Previous Next

Quicksilva's Ant Attack by Sandy White was a smash hit. This follow-up, Zombie Zombie, looks set to do even better.

At first glance, I thought I might have loaded up an old copy of Ant Attack by mistake. Did my rheumy old eyes deceive me or wasn't that the blue-walled city of Antescher? Didn't the tiny hero and heroine look strangely familiar?

But wait - what was that red object sitting on a raised block in the City centre? If that was an ant then my name is David Bellamy. No, it was obviously a helicopter. And those marching green bipeds - what were they? By the teeth of Michael Jackson, they were (dramatic chord) ... zombies!

True to Quicksilva tradition, the cassette inlay is silent on the objectives and several features of the game but it seems you must seek out and destroy all the zombies in the city. Although the game has a marked similarity to the ant adventure, there are several innovative features. For a start, you can zoom around this new city in a chopper as well as scampering around it on foot.

To fly, you simply move the hero (or heroine - it's a cast of one and you choose the sex) into the copter, press the fire button and off whirrs whirlybird. And unlike its predecessor, this game offers the option of total joystick control.

To move the hero, you push the joystick in any of the four main directions and he'll run that way. Should he meet a step or wall, he'll either jump into it automatically or, if it's too high, continue futilely leaping at it until you take pity and send him off on another course.

A stab on the fire button and you immediately see one of four differently-angled views of the scene.

Stay on foot for long and you'll confront some green zombies who don't seem to worry about you too much. But, should one of them turn red, you're in trouble. It will make a sudden rush and attempt to grab you in a deadly embrace. Give it a quick puff of purple talcum powder (joystick and fire button together) and it'll retreat - but not far.

Purple zombies also join in the chase. The walking dead have an aversion to leaping from heights - they have an unfortunate tendency to turn into tomato sauce on landing.

When in the chopper, the four views are not available as the fire button is used for keeping it aloft while the joystick controls direction.

Beware of flying smack into a wall - your hero will survive the impact but the chopper won't! The helicopter has one further function - and this feature really distinguishes Zombie Zombie from other games I've seen. Using the chopper, you can build a new city.

Each quick press of the fire button while in the chopper picks up or releases a block. You can pile up to four blocks on top of each other. It may take a little practice, but once you're in the swing, you'll be building structures that would have had Le Courbusier laughing his socks off.

What's more, it appears you can save them to tape for future reloading. How you do this is anyone's guess, since the between-game menu offers only a load option while the instructions say nowt.