There have been a lot of zombie themed games coming out recently, and with Zombieland: Double Tap being released in cinemas, it is no surprise that someone was going to jump on that bandwagon. High Voltage Software was just the company to do so, releasing Zombieland Double Tap – Road trip just 3 days before the movie. This top-down twin-stick shooter continues the story of the first movie while pushing towards the newly released sequel as the group continues to move across zombie-infested America, making up new rules and competing for the Zombie Kill of the Week award.

Initially, players will be able to choose to control the four main characters from the first movie, skilling them up in between missions as you mow through the levels. Earning points as you rack up kills, players are encouraged to slaughter zombies in new and spectacular ways with an abundance of weapons and destructibles located around the map. At the end of the mission, these points will be converted into skill points, allowing you to upgrade your selected character and customise your play style.

Each character has their own unique abilities and personalities that match their movie world counterparts, and more characters can be unlocked from the newer movie as you progress through the 18 levels. While a solid concept, I feel that the story mode is a little lacking, if I am to be honest, as aside from a bit of character progression, it feels very similar to the only other game type, Horde mode, where you fight through waves of progressively harder enemies.

Considering it’s a game focused heavily on multiplayer, it is a bit of a shame that Road Trip doesn’t support online play, or at least it doesn’t on the Xbox. Instead, you are restricted to local play, which made things a little harder to try out and some of the missions quite difficult to complete as you’re backed into a corner, surrounded by zombies, with nothing but a pistol and sheer determination. I would have liked to have seen an online option, even for a group of random people, as I feel this would have made the game a lot more enjoyable for me.

The controls themselves are much like any other twin-stick shooter you’ve ever played. Move your character with one, aim with the other, shoot with your trigger and so on. This is all explained to you during your first mission, with the game throwing back to the movie and introducing your basic controls as a set of rules. While a simple concept, the controls didn’t feel as responsive as I would have liked and it took me a little extra time getting used to them. Once I had the delays worked out though, I was killing zombies like a true survivor.

Given the games release on all consoles and PC, the in game graphics are a little lacking. Obviously, being a top-down stick-shooter means that graphics are usually a little more simplified, but Zombieland Double Tap – Road Trip feels a lot more cartoony than it needs to be. Levels are large and for the most part underpopulated, while conversations between characters stop the game to introduce text bubbles with a still illustration of the characters likeness. It was a little disappointing to see this, especially when they have fully animated 3D characters when you’re choosing who to play as or when they’re introducing new zombie models. On the positive side of things, these conversations are voiced by a talented group of voice actors, and while not perfectly matched to the movie, they have done a fantastic job of portraying their character.

Aside from the voice acting, the games sounds were a bit touch and go. There were times while fighting a group of zombies that certain sounds would cut in and out, most notably my weapons fire. Given I was only playing single player, I feel like this would be further amplified if I was playing with friends, as the game doesn’t seem to be able to cope with how many noises are coming from it. A real shame, given it is so heavily focused on firing hundreds of bullets into shambling hordes of the dead.

I’ll admit, I was expecting something more along the lines of Left 4 Dead when I heard about the game, and while Zombieland Double Tap – Road Trip isn’t a particularly bad game, I was a little disappointed in what was supplied. It felt as though it was made almost exclusively for Nintendo Switch, before later deciding they could port it over to everything else. It’s a great little party game if you have a few friends over and want to waste some time with a friendly competition, but playing alone can be a little boring. Zombieland had a lot of potential to be something really good, but it has unfortunately followed the trend that most games based on movies falls into, relying too much on the movies to make anything of itself.

Written by: Dale Carter