Zombie Night Terror

Genre: Puzzle-Platformer

Players: 1

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Review:

Zombie Night Terror is a Puzzle-Platformer with Strategy elements originally released on PC in 2016, then ported to mobile devices and Nintendo Switch in 2019. This is a unique take on the classic formula made famous by the game Lemmings, but rather than commanding a hapless horde of mindless little mammals, you’re commanding a murderous horde of mindless zombies.

The presentation in this game is outstanding. The visuals consist of tiny 2D pixel art graphics with excellent animation, all rendered in a mostly black and white style aiming for a “classic B-movie” feel, while highlighting important points of interest in either green or red, depending on what it is. These excellent visuals are paired with a delightfully dramatic soundtrack, characters voiced in a Simlish-esque gibberish-speak, and plenty of screaming. In short, this game’s presentation had me smiling from ear to ear the entire time.

The choice to bring this game to Nintendo Switch strikes me as particularly wise, because it really wouldn’t work as well moving a cursor using traditional controls. Rather, this game gives you the option of controlling a cursor using gyroscopic motion controls, or interacting directly with the screen in portable mode using a touchscreen.

Both of these modes generally work well, but each has their own drawbacks – the motion controls tend to require that players reset the cursor with a button press on a regular basis, and the touchscreen mode makes use of tiny buttons that may be harder to press for those who have larger fingers. It’s not ideal, but it’s acceptable. Thankfully, players can pause the action with a button press if they’re really aiming for precision, and more dedicated players will likely be doing this a lot, as the game’s levels have bonus goals that will really require you to be precise in your actions.

As for the gameplay itself, Lemmings is a good point of comparison, but Zombie Night Terror takes that inspiration and runs with it in new and interesting directions. The levels in this game are not always built around trying to get to an exit, and your number of zombies isn’t static. Rather, you can increase the size of your horde by preying on uninfected humans, and sometimes the goal is simply to eliminate as many humans as possible. The humans, meanwhile, don’t just stay in place and take it, they’ll flee when they see zombies coming, and those with weapons will fight back. One of your tools in some levels is a limited ability to turn any human into a zombie, and to get the best results you’ll really have to be careful about when and where you use it so these new zombies don’t just get overwhelmed by a random human with a gun.

Another fun element here is the way Zombie Night Terror handles “mutations”, this game’s version of Lemmings’ skills. In order to make use of these skills, you need to sacrifice some of your zombie herd to get the fuel needed to empower them. You have standard abilities like blockers and exploding zombies to keep your herd going the right way and taking out obstacles in your way, but you can also combine mutations with different results. Exploding a blocker, for example, produces a larger explosion that can take out barriers over a wider area. The game menus even have a chart showing what all of these combinations can do, in case you lose track.

When it comes to criticisms, I do think that sometimes level goals aren’t as clear as I’d like, and similarly, in some levels it’s difficult to see how you’re supposed to accomplish the level’s bonus goal. This is the sort of thing I suppose you just have to figure out through trial and error, or by looking up guides online.

Also, while I think the Nintendo Switch version of the game is generally well-done, there is one major omission I’m sad to see isn’t present here, the level builder that was in the PC version of the game. It’s absolutely not a deal-breaker, but players wanting the most complete version of the game might want to get the PC version instead.

Apart from that, Zombie Night Terror is a true delight on Nintendo Switch, a Puzzle-Platformer that takes a classic game formula and brings it in new and interesting directions while making excellent use of the Nintendo Switch’s unique features. There are a few places where it isn’t perfect, but overall this is a wonderful game well worth playing on Nintendo Switch.

tl;dr – Zombie Night Terror is a Puzzle-Platformer in the vein of Lemmings, where players indirectly control a zombie horde rampaging through the game’s levels. Level goals could be a bit more clear, and this release is missing the PC version’s level builder, but otherwise this game is an absolute delight that makes fantastic use of the Nintendo Switch’s unique features, has a great presentation, and gives players a truly inspired twist on a classic of the genre.

Grade: B+

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