Intro

"Zombies: Halloween Edition" is a shooter game developed by neonblack23 and hyde9318 using RPG Maker VX Ace that was created for the All Hallow's Event 2013. An event that challenged developer to make the scariest horror games they could cook up in celebration of that spookiest time of the year based on a variety of broad themes. Of course, the best games in this event would net their developer(s) a prize. So this is less of an event in my opinion and more of a contest. At any rate I'm guessing this game was at least partially inspired by the zombie mode in "Call of Duty: World at War". After all, that mode proved so popular that it returned in several other entries in the series. Though obviously this game tweaks the formula a little bit in order to make the game function as seamless as possible within the confines of RPG Maker VX Ace.

Gameplay

You can either choose to play solo or with a teammate. Though where you'd find someone willing to share a keyboard with you is beyond me. At any rate the single player mode allows the player to control the action via controller, mouse and keyboard, or keyboard alone. And seeing as how I'm in a bit of a rush I only tested the keyboard controls which function rather well. You control your character with the W, A, S, and D keys while firing your weapon by pressing the arrow keys in the direction you wish to shoot. A layout that reminds me a lot of "Little Red" by scitydreamer.

At any rate upon starting up survival mode you can choose from a few maps as well as pick your weapon of choice from the legendary magnum used by Dirty Harry to a flamethrower. After picking your map and weapon your then dropped into a game where you'll slowly have to wait for zombies to appear at first. Of course, like all arcade games of this type the rate at which zombies spawn in and their strength increases overtime. As a result it's not a question of if you'll die, but a question of when you'll die. At any rate as you kill zombies you'll rack up points which the game keeps track off with a high score table. Albeit all of the fake hi-scores are rather low. Plus the real appeal of such a table in my opinion is to compete against other players. So it's kind of disappointing the only way to share hi-scores is by uploading screenshots.

And to make things even more interesting the stronger zombies often leave behind puddles with varying effects from a blue liquid that slows the player and most zombies down to those that leave behind a large puddle of acid upon death that hurts the player and any zombies within it. So not only do you need to eventually find a way to successfully make circles within the confines of these maps. You also have to try and avoid various puddles to the best of your ability as well unless you either trap or seriously hurt yourself. Of course, this means you can also use the puddles to your advantage since enemies will run straight towards your character.

Graphics

Graphically the game is a bit of a mixed bag in my opinion. On one hand a lot the assets used appear to come from either the RTP or resource packs. Those assets are all fine in my opinion. My issue is that three of the four playable maps in this game feature the same layout.





So while these maps do help give a bit of flavor with their chosen tilesets. They also feel the same in terms of play on a level that is annoying. After all, part of the point of choosing a different map is so the game itself feels a bit different and thus fresh. You really can't achieve that when the only difference between these maps is the paint job.

Sound

On the sound side of things the game is alright in my opinion. Though I'll admit the lack of credits means I'm not sure who made the songs used in this game. So I'm not sure if their entirely custom songs or songs found on a site like the Free Music Archive.

Conclusion

"Zombies: Halloween Edition" is a fun little arcade game that will help you pass a little time before you get tired of splattering zombie guts all over the place. At the same time I think the maps in this game would benefit from a bit more variety in terms of openings for the zombies as well as in terms of size. While I understand the choice to fit everything on a single screen. I think giving the speed zombies more nooks and crannies to emerge from would make them a lot more threatening. I also think the initial speed could use a bit of a bump so the player isn't dancing in circles in the middle of the screen as they wait for something to shoot at. At the same time this game was put together over the course of a month. So I'm willing to cut the developers a bit of slack when it comes to the overall score even if I do have a few minor issues with this game.