoot this gun into the zombie horde and they start dancing a John Travolta disco number. This does no more than keep them occupied for a while, but watching them all dance is too funny to pass up. It also gives you a chance to make a run for a better, more deadly weapon.

The power ups vary from stronger explosives to a speed boost. Some of them provide protection for you, and others provide protection for Daisy, your date for the evening in some of the mission types. The sole purpose of these levels is that you need to protect Daisy for as long as you can. She is in your convertible and appears adequately frightened. But somehow I always end up protecting myself more than her and she never makes it…

The game was clearly designed for use with a gamepad, and it plays really well. Try to use the keyboard and mouse and it becomes a hit and miss affair, something you don’t want when trying to shoot the living dead! It feels as though it should use a reticule for aiming, but this is either not visible on my screen, or it was never programmed in. This makes aiming very hard and frustrating, almost causing me to give up on the game, until I tried it with a gamepad. If they were to add a nice aiming reticule this game would be perfect.

Playing through some of the challenges and making it through most of the arcade levels is a bucket load of fun, and the online ranking system serves two purposes. Firstly, it lets you brag to your friends how many waves of zombies you manage to fend off (if your friends do not have this game yet they are not real friends!). Secondly, it makes you feel completely inferior to the other guys who score absolutely huge scores online. Some practice is in order.

Burn Zombie Burn is a big tongue in cheek zombie shooter, one Bruce Campbell would certainly approve of. The low price on Steam makes it a nice addition to any collection, and deserves at the very least a try. Fix the keyboard and mouse controls and you have a classic on your hands. Get this now!

The good: Fun zombie shooter with lots of depth and replayability.
The bad: Terrible keyboard and mouse controls.
The ugly: Daisy never lasts very long!

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