Zombie Driver HD

After playing through Shenmue [シェンムー 一章 横須賀], which for all off its positives is a very meandering experience, I needed a palate cleanser. Zombie Driver HD did not disappoint. It’s a simple driving game that doesn’t bite off more flesh than it can chew.

If you’ve ever played a top-down racing game or one of the first two Grand Theft Auto games, you should feel right at home here. Each mission of the campaign tasks you with racing around the city and taking care of objectives like rescuing survivors or blowing up zombie spawn points. Most missions are fairly short – in the five to fifteen minute range – and despite a decided lack of variety in both the objectives and environments I never found myself feeling bored.

The game absolutely delivers on the zombie front, as well. The entire city is crawling with the living dead. Driving straight through the swarms of undead is the most basic way to handle them, though doing so will whittle away at your vehicle’s health. I quickly realized I’d have to use all the weapons at my disposal, as well as advanced techniques like drifting and sideswiping, to kill the hordes faster while preserving health and racking up cash-earning combos.

The story is also hilarious in a low-key way. While the writing won’t win any awards, it does do a nice job of gradually revealing what’s really going on in the city without bashing the player over the head with reams of plot. The voice actor for the General also does a great job of playing it straight.

All in all, Zombie Driver HD is a fun way to spend an afternoon or two. Nothing more, nothing less. Sometimes that’s enough. I look forward to trying Exor Studios’ next game, X-Morph: Defense, which I suspect will be a bit more innovative than this one.