Refreshingly funny...
Okay, so apart from fighting what else does the game have to offer? Well, aside from furious bouts of smashing zombies over the head with lampshades and machetes there are also monster tokens to collect that fall from the bodies of slain enemies. These tokens can be spent at vendor machines, where you can buy cans of soda to replenish health or alternatively can be spent to build and upgrade weapons, such as the nail gun, from Larry Tool's trailer. Larry's Trailer is also the place to visit when you need to stock up on some extra supplies of of dynamite or a few extra Molotov cocktails.
There are also some neat physics based puzzles that can be solved when you stumble across them, such as flipping a fuse box to turn the electric on in the house and electrocuting all creatures that walk across the patch of water. Later on in the game we're also told they'll be a decent array of vehicles to drive, such as a hovercraft or UFO - all adding to the potential for carnage; we’ll even get the chance to transform into the likes of a zombie, werewolf or mummy.
Click for larger imageSo you know about the game, but what about the controls? Well, you'll be playing the game solely from the top-down viewpoint, although you can zoom slightly into the action. This viewpoint of the action gives you a decent angle to be able to see what nasties lie ahead and allows you watch the carnage unfold from a much better angle than if it were from the traditional view. You use the left stick to move and the right stick to rotate your character 360 degrees, using the buttons to rotate through your weapons and the trigger to launch the attack. It's not rocket science, but it works well enough. There's also the option to dodge attackers and jump to reach those places where there may be another weapon hiding just out of sight.
Each character has his/her own special attack that can be used if you're holding their preferable weapon, for example Zack will pound his mallet into the ground knocking over all creatures that are standing nearby. The controls feel smooth enough and have been mapped to ensure you can get into the action without having to juggle around with a complicated system.
Click for larger imageAs we speak, I haven't played the planned 4 player co-op online or the death match, capture the flag or team death match modes that will be available offline, but I've had a good snoop around the maps, such as Pet cemetery and the High School gym. They're well designed and look as if they're going to offer a lot of destructive fun, with the likes of chainsaws, catapults with exploding missiles and electrocution devices all waiting to be picked up and used against your friends.
I'm looking forward to playing much more of Monster Madness: Battle of Suburbia. The cartoon style, the humour, some great animations, the soundtrack, the interactivity and numerous fresh ideas have all lent a hand in creating a game that blends the best of old school gaming with modern day technology, thanks to the likes of Unreal Engine 3 and Ageia's advanced physics middleware.
Now all we need to know is a release date!
