What's that coming over the hill?
Epic's Unreal Engine 3 has been used to good effect throughout the first three levels, with excellent use of dynamic shadowing giving the environments depth and atmosphere. The interaction with the environment helps greatly in giving you the freedom to try out new ideas, allowing you to pick up practically anything that isn't nailed down, from a machete to a settee, and use it to throw at or beat down your attackers. The action is fast and furious as a wide range of monsters, ranging from the scary evil clowns to the cute, but rabid, zombie dogs lunge at you whilst you frantically search for better and more explosive weapons to dispose of them with. In fact, one of the most impressive aspects of these explosive fighting sequences is that enemies react intelligently to the action, using the environment to their advantage by picking up lampshades, benches and dustbins and throwing them at you. In addition, many of these supernatural oddities also have their own unique attacks, which they use appropriately when the time is right.
Click for larger imageFor example, early on in the game you'll encounter an end of level boss called the Fat Zombie, who belly flops in an attempt to flatten you and then lets off a powerful bottom burp creating a gaseous green smoke that fills the surrounding area leaving your character momentarily stunned. Later on, you'll fight against the evil clowns who descend from the skies on the strings of balloons, spitting at you with their killer vomit whenever you get within range. In the first three levels alone there were numerous different monsters to fight against, from the suicidal Xplosive zombies who throw sticks of dynamite at your feet or lunge towards you with it strapped to their chests to the mischievous fire Imps which set ablaze the park - and you if you're not careful. We're told that Monster Madness will feature over 50 unique creatures, including horror classics, such as the vampire and werewolf (we even spotted BigFoot lurking around the local park!).
Click for larger imageThere are also a number of cool sequences worthy of a mention, such as the monster fests where you'll find yourself in an area cordoned off and need to kill dozens of creatures before you can move on, or taking a ride on the swan boat in the park where you need to use the boat's cannon to see off the threat from advancing zombie pirates.
